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 35th video played on MTV was the video for Iron Maiden’s Wrathchild. Of course, the video that played right before this was for a Carly Simon song and the video that followed was from Blotto, a band that specialized in poking fun at itself. If nothing else, the selection on MTV’s first day was certainly eclectic.
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
- Do Ya Think I’m Sexy by Rod Stewart
- Surface Tension by Rupert Hine
- One Step Ahead by Split Enz
- Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty
- I’m Gonna Follow You by Pat Benatar
- Savannah Nights by Tom Johnston
- Lucille by Rockestra
- The Best of Times by Styx
- Vengeance by Carly Simon
Through the Shattered Lens 