87-505: MTV Unplugged is an American television series on MTV . It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. From 2000 to 2009, it aired less frequently and was usually billed as MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 . Since 2009, MTV Unplugged specials have aired occasionally, sometimes through online or subscription only. Episodes and specials have tended to showcase one artist or group, playing
174-490: A 30-minute program of music videos called Video Jukebox , that first aired around the time of MTV's launch and lasted until late 1986. Also around this time, HBO, as well as other premium channels such as Cinemax , Showtime and The Movie Channel , occasionally played one or a few music videos between movies. SuperStation WTBS launched Night Tracks on June 3, 1983, with up to 14 hours of music video airplay each late night weekend by 1985. Its most noticeable difference
261-453: A Nut , Skeoch departed because of his struggle with substance abuse. He rejoined after completing rehab, only to depart again months later. The band moved forward as a four-piece for a short while. However, it wasn't long before Skeoch briefly joined up with solo artist Marshall Coleman's band to support his solo career, only to see a departure of Marshall soon after. This band eventually morphed to include Jeff Keith and resurfaced as Bar 7 with
348-572: A VJ and the Video Music Awards . At the end of each year, MTV takes advantage of its home location in New York City to broadcast live coverage on New Year's Eve in Times Square . Several live music performances are featured alongside interviews with artists and bands that were influential throughout the year. For many years from the 1980s to the 2000s, the channel upheld a tradition of having
435-700: A band perform a cover song at midnight immediately following the beginning of the new year. Throughout its history, MTV has covered global benefit concert series live. For most of July 13, 1985, MTV showed the Live Aid concerts, held in London and Philadelphia and organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. While the ABC network showed only selected highlights during primetime, MTV broadcast 16 hours of coverage. Along with VH1 , MTV broadcast
522-615: A benefit show at the PPAC in Providence, Rhode Island , for the victims of the Station nightclub fire . During the show the band auctioned off an autographed acoustic guitar, with the proceeds going to the Station Family Fund. 100% of the ticket sales also went to this charity. In February 2008, Tesla helped fund and headlined a benefit concert for victims of the Station nightclub fire. The show
609-568: A child burning down his house after allegedly watching Beavis and Butt-head , MTV moved the show from its original 7 p.m. time slot to an 11 p.m. time slot. Also, Beavis's tendency to flick a lighter and yell "fire" was removed from new episodes, and controversial scenes were removed from existing episodes before their rebroadcast. Some extensive edits were noted by series creator Mike Judge after compiling his Collection DVDs , saying that "some of those episodes may not even exist actually in their original form." Tesla (band) Tesla
696-609: A combination of their hit songs and covers. Many of the artists who appeared on the show in the 1990s released their Unplugged session as an album, and some of these albums were commercial and critical hits. Eric Clapton 's Unplugged (1992) sold 26 million copies worldwide and became the best-selling live album of all time. Albums such as Mariah Carey 's MTV Unplugged (1992), Nirvana 's MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) and Alice in Chains ' Unplugged (1996) became notable hits of
783-467: A high priority on showing so many acts, at the expense of airing complete sets by key artists." He also blamed the Pink Floyd interruption on a mandatory cable affiliate break. MTV averaged 1.4 million viewers for its original July 2 broadcast of Live 8. Consequently, MTV and VH1 aired five hours of uninterrupted Live 8 coverage on July 9, with each channel airing other blocks of artists. MTV's logo
870-425: A hit single; similarly their next album, 1994's Bust a Nut did well enough on the album charts, peaking at number 20, but also lacked any radio hits. The band broke up in 1996, but returned in 2000 with a live tour and album, both named Replugged . They have continued to record and tour, though Skeoch left in 2006 and was replaced by Dave Rude on guitars. Their most recent release is the single "Time to Rock!",
957-599: A live album featuring acoustic renditions of hits such as "Comin' Atcha Live", "Gettin' Better", "Modern Day Cowboy", and "Love Song". The album also featured a number of covers most notably a version of " Signs ", a 1971 hit by the Five Man Electrical Band . In 1991, the band released their third studio album Psychotic Supper . The band itself considers this to be their best album according to their official web site. The 1998 Japanese reissue import of Psychotic Supper contains one previously unreleased song, "Rock
