Head on over to songstarter.com/ and use my coupon code PATRICKCC25 for 25 free SongStarter credits! drink water too!

This same thing happened to all of the themed channels of the 90s. Mtv didn't have music, the History Channel became aliens and religion, Animal Planet was shows about people, The Learning Channel became content nobody could learn anything from. The Sci Fi Channel literally changed their name to SyFy so people wouldn't expect science fiction.

They had to be trolling when they celebrated their 40th anniversary with 24 hours of Ridiculoussness, right? I think they aired it spitefully.

The weird, slow suicide of MTV was one of the strangest acts of self-destruction in the history of broadcasting.

I truly believe MTV should tap into everyone’s appeal for nostalgia by reaching into their vault and pulling out the classics from previous decades. I was born in 89 and was a kid throughout the 90s. So unless shows were reruns, that’d be the only way to know about them such as Daria & Bevis/Butthead. For me personally, I always find myself searching older content on the internet as opposed to newer garbage out. Plus, when viewing the comment section in any given video, I always run across several comments of people born from 00’s forward feeling nostalgic for a world & time they’ve never experienced. As for me myself I lived it and it’s comfortable to visually see and submerge my mind/thoughts back to times of a world we as a society will never live again…. So, I said all of that to say, MTV has created enough content over the last 40 yrs for people of the 80’s to reminisce, children of the 90s to both reminisce AND discover footage before our time & 00’s and beyond to just to get a glimpse into yesterworld that they’ll never get to experience. MTV I believe , unknowingly is sitting on a gold mine…

Not to sound too much like an English teacher. But Patrick I gotta say man in your recent videos you’re doing an amazing job of establishing a strong thesis, backing it up and then tying it all together with a strong conclusion. So many UKpostsrs who do similar “mini-doc” style videos just feel like they are reading off a wiki article or a list of facts and the end of their videos leave you feeling incomplete. But you genuinely establish a narrative and make it engaging. Keep it up dude!

MTV was Music Television and then it wasn't.

The reason me and my friends stopped watching MTV was primarily due to MTV playing almost only rap videos, so we started watching mtv2 to see videos of bands we liked, THEN mtv2 started playing almost only rap videos, THEN we started watching MTVX to see videos of bands we like and I'll be damned if MTVX started playing only rap videos. They had 3 channels playing the same videos.

I was born in 82 and even as a small child I was obsessed with mtv. In the late 80s and early 90s I remember waking up super early just to watch videos from my favorite songs and then at the end of the year on new years eve they'd have the top 100 music video countdown. That was everything then, it was such a huge part of life! My cousin and I would literally schedule our day around mtv. I loved the music but was also obsessed with Beavis and Butt-Head and Real-world. Mtv unplugged was great, I still think my all time fav in that show was Nirvana and Korn. It was just so different from anything else out at the time. It was so sad to see them eventually F it up! They introduced me to so much music that I probably never would have gotten into. Had they just kept the balance between music and shows they might have lasted. It's sad because when they started moving more away from the music, I stopped being introduced to such a large variety of music. I do have to admit I was a bit obsessed with the reality shows though but definitely missed the music related shows.

MTV is so unwatchable nowadays it’s so sad. The only time they care about music now is when they do the VMAs 🤦🏽‍♀️.

Its sad to see the downfall of MTV, it was honestly a gem in the early and mid 2000’s. I’ll always remember it at its peak.

MTV ruined itself when they embraced hip hop and reality shows which had nothing to do with music. They tried to fix something that wasn't broken.

MTV2 in the late '90s and early 2000s. Great times with that channel as a fitting backdrop. Loved it.

Right on time for lunch, this one’s gonna be good 🔥

Being a teen in NYC during the TRL era from 98 till 01 was pure magic. Mind you, this is in a pre-9/11 world, the vibe was pure freedom. My experiences and the people I met in Times Square are memories I will cherish forever. If I find that time machine I'm going back!!! 😝

It's so so sad the way MTV was destroyed. I can't stop crying

I was born in 99' so I never even remember a time when MTV was mostly playing music related content. I can remember the feeling of "I want an MTV that plays just music related content," and coming across MTV2 in the channel guide. I was super excited for a brief moment only to be crushed to learn you had to have one of the more expensive plans to get the channel. So yeah even if you knew about it, if you were financially struggling you were shit outta luck.

