we'll be doing for tv what fm did for radio. man: there are some that have accused your videos as being soft porn. we like to call them tastefully smutty. a group that's never had any problems saying how they feel, u2! -what are your dreams? -to rule the world. [ music plays ] michael jackson is the man of the '80s. man: music that is all beat and talk. it's rap music. ♪ my life is over, so i might as well speak my mind ♪ pauley: heavy metal, it glorifies sex and violence. it hates authority, and adolescent boys love it. swaggart: this weird, beastly presentation that was birthed in the pit of hell. move it back. officer: john lennon as he was entering his premise was shot by an unknown at this time white male. miller: the world has reacted with immense shock and grief to the first rock and roll assassination. it was like in one moment the '60s and '70s got murdered. man: in his life, has given more love than most men and women on the face of this earth. we're here to prove love is not dead, even though john is. graham: you know, you start the decade with the death of a beatle. you don't really know where you're going to go from that point, culturally or musically. announcer: for a while it seemed there was nothing new on the horizon. announcing the latest achievement in home entertainment. the power of sight -- video. the power of sound -- stereo. mtv, music television. [ rock music plays ] we are so excited about this new concept in tv. we'll be doing for tv what fm did for radio. [ music plays ] quinn: at the time the world was saying, we don't think anybody is going to watch videos over and over, but we knew we had something special. ♪ ooh, my little pretty one ♪ ♪ my pretty one ♪ ♪ when you gonna give me some time, sharona? ♪ brown: mtv made you feel like those artists were in the room. you had a personal concert all day. ♪ crack that whip ♪ kasem: when you have the rotation of, say, 100 different videos being rotated over and over on mtv, they do a great job of exposing new acts. ♪ here in my car where the image breaks down ♪ ♪ will you visit me, please ♪ ♪ if i open my door in cars? ♪ majewski: britain was ahead of the curve. they had a ton of videos in their inventory. and that was what paved the way for this accidental second british invasion. jennings: if you look at some of the groups on popular charts in america today, you can't help asking, where on earth did they come from? well, the answer is the same today as it was two decades ago. they come from britain. the music isn't anything like the famous group that came from there, the beatles. you got to understand they were 20 years ago. we're a new generation, a new wave. ♪ you were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar ♪ ♪ when i met you ♪ connelly: by the early 1980s, new wave is used to describe sleek, dressy cool bands that are coming out of england. ♪ don't you want me, baby ♪ ♪ don't you want me, oh ♪ graham: british artists all understood how to use visuals in a way that american artists didn't necessarily get that quickly. ♪ do you really want to hurt me? ♪ ♪ do you really want to make me cry? ♪ boy george: ♪ "do you really want to hurt me?" is a good song. it's a song that old people like and young people like. so i think the proof is in the pudding. buy it and eat it. ♪ majewski: mtv actually met with duran duran's managers and said, "we're looking for kind of like james bond videos, on location," and their managers are the ones that went to the band members and said, "look, we really need to up the ante with these clips. we need to give this channel something they've never seen before." ♪ moving on the floor now, babe ♪ ♪ you're a bird of paradise ♪ man: there are some that have accused your videos of being soft porn. well, excuuuuse me! [ laughter ] we like to call them tastefully smutty. ♪ her name is rio and she dances on the sand ♪ ♪ just like that river twisting through the dusty land ♪ ♪ and when she... ♪ rodgers: when i first met duran duran, they were saying that they thought they looked like rock stars, so why not become rock stars? [ cheering ] ♪ don't stand, don't stand so ♪ ♪ don't stand so close to me ♪ man: why do you think we're so popular over there? sting: i think there's a tradition that goes back over the past 20 years from the days of the beatles and rolling stones where british bands seem to be better at it than americans. glenn: the police have sold 4 million albums in one year. rolling stone chose them as the best new band of the year, taking note of the swirling, dreamy, soaring quality of the sound. ♪ giant steps are what you take ♪ ♪ walking on the moon ♪ melvoin: it was incredible to see them, and i couldn't believe what i was hearing -- out of three people. i was shocked. man: i once read that you were called the pink floyd of the '80s. what do you think of that? we're not at all. we're the cure of the '80s. ♪ and i know i was wrong when i said it was true ♪ ♪ that it couldn't be me and be her in between without you ♪ majewski: the holy trinity of alternative british music is the cure, depeche mode, and the smiths. all three of them started out as these fringe bands that by the end of the '80s were selling out stadiums. ♪ ...give it to me ♪ ♪ will you take the pain ♪ ♪ i will give to you ♪ ♪ again and again ♪ ♪ and will you return it? ♪ [ cheers and applause ] what's new order, computer programmers or musicians? i'd say neither, actually. what are you, then? eh, bank robbers. ♪ how does it feel ♪ ♪ to treat me like you do ♪ ♪ when you've... ♪ majewski: in the u.k., disco did not suck. it never sucked. and bands like new order combined it with the new synthesizer sound, and they gave us these incredible songs that got us out on the dance floor. ♪ i still find it so hard ♪ ♪ to say what i need to say ♪ i like what's happening in dance places now over the last year or two. i think the music is becoming very healthy. it has done wonders for the sagging record industry. it has made overnight stars out of rock groups whose records had been gathering dust. this year the first since 1978 business is finally up. and the reason is music videos. ♪ we had no idea that music videos would have that much of an impact on the musical culture. it changed the entire dynamic of what you had to do as far as promotion was concerned. you had to be a performance artist as well as a musician. ♪ fox the fox ♪ ♪ rat on the rat ♪ man: the intelligent ones recognize that it's a marriage between the visual artist and the musician at this point. ♪ monkey ♪ ♪ don't you're going to shock the monkey ♪ hays: the man or the woman who finds the right combination will take it all. ♪ let's dance ♪ ♪ put on your red shoes and dance the blues ♪ rodgers: when david and i decided that we were going to work together, it was pretty clear to me that david wanted to make a commercial album, you know. "now i'm going to go make a pop record," but it was going to be his version of pop. bowie: my songs always tend to be impressionistic or even have a surreal quality to them, and on this album is the first time that i really tried to adapt to a didactic kind of approach to some writing. ♪ if you should fall ♪ ♪ into my arms ♪ ♪ tremble like a flower ♪ spheeris: artists in the '80s, and david bowie, for that matter, realized if you want to make it, you got to be on mtv. man: but there's one group that's not happy with mtv. many black artists who have been told their music doesn't fit the format. james: that's what's happening. we are being sat in the back of the bus television style. and if pittman gets away with this, then there are others cable shows that are going to try it. pittman: mtv doesn't exclude black acts. what mtv does exclude is music that's not rock and roll. mtv came out with no consideration on how to infuse black music into their mix. i am just floored by the fact that there are so few black artists featured on it. why is that? we have to try and do what we think not only new york and los angeles will appreciate but some town in the midwest that would be scared to death by prince or a string of other black faces. interesting. okay. thank you very much. when are we going to see anybody of color on mtv, because you said "music television." when are you going to start covering all genres of music? whoo! music has no color. and it shouldn't have color. and i don't believe in that. what i do, i don't want it labeled black or white. i want it labeled it's music. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ 1983, motown has this big tv special, motown's 25th anniversary. at that time "thriller" is out and "thriller" is doing well. but michael jackson couldn't get "billie jean" on mtv. ♪ she was more like a beauty queen ♪ ♪ from a movie scene ♪ lover: when the rest of the world was going crazy and he can't get on mtv -- michael jackson -- come on! ♪ [ crowd screaming ] graham: when he does that moonwalk, if you were sitting on the couch, by the end of it you were on the floor in front of the tv. you couldn't believe what you were seeing. questlove: i would say that the moonwalk was really one of the first viral moments that affected rock history. the next week "thriller" started selling a million copies a week. i like michael jackson because he can sing good, he's bad and he knows how to dance. he's so sexy and so gorgeous. he's exciting! michael jackson is the man of the '80s. graham: mtv starts to get pressure from cbs records, which was michael jackson's label. rock and roll in itself really was the thing that broke a lot of rules. and when you're very successful, you try to make your own rules occasionally. graham: as the story goes, cbs essentially said, "we will pull every other artist we have on mtv if you don't play this." they had to be essentially blackmailed