On August 1st, 1980, MTV premiered and, over the course of 24 hours, played 166 individual music videos.  Some of those videos and songs are still remembered.  Others, like Lee Ritneour’s Mr. Briefcase, are more obscure.

Just because a song or a video isn’t well-known doesn’t mean that it’s not good, of course.  Mr. Briefcase has a killer bassline and a pretty good video.  I guess Mr. Briefcase and the suits in this video are meant to represent the record company execs who wanted Lee Ritenour to sell out.  The vocals here are by Eric Tagg.

This was the 20th music video to air on MTV.

Enjoy!

The First Videos Shown on MTV:

1. Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles
2. You Better Run by Pat Benatar
3. She Won’t Dance With Me by Rod Stewart
4. You Better You Bet By The Who
5. Little Suzi’s On The Up by PH.D
6. We Don’t Talk Anymore by Cliff Richard
7. Brass in Pocket by Pretenders
8. Time Heals by Todd Rundgren
9. Take It On The Run by REO Speedwagon
10. Rockin’ in Paradise by Styx
11. When Things Go Wrong by Robin Lane & The Chartbusters
12. History Never Repeats by Split Enz
13. Hold On Loosely by .38 Special
14. Just Between You And Me by April Wine
15. Sailing by Rod Stewart
16. Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden
17. Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon
18. Better Than Blue by Michael Johnson
19. Message of Love by The Pretenders