“Biography: I Want My MTV” is a detailed history of one of the most influential moments in modern times. August 1, 1981, saw the launch of the iconic 24-hour music video channel. It would alter the course of television and the way civilization would progress into the tech era.
That sounds like an overstatement. But when the viewer watches how everything would unfold, from the green lighting of the MTV network to the happenstance with which its name and trademark logo came about, it’s hard not to think the stars were aligned.
Biography done A & E style
The biopic was written by John Paul Horstmann, Tyler Measom, and Patrick Waldrop. Meason and Waldrop would also serve as directors. Like any biography, historical data is presented by the people who were there at the time. Musicians like Pat Benatar, Bret Michaels, and Sting to name a few, recount their own experiences with the fledgling network. A & E knows how to present a biography.
Growing up in the 1980s, some of my earliest memories involve my obsession with MTV. I would sit by the enormous television set in our living room with my single-speaker Emerson boombox recorder in a prehistoric way of downloading my favorite music. The channel is a monument in the shaping of Generation X. As evidenced by the piece, that shaping continues to have a profound effect today.
TV for Young People
It’s always fascinating to look back at how the world was in 1981. There were only 3 networks. Satellite and cable were about to come together, offering new and niche things like Nickelodeon, ESPN, and HBO. “I Want My MTV” takes us to the beginning.
Musician Michael Nesmith had experienced success with his band and subsequent television series The Monkees. Young people loved music but at the time had nothing to watch that was geared specifically to them. Nesmith approached various television execs and voila. The idea of putting the radio on TV was born.
Watching the film will give an appreciation for the struggles the channel had at the time. The piece covers issues ranging from boardroom approval to racism and misogyny. MTV would change the world and serve as the genesis (pun intended) for the tech revolution that was brewing. The biopic also demonstrates how fast MTV (as it was originally intended) came and went. MTV changed the culture, and the culture eventually changed MTV.
“Biography: I Want My MTV” is a fast 84 minutes detailing one of the most influential networks of all time. Students of modern history will gravitate to its impact on culture. Nostalgia junkies will appreciate the simplicity and ambiguity of the world in the 1980s.