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#17328517746401044-511: A money-losing venture, Turner sold it to MTV, who redeveloped the channel into VH1. The founders of Financial News Network , Glenn Taylor and Karen Tyler tried to capitalize on the concept by launching Discovery Music Network, which was set to be a cable network, and has plans to set up the Discovery Broadcasting System, which consists of the aforementioned network, along with computer and business networks, but it never got off
1131-484: A number of occasions for specials. The rock band Tesla performed an all-acoustic live set on July 2, 1990 that was released under the title Five Man Acoustical Jam in November of that year, following the format established the previous year by MTV Unplugged . MTV's sister channel VH1 airs VH1 Storytellers , interspersing mostly acoustic performances with the artists discussing the history, meaning and memories of
1218-448: A revised logo in tandem with the 2010 version, doing away with the 3D effect inherited from its predecessors (much akin to the current MTV Video Music Awards variant). That logo is revealed to be an alternate variant of the current logo designed by the design agency Loyalkaspar, which pays homage to MTV of the past with the red-yellow-blue color combination and the 3D effect mainly inherited from its predecessor logo. The new logo's rollout
1305-711: A single "Four Leaf Clover", from the album The World Is a Freak . Brian Wheat formed Soulmotor and Frank Hannon formed Moon Dog Mane, while Troy Luccketta worked with several local artists including the Bay Area's One Thin Dime. After a break of six years, the Sacramento Bee reported that the band had reformed in 2000 with the help of local radio personality Pat Martin of KRXQ. The band played an emotional sold-out show at ARCO Arena in Sacramento on October 25, 2000. Soon after they recorded
1392-577: A statement later contradicted by CBS head of Business Affairs David Benjamin in Vanity Fair . According to The Austin Chronicle , Jackson's video for the song "Billie Jean" was "the video that broke the color barrier, even though the channel itself was responsible for erecting that barrier in the first place." But change was not immediate. "Billie Jean" was not added to MTV's "medium rotation" playlist (two to three airings per day) until it reached No. 1 on
1479-466: A target of criticism by different groups about programming choices, social issues, political correctness , sensitivity, censorship, and a perceived negative social influence on young people. Portions of the content of MTV's programs and productions have come under controversy in the general news media and among social groups that have taken offense. Some within the music industry criticized what they saw as MTV's homogenization of rock 'n' roll, including
1566-412: A time on this tour. Eventually Dave Rude replaced Skeoch permanently. Tesla recorded a two-volume collection of cover songs titled Real to Reel , which was released on June 5, 2007. The recording is available as a two-CD set. The first CD (containing 13 songs) is sold in a case with a blank slot for the second CD. The second CD (containing 12 additional songs) was initially available to concert goers in
1653-543: A trademark on the initials MTV , registered with the Hungarian copyright office, sued the American MTV (Music Television) network for trademark infringement when the Hungarian version of the music channel was launched in 2007. The suit is still ongoing. During the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, comedian Andrew Dice Clay did his usual "adult nursery rhymes" routine (which he had done in his stand-up acts), after which
1740-449: A week in March, broadcasting live eight hours per day. "Spring break is a youth culture event", MTV's vice president Doug Herzog said at the time. "We wanted to be part of it for that reason. It makes good sense for us to come down and go live from the center of it, because obviously the people there are the kinds of people who watch MTV." The channel later expanded its beach-themed events to
1827-444: Is also a producer of films aimed at young adults through its production label, MTV Films, and has aired both its own theatrically released films and original made-for-television movies from MTV Studios in addition to acquired films. In 2010, a study by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation found that of 207.5 hours of prime time programming on MTV, 42% included content reflecting
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#17328517746401914-400: Is an American rock band from Sacramento, California . In late 1981, bassist Brian Wheat and guitarist Frank Hannon formed a band named City Kidd, which evolved into Tesla. By 1984, vocalist Jeff Keith, guitarist Tommy Skeoch, and drummer Troy Luccketta had joined the band, forming their classic lineup that appeared on all of the albums and live shows during their initial run. The band adopted
