The fact that Janet's career was stunted and Timberlake's career drastically spiked and soared after the wardrobe malfunction... tells you everything about the music industry.
Not only that, but it also tells you everything about society. Society chose him over her, just like it has for hundreds of years and will, evidently, choose to do so. You're right, and it absolutely sucks. It's no way her fault.
@@TheDamianvain17 Y'all actually think that was an accident? Have Either of you Ever been able to tear the cup of a bra off? You are missing the point, just as Polyphonic is; it was More than deliberate.
@@reubenrozeyt5716 I don't like his music, at all, and have always found him a bit irritating, but cCancelled" is often largely fictional, and is nothing more than people online saying they're cancelled - which does nothing in itself. Having just checked, he's currently doing a world tour...
Musician, and old head here. Napster, kaaza, etc.were major contributors to the death of MTV. Music videos were promos to get people to purchase singles, and albums. Record companies spent lots of money on music vids, and let MTV use them for almost nothing. Record sales slowed, and MTV pivoted towards more television shows, which garnered more revenue for Paramount. By 2006, record labels were already starting to have major losses, compared to how profitable they once were. Btw, I wasn't a big KORN fan, but Freak on a Leash was a bad ass video for it's time.
It's because MTV changed their marketing strategy to cater to a different type of music lovers. It went from rock n roll,metal heads, to something completely different. And it didn't work for them THAT'S what happened to MTV. They should've let it the way it was. Dire Straits,Billy Idol Twisted Sister, you know....then I guess the diversity and inclusioneers decided to completely shun the broken system and turn it into lessons,and you gonna learn today'ers, and all the sudden,the ones who started it all and made MTV the Greatest after school veg and chill era of the 80s, was pushed behind a curtain while the actors and authors pretty much killed it. So, people might not like it, but it's true. It's be like hair metal bands going to BET and flipping their switch for em. It's absurd! But...I guess that's what happens when you let a few people take over for the betterment of society. Lmao. Yeah. That's double speak if I ever heard it
One thing I wish you would have mentioned was Alanis Morissette uploading “So Pure” in 1999 to AOL video. It was the first time a music video would debut on the internet.
"A Million Ways" by OK Go was one of the first UA-cam videos I watched. I was a senior in college and I swear I watched this a dozen times in a row, I was so fascinated. I literally grew up along side MTV in the 90s, so the transition to UA-cam felt like passing a torch... or rather, MTV dropping the damn torch and UA-cam somehow stumbling into it as it was rolling clumsily on the ground. It's crazy to see both my childhood and early adulthood encapsulated in this one video. Great work as always.
@@JaviSancho93 He's a genius for real. Manages his time and gives the TV channel cheap content people seem happy enough with to watch. Personally I hate it, it feels like when I was stuck at work with some guy showing me videos and laughing at things I didn't find funny all day.
I am a Metalhead who was born in 1978 the only reason I can sing along with so many Mariah Carey songs Janet Jackson songs Madonna songs and Britney Spears music is because of MTV. You didn't just change the channel when something else came on you just sat through it and sometimes found something that you kind of liked. That type of music exposure will never happen again
Oh yeah. I was always a fan of alternative music, and i would sit in front of MTV for hours to maybe catch the new video from a band i was into at the time... I became known to constantly yell "no not this again" when they kept showing the same few pop videos all the time. I just patiently waited there, sometimes in vain. Now i'm nostalgic to many songs and their videos that i initially had no interest in.
MTV started dying the day The Real World debuted. I promise, I knew it then. By the end of the 90s my MTV watching was severely down, and I don't think I've watched it in over 20 years. MTV did it to themselves, they were dying big time by the time UA-cam came out. Take it from someone who watched MTV since 83 when my folks got cable. I loved it then.
@@caifabe8050at least 2000s reality shows were music or alternative culture based. Mtv cribs gave the illusion of seeing musicians lives, viva la bam put a lot of skater music on, and trl was the U.S top of the pops. By the 2010s it was a shitter VHS1
I'll take your word for it, I started watching MTV in late 98, I was 11 years old, by 99 I was hooked and by 05 I was growing bored of it. 2007 was the last year I watched MTV with some regularity, by then UA-cam was my go to source for MV.
Maybe it's somewhat implied, but you forgot to mention the huge change in internet speed and domestic access that allowed the transition from TV/cable towards UA-cam. I don't know if it's that obvious for people born in this century. I don't know around there, but I wasn't able to watch music videos (or any form of streamed content) from home at any capacity well into the 2010s.
A lot has also happened when it came to compression codecs for video. In the same vein as mp3 allowed for sharing and streaming of music, DivX, H.264 codecs and nowadays H.265 and AV1 has allowed for ever higher quality at lower data rates for slower internet speeds or smaller file sizes. Not every device has support for the latest versions yet (and are next to impossible to support by a mere software update) but it is entirely possible to store a 4K AV1 film for a smaller file size than the 1080P H.264 version. But playing it back will send your CPU into overdrive to decode. I do have the advantage of living in a country with relatively fast speeds at low prices (400 Download/40 Mbit upload) but even here it wasn't until 2005 that we had anything faster than ISDN's 64/128 Kbps available at all. Even streaming music wasn't an option back then since your average CD is uncompressed 1411 Kbps WAV and mp3 only started becoming popular in the late 90's and early 2000's.
In 1995 my graduate schools computers were so slow you could press download and walk away and go to lunch, run errands, and when you got back, MAYBE, the video or document would be finished downloaded. maybe.
UA-cam is like MTV these days - trying to be something it was never meant to be. MTV was made for music and became another reality show dumpster fire. YT is trying to be TV now... but I came to YT to see average people doing things, not corporate types pretending to be.
I remember those days when VEVO entered the chat. Was like WTF is this, then I found out and was like Ohhhhh.... I also remember the constant tinkering with copywrite and UA-cam muting videos on the platform.
