On August 1st, 1980, MTV premiered. Over the course of that day, they played over 160 unique music videos. The 26th video that they played was the video for Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?
Actually, it would be more appropriate to say that they tried to play it. MTV’s first broadcast day was not without its technical problems. When they first tried to play the video, only the audio was heard. There was no picture. After 27 seconds of this, MTV moved on to another video. They would again attempt to play Rod Stewart’s infamous hit later in the day, this time with success.
In defense of this song, it’s apparently not meant to be taken seriously. Stewart and co-writer Duane Hitchings have both said the song was meant to be a spoof on disco. The spoof, of course, went on to become the song that Stewart arguably remains best known for.
Enjoy!
The First Videos Shown on MTV:
- Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles
- You Better Run by Pat Benatar
- She Won’t Dance With Me by Rod Stewart
- You Better You Bet By The Who
- Little Suzi’s On The Up by PH.D
- We Don’t Talk Anymore by Cliff Richard
- Brass in Pocket by Pretenders
- Time Heals by Todd Rundgren
- Take It On The Run by REO Speedwagon
- Rockin’ in Paradise by Styx
- When Things Go Wrong by Robin Lane & The Chartbusters
- History Never Repeats by Split Enz
- Hold On Loosely by .38 Special
- Just Between You And Me by April Wine
- Sailing by Rod Stewart
- Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden
- Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon
- Better Than Blue by Michael Johnson
- Message of Love by The Pretenders
- Mr. Briefcase by Lee Ritenour
- Double Life by The Cars
- In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins
- Looking for Clues by Robert Palmer
- Too Late by Shoes
- Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Through the Shattered Lens 