into doing it. ♪ it doesn't matter who's wrong or right ♪ ♪ just beat it ♪ he was the artist that mtv really needed. they didn't know they needed him, but boy, when we started to see the michael jackson videos, it was just unbelievable. ♪ and no one's going to... ♪ questlove: then there's the domino effect. suddenly you see prince videos from warner brothers do the same thing. ♪ so tonight i'm going to party like it's 1999 ♪ pauley: prince wasn't just materializing out of nowhere. where was he before this video was done? prince was a huge star on black radio stations. people -- he had a real underground cult following, and he was a very sexy, hot performer. ♪ the sweat of your body covers me ♪ ♪ can you, my darling, can you picture ♪ melvoin: prince loved the idea that he was taking his punk funk music and turning it on to a white audience, and that wouldn't have happened if not for mtv. ♪ this is what it sounds like when the doves cry ♪ when i was younger, i always said that one day i was going to play all kinds of music and not be judged for the color of my skin but the quality of my work. ♪ i only want to see you ♪ ♪ only going to see you ♪ ♪ in the purple rain ♪ wilson: prince had a great androgyny. he blurred the gender line. he sings, he writes, he plays. every time i see him, it's just like, oh, really? okay, i quit! [ guitar solo ] hoffs: when he plays guitar, it's just part of his body in a way that i've never really seen before. and it's not contrived, it's just -- it's just happening. majewski: what was his music? was it r&b? you know, his music was just straight down the middle, mainstream, grab you by the throat, and balls, pop. ♪ we go down to the river ♪ ♪ and into the river we dive ♪ at this point a lot of it is about being there, which is why we haven't done too much of the video thing. a lot of it is -- it allows too much distance, like what our band is about is about breaking down distance. connelly: bruce was all about credibility and intelligence and integrity. so how would he translate his music and his attitude toward the world to what seemed like this frivolous world of the music video? bruce is not going to be next to a winking model on a sailboat. ♪ can't start a fire ♪ ♪ you can't start a fire without a spark ♪ ♪ this gun's for hire ♪ he ends up doing, essentially, a concert video starring a then unknown courteney cox. it's like this weird re-creation of something that organically happens at a bruce springsteen concert. ♪ born in the usa ♪ if there was an artist in the '80s who transcended the music video, he's the guy. he is the one guy that didn't actually need to do great music videos to still be a great artist. he's bruce springsteen. it was great music. ♪ born in the usa ♪ david bowie, mick jagger, billy joel, rod stewart -- all famous, all rich, and all men. rock and roll has been pretty much dominated by men until the last few years. ♪ you're a heartbreaker ♪ fox: pat benatar is hot, very hot. three albums in the past three years, all million sellers, and the latest album hit the top of the charts in just one month. her style is defiant, raucous, tough, and very sexy. ♪ we are young ♪ ♪ heartache to heartache we stand ♪ ♪ no promises, no demands ♪ it appears to me that the one on stage is what i would picture a modern woman to be. someone who is aggressive and soft at the same time, has a lot of strength and conviction, and can look good and still have brains. wild: you would think in the era of music becoming a visual form more than ever that it would all be about objectification, but there were a lot of strong women on that video screen. ♪ man: meet the darlings of l.a.'s new music scene, the go-go's. ♪ see the people walking down the street ♪ unlike earlier girl groups such as the ronnettes or the supremes, the go-go's write their own songs and play their own instruments. ♪ they got the beat ♪ ♪ they got the beat, they got the beat ♪ ♪ yeah, they got the beat ♪ majewski: that was as punk rock as it got for me. to see girls up there, you know, not just singing backup or not just standing in some cool outfit in front of a band, like they were the band. ♪ doesn't matter what they say ♪ ♪ and the jealous games people play ♪ ♪ hey, hey, hey ♪ gumbel: while the go-go's have always managed to look like they're having fun, they are to be taken seriously. they're the first female group ever to have a number one album, and they are at the top of the list of female rock stars whose impact within the industry is stronger than ever. ♪ the phone rings in the middle of the night ♪ ♪ my father yells, what you gonna do with your life? ♪ hoffs: i thought her voice was extraordinary, and cyndi was a very good visual content creator. i mean, those videos were so colorful and fun. this being march 31st, it's also a monday. some of you might consider it a manic monday. you would be interested in knowing there's a hit song of the same name. we are joined by the architects of that song. they are the bangles. you guys are very hot, yes? [ chuckles ][ sighs ] ♪ 6:00 already, i was just in the middle of a dream ♪ majewski: when the bangles came out, everyone was like, "oh! it's another go-go's." the bangles were like, "unh-unh. we're not the new go-go's, we're the new beatles." ♪ but i can't be late 'cause i guess i'll just... ♪ gumbel: lot of people call that a '60s sound. do you think so? that's our main influence. we don't go in and consciously say, "let's make this a buffalo springfield song." that seems to be the way the songs end up sounding. ♪ just another manic monday ♪ ♪ oh oh oh ♪ ♪ i wish it was sunday ♪ ♪ oh oh oh ♪ there's always a certain amount of people who will never take women as a group seriously. man: i mean, it's run by a very chauvinistic, i'd imagine, recording industry. hoffs: we concentrated on the music. we don't really worry about those things. we just keep writing songs. i think that there was a little bit of an attitude like, "they're okay for chicks. they can play okay for girls." we didn't understand why our gender mattered or why it defined us. people magazine this week says it will take an act of congress to keep this woman from becoming a mega star. whitney houston. ♪ how will i know if he really loves me? ♪ ♪ i say a prayer with every heartbeat ♪ whether she was doing a dance song or she was doing a ballad... ♪ the greatest love of all ♪ ...it kind of stopped you in your tracks because you just couldn't believe that one woman could be blessed with that much, with the looks and the talent. this lady started out as a dancer, went to new york, went to paris, worked with bands, came back as a single, and is she hot. this is madonna! ♪ george: if you saw madonna then, she looked just like the girls who hung out at a club called the fun house. all the girls there had the mesh thing, and they had the boots, and it was kind of a mix of new wave punk with this other dance sensibility. ♪ holiday ♪ ♪ celebrate ♪ i think madonna was able to use that core of dance music and use the style of the streets that were going on and evolve that into a pop career. we are a couple weeks into the new year. what do you hope will happen not only in 1984 but for the rest of your professional life, what are your dreams, what's left? to rule the world. ♪ star light, star bright ♪ ♪ first star i see tonight ♪ ♪ star light ♪ ♪ star bright ♪ ♪ make everything all right ♪ ♪ star light ♪ peresman: all of a sudden there was girls around that had the gloves with the fingers cut out, and the hair wrapped up in a net, wearing short skirts. there was like hundreds of thousands of jewish girls around the country wearing crucifixes because of madonna. woman: what do you like about her? i like the way she thinks about acting free. she acts like a different attitude that no one else has. she dresses how she wants, acts how she wants, sings how she wants, she does what she wants. i think her appeal is that she is feminine, she is herself, she is sexual, but she's strong! she's an individual woman. rodgers: madonna understood the mtv phenomenon. she understood the vibe and the look and the sound. it all came together with her. everyone underestimates you. you keep giving them little surprises. if they get you all in one glance, then what's going to make them look again? ♪ ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, like a virgin ♪ ♪ feels so good inside ♪ peresman: when madonna sang "like a virgin" and started rolling around on the ground, people thought it was a career- ending moment for her. ♪ oh oh oh oh oh ♪ in this wedding dress, rolling around on the floor. it kind of stopped everybody in their tracks, and was thinking, what is she doing, and why is she doing it? but literally by the next morning, she's the biggest star in the world. melvoin: madonna had no doubt. she was like, "this is happening. get out of the way." [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ you've been hiding ♪ in the '80s, the videos were so expensive and so complicated, and you had to wear things that you would never dream of wearing before. at first it was a lot of fun to really get dressed up and pull in that corset, just wear tons of makeup and great big huge hair. you had to have that "sexy" kind of thing, you know? i'm coming out of a gold mold. ann has a welding iron, and she's this amazon welder woman or something. ann wilson: we felt lost in the theater of it. it got to the point where the videos were more important than the songs. nancy wilson: it did feel like, i can't steer the ship anymore. where is it going? where are we headed? i think heavy metal is the true rock and roll of the '80s, and rock and roll was basically music made by people who were thinking with their crotches. [ indistinct singing ] [bleep] like a beast! heavy metal, it is