MTV Dethroned itself when the M didn't stand for "music" anymore and instead for "media" by broadcasting cringe gameshows ,talkshows and reality shows about suburban plastic house wifes
It's ironic that "reality" tv strived to get as far away from reality as one could manage. There was never anything real about it. "The Real World", the show that started it all, was about rich overprivileged mostly white, coddled American trust fund youth born off the backs of yuppies, dipped in the entitlement of the 1%. And every reality show since then on the network focuses less on real people, but increasingly absurd living cartoon characters. Yet, the most realistic depiction of what real kids were like, was MTV's literal cartoon, Beavis and Butt-Head. B&B was the real voice of the generation, as stupid and self-destructive and ignroant as they were, they were realer than anything else on the network was.
Never forget the early official music video uploads sometimes being below 480p, and staying that way deep into the HD era unless they got updated in recent years. Or early 2010s uploads that cap at 720p.
The Janet thing was clearly planned. Why was she wearing nipple covers otherwise? She just didn’t expect to get dragged and damn near ruined for no reason afterwards.
That’s exactly what I always assumed. They didn’t expect people to drag them to hell for it, so the whole “oh it was a wardrobe malfunction!” narrative started. People in this country were clutching their damn pearls like she was fully nude or something😭 Stupid.
It's telling when the MTV so-called "Video Vanguard" award hasn't been given to OK GO, probably some of the most innovative video creators of all time, tells you all you need to know about the fall of MTV.
one thing that should be mentioned is the elvis costello song "Accidents will happen", that video from 79 has the first ever cgi image in a music video
The number of years between when I first heard Harder Better Faster Stronger and when I learned it had an animated music video instead of the hand one is INSANE
MTV had no choice..with the internet and UA-cam increasing, you could watch any music video in seconds.. We used to sit by the television waiting hours for MTV to show our fav music video.. Prisoners…They had to pivot..people say they need to go back to showing videos.. That ship has sailed..
@@edreid7872 I see where you're coming from and I respect your point, but I don't think they had to completely abandon videos, either. I know they didn't technically abandon everything, but honestly, music television had very little to do with music, and the amount of music they ever played on there was ridiculous. I don't think the were forced into making a hard choice since they pivoted into reality TV very early. Also, they are, or at least were, tied directly into the music industry, or so it seemed, and they could break in new music long before UA-cam ever could. The abandoned that aspect, and therefore, abandoned those who really enjoyed and appreciated the music. Not only that, but there were other music programs on MTV which highlighted different genres and different types of music that were either besides or deep cuts, which never got radio airplay. We all know most of the stuff that got put on UA-cam, especially early, was all the stuff that was crazy popular. Therefore, they could have still kept plenty of music on there so as to not piss off the fans of their channel. Of course, will never know for sure whether or not their channel could have continued growing exponentially in this way, but I like to think it is always possible to continue giving good customer service to your longtime fans while also expanding to new patrons. Thanks.
@@TheDamianvain17 Having been with the channel day one, it was interesting seeing its impact on the music industry.. Music has always flourished.. Long before the channel..Artists didn't need an accompanying music video to sell records.. When MTV debuted, they saw themselves as a rock channel, only showcasing white rock bands.. When they were forced to integrate, they saw mainstream success, thanks to Michael Jackson.. Artist were basically forced to provide a video if they wanted worldwide exposure..they had a monopoly…then came reality television, an untested genre that made them more money than showing music videos.. It started a perfect storm of 70% reality, and 30 music.. It was the beginning of the end for them… they only have themselves to blame for the decline…
@edreid7872 Agreed. It's a shame they didn't realize how many people of color was actually rock before a lot of what they considered rock to be. They could have showcased a lot of different artists, including rock and even heavy metal, as well as punk, but chose not to. And I agree, music is always survived regardless, but I wasn't talking about so much for them, as much as us, the viewers, who could have seen a lot of great stuff if they had kept that 30%. At any rate, with society flocking to the trends as they evolve, you're right, it was only a matter of time before the decline.
@ There is an interesting interview with David Bowie blatantly asking one of the VJs why they were not showing diverse videos, and the answer is embarrassing, saying they were looking for a skewed audience… White and midwestern..which makes absolutely no sense.. As almost all music is based on African beats and rhythms..It's on UA-cam… look for it..
As a kid born in the late eighties this reads like a swan song of my youth. We sure had fun before Apple introduced the iPhone and social media ran wild.
There's something so cathartic about watching this series. There's a combination of nostalgia and novel, new information that makes this series really compelling (and relaxing) to the part of me that likes to nerd out in passive ways. Thanks for putting this together.
As someone that was there the complete miss of Eminem videos going number 1 on MTV while making fun of MTV the Pop star boy band era and the pop punk bands is wild bro. smh
UA-cam didn’t dethrone MTV. UA-cam just showed up and took a throne that nobody was sitting in. I’m an old head and I remember MTV back from the 80s all the way to the mid 2000s. I can’t describe to younger people how important MTV, BET and VH1 was to music back then. If you had a new album coming out and let’s say your Metallica. Your lead single for the new album would be actually debuting on MTV in a music video first and then right after it debut on MTV then all the rock stations around America would start playing the song. Same thing with hip-hop except with hip-hop BET. 50 Cent is putting out a new album, it’s going to debut on BET and MTV with a music video and then after that you hear it all over hip-hop stations. Like it not only was a place to watch Music Videos. It also had music news it covered festivals, interviews with your favorite artist, request videos, TRL you would actually have the fans voting on the top 10 videos of the day. And starting from the early 90s reality TV was always a part of MTV going back to the early 90s but there was maybe just the real world and one other show and then I think they got to four shows but it was OK because they were still doing music, still covering hip-hop and rock, music and pop music and everyone was happy. One day you look up and the only music video show on MTV is TRL. It’s just the top 10 music videos now and then about a year later it was nothing but reality TV. A channel that was called “music television” completely stop playing music for the last five or six years it was around. I don’t even know if MTV is still a thing. But MTV had quit playing Music Videos almost a decade. It feels like before everyone started going to UA-cam from Music Videos.
