After 40 years, MTV is finally saying goodbye to music. Like, for real this time. So long, my friend.
If you’re like me, you might be shocked to learn that MTV was still playing music at all. Anytime I want my MTV, I flip over to the network and am instantly assaulted with another 24-hour Ridiculousness marathon.
Well, it turns out that behind the aggressive amount of Rob Dyrdek, the music is still alive. For now, at least. Paramount Skydance, MTV’s parent company, is shutting down the network’s U.K. music channels. That lineup includes MTV Music, MTV ’80s, MTV ’90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live. Sadly, each channel is facing a cut at the end of 2025, officially making MTV a reality TV-only brand.
As the BBC reports, the move reflects “changing viewing habits.” To be fair, anyone watching a music video in 2025 is most likely doing so on YouTube or TikTok. But still, the idea that literally no music will be available on any MTV channel after this year is a pretty big bummer.
Talk about the end of an era.
Rest in Peace, MTV. Thanks for the Memories.
Anyone over the age of 30 will tell you that this isn’t the most surprising development. MTV hasn’t really been about music since the Total Request Live days, which began in late 1998 and fell off in the mid-2000s before cancellation came calling in 2008.
While Carson Daly was giving us our daily top 10 music video countdown, shows like The Osbournes, Laguna Beach, and Jersey Shore were taking over the network. “I want my MTV” was quickly replaced with “I want my trash TV,” and that’s pretty much how we got here. Sad.
When MTV first hit the airwaves in 1981, it changed the music industry and the world. MTV didn’t just bring the music video to your living room; it created stars. Music videos weren’t even a major part of the music industry before MTV became a thing.
A few years later, music videos were everything. And it was glorious.
For example, let’s talk about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, for a second. Sure, MJ was already a big deal in late 1983. But the “Thriller” music video airing on MTV made him a household name with a totally new demographic.
And soon after, we’d have people literally passing out at MJ concerts. What a time to be alive.
Remembering the Peak of the MTV Video Music Awards
Without MTV and the popularization of the music video, we also would have never gotten the MTV Video Music Awards.
The VMAs were, at one point, music’s version of the Super Bowl. Every year, the VMAs were one of the most significant TV events. Now, they don’t even air on MTV. I guess they really have distanced themselves from music, huh?
Former MTV VJ Simone Angel told BBC News that the decision to move away from music videos fully “really does break my heart.”
“You’ve just got to move with the times,” Angel stated. “To this day, [MTV] is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Why on earth throw that away?”
“It’s not thrown away, but it’s just reality TV,” she continued. “That’s not what MTV is or should be.”
Anyway, thank you for the memories, MTV. Thank you for music videos, the VMAs, TRL, and for waiting until I was out of my formative years to die a slow and painful death.
The post An Obituary for MTV’s Music Channels, Dead at 40 appeared first on VICE.
