MTV The Music Revolution was Televised

By now we all know the first music video aired on MTV was by the Buggles. Not that many people saw it—to watch the broadcast MTV’s own staff had to cross the Hudson River into New Jersey, the only place the channel was initially available. Of course, it would soon roll out across the US, bringing a whole new wild and wonderful way to enjoy music into millions of homes. In honor of the network’s 40th anniversary, here are 10 artists whose careers were forever changed by the earliest years of MTV—you know, back when they still played music videos.

The Buggles — " Video Killed the Radio Star "

It doesn't get any cheekier than MTV bursting onto the scene by playing "Video Killed the Radio Star" as its first-ever clip. It's all about how new technology overrides the past and how younger generations have no loyalty to their parents' nostalgia. (You have to wonder if the fledgling network's execs thought TV was irreplaceable, given that no one save for a few professors saw the Internet coming at that point.)

By 1981 the song had been around for nearly two years, having been released on the Buggles’ 1979 Island Records debut, The Age of Plastic. (In fact, the song was first recorded by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club, which also featured the Buggles’ Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes along with Thomas Dolby on keyboards.)

Without MTV, it’s unlikely the Buggles would’ve made much of a splash in the US. Although the song (barely) cracked the Billboard Top 40, it took the visuals of MTV to fully ingrain it into public consciousness. Now, who can forget Horn’s owlish glasses, the young girl transported from her radio days into the future via a clear tube, or that blank, white void of a set? (There’s also a cameo by Hans Zimmer—future Academy Award-winning composer for The Lion King—on secondary keyboards.)

The video was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who would become one of the architects of MTV’s highly stylized aesthetic (you have him to thank for many a singer’s windblown hair), Think: " True " by Spandau Ballet, " Total Eclipse of the Heart " by Bonnie Tyler, " I’m Still Standing " by Elton John and most of the classic Duran Duran videos—including " Hungry Like the Wolf, " " Rio " and " The Reflex. "

Though the Buggles ended up being one-hit wonders, they also became cultural legends who defined both early MTV and the gimmickry of '80s pop music.

Duran Duran — " Hungry Like the Wolf "

No band got MTV better than Duran Duran. The fashion. The hair. The sexy videos shot in faraway locations like Sri Lanka and Antigua. It was a whole visual package, and it worked like a charm, transforming the boys from Birmingham into trend-setting heartthrobs.

" Duran Duran were getting zero radio airplay at the time, and MTV wanted to try to break new music, " Les Garland, then an executive at the network, has said. " ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ was the greatest video I’d ever seen. "

The band gave MTV a sophisticated, highly polished sheen at a time when bands like 38 Special, REO Speedwagon and even The Who submitted straightforward concert clips that made them look like dinosaurs lost in a new medium.

" Hungry Like the Wolf " (and later videos for " Rio " and " Save A Prayer " ), meanwhile, was actually shot and staged like a mini movie, using real film and sexy, playful story lines. Then guitarist Andy Taylor succinctly summed up the plot: " Indiana Jones is horny and wants to get laid. "

The British band was merely treading water until MTV put "Hungry Like the Wolf" into heavy rotation in 1982, playing it four times a day. That led to heavy radio play (video made the radio star, in this case) and platinum sales by the next year.

After a hiatus, Duran Duran would go on to become one of the only ‘80s pop bands to find true success during the grunge era—thanks, in large part, to MTV embracing their stylish videos for " Ordinary World " and " Come Undone. "

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Prince — " 1999 "

The early days of MTV were exceedingly white. At the very beginning, the only videos featuring musicians of color were for the 2-Tone ska revival bands Specials (which was mostly fronted by a white dude named Terry Hall) and The Selecter. In 1983, David Bowie even questioned VJ Mark Goodman on air about the lack of airplay for black artists. Eventually, Eddy Grant, Donna Summer and Herbie Hancock would have hits on the network (though Hancock barely appeared in the clip for " Rockit; " see below).

When Michael Jackson’s Thriller album and all its smash videos came out in 1982, he was already a known quantity to the audience. But MTV was made a lot cooler by Prince. The Minneapolis artist had released four albums that went unnoticed by the mainstream pop—i.e. white—community. The 1999 album came out in October 1982, and the title single hit No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100. But when the single was re-released with a video in December, everything changed. Audiences were mesmerized by Prince’s enigmatic glances, his swashbuckling, metallic-purple trench coat, his furious spins. The man knew how to work a camera. It was sexy and thrilling, fun and completely unique, and, yeah, on MTV at that time it certainly felt illicit. The song went to No. 12, and follow-ups " Delirious " (No. 8) and " Little Red Corvette " (No. 6) did even better. As incredible as Prince’s music is, the man was meant to be seen. He would become an essential component of MTV’s playlist during the next several years—captivating audiences with athletic splits (in high heels, no less), buttless pants and a delightful, camp sense of humor—and help pave the way for artists from Morris Day and the Time to Sheila (artists within his own family stable), to D’Angelo, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé and so many more who have been influenced by him. His music also became an MTV fixture on its own, as he wrote hits for the Bangles, Sinead O’Connor, Chaka Khan and more.

