THE CHRONICLES OF MTV
Chronicling the history of MTV, A&E premiered a TV special of Biography: I Want My MTV on 9/8 with exclusive interviews from MTV’s founders, VJs, artists and journalists, as well as rarely seen archival footage and outtakes. And hairspray. So. Much. Hairspray.
Originally premiering at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, the doc—produced and directed by Tyler Measom and Patrick Waldrop—dives into how MTV pushed the boundaries of art, sex, gender and race, while becoming the standard for music trends in the ’80s and ’90s.
Throughout the 86-minute film, interviews and clips from Bob Pittman, John Sykes, Judy McGrath, John A. Lack, Gale Sparrow, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Les Garland, Michael Nesmith, Tom Freston, Fred Seibert and more give a glimpse into how MTV went from its humble beginnings to the pop culture-defining, influential network it is today.
“MTV really opened the door for this new creator generation to say, ‘How do I want to express myself?’,” said McGrath, who served as CEO of MTV from 2004 to 2011.
From some of the first music videos like The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” and The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” to facilitating a “second British invasion” with English rockers like Rod Stewart, Billy Idol and Sting—who were never short of videos—the nostalgic doc includes artists looking back on the network. Regrettably, we still do not know what a Buggle is.
“When we launched, we only had about 250 videos and that’s not enough for a network,” said Pittman. Sparrow added, “It had to be pretty bad for us not to play it.”
Featuring the iconic “I Want My MTV” promo campaigns with Mick Jagger and Pete Townsend, unseen clips from a 1983 interview with the late Davie Bowie, the making of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” moments from the first VMAs in 1984 and even the start of reality TV with The Real World, Biography: I Want My MTV narrates the massive influence that MTV had on American youth culture.
What it couldn't possibly capture, however, is how ridiculous our haircuts were at the time.