2001-581: Is available to approximately 67,000,000 pay television households in the United States, down from its 2011 peak of 99,000,000 households. MTV was launched on Saturday, August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m, under the ownership of the Warner - American Express Satellite Entertainment Company. On June 25, 1984, Warner Communications spun-off Nickelodeon , MTV into a new public corporation called MTV Networks . Warner would later acquire American Express' 50% stake
2088-468: Is rendered instead on instruments that can be played without electricity, for example acoustic guitar or traditional piano, although a microphone is still used. In most cases, the bass (or bass guitar) is amplified, and a Hammond organ is sometimes used. MTV launched MTV Unplugged in 1989. The show featured musicians performing unplugged versions of their electric repertoire. Many of these performances were subsequently released as albums, often featuring
2175-505: Is used worldwide, but not everywhere existentially. The new logo was first used on MTV Films logo with the 2010 film Jackass 3D . MTV's rebranding was overseen by Popkern. On June 25, 2015, MTV International rebranded its on-air look with a new vaporwave and seapunk -inspired graphics package. It included a series of new station IDs featuring 3D renderings of objects and people, much akin to vaporwave and seapunk "aesthetics". Many have derided MTV's choice of rebranding, insisting that
2262-624: The Billboard 200 album chart and produced the top-ten single " Love Song ". The band recorded and released their third album, the live acoustic album Five Man Acoustical Jam , in 1990. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and produced their top-charting single (number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 ), " Signs ", a cover of a song by the Five Man Electrical Band . Their third studio album, Psychotic Supper (1991), peaked at number 13, but lacked
2349-462: The Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the final week of March, it was in "heavy rotation", one week before the MTV debut of Jackson's " Beat It " video. Prince's " Little Red Corvette " joined both videos in heavy rotation at the end of April. At the beginning of June, " Electric Avenue " by Eddy Grant joined "Billie Jean", which was still in heavy rotation until mid-June. At the end of August, " She Works Hard for
2436-567: The George Foster Peabody Award and three Primetime Emmy nominations, in its original form. A limited-run reboot of MTV Unplugged came in 2009, featuring six acts, which won the Emmy Award for Best New Approach. As of 2021, several episodes are available to watch on Paramount+ . The term "unplugged" has come to refer to music that would usually be played on electrified instruments (such as an electric guitar or synthesizer) but
2523-882: The Live 8 concerts, a series of concerts set in the G8 states and South Africa, on July 2, 2005. Live 8 preceded the 31st G8 summit and the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. MTV drew heavy criticism for its coverage of Live 8. The network cut to commercials, VJ commentary, or other performances during performances. Complaints surfaced on the Internet over MTV interrupting the reunion of Pink Floyd . In response, MTV president Van Toffler stated that he wanted to broadcast highlights from every venue of Live 8 on MTV and VH1, and clarified that network hosts talked over performances only in transition to commercials, informative segments or other musical performances. Toffler acknowledged that "MTV should not have placed such
2610-630: The NBA . Tesla performed two songs, "Signs" and "Love Song" during the Kings #HereWeRally at Cesar Chavez Park in Sacramento, California to celebrate the team staying in Sacramento for at least one more year. On July 12, 2011, they released a mostly acoustic album titled Twisted Wires and the Acoustic Sessions . In June 2013, Tesla released a new single "Taste My Pain" on iTunes . They released their eighth studio album Simplicity on June 6, 2014. In 2015,
2697-400: The 40th anniversary of the network's launch in 2021, current MTV Entertainment Group president Chris McCarthy acknowledged that "(o)ne of the bigger mistakes in the early years was not playing enough diverse music ... but the nice thing that I've always learned at MTV is we have no problem owning our mistakes, quickly correcting them and trying to do the right thing and always follow where
MTV Unplugged - Misplaced Pages Continue
2784-496: The American cable channels available in other countries, eventually gained a massive cult following , becoming one of the major factors in cable programming's rise to fame and American corporations dominating the television economy in the 1990s. In the years since its inception, the channel significantly toned down its focus on music in favor of original reality programming for teenagers and young adults. As of November 2023 , MTV
2871-549: The Disney Channel and NBC . The program aired at several times between 1984 and 1999. In 2009, Disney Channel revived the DTV concept with a new series of short-form segments called Re-Micks . Hanna-Barbera created HBTV , similar to DTV in 1985 and in 1986. MTV has edited a number of music videos to remove nudity, references to drugs, sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia , and/or advertising. Many music videos aired on