I grew up in the 80’s. And my friend and I watched the first song they ever played. I remember waiting anxiously to watch Thriller for the first time. We loved MTV. We would stay up all night to watch Headbanger’s Ball. Then slowly over the years it turned into a garbage show with no videos. And yes, I’m 48 and “old” 😂

Couple days ago I was actually reminiscing over how I used to stay up and watch Headbangers Ball with the volume as low as possible so as to not wake my parents. You don’t notice it in the moment but small things like that sometimes are the things you miss the most. Simpler times indeed

This was an epic video. Thank you so much! I'm very fortunate to be part of the "MTV Generation". An awesome era for music and entertainment that crossed a massive technological threshold in just a few years. I got to experience it all, music video era, the 90's era, the 2K's which is where I started to lose touch with the channel. It truly was the internet that hurt MTV the most. But I remember it with a tremendous amount of nostalgia and feel extremely thankful I was there for it all.

I loved MTV growing up. They would play hours of just videos early in the morning and I had that on as I got ready for school. I miss that MTV so much.

I remember when ridiculousness came out... it was like tosh.0 but shitty. I wasn't on my phone as much back then and viral videos were harder to see. Now I see all of the viral videos so a new ep of ridiculousness is basically a rerun of the internet. garbage.

Patrick’s Evolution as a UKpostsr is incredibly impressive. The creativity, research, preparation, script making, and overall execution is very impressive. Won’t be surprised went Patrick hits the million subs milestone in the near future

The problem with MTV was when they did show music videos it seemed to be done at random. They should have blocked off certain genres at certain times. I would argue more people would be willing to watch if they knew what kind of music videos would be played.

I’m a year late but thank you for doing this. MTV was part of my landscape during my teen years. When I did homework the songs were playing in the background. I have eclectic tastes in music due in part to MTV. It’s sad that it’ll never be the same again…the whole thing…not just MTV but my teen years, my friends at the time the whole era. For me ‘81-‘85 was the best. My interest waned because I started working a lot and going to school and graduating high school in ‘86. I watched MTV sporadically in the ‘90’s but I was wrapping up college and adulting so to speak lol! So whether you watched it in ‘81, ‘91 or even ‘01 I’m sure you have memories of your “MTV”. One thing I know… I still want my MTV…because it’s more than just videos it was a part of my youth.

I'm 54 born in 67. I was 14 when MTV debuted. It was groundbreaking. I really enjoyed those 6 years of constant music. Thanks for this!

Patrick back with another FIRE mini documentary!!!🙌🏾🔥

I miss Headbangers Ball, always thought it sucked that it only aired in the middle of the night when you couldn't watch it at high volume.

i used to love when they played music videos all day. my parents didn’t let me really listen to the radio so that’s how i knew what songs were popular. and i would listen pretty as long as it would be on. in between the shows and stuff. literally such a great time for tv lol

I was born in 74. I remembered when MTV started, it was great through the mid-90's. My favorite shows was 180 Minutes, where alternative videos were played, well for, 180 minutes. Anyhow I quit watching when non-music video shows took over the channel.

As a 2000s kid (2002) who remembers watching MTV back then, seeing them degrade themselves like this is rather sad considering the impact that they had on American culture for the past 4 decades. Edit: Ok, I understand now that North America wasn't the only place that had it's culture affected by MTV as well, thanks for letting me know.

Thank you for this! I appreciate this thorough and in depth documentary about MTV. Mtv will always have a special place in my memories of the 90s.

Im just grateful i was able to experience MTV when its truly all about music.

When MTV slowly began abandoning music, VH1 was there to pick up the slack. Behind the Music was one of my favorite shows.

8-1-21 was a sad day because 40 years later, MTV was an empty shell of itself. You really couldn't celebrate a 40th anniversary.

