The Colorado Switchblade

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The Colorado Switchblade
Paramount Killed the Video Star: A Nostalgic Farewell to MTV News

Paramount Killed the Video Star: A Nostalgic Farewell to MTV News

and the entire archive...

Jason Van Tatenhove's avatar
Jason Van Tatenhove
Jun 26, 2024
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MTV News was more than just a news outlet; it was a cultural touchstone for a generation. With Paramount's recent decision to erase its entire archive, we bid farewell to a significant piece of our collective memory.

As I sit down, I feel sick, not just from the summer flu or whatever I might be sweating through today. The sounds of Blind Faith’s “I Can’t Find My Way Home” play in the background, floating across the room and curling around me like incense smoke, adding to my melancholy as I write this piece. I can't help but feel a wave of wet-eyed nostalgia wash over me.

You may not have heard the news yet. I, a news junkie, just heard it myself and was so shaken that I had to shake off the chills and sweats enough to drag myself to my old keyboard and put it down.

The recent news regarding Paramount shutting down MTV News is more than just a corporate restructuring; it's the end of an era. For those of us who grew up with the dawn of MTV, this news hits hard. It feels like we are losing a vital touchstone to our shared cultural past. The real kicker is they have already taken the torch to the archive. All of it—gone. They even threw VH1 onto the burn pile for good measure. Apparently, it wasn’t just the books we had to worry about them burning​​.

I still vividly remember watching the very first music video MTV ever aired. It was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, a prophetic choice that signaled a new age of music and media. As a child, I was captivated by the fresh, vibrant energy that MTV brought into our living rooms. It wasn't just about the music; it was about the attitude, the style, and the unfiltered connection to the zeitgeist of our times. My little brother Scotty will argue this memory is false, saying we didn’t have cable when we lived in Jersey. Yet it's there, etched in the foundational memories of my youth. Gods know the argument has brought a couple of birthday and holiday family gatherings close to ruin. But as we have aged, our good graces have taken better hold of us. Maybe I have jumped into a close parallel universe where I was witness to the birth of one of the cultural touchstones of our generation, and the Berenstain Bears were spelled differently. It doesn’t really matter in the end—and this is my fucking article, so Scotty, that’s just the way it’s going to go.

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