I wanted to say this until i finished watching the video. You're forgetting one important note in history. Jay z joining forces with Linkin Park was bc of Danger Mouse doing a mix between Jay z Black album and Beatles White Album, the Grey Album which got popular through the internet. Danger Mouse help produce Gorillaz' 2nd album.
the fact that justin timberlake cheated on britney multiple times, then went on a press tour claiming that it was her who broke his heart (even taking his mom to some interviews) then wrote a song like 'cry me a river' and film a video about him 'taking revenge' on britney lookalike is way beyond disgusting
A good example of the DIY video aesthetic from the early 2000s would be Feeder - Just A Day, used to come on music channels all the time and was just a well edited collection of videos from fans jammin out to the track in their bedrooms
One of the best essays I ever wrote in college was basically a massive rant about the hypocrisy in how American media handles sex and violence, with a lengthy section discussing the absurd reaction to Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction." Movies can have people getting blown away left and right and only get a PG-13 rating as long as there's not too much gore but god forbid anybody show a nipple for less than a second...
The way Rickrolling used to be an infuriating troll and is now a wholesome reminder of the old internet days always makes me a bit sad. It really was a copyright-free wild west.
When MTV started showing reality tv & radio stations went off the air , I lost track of all new music until much much later, when that music was at least 10 years old. I felt a huge void in my life & just worked all the time 😢 thought it was all over 😮
Your book arrives Sunday and I'm super excited to read it. I know you've done meta videos on the topic before. But I think if you did a companion piece about curators/video essayists/taste makers who make a living by shouting out bands. It could make for an interesting topic. A separate topic could be the music contest industry. I only know Kelly Clarkson as a TV show guest and host but people make it seem like she was massive at one point. I was too young but I always found that the music contest industry takes up sizable real estate in the culture. It's actually a topic of discussion for some people. Anyways, keep it up. Big fan.
MTV was long dethroned BEFORE UA-cam showed up. It imploded in on itself with shotty programming. At the end I was watching more VH1 Classic than I did MTV. MTV wasn't playing music at the end, it was all "16 and Pregnant type bullshit
What was really sad was the death of MTV2, that was the gateway to so much music for me. The fact that they'd jump from two hours of indie disco form New York to Headbanger's Ball to Jackass and then Gonzo with Zane Lowe bred a loyal audience
You missed the most controversial music videos in the early 2000s korn has one music video that the record company has only put up the censored version on UA-cam and another one that was only uploaded by fans of korn yall want a single
Correction: Linkin Park has directly stated that they watched AMVs - a thing that had existed prior to UA-cam on privately hosted fansites - and took inspiration from the concept when making Breaking The Habit's video. Yes, they influenced AMVs, but they were influenced by AMVs first. AMVs functionally gave us Breaking The Habit's video.
MTV DE-THRONED themselves , not UA-cam - when MTV went from " music television" to reality TV television , and stop playing music videos. (That was the biggest problem and then just not monetizing this shit on the Internet like Spotify UA-cam.)
Jumped here from Nebula to throw in a comment. Just as I was thinking “that Flagpole Sitta lipdub was a huge part of this moment,” the clip flashes by.
In the 1990s. The Request Box was my MTV. (Later purchased and rebranded as MTV2) So I wonder how many people out there connect with that. I didnt get MTV til the late 90s.
UA-cam just picked up the people that MTV (and VH1) abandoned. They took away Unplugged, 120 Minutes, Yo MTV Raps and gave us Flavor Flav in a house with a bunch of trash.
A few years ago, I asked Riki Rachtman why Mtv stopped showing music videos and he said “Because of UA-cam. Why wait for a video when you can watch it right now?”
Excellent video as always Polyphonic! Truth be told be told, I really didn't get into MTV because of music videos. Back in the 90s it was all about the animated shows and sketch shows (Liquid Television, Beavis and Butthead, The Maxx, Aeon Flux, Daria, The State etc.) though I did get more into music videos and The Real World. However by the early Aughts, when MTV slashed its animation budget, I was pretty much done with it.
MTV killed MTV! I didn’t know anyone who went to you tube for videos. The fun thing about MTV is you got to see many bands and artist that you might have never listen to just like a child of radio I can sing along to almost ever song because you would hear a variety. I miss the interviews, concert info, and music news. Then someone there had the stupid idea to film a bunch of people in a house doing nothing and reality tv was born and has destroyed all of TV. I miss the old MTV. I was cleaning and put on music and got Live Aid 85 and I watched again. That was incredible. Now, it would just be on the computer. Sad.
*"Bad Apple!! feat.nomico"* by Alstroemeria Records is worth highlighting for its striking shadow-art music video, the creation of which was a grassroots collab between fans of the _Touhou Project,_ (an indie video game series) via Japan's *Nico Nico Douga.* As far as... traditional music videos go, shoutouts to Bloodhound Gang's *"Mope"* and Danny Brown's *"Ain't it Funny".*
What I like about UA-cam is that I can search for just about any song by anyone who is even remotely famous (and plenty of people who aren't) and find an upload to listen to (often an official upload). And if I want covers, I can find many of those as well. And I can watch whatever I want whenever I want (on repeat if I want) and all without paying anyone any money.
Growing up poor, and with MTV being a satellite subscription service here in the UK (and so beyond me), youtube has been a godsend. Videos by band I like on demand, discovering new bands the same way. Some are current, some are old ones I missed at the time. With news that bands like Gunship and Rammstein are dropping a new video generating the same sort of buzz in me that I felt as a kid when Thriller had its UK debut (If I remember correctly, on Channel 4?).
MTV has only itself to blame for its demise, especially when music videos and specials were dustbinned for so-called “reality programming”. But then again, you can’t build a lasting empire on something as thin as music videos to start with.
This has been a fantastic series, but I am baffled that you haven’t mentioned Weird Al. His videos are always some of the first I think of when it comes to iconic videos. From his shot from shot remakes, to his short lived MTV show, to having hit videos over 4 decades one would think he would be relevant to this project.
