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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LightPhoenix" data-source="post: 2498254" data-attributes="member: 115">I would agree that MTV acted as a decent gateway, playing some stuff that hadn't ever been played before.  That doesn't change the fact that MTV acted not as a jumpstart for videos, but a jumpstart for music.  Had there been a nation-wide popular music station that played these songs, I have no doubt in my mind that they would be as popular as they are now. To grab at two examples... Tenacious D is still very much a cult following.  I'd bet you that more people could tell you who Jack Black was because of his movies than because of Tenacious D.  The Killers got *known* through a grassroots movement, yes.  They got *popular* because of pop music stations pimping them. MTV's only real strength was that they were basically a nation-wide music station - videos were purely secondary to that.  Again, the fact that MTV gave up on that is indicative that videos did not mean a thing sales-wise.  If it did, MYV would still be showing videos.  MTV does not show videos now, therefore it wasn't economically viable in any sense.  Meanwhile, bands *still* become popular because of radio pimping.  I'll bring up The Killers as a prime example of this... if their existence wasn't shoved down our throats by Top 40 stations (boo Clear Channel, boo) then they'd still be a fringe group. Bands got popular on MTV because MTV pimped their music.  Same way they did now.  Videos were a novelty, as you said yourself.  If they weren't, we'd still have videos on MTV, instead of endless reruns of Real World and Road Rules. MTV was definitely a huge musical force in the 80s, I'm not denying that.  The idea that it was because of videos is simply ludicrous though.  It was because of several factors, the very least of which was videos.  Culture at the time was embracing television in a way no one had before, and I'd argue no one has since.  MTV's ability to act as a national music station instead of a local one owed to it's popularity and it's influence.  The utter lack of any other major method of exposure to music outside of what was played locally added appeal.  The fact that Clear Channel and other conglomerates were much less strong than they are now weakened opposition.  These are why MTV was able to succeed as a music station, and even that barely at all.  Videos were simply icing, they were hardly the reason for success of MTV. Again, if videos were what made MTV, then it would still play videos.  Once radio got it's act together (or subsumed in The Evil), once the internet came along, MTV simply died.  If videos meant anything, MTV would still exist.</blockquote>

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