Happy 30th Birthday, MTV!: The First 10 Music Videos Ever Played On MTV

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Photo by Frank Micelotta//Getty Images

Photo by Frank Micelotta//Getty Images

Remember when MTV stood for Music Television?

Thirty years ago, MTV was born on August 1, 1981. On its first day, MTV was still full of flaws; Black screens showed up in between videos when an MTV employee was literally putting a video into a VCR.

But a bumpy start couldn’t stop MTV from becoming an instantaneous hit; television audiences loved having their favorite musician right in their living room. “I Want My MTV” wasn’t just a brilliant advertising slogan; it fast became a way of life, with music video addicted kids running home from school to see their favorite videos play.

MTV changed the face of music, proving its original motto: “You’ll never look at music the same way again.”

But today you can look at it the way it originally was with our list of The First Ten Music Videos Ever Played On MTV.

1. “Video Killed The Radio Star”-[lastfm link_type="artist_info"]The Buggles[/lastfm]

Did video really “kill the radio star?” Well, maybe. Because once musicians had to star in music videos, they were subject to superficial judgements about their looks.

Sort of how when “talkies” came out and Hollywood realized that some silent film stars couldn’t act.

Unfortunately for MTV,  all their reality television programming killed the video star and now we have viral video YouTube stars like Rebecca Black.

We want our (original music programming style) MTV!

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