2958-457: The Money " by Donna Summer was in heavy rotation on the channel. Herbie Hancock's " Rockit " and Lionel Richie 's " All Night Long " were placed in heavy rotation at the end of October and the beginning of November respectively. In the final week of November, Donna Summer's " Unconditional Love " was in heavy rotation. When Jackson's elaborate video for " Thriller " was released late that year, raising
3045-455: The Nation", as well as the songs "I Ain't Superstitious", and "Run Run Run", both of which had only been previously available as B-sides to two singles from The Great Radio Controversy . In 1994, the band released their fourth studio album, Bust a Nut . The Japanese edition of Bust a Nut contained the previously unreleased cover of Led Zeppelin 's " The Ocean ". After the release of Bust
3132-455: The Police , Kiss , Culture Club , Billy Idol , Hall & Oates , Cyndi Lauper , Madonna , Lionel Richie , Ric Ocasek , John Mellencamp , Peter Wolf , Joe Elliott , Stevie Nicks , Rick Springfield , and Mick Jagger , interacting with the MTV logo on-air and encouraging viewers to call their pay television providers and request that MTV be added to their local channel lineups. Eventually,
3219-509: The Tesla moniker shortly before recording their first album, as another band with a name similar to City Kidd already existed. Tesla rose to fame during the hair metal boom of the 1980s. Their debut album, Mechanical Resonance , was released in 1986, which produced two hit singles, " Modern Day Cowboy " and their cover of " Little Suzi " (originally by Ph.D. ). The band's second album, The Great Radio Controversy (1989), peaked at number 18 on
3306-749: The US at no additional charge beyond the cost of a ticket. The second CD was also given away with the August edition of Classic Rock magazine in Europe. At the end of August, Tesla announced their first world tour in 16 years with dates in Australia, Japan, and Europe in October and November 2007. In June and July 2008, Tesla played a few shows in Europe and the US, including Sweden Rock Festival , Graspop Metal Meeting and Rocklahoma . On July 15, 2008, "Tesla- Comin' Atcha Live! 2008"
3393-491: The all Prince theme on the channel back in the 90s. A few markets also launched music-only channels including Las Vegas' KRLR-TV (now KSNV ), which debuted in the summer of 1984 and branded as "Vusic 21". The first video played on that channel was "Video Killed the Radio Star", following in the footsteps of MTV. Shortly after TBS began Night Tracks , NBC launched a music video program called Friday Night Videos , which
3480-401: The artistic style was centered on denouncing corporate capitalism (many aesthetic pieces heavily incorporate corporate logos of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, which coincidentally include MTV's original logo) rather than being embraced by major corporations like MTV. Many have also suggested that MTV made an attempt to be relevant in the modern entertainment world with the rebrand. In addition to this,
3567-448: The audience is going." Before 1983, Michael Jackson also struggled for MTV airtime. To resolve the struggle and finally "break the color barrier", the president of CBS Records , Walter Yetnikoff , denounced MTV in a strong, profane statement, threatening to take away its right to play any of the label's music. However, Les Garland, then acquisitions head, said he decided to air Jackson's " Billie Jean " video without pressure from CBS,
MTV Unplugged - Misplaced Pages Continue
3654-472: The band being categorized as a glam metal band. The band's members resented this labeling. The band, according to Troy Luccketta, now does not mind being labeled as a part of that scene. The band released their second album, The Great Radio Controversy , in 1989. The album helped solidify the band's growing reputation and fan base, and produced five hit singles, including the power ballad " Love Song ". In 1990, Tesla released Five Man Acoustical Jam ,
3741-414: The band toured with Def Leppard and Styx . On August 26, 2016, Tesla released Mechanical Resonance Live in celebration of the album's 30th anniversary. It features live versions of every song from the original album and includes the new single "Save That Goodness", written and produced by Phil Collen of Def Leppard . In April 2017, Tesla began working on their ninth studio album, Shock , which
3828-478: The band was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live! In the summer of 2006, the band embarked on the Electric Summer Jam Tour without guitarist Tommy Skeoch. Skeoch had left the band indefinitely to spend time with his family, and, as he later revealed on "The Classic Metal Show", other reasons; particularly his continuing problems with substance abuse. Scott Johnson of the Sacramento band Rogue filled in for