Great video, and yea youtube and word of mouth is how i find MV's to watch if i bother now vs say a lyrics video. And my I remember AMV's before then, you either had to find/be told the creators site for to see/download their videos. But yea MTV like a lot of TV stations around the 00's started to die as it all became reality TV. Man I should look up when Vocaloid 1.0 came out as that spawned a new generation of fan made MV's for anime/games/band stuff.
‘For some, that came in the heavy darkness of nu metal. But for others it came in the juvenile irreverence of pop punk’ made me break out into a sweat because the first CDs I bought for myself, in order, were Linkin Park, The Offspring, Green Day, and Korn. So, uh, well. I guess for others it was both 🤷
That Offspring song The Kids Aren't Alright (MV shown at 18:35) is so fucking devastating. I bought the song years ago and can never bring myself to listen to it. The song is like the pure essence of then and today's mental & economic angst.
I don't think so actually. I mean this is really about the experience of those born in the 80s where we lived through the unreasonable optimism of the 90s. Today this just isn't the case, the youth today does not have this same experience of utter betrayal. They aren't fed blatant lies about the world, instead they are fed a vision of the world that is quite bleak. We experience the swan song of modernity. In the 90s it wasn't yet obvious we would end up like this.
@alfonsstekebrugge8049 Ah! Thanks for this context! I was born in 97 and got privy to the song in the mid-2010s, so I wasn't aware of the acute cultural context of the song. The fact that it's still so powerful stripped out of that cultural context makes me appreciate the impact & existence of the song so much more, even if it hurts to listen to lmao.
@@Mezelenja Yes it's entirely feasible to pick up a song and let it inspire you in a new context, there is little wrong in that. I mean the main themes are still applicable, it just doesn't have that punch of the betrayal in the angst of the late 90s/early 00s, but it is not a necessity to get something of value out of the lyrical themes obvious. To give some extra context since you've been so kind: you have to understand the cultural impact of Columbine and 9/11, both events that nowadays seem like they are sort of normal. I mean, the USA sees school shootings almost daily, there's a big ass genocide going on in Gaza, meanwhile a blatantly corrupt kleptocrat is elected as president etc, we're literally fighting a proxy war against Russia on European soil. If you're not a cynic today something is really wrong. Back then such cynicism felt like a deviation. Russia was chill, USA was chill, Europe was chill, everything seemed fine. We were told things were fine. Things weren't fine at all.
It's impressive (and kinda sad) that somebody as smart, nice and well-informed as you believe and repeat the story of the "wardrobe malfunction". This was clearly and carefully planned. I don't mind Janet showing her body on TV (literally, I don't think it's that important) and I don't mind too much that they then lied about it (that pisses me off a bit). However, the hypocrisy of the whole thing, culminating in everybody parroting what their representatives planned beforehand, is just a sad reminder of this age's deep and shameless... hypocrisy.
Fun fact about Korn's 'Freak on a Leash' artwork: it was drawn by Greg Capullo and inked by his long time partner Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn) and the kids originally had no pupils in their eyes because Capullo wanted them to look creepier, but for some reason the band didn't like that and McFarlane decided to add them during the inking process.
UA-cam didn't dethrone MTV, MTV dethroned MTV and UA-cam just happened to be in the right place to fill the void.
Not youtube, but moreso the internet.
@@AquarianXso the internet made mtv start producong crap reality tv instead of focusing on music?
"MTV dethroned MTV."
"Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart."
If you know, you know 😅
Can confirm, was there, MTV dropped its emphasis on music and had pivoted to reality TV long before UA-cam was a thing. UA-cam just filled the void.
Agree. The early 2000s had most tv shows and reality shows. The tv show Unhappily ever after had a joke about it.
The fact that Janet's career was stunted and Timberlake's career drastically spiked and soared after the wardrobe malfunction... tells you everything about the music industry.
Not only that, but it also tells you everything about society. Society chose him over her, just like it has for hundreds of years and will, evidently, choose to do so. You're right, and it absolutely sucks. It's no way her fault.
@@TheDamianvain17 Y'all actually think that was an accident? Have Either of you Ever been able to tear the cup of a bra off? You are missing the point, just as Polyphonic is; it was More than deliberate.
And the whole TV industry setting a 5-7 sec broadcast delay for live events. That's the power of a nipple!
And then Timberlake got canceled so you got your justice
@@reubenrozeyt5716 I don't like his music, at all, and have always found him a bit irritating, but cCancelled" is often largely fictional, and is nothing more than people online saying they're cancelled - which does nothing in itself.
Having just checked, he's currently doing a world tour...
"Here It Goes Again" was such a moment in UA-cam's music video history! It was the first viral music video on here that really led to a band's growth.
Huh. I have been chronically online since then and have never seen or heard of it. Obviously I must be the coolest hipster in the world.
Musician, and old head here. Napster, kaaza, etc.were major contributors to the death of MTV. Music videos were promos to get people to purchase singles, and albums. Record companies spent lots of money on music vids, and let MTV use them for almost nothing. Record sales slowed, and MTV pivoted towards more television shows, which garnered more revenue for Paramount. By 2006, record labels were already starting to have major losses, compared to how profitable they once were.
Btw, I wasn't a big KORN fan, but Freak on a Leash was a bad ass video for it's time.
It's because MTV changed their marketing strategy to cater to a different type of music lovers. It went from rock n roll,metal heads, to something completely different. And it didn't work for them THAT'S what happened to MTV. They should've let it the way it was. Dire Straits,Billy Idol Twisted Sister, you know....then I guess the diversity and inclusioneers decided to completely shun the broken system and turn it into lessons,and you gonna learn today'ers, and all the sudden,the ones who started it all and made MTV the Greatest after school veg and chill era of the 80s, was pushed behind a curtain while the actors and authors pretty much killed it. So, people might not like it, but it's true. It's be like hair metal bands going to BET and flipping their switch for em. It's absurd! But...I guess that's what happens when you let a few people take over for the betterment of society. Lmao. Yeah. That's double speak if I ever heard it
One of the LEGO scenes from Fell in Love With a Girl is on display at Jack's record store in Nashville
That LEGO scene should be next to Mona Lisa in Louvre
I see what you did. This is an intricate, well researched and edited video series that was all just a ruse to Rick Roll us!!
