MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network based in New-York. Launched on August 1, 1981, the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by John Lack. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching guitar riff written by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over a montage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Appropriately, the first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. ***
One of their best and famous program is MTV Unplugged. MTV Unplugged is a series showcasing popular musical artists playing acoustic instruments.
Unplugged refers to rock musicians primarily known for playing electric amplified instruments (usually the electric guitar & electric bass) performing live using primarily acoustic instruments.
The inspiration for the Unplugged series has been attributed to the popularity among musicians of a variety of musical performances on stage, film, television and record in earlier decades (Elvis Presley's "In-the-Round" performance in his 1968 Comeback Special) The first rock artists to perform in an "unplugged" mode on MTV were Jethro Tull, who on November 17, 1987 performed a bit of "Serenade to a Cuckoo" and "Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of the New Day)". XTC performed in May 1989 and Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora performed "Livin' On A Prayer" & "Wanted Dead or Alive" during the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. Following the popularity of the Bon Jovi performance, MTV began the Unplugged series of concerts.
Some artists on MTV Unplugged
Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, R.E.M, Lenny Kravitz, Sting, Eric Clapton, Nirvana, George Michael, Oasis, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant,...
The success and popularity of the series has inspired artists to emulate the format in other venues.
MTV's sister channel, VH1, made the format even more intimate by interspersing semi-acoustic performances with the artists discussing the history and memories of the songs, in VH1 Storytellers. Bon Jovi performed unplugged in 2007 on CMT.
Today, MTV is completely different. It still plays a very limited selection of music videos (mostly pop), but unfortunately the channel primarily broadcasts reality television shows targeted at adolescents and young adults.
I want my MTV back !