3915-530: The band's next two studio albums, Mechanical Resonance was produced by Michael Barbiero and Steve Thompson . The band's original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jeff Keith, guitarists Frank Hannon and Tommy Skeoch, bassist Brian Wheat, and drummer Robert Contreras, who was soon replaced by ex- Eric Martin Band drummer Troy Luccketta. In the early days of their career, Tesla toured with David Lee Roth , Alice Cooper , Def Leppard , and Poison , which resulted in
4002-553: The bar for what a video could be, the network's support for it was total; subsequently, more pop and R&B videos were played on MTV. Following Jackson's and Prince's breakthroughs on MTV, Rick James did several interviews where he brushed off the accomplishment as tokenism , saying in a 1983 interview, in an episode of Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus on James, that "any black artist that [had] their video played on MTV should pull their [videos] off MTV." HBO also had
4089-417: The beach house location each summer. MTV also held week-long music events that took over the presentation of the channel. Examples from the 1990s and 2000s include All Access Week , a week in the summer dedicated to live concerts and festivals; Spankin' New Music Week , a week in the fall dedicated to brand new music videos; and week-long specials that culminated in a particular live event, such as Wanna be
4176-637: The channel were either censored, moved to late-night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel. In the 1980s, parent media watchdog groups such as the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) criticized MTV over certain music videos that were claimed to have explicit imagery of satanism . As a result, MTV developed a strict policy on refusal to air videos that may depict Satanism or anti-religious themes. This policy led MTV to ban music videos such as " Jesus Christ Pose " by Soundgarden in 1991 and " Megalomaniac " by Incubus in 2004; however,
4263-410: The channel. David Bowie also questioned MTV's lack of black artists during an on-air interview with VJ Mark Goodman in 1983. MTV's original head of talent and acquisition, Carolyn B. Baker, who was black, questioned why the definition of music had to be so narrow, as did a few others outside the network. Years later, Baker said, "The party line at MTV was that we weren't playing black music because of
4350-468: The controversial band Marilyn Manson was among the most popular rock bands on MTV during the late 1990s and early 2000s. On September 28, 2016, on an AfterBuzz TV live stream, Scout Durwood said that MTV had a " no appropriation policy " that forbid her from wearing her hair in cornrows in an episode of Mary + Jane . She said, "I wanted to cornrow my hair, and they were like, 'That's racist.'" Magyar Televízió , Hungary's public broadcaster who has
4437-585: The double live album Replugged Live . In 2002 they were featured in the Rock Never Stops Tour alongside other 1980s rock bands. 2002 saw the release of a further live album, Standing Room Only , which is just a single CD version of Replugged Live . In 2004, they released their fifth studio album Into the Now which debuted on the Billboard album chart at number 30. The album was well received by fans and
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#17328517746404524-491: The early 2000s, MTV updated its on-air appearance at the beginning of every year and each summer, creating a consistent brand across all of its music-related shows. This style of channel-wide branding came to an end as MTV drastically reduced its number of music-related shows in the early to mid 2000s. Around this time, MTV introduced a static and single color digital on-screen graphic mainly grey during on-air and some color to be shown during all of its programming. Starting with
4611-405: The first act with people of color to perform on MTV; their song "Rat Race" was the 58th video on the station's first broadcast day. MTV refused other black artists' videos, such as Rick James ' " Super Freak ", because they did not fit the channel's carefully selected album-oriented rock format at the time. The exclusion enraged James, who publicly advocated the addition of more black artists to
4698-454: The first landing on the Moon (with still images acquired directly from NASA ), which was a concept of Seibert's executed by Buzz Potamkin and Perpetual Motion Pictures . The ID then cut to the American flag planted on the Moon's surface changed to show the MTV logo on it, which rapidly changed into different colors and patterns several times per second as the network's original guitar-driven jingle
4785-515: The following year. From August 27, 1985 to May 20, 1986, Warner would sell 31%, and later, 69% of MTV Networks to Viacom . As MTV expanded, music videos and VJ-guided programming were no longer the centerpiece of its programming. The channel's programming has covered a wide variety of genres and formats aimed at adolescents and young adults . In addition to its original programming, MTV has also aired original and syndicated programs from Paramount-owned siblings and third-party networks. MTV