Billy Idol — " White Wedding "

Music videos had already been commonplace on UK television for years before MTV hit the US, so the channel drew heavily from British bands and their existing content in the beginning. This helped lead to what some called a " second British Invasion, " as acts like Duran Duran, the Human League, Soft Cell and A Flock of Seagulls broke through on MTV—and, as a result, the American pop charts. Among them was Billy Idol, who had already made a stir in the underground with his punk band Generation X. But it was only once he went solo—reinventing himself as a snarling, leather-clad pop star—that Idol really found his place in the mainstream.

It likely wouldn't have happened without the visual aid of MTV, as Idol captivated suburban audiences by managing to be both a rebel and a cartoon at once. Wearing his leather and studs and crucifixes, he was as foreign as they came. And Idol knew how to work the bad-boy angle, leaning heavy on horror movie imagery for his videos. "White Wedding" featured nails being pounded into a coffin in time to the song, Idol unwinding a shroud to reveal his rosary-clad chest, a wedding ring slicing into his doomed bride's finger, and even a motorcycle crashing through cathedral stained glass.

In the clip for " Dancing With Myself " —a song recycled from Generation X—Les Mis-style zombies crawl out of trash cans and climb up walls to an apocalyptic penthouse where Idol, looking like Elvis playing Mad Max, punches the air and conducts electrical transformers to vanquish the brain eaters. " Rebel Yell " was like a concert shot in a dungeon, filled with exactly the kind of " punk rocker " types that suburban families feared.

It was campy and catchy all at once, and made Idol a household name.

Bananarama — " Cruel Summer "

At a time when most women on MTV were all about painted-on seduction—far too many of them writhing around like possessed animals—the London girl group Bananarama defiantly did their own thing: dressing like stylish ragamuffins (casually donning baggy overalls in the "Cruel Summer" video and oversized sweatshirts in the one for "Robert De Niro's Waiting"), wearing boat-loads of red lipstick, and opting for choppy, messy hairdos. For a generation of teen girls coming into their own, it was completely liberating.

Filmed in Dumbo, Brooklyn, years before the industrial docks area became one of the most chic and expensive neighborhoods in the five boroughs, the "Cruel Summer" video found the trio wackily skipping down the street in their stylishly unstylish clothes, working on cars, hijacking a Mack truck and evading the law with true slapstick—throwing banana peels in the cops' path.

The fun wasn’t quite as innocent as it looked, though. According to member Siobhan Fahey, local dockworkers gave the trio some cocaine to keep them from wilting in the intense summer heat.

" That was our lunch, " explained Fahey in the book I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. " When you watch that video, we look really tired and miserable in the scenes we shot before lunch, and then the after-lunch shots are all euphoric and manic. "

Madonna — " Borderline "

Six years before she stirred up controversy by kissing a black saint in her 1989 video for " Like a Prayer, " Madonna made a clip that is also credited for pushing racial boundaries. In the " Borderline " video, she’s a white girl torn between her Latino boyfriend and the white yuppie photographer promising to make her a star. Some wondered if there was a bit of prophetic autobiography, as she was dating Puerto Rican DJ Jellybean Benitez at the time—and, thanks in large part to MTV, becoming a huge sensation.

" She was really into Hispanic boys, and she wanted the video to be about having an affair with a cute Hispanic boy who was part of the street scene, " said director Mary Lambert in the book I Want My MTV. As for the photographer, it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone but Madonna making Madonna a star, especially through her savvy manipulation of MTV’s visuals.

A year after " Borderline, " she appeared onstage at the network’s first ever Video Music Awards dressed as a bride atop a giant wedding cake—then proceeded to roll around the stage with all the confidence of a sexy, captivating mess. It was, simply put, good TV, as were the memorable videos for " Material Girl " (a play on the Marilyn Monroe film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), " Papa Don’t Preach " (co-starring Danny Aiello as her judgmental father), " Express Yourself " (inspired by the Fritz Lang film Metropolis), " Vogue " with its indelible dance moves (the last two directed by David Fincher).

And then, only seven years after "Borderline," Madonna just as cleverly transcended MTV with the video for "Justify My Love"— complete with nudity, group sex and S&M scenes—that the network refused to play.

Herbie Hancock— " Rockit "

On paper, nothing about "Rockit" should have made sense for MTV. An instrumental track by a jazz pianist, it had a totally experimental video that showed robots—some of them little more than a lightbulb on a mannequin torso—living domestic life: eating a meal, taking a bath, reading a newspaper, all while Hancock played his keyboards on a TV in the background. Disembodied legs performed a kick line. A papier-mâché duck head squawked through a window. One bald sculpture may or may not have been having a seizure in bed.