It's crazy how much more interesting and topic popping than the majority of UKpostsrs are today. The way you write and read out what we are being taught about is amazing. Gives me hope, right when I thought I was losing it all for the laziness and lack of compassion the other UKpostsrs have now-a-dayz. Keep them coming, stay safe, and one love Patty!!! ❤🎉

Many call the 80s and 90s as the “Golden Age” of MTV (understandably so) but I’m glad this video touched on the absolute powerhouse that MTV was in the 2000s with their reality and game show lineup. Date My Mom, Parental Control, neXt, and Pimp My Ride. That era of MTV perfectly captures the camp and over-the-top style of that decade. It also can’t be understated how big of an impact Jersey Shore had on pop culture. I grew up at the Jersey Shore and that show put our region on the map (for better or worse). I still remember the premiere of Season 2, and it was a nationwide event - MTV ran special bumpers featuring the cast between episodes for the entire day.

I was watching Ridiculousness (which as Patrick has already stated, owns MTV) and Chanel Westcoast literally didn't know what MTV stood for. She was shocked that it was Music Television. That's probably the case with almost anyone under 30 now, and tells you all you need to know about their brand.

The sad thing is, and the reason that things are never going to change, is that people actually find Ridiculousness funny. It kills me that Tosh is gone.

I remember in the UK a TV show called Newsround the newscaster mentioned MTV that is twenty four hours of non music. In the nineties, it was watchable. Now, sadly, it's passed it's sell by date.

and here we are in 2024. RIP to all music. Go ahead and and movies as well. We now live in an artistic wasteland.

It's crazy to me that NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert series has become one of the most influential staples of "Music Television."

I think one major contributing factor - having grown up with TRL, Celebrity Deathmatch, Pimp My Ride, Cribs etc - is that scores of the audience grow up and move on. Catfish and Teen Mom had the ability to appeal to their older audience and a new, younger audience, but MTV had to continually adjust to a new core audience given that as you say they had to resort to shows to prop up the niche nature of music videos. Kids today are so fickle and have zero loyalty to “platforms” because of so much choice, so unless MTV did something drastic they are basically doomed to be the History Channel of music. No wonder they lost their identity. A fascinating case study though. Love your videos.

I miss the good old days of MTV. Music videos non-stop and waiting for hours for that one video. This is the UKposts for generations without the unskippable ads

This was a great vid! ive been binge watching your content recently, it is so good! My dad took me to the Backstreet Boys millennium release. He said out of all the things he did in his life, it was one of the craziest experiences. Thanks for bringing back that memory!

UKposts is our MTV now. You have the music, and countless shows around music.

I was born in ‘91… I remember watching TRL _religiously_ every day after school. MTV was like _the channel_ all throughout the first decade of my life. It’s kinda sad that it has become what it is, but nothing lasts forever!

bro yr deep dives are so complex and thorough.... well done as always🎉 LOVED LIQUID TELEVISION

great video! i remember as a teen seeing an ad on MTV while watching 120 Minutes. It was a guy watching a headbanger video and there's a ring at the door. The grim reaper was at the door and the guy says, "but I'm watching MTV." The Grim Reaper replies, "okay, I'll come back when it's over." I guess it is over.

I think you should've mentioned the period of 2011 to 2017, when MTV tried its hand at scripted tv shows to compete with ABC Family and The CW. Shows like Awkward, Teen Wolf, Scream, Faking it. That was perhaps the most interesting post-music era of MTV for me personally.

britney will always be the TRL queen, she dominated the early-mid 00s and gave mtv some of their best & most memorable performances. I miss how pop culture used to be back then, literally everything an artist did was an event and as much as I like how easily accessible music is now, the anticipation and excitement (for me anyway) is not the same anymore

1981-1986 MTV defined my childhood. Was a glorious time!

Every time i watch a video like this talking about something from those times it's like watching someone build this large skyscraper. It stands proudly as a landmark defining the generation that built it. But in time all of those who helped make it disappear. It loses its value. Forgotten like ancient ruins that been covered up by the forest that grew over it. All eventually become lost in the sands of time

I actually loved MTV 2... I remember finding out about it the night before going to 6th grade. And pulled an all nighter watching music videos. It sorta became something I would do before going to the next grade. R.I.P MTV 🕊 Won't be missed but never forgotten. 🕺

fun fact MTV used to not allow black artist onto the program that was the case until Michael Jackson came into the picture and opened up doors for black artist he also basically made MTV big too

I miss alot of these shows from 90s and early 00s😢 thanks for breaking it all down Patrick cc😊

Man I love all your videos. Such awesome subjects, the way you tell a story is phenomenal. Thank you for everything you do!

