From Roger L – When MTV came to us in August of 1981, did they go into promotion mode?
Mr. Pop History – They did – about 12 days into their August 1 sign-on. MTV’s first contest was “One Night Stand” with Journey and that was quickly followed by “One Night Stand” with the Rolling Stones. Other contests during MTV’s first year included, “MTV Pac-Man Giavaway,” “MTV House Party” and MTV “Hawaiian Holiday With Devo.”
From Gloria N – “Saturday Night Live” has had its ups and downs – but when was the show really hurting? Thank you.
Mr. Pop History – The worst I believe was back in March of 1981. With eight shows remaining in its season, “Saturday Night Live” had lost nearly half its viewing audience. Four writers and three cast members, including Charles Rocket (remember him?) were let go.
Also, SNL had new competition – “Fridays” at ABC-TV. They tried damage control and brought in new improv players such as Tim Karzurinksy (remember him?)
Dick Ebersol was in charge of SNL back then, and he laid blame by billing his cast – all newcomers as, “The New Generation.” Yes, this was just after the original cast had disappeared.
From Eric G – Mr. Pop – Did we ever come close to seeing a “video” record album from music artists?
Mr. Pop History – Well today – so many songs from albums are put into video but…
If you study the early video music era – around 1981, you’ll find mentions of video music albums from popular artists. These were mainly re-released TV specials of such artists as Olivia Newton-John, Paul Simon and Liza Minnelli and could be found on stereo videodiscs (remember those?)
Mr. Pop Culture Report
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