But Herbie Hancock’s " Rockit " video won five Moon Men trophies at the first VMAs and introduced the young audience to avant-garde culture. As Hancock later noted, " I had no idea what this video was about when it came out. I didn’t know if it was good or bad. But people younger than me were going nuts. "

The robots and sculptures were created by British artist Jim Whiting, and the video was directed by Godley & Creme (Duran Duran, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Police).

It was a hit at a time when Hancock’s already legendary and varied career needed a boost. " Rockit " was the right song at the right time, combining jazz keyboards and Afro-Cuban batá drums with the new-to-MTV techniques of sampling (a stab of guitar from Led Zeppelin; a riff from Pharaoh Sanders’ " Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt " ) and scratching (courtesy of Grand Mixer D.ST, now known as Grand Mixer DXT).

Eurythmics— " Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) "

When the video for " Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) " premiered in 1983, it was like a jolt to the system. With her shock of closely cropped orange hair, black men’s suit and a knowing grin-meets-sneer, Annie Lennox was theatrical, enigmatic, androgynous.

She stood like a world leader in a boardroom, emphatically striking her own hand with a pointer while images of a Saturn V launch—and then Big Brother-like scenes of sidewalk crowds—played on a big screen behind her. The song’s slightly robotic rhythms and Lennox’s high-drama delivery sounds at once modern and like some ‘60s ideal of what modern music would be like in the ‘80s. Cut to Lennox and partner Dave Stewart meditating atop the boardroom table, then the camera zooms onto a bindi on Lennox’s forehead that opens to a scene of Stewart and a bewigged Lennox, both now masked and playing cellos next to a pond.

All the while, there are quick-cut close-ups of Lennox's pounding, gloved fist, a spinning globe—and a cow. Yes, a cow, which shows up in the boardroom; then a visual switch places the boardroom in a field with a whole herd of cows, before a dissolve into Lennox in bed—next to a book called Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). Was the whole thing a dream? The plot of the book she was reading? A global metaphor?

A new game was born: guess the meanings of certain non-linear MTV videos. Kate Bush would excel in this genre, but nobody beat the Eurythmics for seemingly symbolism-heavy clips loaded with open-ended questions, including " Here Comes the Rain Again " (cliffs, soaring doves, Lennox with a blanket over her head) and " Love Is a Stranger " (a Marilyn Monroe-esque Lennox being chauffeured by Stewart—with quick cuts to a ventriloquist’s dummy and Stewart cradling a baby doll).

Van Halen— " Jump "

" Jump " revived the live clip, making it so much more than just a lazy way to film a video for guys who felt like they couldn’t « act. » Because frontman David Lee Roth is nothing if not an actor—a hammy one at that—shooting his version of sultry eyes and a leering grin at the camera like he’s seducing the lens itself. You can’t take your eyes off his hair-tossing and the tattered, leather-bound rags he calls an outfit (one hard to imagine any other human being able to pull off).

Van Halen made the live clip sexy and gloriously fun.

Similar videos by other bands typically showed the members just kind of walking—maybe running—around the stage. But " Jump " makes the most of exactly what Van Halen was known for at that point: their electric live shows. It brought that vibe to people who had only heard them on FM rock radio, turning casual listeners into converts (just look at the album sales for 1984, which has sold more than 10 million copies compared to four million for their previous LP).

Roth shows off his athleticism with a mid-air split launched from the drum riser. Drummer Alex Van Halen is a bombastic thrashing machine. Eddie Van Halen turns on the charm as he shows off his virtuosic riffage, and you can see that he and bassist Michael Anthony are having the time of their lives.

The band, just as effectively, would basically repeat the formula for "Panama," another hit.

The Go-Go’s — " Our Lips Are Sealed "

When the Go-Go’s burst onto MTV in 1981 with " Our Lips Are Sealed, " they completely redefined the California Girl stereotypes of big (or Malibu Barbie’s stick straight) blonde hair, bikinis, and being some boyfriend’s arm-candy. Instead, Belinda Carlisle (lead vocals), Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar), Kathy Valentine (bass), Jane Wiedlin (rhythm guitar) and Gina Schock (drums) embraced short, punky hair and vintage clothing—and having their own brand of fun that had nothing to do with dudes. This was girl power. And they wielded it wildly in the video, dancing goofily in their 1960 Buick LeSabre convertible (snagged from Rent-a-Wreck; the band’s funds had been limited to the leftover video budget of their labelmates the Police), dropping by Trashy Lingerie, maybe breaking the law by rolling around in a Beverly Hills public fountain. Co-written by Wiedlin and Terry Hall of the Specials and Fun Boy Three, who had had a secret relationship on tour, the song flirts with New Wave, garage pop and girl-group classicism. When it breaks down for Wiedlin’s baby-doll solo turn on the bridge, you can spot Carlisle trying to hunch down out of the shot, revealing just how ad hoc the whole production was.

Tellingly, the video—along with the one for “We Got the Beat”—shows the five performing live, another clear sign that these women were in power and, yes, writing their own songs and playing their own instruments.