I have such a clear memory of the 1st MTV awards, I was being babysat and Duran Duran came on. My Babysitter started Screaming, ran to get in front of the TV, lol like those old videos of the Beatles concerts. I joined her of course, screaming also even though I’m not sure I had any idea who Duran Duran were at that time. Lol. MTV used to be amazing. I used to watch Real World, the early seasons and the actual music videos were so cool. Thank you for posting this!

IMO, MTV couldn't sustain itself because the music industry became so ruthless, self-isolated, and commercialized that it no longer wanted the customer to be aware of what it does, and thus MTV no longer had an insider's look into the industry it claimed to be a part of. We no longer got the in depth analysis, interviews or saw any aspects of music production because the industry the channel was built around didn't want to be exposed for what it was doing and still does.

I grew up watching mtv , to me from 2000 to 2004 was the best era i remember their show "control freak" where you had to vote for your favorite videos to be played next oh man such a good times

This was really well made Patrick. Just discovered you. Keep up the good work dude.

23:10 Sad to hear they didn't do anything for their 40th anniversary. I'm old enough to remember their 10th anniversary special: it was aired prime-time on ABC, featured all kinds of top musicians (including a couple of live songs by Michael Jackson who was about as big as it got at the time)

Don't forget BET had music videos in the 1980s, also, they had Video Soul and Rap City.

That part where he says that shit was boring 😂 I laughed out loud

I’m so hooked on all your videos lol. Great job!

HEADBANGERS BALL was the show to watch on sat nights!

I was born in 1990 and TRL was mandatory viewing for me as soon as it started, the height of boy bands and pop princesses, it was a little girl's dream. MTV formed my childhood and teen years, and I remember really wanting MTV 2, but our cable package didn't include it at the time, or else I definitely would've watched it too. The ending of this is so bleak, 24 hours of Ridiculousness even on the 40th anniversary of the network, damn. Thanks for a great documentary, it was exactly what I needed to watch today!

I don’t really like new music since the early 2000s, but these videos about the new artists fascinate me. Keep it up!

Bro i'm addicted to your videos, you rock!

I remember when MTV2 launched and I thought that was a great idea to have the true music video focus while MTV does whatever. A few years after launch, MTV2 was showing Real World reruns. To me, that was when the original MTV idea was never coming back.

I remember MTV2 being only in deluxe cable packages which I remember wanting as a kid but was PRICEY.. lol MTV2 was a "luxury" 😭 thats prob why it did poorly. such a GREAT video.. the world NEEDED this 💗👏🏾

LOVE your channel!! Very informative 💡💓💡💓

Growing up in the 90’s, I was always more partial to Vh1, as MTV fell off of the “music” portion of their name. I still watched some MTV shows, but Vh1 was, at the time, the station that was all about music. They eventually went the same direction as MTV. Music is still my favorite thing in life.

I witnessed the last days of the 'real' MTV in the early 2010's....i miss it now its just ridiculousness (+ 2000's / forgot to put that in)

MTV2 was originally called The Box - a service where you request music videos by phone and pay with your phone bill. MTV purchased it and just did the same thing without the pay service.

So much nostalgia. such great editing. Yeah. And I had no idea MTV lasted that long. And I guess sort of kind of still technically. exists? Great video as always.

In comparison to UKposts and Spotify I don’t really see how mtv can get itself out of its current situation. It’s just become an archaic relic of the 20th century

I grew up in the 90s! TRL was my favorite show! in 1998 through 2008, i fell in love with music in 98 when i was 12 and rememeber when trl had music videos from Britney christina, ricky martin, korn limp bizkit eminem dmx papa roach avril lavigne .

MTV was so truly amazing in the 90s. Beavis and Butt-Head are a huge part of that. I'm grateful to have grown up in the 90s.

