You may think of it as the channel that rattles your china, occasionally your teeth and hypnotizes your children. But what you may want to know is that mtv is responsible for a complete revolution in the music business in this country. Unskinny bop just blows me away mtv makes the hits. Its as if there were just one National Radio station for new songs. Ending the 80s in terms of rock music youre getting a lot of hair bands. Youve got poison, ratt, warrant. Shes my cherry pie cool drink of water, such a Sweet Surprise tastes so good make a grown man sweet cherry pie a lot of hairspray going on. Theres a lot of sexually suggestive lyrics. Its not particularly deep music, but mtv pushing it. So thats selling. When i would turn on mtv, all the rock bands looked a certain wy. They played a kind of music. They were expected to have a certain facade. Mtvs ratings are surprisingly small. But those who do watch, mostly teenagers and young adults, buy a lot of records and tapes and cds. And buy the most of what they see the most. Recently, two members of the heavy metal band aerosmith dropped by mtvs offices to screen their new video and brought a big bag of cash as an incentive. The Record Companies would submit videos every monday and then wed have our music meetings and look at all the videos and decide who was going to get put into the rotation. I was a 21yearold kid who loved punk rock, and i pretty quickly realized that the music that they were playing just wasnt what i was into. When the new nirvana video was delivered to mtv, i was completely blown away. I said, listen, they really are incredible and we need to give them a shot, and if it doesnt work, then you can push me out of the music meeting. Tonights World Premiere video is from the seattle band nirvana. Smells like teen spirit. Load up on guns bring your friends its fun to lose and to it was like the musical kennedy assassination of our time. Everybody who was alive then can tell you the moment they heard that song. Because nothing like that existed to that point. It was really transcendent. When the lights out its less dangerous here we are now entertain us here we are now, entertain us. It sounded like a threat. It sounded like a different generation coming in and saying, what do you have for us . What are you going to do for us . Got to find a way, a better way, a way to live the socalled slackers, generation x, they were not being paid attention to. And this pressure was building up, especially in the Music Industry, for something that actually spoke to them. This is the First American generation that will make less than their parents will. Its a tough time to grow up in. And i think the band and kurt cobain in particular reflect that angst. Yeah, yeah kurt cobain was a great songwriter with this ability to scream almost in tune. It just gave an intensity that was really unique. I kill you, im not gonna crack nirvana gave the record industry a wakeup call and said, here is your new audience. So, start looking for the people with the clothes with the holes in the knees and you better run to those clubs to buy up the next one. I would go to the clubs and see bands like cat butt and bands like screaming trees. It was such a refreshing change from the competitive sort of l. A. Hollywood 80s. And it was just suddenly so cool to be from seattle. One of the biggest music biz stories these days is the socalled rain city renaissance with the emergence of noisy punk metal grunge rock. Bands like soundgarden, nirvana, alice in chains, and pearl jam from seattle, washington. Outshined outshined outshined why dont you tell me what the biggest misconception about the socalled seattle music scene is . Everybodys a grunge band. All of these bands sound pretty different from each other were being lofted up to the mainstream as this is what grunge is. Tell me a little bit about the seattle music scene. With all the attention, no ones ever asked us that before. Weve never heard that question. So, tell me about the seattle sound, whats going on up there . Whats in the water . Son, have i got a little story for you what you thought was your daddy bands like nirvana, pearl jam, they wanted no part of the Music Industry machine. And yet, there they were, on mtv, on the charts, selling millions of records. Hey oh, im still alive i, oh, im still alive its a little bit overwhelming to see this many people. Were used to playing small clubs, you know . And we want to go back to playing small clubs. A collaborative rock tour kicked off in phoenix, arizona, on thursday night. Its a multiact package called the lollapalooza tour. All your crossroads 1991, we were the first band on stage at the firstever lollapalooza, which was a tremendous thing for my band and i. Lollapalooza is cool. The idea that you could get these important and popular bands from the underground, like janes addiction, Nine Inch Nails, soundgarden, hole, red