One thing I wish you would have mentioned was Alanis Morissette uploading “So Pure” in 1999 to AOL video. It was the first time a music video would debut on the internet.
"A Million Ways" by OK Go was one of the first UA-cam videos I watched. I was a senior in college and I swear I watched this a dozen times in a row, I was so fascinated. I literally grew up along side MTV in the 90s, so the transition to UA-cam felt like passing a torch... or rather, MTV dropping the damn torch and UA-cam somehow stumbling into it as it was rolling clumsily on the ground. It's crazy to see both my childhood and early adulthood encapsulated in this one video. Great work as always.
Now MTV's biggest show is a few people reacting to youtube videos.
Nothing new under the sun
Ridiculousness is still going?
Rob has a ridiculous hold on MTV. Worth looking into
@@JaviSancho93 He's a genius for real. Manages his time and gives the TV channel cheap content people seem happy enough with to watch.
Personally I hate it, it feels like when I was stuck at work with some guy showing me videos and laughing at things I didn't find funny all day.
I am a Metalhead who was born in 1978 the only reason I can sing along with so many Mariah Carey songs Janet Jackson songs Madonna songs and Britney Spears music is because of MTV. You didn't just change the channel when something else came on you just sat through it and sometimes found something that you kind of liked. That type of music exposure will never happen again
Oh yeah. I was always a fan of alternative music, and i would sit in front of MTV for hours to maybe catch the new video from a band i was into at the time... I became known to constantly yell "no not this again" when they kept showing the same few pop videos all the time. I just patiently waited there, sometimes in vain. Now i'm nostalgic to many songs and their videos that i initially had no interest in.
MTV started dying the day The Real World debuted. I promise, I knew it then. By the end of the 90s my MTV watching was severely down, and I don't think I've watched it in over 20 years. MTV did it to themselves, they were dying big time by the time UA-cam came out. Take it from someone who watched MTV since 83 when my folks got cable. I loved it then.
It wasn't just you, I hated The Real World as well.
Fishtank is the real world you want
the only side of the MTV reality show era that i remember actually liking back then was Jackass and Viva La Bam. everything else was awful.
@@caifabe8050at least 2000s reality shows were music or alternative culture based. Mtv cribs gave the illusion of seeing musicians lives, viva la bam put a lot of skater music on, and trl was the U.S top of the pops.
By the 2010s it was a shitter VHS1
I'll take your word for it, I started watching MTV in late 98, I was 11 years old, by 99 I was hooked and by 05 I was growing bored of it.
2007 was the last year I watched MTV with some regularity, by then UA-cam was my go to source for MV.
Maybe it's somewhat implied, but you forgot to mention the huge change in internet speed and domestic access that allowed the transition from TV/cable towards UA-cam. I don't know if it's that obvious for people born in this century. I don't know around there, but I wasn't able to watch music videos (or any form of streamed content) from home at any capacity well into the 2010s.
I didn't have wifi at my house until 2020
A lot has also happened when it came to compression codecs for video. In the same vein as mp3 allowed for sharing and streaming of music, DivX, H.264 codecs and nowadays H.265 and AV1 has allowed for ever higher quality at lower data rates for slower internet speeds or smaller file sizes.
Not every device has support for the latest versions yet (and are next to impossible to support by a mere software update) but it is entirely possible to store a 4K AV1 film for a smaller file size than the 1080P H.264 version. But playing it back will send your CPU into overdrive to decode.
I do have the advantage of living in a country with relatively fast speeds at low prices (400 Download/40 Mbit upload) but even here it wasn't until 2005 that we had anything faster than ISDN's 64/128 Kbps available at all.
Even streaming music wasn't an option back then since your average CD is uncompressed 1411 Kbps WAV and mp3 only started becoming popular in the late 90's and early 2000's.
The first music video I've watched is recorded from tv and it's 50 cent in da club
In 1995 my graduate schools computers were so slow you could press download and walk away and go to lunch, run errands, and when you got back, MAYBE, the video or document would be finished downloaded. maybe.
Same here in Brazil. I remember having to download music videos from Vevo because it was faster than streaming 😂
UA-cam is like MTV these days - trying to be something it was never meant to be. MTV was made for music and became another reality show dumpster fire. YT is trying to be TV now... but I came to YT to see average people doing things, not corporate types pretending to be.
I should have expected to get Rick Rolled here.
ohhh so that's what vevo is
I remember those days when VEVO entered the chat. Was like WTF is this, then I found out and was like Ohhhhh.... I also remember the constant tinkering with copywrite and UA-cam muting videos on the platform.
I forgot VEVO had an actual website
I think the death of MTV was brought full circle when Rick Astley was voted "Best act ever" in the 2008 MTV Music awards
2000-2012 was my music era such a great decade of music it was also my young adult years.
This series is absolutely peak - each episode has been so captivating. Amazing job, my dude.
MTV Dethroned itself when the M didn't stand for "music" anymore and instead for "media" by broadcasting cringe gameshows ,talkshows and reality shows about suburban plastic house wifes
It's ironic that "reality" tv strived to get as far away from reality as one could manage. There was never anything real about it.
"The Real World", the show that started it all, was about rich overprivileged mostly white, coddled American trust fund youth born off the backs of yuppies, dipped in the entitlement of the 1%. And every reality show since then on the network focuses less on real people, but increasingly absurd living cartoon characters. Yet, the most realistic depiction of what real kids were like, was MTV's literal cartoon, Beavis and Butt-Head.
B&B was the real voice of the generation, as stupid and self-destructive and ignroant as they were, they were realer than anything else on the network was.
The M in MTV means "Malarkey"
Never forget the early official music video uploads sometimes being below 480p, and staying that way deep into the HD era unless they got updated in recent years. Or early 2010s uploads that cap at 720p.
Many stayed at 480, because for those shot on tape, that's the resolution they were to start with.
"MakeDamnsure" is still at glorious 240p.
UA-cam needs to cut Janet Jackson a check.
