Top Songs from MTV's First Day of Music Video Broadcasting

By Steve Peake, About.com

Almost everyone remembers that the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" was the inaugural music video shown on MTV at its August 1, 1981 launch. Many also know that Pat Benatar's "You Better Run," a cover version of a Rascals classic, was next on the playlist. But what about the remaining several dozen tunes that made up the fledgling network's first day of programming? Here's a look at some of the best songs if not necessarily the most groundbreaking video clips from that landmark day in TV history.

1. Rod Stewart - "She Won't Dance With Me"

Many distinctions mark this unheralded Rod Stewart tune as a worthy selection for this list, not the least of which is its apparent uncensored use of the "F" word. Oh, for the maverick days of MTV, when so few watchdogs, advertisers and industry heavies were paying attention that "anything goes" genuinely served as the network's mantra. Beyond that superficial detail, however, the tune's selection as just the third to have its music video shown on MTV on August 1, 1981 reminds us clearly of Stewart's past as a full-tilt rocker with the Faces. The clip may reveal conscious fashion conformity to the emerging new wave era (check out the guitarist's suit and skinny tie, but let's not even talk about Rod's jumpsuit), it's vintage retro Stewart.
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2. The Who - "You Better You Bet"

It may seem blasphemous to classic rock junkies for me to say this, but this 1981 post-Keith Moon nugget from one of rock's most legendary bands stands as one of my all-time favorites. After all, it features typically dense, literate lyrics from guitarist Pete Townshend, but where that's always been commonplace for the Who, the energy of this new wave-tinged track rises to a particularly giddy level. The video itself, like many of the early-'80s music video prototypes, presents nothing special beyond basic performance, even if it features a minor black-and-white novelty. The real attraction never wavers from the music, and this fourth-ever video shown on MTV continued to reinforce the network's early, almost exclusive focus on rock music.

3. Cliff Richard - "We Don't Talk Anymore"

If nothing else, MTV's scrambling efforts to find video clips to feature on its 24/7 programming probably gave Generation X-ers their only excuse to know who the hell Cliff Richard is. Famous in his native England as a '50s and '60s teen idol, Richard experienced a mild revival during the late '70s that helped him cash in on the era's distinctive blend of synthesizer and guitar foundations. This 1979 track would be a lost classic without the primitive video that overdoes smoke machine effects and Richard's curious choice of a fitted grey tee-shirt with colorful collar. So the most important contribution of this tune rightfully remains its distinctive melody, convincing performance from Richard, and its savvy ability to bridge pop/rock eras.

4. Robin Lane & the Chartbusters - "When Things Go Wrong"

This song offers jangly rock guitar nirvana through its tight performance and arrangement, but it also represents one of music video's earliest attempts at a conceptual narrative piece. The setting of a gothic castle combined with throwback lighting and dulled color goes perfectly with the track's lovelorn lyrical subject matter, and Lane should have been a female vocalist of great acclaim and demand based on this effort alone. The seaside locale certainly feels appropriately mysterious even if it sometimes flirts with the nonsensical. But doesn't that pretty much make it groundbreaking in terms of the state of music video to come? Take or leave the video, as far as I'm concerned, but don't discount the masterpiece of the song.

5. Juice Newton - "Angel of the Morning"

I must say that when I think of this tune these days, I immediately imagine a half-dressed Emily Blunt descending the stairs during a memorable scene of the Tom Hanks-Philip Seymour Hoffman acting showcase Charlie Wilson's War. But I suppose I digress. This delightful country-pop crossover hit packs a lot of punch for a soft rock song as commercially viable as it is, and even if the video takes a fairly generic performance-based approach, Newton's bangs and flowing auburn tresses certainly do a fine job of recalling the early-'80s in all its evolving but still '70s-tinged glory. In addition, the interspersed somber bedroom scenes foreshadow the dramatic narrative style of the music video form at its mid-'80s peak.