hot chili peppers, and you get them all together, it felt like a really new idea. By the mid90s its already been parodied by the simpsons. Its like woodstock only with advertisements everywhere and tons of security guards. It is in the american lexicon. The commercial culture has coopted the counterculture. The honeymoons over. Now were getting down to real commerce and theres a certain kind of disillusionment going on. Since i got everything i wanted i could put a zero after the number of record sales ive had. I could play 200,000seat halls instead of 2,000seat halls and i could go on mtv 1,000 times a week rather than 1 time a month. And i thought maybe when i reached all these goals id find some sort of peace. I didnt. Its like im more miserable now than i ever was. Introducing the allnew Volkswagen Jetta with appconnect and available beats audio. Call on me brother when you need a hand lean on me, when youre not strong and ill be your friend ill help you carry on lean on me mmm. Lean on me. Mmm. Lean on me. Welcome to the week in rock. It was a week lit up in a large way by the release of in utero, the much anticipated third album by nirvana. Rape me walmart is refusing to sell nirvanas new release which includes a song called rape me. The chain says it wants to be sensitive to its customers moral standards. To get into walmart they had to change the title from rape me to waif me. I dont think kurt was too happy about that. He always had that conflict between wanting to maintain that kind of punk authenticity, but also wanting to be popular. Rape me the starmaking machine had sucked nirvana up into its evil guts, and now they had to deal with it. We decided to lay low and obviously that was you know, someone would say, oh, because kurts on heroin the whole time. It was just like its been really damaging to us. To tell you the truth. Its really affected my personal life a lot. [ applause ] i was in the front row of the unplugged performance, and it was a serious artistic statement. Kurt didnt play the hits. You know, those songs were chosen for a particular reason. My girl, my girl dont lie to me tell me where did you sleep last night i remember watching him play a cover of a leadbelly song, where did you sleep last night . And it was emotional for me because i love nirvana and i felt this connection to kurt cobain and i was always, even when i was young, just so worried about him. My girl, my girl in that era there was always the speculation kurts not doing well, kurt has drug problems. And nirvana unplugged was this kind of thing like the clouds parted. You know . And it seemed like everything was going to be okay. The whole night through [ cheers and applause ] from seattle tonight, word of an untimely death. The lead singer of nirvana shot and killed himself at his home in seattle, washington, today. It didnt come as a major surprise, but it was devastating because of the way it happened. I pulled over and i was there for like 20 minutes, half an hour just crying right there. I just dont understand it, thats all. I think he was the closest that his generation came to a john lennon. Yeah. In that he was writing very much from the heart, very directly, and he didnt play according to the rules. I was 16 when that happened. And if you turned to music for solace in your life, to then see your hero kill himself, it was devastating. It certainly sucked the air out of alternative rock. You know, the best band fell apart after only making a couple records. You know . What do you do after that . Oasis, the verve, blur, the britpop thing, it was like the hangover of grunge. Oh, my god, my heads pounding. This has been insane. Lets turn on oasis. And after all youre my wonderwall they were the opposite of nirvana because they wanted fame. No matter how big they were they wanted to be bigger. We know were the best band in the country, and its as simple as that. And its that simple. The thing about oasis in a way is theyve got no kind of no false modesty. Anybody can just sort of go were brilliant. Its like anybody whos got the balls to do that is good in my book. But im a creep creep came out in the early 90s. And that was as much of an alt rock hit as any of the nirvana songs or the pearl jam songs, but it was hardly extraordinary. Inevitably, you know, the first song that becomes a hit everybody caricatures the band from that. We just have to wait to see whether we have a chance to prove that were not just that. Okay. I remember vividly listening to radioheads next record, the bends, nonstop, and id seriously geek out on every part, the bass line, like percussion, every tiny little nuance. Dont leave me high dont leave me dry this week the band released a new album ok computer that has critics chirping with praise, too. Ok computer is like dark side of the moon of the 90s. It really showed that this is going to be a defining band of the next 