Wth are you talking about, UA-cam isn't 1 guy it started with 3
@stellviahohenheim you must be great at parties.
@@stellviahohenheimwhat does this even mean?
I try avoid calling people stupid online but comments like yours make it hard sometimes
Nebula subscriber here and this has been an incredibly fun run through video music history. thanks for putting this together. Its really well done.
Mtv was long dead before UA-cam "became King"
I JUST GOT FUCKING RICK ROLLED BY POLYPHONIC GODDAMNIT
I tell people that video killed the radio star and UA-cam killed MTV. When you can pick what videos you want to watch on demand it was inevitable.
The Janet thing was clearly planned. Why was she wearing nipple covers otherwise? She just didn’t expect to get dragged and damn near ruined for no reason afterwards.
That’s exactly what I always assumed. They didn’t expect people to drag them to hell for it, so the whole “oh it was a wardrobe malfunction!” narrative started. People in this country were clutching their damn pearls like she was fully nude or something😭 Stupid.
It's telling when the MTV so-called "Video Vanguard" award hasn't been given to OK GO, probably some of the most innovative video creators of all time, tells you all you need to know about the fall of MTV.
one thing that should be mentioned is the elvis costello song "Accidents will happen", that video from 79 has the first ever cgi image in a music video
The number of years between when I first heard Harder Better Faster Stronger and when I learned it had an animated music video instead of the hand one is INSANE
MTVs problem was created by itself when it stopped playing music and started going with reality shows.
MTV had no choice..with the internet and UA-cam increasing, you could watch any music video in seconds.. We used to sit by the television waiting hours for MTV to show our fav music video.. Prisoners…They had to pivot..people say they need to go back to showing videos.. That ship has sailed..
@@edreid7872 I see where you're coming from and I respect your point, but I don't think they had to completely abandon videos, either. I know they didn't technically abandon everything, but honestly, music television had very little to do with music, and the amount of music they ever played on there was ridiculous. I don't think the were forced into making a hard choice since they pivoted into reality TV very early. Also, they are, or at least were, tied directly into the music industry, or so it seemed, and they could break in new music long before UA-cam ever could. The abandoned that aspect, and therefore, abandoned those who really enjoyed and appreciated the music. Not only that, but there were other music programs on MTV which highlighted different genres and different types of music that were either besides or deep cuts, which never got radio airplay. We all know most of the stuff that got put on UA-cam, especially early, was all the stuff that was crazy popular. Therefore, they could have still kept plenty of music on there so as to not piss off the fans of their channel. Of course, will never know for sure whether or not their channel could have continued growing exponentially in this way, but I like to think it is always possible to continue giving good customer service to your longtime fans while also expanding to new patrons. Thanks.
@@TheDamianvain17 Having been with the channel day one, it was interesting seeing its impact on the music industry.. Music has always flourished.. Long before the channel..Artists didn't need an accompanying music video to sell records.. When MTV debuted, they saw themselves as a rock channel, only showcasing white rock bands.. When they were forced to integrate, they saw mainstream success, thanks to Michael Jackson.. Artist were basically forced to provide a video if they wanted worldwide exposure..they had a monopoly…then came reality television, an untested genre that made them more money than showing music videos.. It started a perfect storm of 70% reality, and 30 music.. It was the beginning of the end for them… they only have themselves to blame for the decline…
@edreid7872 Agreed. It's a shame they didn't realize how many people of color was actually rock before a lot of what they considered rock to be. They could have showcased a lot of different artists, including rock and even heavy metal, as well as punk, but chose not to. And I agree, music is always survived regardless, but I wasn't talking about so much for them, as much as us, the viewers, who could have seen a lot of great stuff if they had kept that 30%. At any rate, with society flocking to the trends as they evolve, you're right, it was only a matter of time before the decline.
@ There is an interesting interview with David Bowie blatantly asking one of the VJs why they were not showing diverse videos, and the answer is embarrassing, saying they were looking for a skewed audience… White and midwestern..which makes absolutely no sense.. As almost all music is based on African beats and rhythms..It's on UA-cam… look for it..
As a kid born in the late eighties this reads like a swan song of my youth. We sure had fun before Apple introduced the iPhone and social media ran wild.
There's something so cathartic about watching this series. There's a combination of nostalgia and novel, new information that makes this series really compelling (and relaxing) to the part of me that likes to nerd out in passive ways. Thanks for putting this together.
As someone that was there the complete miss of Eminem videos going number 1 on MTV while making fun of MTV the Pop star boy band era and the pop punk bands is wild bro. smh
UA-cam didn’t dethrone MTV. UA-cam just showed up and took a throne that nobody was sitting in. I’m an old head and I remember MTV back from the 80s all the way to the mid 2000s. I can’t describe to younger people how important MTV, BET and VH1 was to music back then.
If you had a new album coming out and let’s say your Metallica. Your lead single for the new album would be actually debuting on MTV in a music video first and then right after it debut on MTV then all the rock stations around America would start playing the song. Same thing with hip-hop except with hip-hop BET. 50 Cent is putting out a new album, it’s going to debut on BET and MTV with a music video and then after that you hear it all over hip-hop stations.
Like it not only was a place to watch Music Videos. It also had music news it covered festivals, interviews with your favorite artist, request videos, TRL you would actually have the fans voting on the top 10 videos of the day.
And starting from the early 90s reality TV was always a part of MTV going back to the early 90s but there was maybe just the real world and one other show and then I think they got to four shows but it was OK because they were still doing music, still covering hip-hop and rock, music and pop music and everyone was happy.
One day you look up and the only music video show on MTV is TRL. It’s just the top 10 music videos now and then about a year later it was nothing but reality TV. A channel that was called “music television” completely stop playing music for the last five or six years it was around. I don’t even know if MTV is still a thing. But MTV had quit playing Music Videos almost a decade. It feels like before everyone started going to UA-cam from Music Videos.