4872-709: The ground. Shortly after its launch, the Disney Channel aired a program called DTV , a play on the MTV acronym. The program used music cuts, both from past and upcoming artists. Instead of music videos, the program used clips of various vintage Disney cartoons and animated films (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Fox and the Hound ) to go with the songs. The program aired in multiple formats, sometimes between shows, sometimes as its own program, and other times as one-off specials. The specials tended to air both on
4959-480: The lives of gay, bisexual and transgender people. This was the highest in the industry and the highest percentage ever. In 2018, MTV launched a new production unit under the MTV Studios name focused on producing new versions of MTV's library shows. It was later consolidated into MTV Entertainment Studios In 1984, the channel produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show, or VMAs. The first award show, in 1984,
5046-412: The network executives imposed a lifetime ban. Billy Idol 's music video for the song " Cradle of Love " originally had scenes from Clay's film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane when it was originally aired; scenes from the film were later excised. During the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards , Clay was in attendance where he confirmed that the channel lifted the ban. In the wake of controversy that involved
5133-407: The premiere of the short-lived program FNMTV: Friday Night MTV in 2008, MTV started using a updated and cropped version of its original logo for the 30 years during most of its on-air programming. It became MTV's official logo on February 8, 2010, and officially debuted on its website. The channel's full text "MUSIC TELEVISION" was eliminated, with the revised and chopped down on the logo largely
5220-556: The program. Other Unplugged albums that went platinum include Rod Stewart 's Unplugged...and Seated (1993), 10,000 Maniacs ' MTV Unplugged (1993), Tony Bennett 's MTV Unplugged (1994), Page and Plant 's No Quarter (1994), Shakira 's MTV Unplugged (1999), Lauryn Hill 's MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2001), Alicia Keys ' Unplugged (2005) and Ricky Martin 's MTV Unplugged (2006). Some of these albums produced successful singles as well, including Mariah Carey's No. 1 hit cover of " I'll Be There ". The show received
5307-923: The punk band the Dead Kennedys , whose song "M.T.V. – Get Off the Air" was released on their 1985 album Frankenchrist , just as MTV's influence over the music industry was being solidified. MTV was also the major influence on the growth of music videos during the 1980s. During MTV's first few years, very few black artists were featured. The select few in MTV's rotation between 1981 and 1984 were Michael Jackson , Prince , Eddy Grant , Tina Turner , Donna Summer , Joan Armatrading , Musical Youth , The Specials , The Selecter , Grace Jones , John Butcher and Herbie Hancock . Mikey Craig of Culture Club , Joe Leeway of Thompson Twins and Tracy Wormworth of The Waitresses were also black. The Specials, which included black and white vocalists and musicians, were also
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#17328517746405394-480: The rebrand was made on exactly the same day that the social media site Tumblr introduced Tumblr TV, an animated GIF viewer which featured branding inspired by MTV's original 1980s on-air look. Tumblr has been cited as a prominent location of aesthetic art, and thus many have suggested MTV and Tumblr "switched identities". The rebrand also incorporated a modified version of MTV's classic "I Want My MTV!" slogan, changed to read "I Am My MTV". Vice has suggested that
5481-532: The recent licensing of the new MTV Canada which was located in the Masonic Hall until 2012. On July 30, 2020, Code Orange performed a livestreamed acoustic set on Twitch spoofing MTV Unplugged under the title of "MUDTV Mudbanger's Ball" during the COVID-19 pandemic. The band described it as "conceptually akin to classic MTV Unplugged performances, but with nightmarish digital twists and turns." The performance
5568-462: The remainder of the series, producing the show through 2001. After the first 13 episodes, the role of host was eliminated. The show was produced by Viacom and RSE Inc and was most frequently directed by Milton Lage and Beth McCarthy . The first episode of MTV Unplugged was taped on October 31, 1989, and aired about a month later on November 26. Since 2000, the Unplugged format has been revived on
5655-485: The research – but the research was based on ignorance… We were young, we were cutting-edge. We didn't have to be on the cutting edge of racism." Nevertheless, it was Baker who rejected Rick James' "Super Freak" video "because there were half-naked women in it, and it was a piece of crap. As a black woman, I did not want that representing my people as the first black video on MTV." The network's director of music programming, Buzz Brindle, told an interviewer in 2006: "MTV
