When MTV premiered in 1981, music videos were a novelty; a network that played them 24/7 appealed even to cynical Gen Xers. But the format wasn't conducive to setting competitive ad rates ...

Meanwhile, in the USA, plans for MTV were beginning. The concept was simple – non-stop music videos, 24 hours a day. But, as part of America’s cable television, MTV would rely upon advertising ...

In the earliest days of MTV, few songs were more inescapable than Devo’s fractured New Wave classic “Whip It.” With hardly any bands making music videos when MTV launched in 1981 ...