Music Video of the Day: Passion by Rod Stewart (1980, directed by ????)

On August 1st, 1981, MTV premiered. Over the course of 24 hours, 166 unique music videos were played on MTV. Yes, there was a time when the M actually did stand for music.

The 36th video played on MTV was the video for Blotto’s I Wanna Be a Lifeguard. At the time, Blotto was a regional success story, extremely popular amongst college students in the Northeast but not particularly well-known in the rest of the country. They were the type of talented but quirky and not obviously commercial band that MTV would sadly shun in later years. However, in 1981, there weren’t that many music videos to choose from and a great band like Blotto could be as different as they wanted to be and still have a shot.

Blotto’s video was followed by a video from a performer who was, in many ways, their polar opposite. Rod Stewart was the most featured artist on MTV’s first day. The 37th video to air on August 1st, 1980 was the video for Rod Stewart’s Passion.

Enjoy!

The First Videos Shown on MTV: