For these of us of a sure age, it nonetheless feels each unhappy and inexplicable that MTV—a channel that actually used to be known as “Music Tv”—stopped, y’know, enjoying music, on tv. Sadly, the harmless days when MTV did simply play music are by no means coming again—and whereas it’s not like we wanted additional affirmation of this, we bought it anyway on New Yr’s Eve with the closure of MTV’s remaining music channels in the UK, Australia, and a bunch of different nations.
Nonetheless, it’s not all dangerous information for MTV nostalgics. This week additionally noticed the launch of a website known as MTV Rewind, which aggregates MTV music movies from YouTube in a bid to recreate the expertise of MTV’s pre-reality TV period.
You would possibly argue that you might get an analogous expertise by simply heading to YouTube and typing “MTV music” into the search bar, choosing a video, and letting the website’s autoplay characteristic do its factor. Anybody who has truly carried out this, nonetheless, will know that in the end, YouTube will begin steering itself away from what you’ve requested it to play and towards what it thinks you want. In my case, regardless of the place I begin, YouTube’s algorithmic carcinization will finally ship me to Radiohead’s “In the Basement” video—which, to be clear, is completely improbable, however is additionally one thing I’ve already watched a gazillion occasions.
MTV Rewind’s movies, against this, are drawn at random, with no algorithmic enter. This clearly has the potential for frustration—no, I do not need to watch a video by Chic, ever—but additionally makes for a extra devoted recreation of the expertise of sitting in entrance of the TV circa 1989. Utilizing the website additionally neatly circumvents YouTube’s ongoing advert barrage, which is a nice bonus.
The positioning’s developer, who goes by the identify Flexasaurus Rex, has posted a collection of updates on Farcaster, explaining that they began constructing the website final weekend to recreate what they name “a cultural establishment that modified music, vogue, and youth tradition.” Some 48 hours later, they had been carried out: “I’m broke, exhausted, and truthfully feeling like shit, however 1000’s are utilizing [the site].”
The following day, maybe having re-upped on espresso, the developer was again on-line, proclaiming MTV Rewind to be “punk rock as fuck … a center finger to algorithmic manipulation, ad-driven content material, engagement optimization, knowledge extraction and company streaming monopolies.”
There’s a sure irony to this. Whereas, in its heyday, MTV was definitely a cultural establishment, it was additionally endlessly derided—critics decried it for representing company homogenisation of tradition, and shortly after its launch, David Bowie famously denounced its lack of black artists. (Essentially the most considered YouTube clip of that interview, by the means, is on … MTV Information’s channel.) The entire thing brings to thoughts Harvey Dent’s observation that you simply die a hero or stay lengthy sufficient to turn out to be a villain; in MTV’s case, sticking round even longer appears to have introduced it full circle right into a state of nostalgic heroism.
As of publication, MTV Rewind pulls from a database of 33,478 movies, which it divides into 10 channels. These embody movies sorted by decade, together with these from MTV Unplugged, Headbangers’ Ball, and Yo! MTV Raps. (The latter is much less corny than its identify makes it sound, youngsters.) Contemplating the real-life expertise of watching MTV meant seeing a rotation of possibly 30 movies all through the day, MTV Rewind has its perks.
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