I came across an interesting post in this thread:

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php/topic,10416.0.html
Let's be fair though, MTV was always aimed at teenagers, even back in the 80s.  That's the problem with MTV, it is such a Peter Pan network.  If you're over 21, you're too old.

I was just thinking how, as I've mentioned before, alot of older artists from the 60s and 70s had big hits and videos in the 80s (eg: Tina Turner, Don Henley, ZZ Top, Rod Stewart). I've asked tons of people before, why they think it's so hard for an older artist to be relevant today. They all pretty much agree that MTV is more aimed at 12-20-somethings today, but especially closer to the 12 year olds and rappers.

From what I recall in the 80s, and what I've seen later, yeah it was supposed to be entertaining and cool (not to mention flashy, of course!) but it did seem to have a wider demographic. I'm sure tons of 12 year olds watched it, but I'm sure some older folks did too, even if just for the new hits from the artists they grew up with (Grace Slick of Starship was 46 when "We Built this City" went to #1!). 8)

From what I gather, in the last decade or so, the industry thinks kids/young teens won't be interested in older artists, which is why they stick what what's "safe" and works.

  Well I was 23 or 24 the first time I saw MTV and liked it. I think in the 80's, especially the first 5 years or so, MTV was aimed at a broader age group. It was also more about promoting the music in the videos and not the other way around. The videos themselves were a lot of times done as cheaply as possible because the groups didn't have much money to invest. The emphasis was more on good music that people would want to buy, and less on bling. Remember, many of these early videos were first sent to recording studios as promotional tools.
  The industry has screwed things up so badly in the past 10 years that it's now the video, not the music, that is the tool. MTV lost it's spark a long time ago. Now they're just riding along, marketing a product toward young people because it's easier to convince them to buy the product.

  That's my 2 cents anyway. I'm sure some will disagree and that's cool too.

I agree with your whole video almost being more important than the song. RnB / Hip Hop is the best example of it... if anyone here enjoys that music, I'd love to hear their justifications. Literally all the songs sound exactly the same, especially the slower ones. Even the rappers now all look the same - I couldn't tell my 50 cents from my Akon's! A rapper is a rapper is a rapper - as the saying goes.

And maybe the older generation in the 80's thought MTV then was for kids too... kids being 21 or younger.

Well I was 23 or 24 the first time I saw MTV and liked it. I think in the 80's, especially the first 5 years or so, MTV was aimed at a broader age group. It was also more about promoting the music in the videos and not the other way around.

Yeah, my mom was 27 in 1981 and liked it as well. Just from old clips and documentaries about early MTV that I've seen, it did have an older target audience. Probably kinda aimed younger, but not as much.

I think it only started to become closer to the way it is now, around 1988 or so when rap started to become mainstream (given it was "fun" kind of Will Smith/Beastie Boys stuff and not the gangsta/thug rap).

Like compare the music of 1980-86 and maybe a bit of '87 too, alongside 1988-91 - there's a real difference there to me. Especially in what MTV was showing, since they seemed to be more about pop/rock in the beginning -- like Hall & Oates and Rod Stewart were big in the early days, but toward the end of the decade it almost made that kind of stuff seem outdated since they were more into Alternative rock and R & B and heavy metal.

It didn't totally erase the "old school" sound until the 1997 time frame though. I'm positive on the date because I moved to San Jose in April '96 - I still watched MTV occasionally for Beavis & Butthead (yeah I know, LOL! ;D ) and they still showed a scant few 80's videos. By 1997, both them and VH1 were completely anti 80s it seemed though. :(

I agree with your whole video almost being more important than the song. RnB / Hip Hop is the best example of it... if anyone here enjoys that music, I'd love to hear their justifications. Literally all the songs sound exactly the same, especially the slower ones. Even the rappers now all look the same - I couldn't tell my 50 cents from my Akon's! A rapper is a rapper is a rapper - as the saying goes.

And maybe the older generation in the 80's thought MTV then was for kids too... kids being 21 or younger.


No I can tell the difference between Akon and 50 Cent. Thats real easy. I like R&B and some rap.I like. I like a couple of 50 Cent songs but not all of them.  I like Usher, Alicia Keys, Nas, and Kanye West. Ok fine Alicia keys and Usher are overplayed on radio. I won't disagree with anybody there. Artists can't control on how much their music gets played. I agree some hip-hop is not that good like Ludicras and Ja Rule. I don't understand why everybody bought those 2 rappers records I will never know. Another R&B artist "Ciara" she looks good but I don't think her music is that great along with Ashanti.


To me MTV irrevalant now. I mean they don't even play video's MTV 2 used to be good now all they play is rap. I like rap but I want to hear rock, and dance music as well. I want to be able to see older video's too. MTV 2 used to play older video's. I mean in 2001 they played music video's from 1997. The only place you can see older video's is VH1 classic. Todays' music and radio they have no variety or wide play lists.