The 9th music video to air on MTV on August 1st, 1981 was the video for REO Speedwagon’s Take It On The Run.  However, due to technical difficulties, only 12 seconds of the video were aired before the Speedwagon was replaced by a black screen, which, to me, sounds like an improvement.  Though MTV moved on to the next video, the video for Take It On The Run would eventually be aired two more times over the course of August 1st.

REO Speedwagon does have its fans.  I’m not one of them but they are out there.  This video was the type of concert clip that celebrated bands like REO Speedwagon in all of their light rocking glory.

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