5742-501: The rules of the rock business." MTV senior executive vice president Les Garland complained decades later, "The worst thing was that 'racism' bullshit ... there were hardly any videos being made by black artists. Record companies weren't funding them. They never got charged with racism." However, critics of that defence pointed out that record companies were not funding videos for black artists because they knew they would have difficulty persuading MTV to play them. In celebrating
5829-413: The same as the original logo, but without the initialism, the bottom of the "M" being cropped and the "V" in "TV" no longer branching off. This change was most likely made to reflect MTV's more prominent focus on reality and comedy programming and less on music-related programming. However, much like the original logo, the new logo was designed to be filled in with a seemingly unlimited variety of images. It
5916-524: The slogan became so ubiquitous that it made an appearance as a lyric sung by Sting on the Dire Straits song " Money for Nothing ", whose music video aired in regular rotation on MTV when it was first released in 1985 and also served as the first video played on its European arm , and became the basis of the music used in the MTV Entertainment Studios production logo . The channel has been
6003-425: The slogan change represents "the current generation's movement towards self-examination, identity politics and apparent narcissism." MTV also introduced MTV Bump, a website that allows Instagram and Vine users to submit videos to be aired during commercial breaks, as well as MTV Canvas, an online program where users submit custom IDs to also be aired during commercial breaks. On February 5, 2021, MTV began to use
6090-400: The songs. Bon Jovi performed unplugged in 2007 on CMT . The Police , Mary J. Blige , Kenny Chesney and John Mayer were scheduled to perform. The fourth season of Canadian Idol featured an Unplugged night which was held at Toronto 's Masonic Temple . This episode of Canadian Idol was a tribute to MTV in two ways: a direct tribute to the Unplugged format, and to celebrate
6177-523: The summer, dedicating most of each summer season to broadcasting live from a beach house at different locations away from New York City, eventually leading to channel-wide branding throughout the summer in the 1990s and early 2000s such as Motel California , Summer Share , Isle of MTV , SoCal Summer , Summer in the Keys , and Shore Thing . MTV VJs would host blocks of music videos, interview artists and bands, and introduce live performances and other programs from
6264-674: The tag line, not unlike his failed 'Maypo' revamp. His associate, and Seibert mentor Dale Pon, took over the campaign, both strategically and creatively. Pon was able to get the campaign greenlit when he laughed the tears out of the spots. From then on–with the exception of the closely logos on the first round of commercials–Pon was the primary creative force. All the commercials were produced by Buzz Potamkin and his new company Buzzco Productions, directed first by Thomas Schlamme and Alan Goodman and eventually by Candy Kugel. The campaign featured popular artists and celebrities, including Pete Townshend , Pat Benatar , Adam Ant , David Bowie ,
6351-488: The time, the logo was constantly branded with different colors, patterns and images on a variety of station IDs. Examples include 1988's ID "Adam And Eve", where the "M" is an apple and the snake is the "TV". And for 1984's ID "Art History", the logo is shown in different art styles. The only constant aspects of MTV's logo at the time were its general shape and proportions, with everything else being dynamic. MTV launched on August 1, 1981, with an extended network ID featuring
6438-504: The title Unplugged . It was believed that the show was inspired by a 1989 MTV Video Music Awards acoustic performance by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora ; however, the show was already in production. The MTV show titled Unplugged , drawing on this phenomenon, was created by producers Robert Small and Jim Burns. Songwriter Jules Shear hosted the first 13 episodes. The pilot and first seven episodes were produced by Bruce Leddy , after which Associate Producer Alex Coletti took over for
6525-525: Was broadcast by VH1 Classic . Tesla played three songs: "What You Give", "Signs", and "Love Song", though "What You Give" did not make it onto the broadcast. Most of Tesla's albums feature a bluesy hard rock style. Brian Wheat stated to have been influenced by classic 1960s and 1970s rock bands like Led Zeppelin , Queen , Bad Company and the Beatles . Tesla's first two albums are often classified as glam metal , though AllMusic 's Steve Huey opined that
6612-499: Was completed in time for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards. The channel's iconic "I Want My MTV!" advertising campaign was launched in 1982. It was first developed by George Lois and was based on a cereal commercial from the 1950s with the slogan " I Want My Maypo !" that Lois adapted unsuccessfully from the original created by animator John Hubley . Lois's first pitch to the network was roundly rejected when Lois insisted that rock stars like Mick Jagger should be crying when they said
