I Want My MTV (aka Biography: I Want My MTV)

Video Killed the Radio Star was the first video ever broadcast, on 1 August 1981, on MTV—a brand-new TV channel that showed nothing but music. MTV quickly became a sensation in the United States; it was especially exciting for young viewers, for whom cable television had little to offer. Smalltown Boy, Love is a Battlefield, Take on Me—it’s hard to imagine the 1980s without these videos. I Want My MTV shows how tightly controlled the selection process was, as well as the controversy it caused—whether due to the lack of black performers (an issue raised by Rick James and David Bowie) or the sexist image of women presented in heavy metal videos. Tyler Measom and Patrick Waldrop’s documentary tells the story of the explosion of the station’s popularity and its subsequent development and transformation, right up until it stopped showing music videos and switched to reality television instead. We learn all this through the accounts of MTV’s founders, hosts, and pop stars (Sting, Eurythmics, Tori Amos), and also through rich archival footage that makes I Want My MTV a genuine feast for the eyes—and the ears.