For a Gen X music geek, closing MTV’s music video channels marks the end of a chapter

SINGAPORE – As a Gen X music fan whose formative years came before the internet became ubiquitous, MTV’s arrival in Singapore in the early 1990s was a pop-culture milestone.

Suddenly, all those music videos by bands such as American rock groups Nirvana and R.E.M. that I had only read about in magazines and newspapers were right there on my living room’s television screen.

My first proper introduction to the American channel was in 1992, when the then Singapore Broadcasting Corporation’s Channel 5 started airing two MTV programmes – MTV’s Most Wanted and MTV Top Asian Top 20 – past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Technically, it was not the real deal. MTV’s 24/7 music video channel would make its official debut in Singapore on cable television only in 1995.

Still, it was a watershed moment for music geeks like me. I would stay up late, one finger hovering over the record button on the VCR remote, ready to commit my favourite bands to tape so I could watch them again and again and again.

So, when I read about how

MTV officially ended its music video channels worldwide on Dec 31

after 44 years – the brand itself is still around through its reality television and digital content – it felt like the end of a defining cultural run.

But it also came as no surprise, as the channel had long ceased to be the primary vehicle for music videos.

And honestly, who would want to sit in front of the television set waiting for one’s favourite bands to come on, when music videos can now be watched on YouTube any time and anywhere?

In an age of viral short-form videos on TikTok and Reels, snappy public conversations on X and Threads, and never-ending live streams, music videos do not have as much hold on mainstream pop culture as they did decades ago.

That being said, the MTV brand will always hold a dear place in my heart.

Watching the channel was a shared experience for a generation that grew up in a time when music discovery was a slow and communal experience. While the primary music listening experiences were audio-only mediums like cassettes, CDs and the radio, MTV played a big part in how genres – be it grunge, Britpop, hip-hop or pop – were enjoyed visually.

From the cinematic drama of Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain (1992) and the raw, visceral energy of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991) to Michael and Janet Jackson’s science-fiction epic Scream (1995) and Jamiroquai’s mind-bending Virtual Insanity (1996), watching a series of music videos on MTV back then felt like you were connected to the global youth culture.

The VJs, or video jockeys, who hosted the local and regional MTV shows – such as Nadya Hutagalung, Jamie Aditya and Mike Kasem – became household names themselves.

Starting in the late 1990s, MTV’s presence went far beyond the television screen in Singapore, as the city-state was also MTV Asia’s operational base.

In 2002, the inaugural MTV Asia Awards took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. While it was not populated with A-listers like the annual US-based MTV Video Music Awards, it did feature stars like American pop singer Pink, Irish boy band Westlife and J-pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki.

The 2003 and 2004 editions were also held in Singapore, boasting global acts such as Mariah Carey and Linkin Park, as well as home-grown darling Stefanie Sun and Taiwan’s Jay Chou.

Ironically, that was around the same time MTV in the US started to pivot away from music videos to focus more on wildly popular reality television shows such as Jackass (2000 to 2002), The Osbournes (2002 to 2005) and Pimp My Ride (2004 to 2007).

In 2010, the channel officially dropped the words “music television” from its logo, marking the complete transition to a broader entertainment network focused on reality shows and pop culture.

Closer to home, after years of reduced original programming, the main MTV Asia channel finally made its exit after StarHub TV discontinued it in 2022.

The final music video that played when MTV pulled the plug on its music video channels on New Year’s Eve was The Buggles’ Video Killed The Radio Star (1979) – the same one used for the launch in 1981.

A song about one medium replacing another, it reads more like a reminder that every innovation in how people consume music must eventually give way to something more contemporary.