The Death Of MTV – TikTok Killed The Video Star

I want my MTV no more, as the beloved hub of all things music has finally shut down for good. The death certificate comes as a shock to many music fans who had, up until this point, assumed MTV had been dead and buried for decades. On December 31st of last year, MTV came to a shocking end with the official announcement of its cancellation and a tribute to the first music video played on the channel, “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles. The song, a lament to the end of radio at the hands of music videos, is a fitting end to both MTV and a music-focused era. But what does the end of a solely music-based channel mean to music fans, and why should we panic? 

Welcome To The Jungle

The first music video to grace the MTV channel was The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star” in 1981 and with it began the golden age of music videos. MTV ruled the 1980s-90s as the definitive 24/7 music channel. In a time before streaming anything one wanted with the touch of a button or access to any music video via Youtube or social media, MTV was the only way to stay connected to the music world and keep up to date with new releases. If one wanted to listen to music or practice a New Kids On The Block dance, they only needed to turn to MTV. 

MTV introduced millions of people to some of the greatest rock bands of the 80s. It also popularized hairmetal (they can’t all be winners). Faces such as Vince Neil, Axl Rose, Steve Vai and Paul Stanley owned the screen as MTV previewed new music videos daily. The greatest music videos ever made, including the infamous “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses, first appeared on this wonderful channel.  

You’re Standing On My Neck

Today, when one mentions MTV, the first things that may come to mind are “The Real World” or crazy spring breakers; it once stood as the one true hub of all things music. While the official death of MTV comes as a sharp blow to any audiophile, the brand that was MTV had been perverted long before its demise. Originally, MTV played nearly 24/7 music videos, broken up only by exclusive interviews, commercials and music-based content. By the end of the 90s, it began playing cartoons, such as the sardonic and iconic “Daria” and the incredible 90s “Beavis and Butt-Head.” By the early 2000s, the channel had been almost completely taken over by reality TV shows featuring pregnant teenagers. Music has been gone from MTV for a long time. 

The surprising announcement on New Year’s Eve still hurts nonetheless, as if the world is kicking music fans while they are already down. It only confirms what we already knew about the music world; it is dying. We live in a world where no new artists are able to afford to tour or headline major music festivals, where the music festival scene is more about taking the best pictures and showing off how much you can spend on tickets and where the most important thing to new artists is making it big on TikTok. In many ways, MTV was a final hope for a future in music. 

The Loss Of Stand Alone Music

Today, an artist’s most important goal is to create a sound that could be used as the background of TikTok videos in the hopes of going viral. Examples of these catchy but grating songs are “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter and “Beggin’” by Måneskin. In fact, Måneskin and the downfall of Damiano David (yes, I will beat that dead horse until it comes back to life, just so I can rejoice in watching it die again) can be blamed entirely on chasing the fleeting fame of a viral video. While social media can be a great way to gain awareness and act as great PR for a band, it also comes with its drawbacks. A major one being that social media is a jack-of-all-trades, whereas MTV was truly just a music channel. That was it, you turned it on, and it was dependable. It was where everyone went to access music. It was something everyone saw and could talk about as a community. Like a concert, it was like watching a concert. It was universal and a community event, where TikTok lets you decide what you want to see and when you see it. 

Music is losing its community, and that feeling of loss is part of the grief that people feel as they finally say goodbye to MTV. Sure, you can curate a playlist of music videos on YouTube and open up TikTok for an interview with your favourite artist, but it is this choice and individualism that makes it feel so empty.

Does Anybody Remember Laughter?

As the concerts and festival scenes continue to feel the burn of exponential increases in prices and record stores lose patrons due to the high cost of vinyl, many music fans feel the pain of the loss of yet another hive for music. Today, there truly is no free space for audiophiles to connect over a shared love of music. Losing MTV is the end of the era. The final nail in the coffin. The end of hope in music as we know it. There are very few places where one remembers all the references and quotes of rockstars (for extra credit, who said the quote in the subheading above and what movie from 2001 quotes it?). Music today is lonely and isolating, and now we have lost the final token of it.