I wanted to say this until i finished watching the video. You're forgetting one important note in history. Jay z joining forces with Linkin Park was bc of Danger Mouse doing a mix between Jay z Black album and Beatles White Album, the Grey Album which got popular through the internet. Danger Mouse help produce Gorillaz' 2nd album.
the fact that justin timberlake cheated on britney multiple times, then went on a press tour claiming that it was her who broke his heart (even taking his mom to some interviews) then wrote a song like 'cry me a river' and film a video about him 'taking revenge' on britney lookalike is way beyond disgusting
Please do a video on The Band, their strange but mesmerising integrity and timeless songs deserve a deeper look and analysis.
I would love that.
The weight is one of the most beautiful songs of all time. I still get moved like I did when I first heard the song in 8th grade 20 Years ago
@@yofuman for me it’s king harvest (has surely come), rockin chair and Dixie down. Absolute masterpieces in their own right
As a parody of the first video to show on MTV was titled. "Internet killed the video star". It was a flash animation that predates UA-cam.
This is why I love the internet. And to think I grew up in a time when having 2 TV's in the house was a luxury.
A good example of the DIY video aesthetic from the early 2000s would be Feeder - Just A Day, used to come on music channels all the time and was just a well edited collection of videos from fans jammin out to the track in their bedrooms
One of the best essays I ever wrote in college was basically a massive rant about the hypocrisy in how American media handles sex and violence, with a lengthy section discussing the absurd reaction to Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction." Movies can have people getting blown away left and right and only get a PG-13 rating as long as there's not too much gore but god forbid anybody show a nipple for less than a second...
The way Rickrolling used to be an infuriating troll and is now a wholesome reminder of the old internet days always makes me a bit sad. It really was a copyright-free wild west.
When MTV started showing reality tv & radio stations went off the air , I lost track of all new music until much much later, when that music was at least 10 years old. I felt a huge void in my life & just worked all the time 😢 thought it was all over 😮
I love OK Go so much! I think my favorite videos are "Upsidedown Insideout" and "The Writing On the Wall."
This has been a awesome and well made series so far
Your book arrives Sunday and I'm super excited to read it. I know you've done meta videos on the topic before. But I think if you did a companion piece about curators/video essayists/taste makers who make a living by shouting out bands. It could make for an interesting topic. A separate topic could be the music contest industry. I only know Kelly Clarkson as a TV show guest and host but people make it seem like she was massive at one point. I was too young but I always found that the music contest industry takes up sizable real estate in the culture. It's actually a topic of discussion for some people. Anyways, keep it up. Big fan.
AMV's, What a blast of the past 😅.
It was thanks to AMV that I discovered a lot of great rock/metal bands
Really great retrospective! This captured all the context along the way very well. Awesome work.
VH1 did music videos for so much longer I feel. I remember watching the one for Budapest by George Ezra on there in 2015.
MTV was long dethroned BEFORE UA-cam showed up. It imploded in on itself with shotty programming. At the end I was watching more VH1 Classic than I did MTV. MTV wasn't playing music at the end, it was all "16 and Pregnant type bullshit
Where was this video when I did my dissertation haha! my fave video you've done by far
32:37
Dude you should've just ended this here and had an epic Rickroll
What was really sad was the death of MTV2, that was the gateway to so much music for me. The fact that they'd jump from two hours of indie disco form New York to Headbanger's Ball to Jackass and then Gonzo with Zane Lowe bred a loyal audience
“Compelled by the artistic merits of a particular clip” is a very clever way to say money 12:20
The amount of research and sources displayed for this video ... astonishing!! Congrats, i love your work
Really enjoy this series, I would love to see a playlist of all the music videos mentioned in this series! :)
0:35 you def said backstreet boys didnt you
I knew something was off there but didn’t really pick out what it was until I saw this 😂
You missed the most controversial music videos in the early 2000s korn has one music video that the record company has only put up the censored version on UA-cam and another one that was only uploaded by fans of korn yall want a single
Correction: Linkin Park has directly stated that they watched AMVs - a thing that had existed prior to UA-cam on privately hosted fansites - and took inspiration from the concept when making Breaking The Habit's video. Yes, they influenced AMVs, but they were influenced by AMVs first. AMVs functionally gave us Breaking The Habit's video.
32:29 I've waited for this since the 80s video. Perfect.
32:29 Not again...
The irony is UA-cam would NEVER show the halftime video now.
Is it better than MTV? Yes, is current UA-cam better than previous UA-cam?
Nope
This series is so good. It’s such a joy reliving and remembering so many of these moments.
I love UA-cam and been using it for nearly 20 years now ever since 2007
great stuff. the more knowledge gaps re: the mid-2000s are filled, the better for me.
MTV DE-THRONED themselves , not UA-cam - when MTV went from " music television" to reality TV television , and stop playing music videos.
(That was the biggest problem and then just not monetizing this shit on the Internet like Spotify UA-cam.)
Jumped here from Nebula to throw in a comment. Just as I was thinking “that Flagpole Sitta lipdub was a huge part of this moment,” the clip flashes by.
In the 1990s. The Request Box was my MTV. (Later purchased and rebranded as MTV2)
So I wonder how many people out there connect with that. I didnt get MTV til the late 90s.
UA-cam just picked up the people that MTV (and VH1) abandoned. They took away Unplugged, 120 Minutes, Yo MTV Raps and gave us Flavor Flav in a house with a bunch of trash.
A few years ago, I asked Riki Rachtman why Mtv stopped showing music videos and he said “Because of UA-cam. Why wait for a video when you can watch it right now?”
Excellent video as always Polyphonic! Truth be told be told, I really didn't get into MTV because of music videos. Back in the 90s it was all about the animated shows and sketch shows (Liquid Television, Beavis and Butthead, The Maxx, Aeon Flux, Daria, The State etc.) though I did get more into music videos and The Real World. However by the early Aughts, when MTV slashed its animation budget, I was pretty much done with it.