6699-478: Was considered network television's answer to MTV. Later renamed simply Friday Night , the program ran from 1983 to 2002. ABC's contribution to the music video program genre in 1984, ABC Rocks , was far less successful, lasting only a year. TBS founder Ted Turner started the Cable Music Channel in 1984, designed to play a broader mix of music videos than MTV's rock format allowed. But after one month as
6786-419: Was designed in 1981 by Manhattan Design (a collective formed by Frank Olinsky, Pat Gorman and Patty Rogoff) under the guidance of original creative director Fred Seibert . The block letter "M" was sketched by Rogoff, with the scribbled word "TV" spraypainted by Olinksky. The primary variant of MTV's logo at the time had the "M" in yellow and the "TV" in red. However, unlike most television networks' logos at
6873-640: Was later remastered and released on September 4, 2020, as their album Under The Skin . MTV MTV ( originally an initialism of Music Television ) is an American cable television channel. It was officially launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group , part of Paramount Media Networks , a division of Paramount Global . The channel originally aired music videos and related programming as guided by television personalities known as video jockeys , or VJs. MTV, as one of
6960-401: Was originally designed to be a rock music channel. It was difficult for MTV to find African American artists whose music fit the channel's format that leaned toward rock at the outset." Writers Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum noted that the channel "aired videos by plenty of white artists who didn't play rock." Andrew Goodwin later wrote: "[MTV] denied racism, on the grounds that it merely followed
7047-517: Was played for the first time. After MTV's launch, the "Moon landing" ID was edited to show only its ending, and was shown at the top of every hour until early 1986, when the ID was scrapped in light of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster . The ID ran "more than 75,000 times each year (48 times each day), at the top and bottom of every hour every day" according to Seibert. From the late 1990s to
7134-430: Was produced by Collen, and released on March 8, 2019. Tesla released the one-off single "Cold Blue Steel" in August 2021, followed a year later by "Time to Rock!". While promoting their album The Great Radio Controversy , the band participated in a canned food drive that allowed free concert admission to contributors, this event was incorporated into the video for "The Way It Is". In February 2005, Tesla headlined
7221-469: Was produced by Terry Thomas, who produced Bust a Nut . The band aired the album's first single, "I Wanna Live" on radio stations across the globe on August 18 and kicked off a world tour on October 1. Forever More debuted No. 33 on The Billboard 200 chart and spawned singles "I Wanna Live", "Fallin' Apart" and "Breakin' Free". On May 10, 2011, the band played at a rally for the Sacramento Kings of
7308-531: Was punctuated by a live performance by Madonna of " Like a Virgin ". The statuettes that are handed out at the Video Music Awards are of the MTV moonman, the channel's original image from its first broadcast in 1981. As of 2012 , the Video Music Awards were MTV's most watched annual event. MTV began its annual Spring Break coverage in 1986, setting up temporary operations in Daytona Beach, Florida , for
7395-489: Was released from a live concert filmed February 22, 2008 at the sold out Myth Nightclub in Maplewood, Minnesota. The two-hour show included hits "Modern Day Cowboy", "Love Song" and "Song and Emotion" along with additional backstage footage. On August 11, 2008, it was reported that Tesla's next album, entitled Forever More , would be released on October 7 on their own record label, Tesla Electric Company Recordings. The album
7482-555: Was released in June 2022. Tesla have sold at least 14 million albums in the United States. The band City Kidd was renamed Tesla during the recording of their first album, 1986's Mechanical Resonance , on the advice of their manager that City Kidd was not a great name (in addition, there was already another band going by that name). The band derived their name, certain album and song titles, and some song content from events relating to inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla . Along with
7569-419: Was that black artists that MTV initially ignored received airplay. The program ran until the end of May 1992. Playboy TV launched their own music video program called "Playboy's Hot Rocks" that premiered on July 15, 1983 featuring uncensored versions of music videos that were shown in nightclubs by artists from Duran Duran and Mötley Crüe to Nine Inch Nails and 2Pac. At times, they would do a certain theme like
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