At 13:50 when you started naming shows, the nostalgia came flooding in

Dude, I love your insight. I'm one of the old timers (I turn 50 this year) that remembers when this MTV was new - most people were like "Music on TV???". I was a teen when they started having the shows like MTV Raps, Club MTV and Headbangers Ball and they ROCKED. Years later of course I hated some of the stuff and wondered where the videos went. My wife actually changed our TV package to M2 so we could just watch videos like at one point (so at least we tried to help 🤣🤣🤣). Fast forward to now and honestly you are so right - the need for them just isn't there. While we (my wife and I) still pay for TV "service" even that's streamed... and so much of what we watch still comes from apps like UKposts, Netflix, etc. directly on our smart TV. My six year old grandson watches UKposts almost exclusively. I took the TV from his room when we started streaming content because a computer gives him everything he wants. At any rate, I digress. I've watched a number of your videos now and this one here just shows how you aren't just a product of your generation and do a great job of covering topics like this. Very well presented.

MTV should have a UKposts channel that replays 24 hours of airtime from 1980 - on...

I wish I was born earlier so I could witness that golden era more.

We need double the content bro. Love you

If u turn MTV on right now either Ridiculousness OR Teen Mom is on 😂 so annoying I was born in 1982 so I remember it All ! 😅 Thanks ❤ for this

I generally feel like TV networks just refused to keep up with social media. They didn't adapt and didn't get into subscription services like Netflix either so they really aren't mainstream anymore. They're mostly for adults who prefer to watch old shows they used to love or put something on while they do chores around the house.

Damn, so much nostalgia in one video! Also incredible content Patrick!

Im 47 and 90s MTV was fantastic, i moved to nyc in May of 2000, and i used to go to Times Square and join the crowds of people for the taping of TRL. Fun fun times. I got to go to a taping of Madonna playing in the studio as well. Early 2000s MTV was great too, NYC as a whole was so much fun...by 2008, it all went downhill from there. 2000-2008 were great times in NYC

A combination of not having the simple format with the VJs, decline in talent, grunge, The Real World, TRL, etc

The MTV I remember, the one that aired in Italy in the 2000s, was a pretty unique beast still. It had a good balance of music, original programming and mixed content, including Anime Night, from 1999 to 2010, and aired stuff like Fullmetal Alchemist, Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop.

I think TRL also impacted the businesses around Time Square during its reign. A lot of brand name stores relating to teens and young adults popped up and thrived around the time TRL was on air. After it disappeared, the stores suffered regardless of Time Square being a tourist trap.

Hey!! I miss when MTV would only play music videos. And I am only 31! Lol. Just finished watching the cartoon video, you're doing wonderful, we appreciate you❤

When I was a teen, mtv was still a decent mix of videos and reality tv show, with some pretty decent adult toons thrown in. I graduated in 03. It definitely was starting to go downhill by the time I was almost out of high school, with teen mom and it's ilk becoming huge

I'm 40 so I guess I'm that 20%. There was always radio stations, but MTV felt like it was the first bit of freedom you had as a kid. You could listen to all sorts of new and interesting music. But there was something about seeing artists dressing, talking, and acting the same way you and your friends did. That just made the music so much more relatable.

This really resonated with me. I was born in 1998 so I was a teen in the 2010s and I can say MTV had almost zero affect on anyone I knew my age. I always found it weird to hear my parents or even kids just five to ten years older then me talk about MTV like it was a big deal.

I remember having two main channel for those beloved music videos, MTv and All Music. Back in the days when tv was the main source where to see my stars and their official music videos. Nostalgia intensifies 🥲

Dang that segue into your ad was GOOOD

MTV definitely dropped the ball in THIS era where so many people are making music and in so many different ways

I almost wept while watching this. Everything you said was painfully true. MTv definitely abandoned its roots, and with it, the generation that made it what it was. I remember staying up late nights just to watch AMP.

Aw man when you brought up all the Shows in the early 2000s brought back great memories. I miss that era. You're right you couldn't recreate that today. it was lightning in a bottle and the network can never capture it again.