UA-cam existing for gooning activity honestly makes a lot of sense
MTV killed MTV! I didn’t know anyone who went to you tube for videos. The fun thing about MTV is you got to see many bands and artist that you might have never listen to just like a child of radio I can sing along to almost ever song because you would hear a variety. I miss the interviews, concert info, and music news. Then someone there had the stupid idea to film a bunch of people in a house doing nothing and reality tv was born and has destroyed all of TV. I miss the old MTV. I was cleaning and put on music and got Live Aid 85 and I watched again. That was incredible. Now, it would just be on the computer. Sad.
You forgot the influence of MTVs Headbangers Ball and 120 minutes on music videos 🎉
MTV stopped showing music videos long before UA-cam came along.
Got an ad right when you said youtube used to have less ads. They know
*"Bad Apple!! feat.nomico"* by Alstroemeria Records is worth highlighting for its striking shadow-art music video, the creation of which was a grassroots collab between fans of the _Touhou Project,_ (an indie video game series) via Japan's *Nico Nico Douga.*
As far as... traditional music videos go, shoutouts to Bloodhound Gang's *"Mope"* and Danny Brown's *"Ain't it Funny".*
What I like about UA-cam is that I can search for just about any song by anyone who is even remotely famous (and plenty of people who aren't) and find an upload to listen to (often an official upload). And if I want covers, I can find many of those as well. And I can watch whatever I want whenever I want (on repeat if I want) and all without paying anyone any money.
nothing is free, tho.
Growing up poor, and with MTV being a satellite subscription service here in the UK (and so beyond me), youtube has been a godsend. Videos by band I like on demand, discovering new bands the same way. Some are current, some are old ones I missed at the time.
With news that bands like Gunship and Rammstein are dropping a new video generating the same sort of buzz in me that I felt as a kid when Thriller had its UK debut (If I remember correctly, on Channel 4?).
I seriously think this might be your best video yet. Really good stuff man.
The next trend of music video - one-take vocal performance
Genuinely curious whether parody music videos will get mentioned in the next vid
Great work!
I doubt it. I mean Beavis and Butt-Head was also a HUGE contributor to the age of the music video, but this series hasn't even given it a mention.
The youtuber killed the video star
MTV has only itself to blame for its demise, especially when music videos and specials were dustbinned for so-called “reality programming”. But then again, you can’t build a lasting empire on something as thin as music videos to start with.
This has been a fantastic series, but I am baffled that you haven’t mentioned Weird Al. His videos are always some of the first I think of when it comes to iconic videos. From his shot from shot remakes, to his short lived MTV show, to having hit videos over 4 decades one would think he would be relevant to this project.
man am i happy i found this channel
The last time I watched a music video on mtv was 2016 and those videos were played before 6 am. Rarely anyone was up just to watch videos.
Great video, and yea youtube and word of mouth is how i find MV's to watch if i bother now vs say a lyrics video. And my I remember AMV's before then, you either had to find/be told the creators site for to see/download their videos. But yea MTV like a lot of TV stations around the 00's started to die as it all became reality TV. Man I should look up when Vocaloid 1.0 came out as that spawned a new generation of fan made MV's for anime/games/band stuff.
‘For some, that came in the heavy darkness of nu metal. But for others it came in the juvenile irreverence of pop punk’ made me break out into a sweat because the first CDs I bought for myself, in order, were Linkin Park, The Offspring, Green Day, and Korn. So, uh, well. I guess for others it was both 🤷
One of the best Polyphonic videos of this year! This is essential history
Yep, we got there. The moment Polyphonic mentions AMV culture lol
Music videos are so gnarly
best video essays on youtube
That Offspring song The Kids Aren't Alright (MV shown at 18:35) is so fucking devastating. I bought the song years ago and can never bring myself to listen to it. The song is like the pure essence of then and today's mental & economic angst.
I don't think so actually. I mean this is really about the experience of those born in the 80s where we lived through the unreasonable optimism of the 90s. Today this just isn't the case, the youth today does not have this same experience of utter betrayal. They aren't fed blatant lies about the world, instead they are fed a vision of the world that is quite bleak. We experience the swan song of modernity. In the 90s it wasn't yet obvious we would end up like this.
@alfonsstekebrugge8049 Ah! Thanks for this context! I was born in 97 and got privy to the song in the mid-2010s, so I wasn't aware of the acute cultural context of the song. The fact that it's still so powerful stripped out of that cultural context makes me appreciate the impact & existence of the song so much more, even if it hurts to listen to lmao.
@@Mezelenja Yes it's entirely feasible to pick up a song and let it inspire you in a new context, there is little wrong in that. I mean the main themes are still applicable, it just doesn't have that punch of the betrayal in the angst of the late 90s/early 00s, but it is not a necessity to get something of value out of the lyrical themes obvious.
To give some extra context since you've been so kind: you have to understand the cultural impact of Columbine and 9/11, both events that nowadays seem like they are sort of normal. I mean, the USA sees school shootings almost daily, there's a big ass genocide going on in Gaza, meanwhile a blatantly corrupt kleptocrat is elected as president etc, we're literally fighting a proxy war against Russia on European soil. If you're not a cynic today something is really wrong. Back then such cynicism felt like a deviation. Russia was chill, USA was chill, Europe was chill, everything seemed fine. We were told things were fine. Things weren't fine at all.
It's impressive (and kinda sad) that somebody as smart, nice and well-informed as you believe and repeat the story of the "wardrobe malfunction". This was clearly and carefully planned. I don't mind Janet showing her body on TV (literally, I don't think it's that important) and I don't mind too much that they then lied about it (that pisses me off a bit). However, the hypocrisy of the whole thing, culminating in everybody parroting what their representatives planned beforehand, is just a sad reminder of this age's deep and shameless... hypocrisy.
MTV destroyed MTV. UA-cam is more equal to me. Regardless your videos are good.
Fun fact about Korn's 'Freak on a Leash' artwork: it was drawn by Greg Capullo and inked by his long time partner Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn) and the kids originally had no pupils in their eyes because Capullo wanted them to look creepier, but for some reason the band didn't like that and McFarlane decided to add them during the inking process.
Loving this series. Thanks Polyphonic!
MTV did itself in long before any channel, app, or platform could have.
What an amazing video. Thank you for putting this together!