25 years. You could tell the whole story of the evolution of what came out of grunge through radiohead, and what came out of alternative through beck. In the time of chimpanzees i was a monkey butane in my veins i was always interested in hiphop. Sort of nonlinear word connections. Im a loser, baby, so why dont you kill me beck is defining whats happening now with that mesh of styles. Hes mixing electronic, country, rap, rock and roll, everything. Everything. Hes throwing the kitchen sink in. Out of the ashes of nirvana, dave grohl created the foo fighters. This is the first time in my life ive ever fronted a band, had to actually stand up and sing. And seem charismatic or whatever, which i cant do. But i need to just keep playing and making music. Looking to the sky to save me looking for a sign of life looking for something to help me burn out bright in an era when everything was serious and had a heavy tone especially after kurt cobains death, the foo fighters create the learn to fly music video. They found this perfect balance between making people laugh with also having the ability to play incredible rock music. [ cheers and applause ] vo what if this didnt have to happen . I didnt see it. vo what if we could go back . What if our car. Could stop itself . In iihs frontend crash prevention testing, nobody beats the subaru impreza. Not toyota. Not honda. Not ford. The subaru impreza. More than a car, its a subaru. Your digestive system has billions of bacteria, but life can throw them off balance. Realign yourself, with align probiotic. And try new align gummies, with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health. Does your Business Internet provider promise a lot . Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business gives you gigspeed in more places. The others dont. We offer up to 6 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. Everyone else, no way. We let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. Them, not so much. We let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. The others . Nope get internet on our gigspeed network and add voice and tv for 34. 90 more per month. Call or go on line today. The down home music once the preserve of cowboys and rednecks is well on its way to becoming the sound of the 90s. One of the things that was overlooked while all this rock and roll explosion was going on was Country Music. These acts were putting out good music, they were touring constantly around the country, and building up a fan base. Blame it all on my roots i showed up in boots and ruined your black tie affair when they asked people their favorite singer, number one in the nation was garth brooks. Are you surprised by that . Yes, sir. I guess my family knew they would be asking the questions and got there before they did. I got friends in low places where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away living in mississippi, country was a huge part of my life, and it was all because of garth brooks. The first time i ever saw him in concert, i was probably 10 or 11 years old. To the oasis i said that is exactly what i want to do. Garth brooks is the biggestselling artist of the decade and the fastestselling musical artist ever. Hes been described as a cross between john wayne and mick jagger. Hes got the looks of a cowboy and the moves of a rock n roll star. It sounded like rock n roll. Guitars and big drums, and everybodys singing along. Thats what everybody liked about rock shows. As the acts became maybe less twangy in their way, that really just expanded their audience. Artists like George Strait or brooks dunn, plenty of acts worked their way up and became massive. Over the last two years, Country Music has taken over the airwaves and the record charts with over 2 billion in sales and climbing. As the boom in the music takes hold, westernwear dealers cant keep up with the demand. Youve got kids, youve got a house payment, and these people are more like you are than madonna is. Is there life out there so much she hasnt done women in country was a huge thing in the 90s. You had reba mcentire, martina mcbride, the dixie chicks, shania twain. Lets go, girls i remember when shania twain came out i was just obsessed with her. I thought it was because i was really attracted to her but i came to find out i just wanted to be her best friend. The best part about being a woman is the prerogative to have a little fun oh, oh, oh, totally crazy in all fields in our society now women, i wouldnt say dominating, i think that theyre just rising to their true place. I feel like a woman [ cheers ] as things wore on, it became a great decade to be a girl. After years of singing backup for such stars as Michael Jackson and rod stewart, she exploded onto the music scene in 1993 with her album tuesday night music club. All i wanna do is have some fun ive got a feeling im not the only one radio has been so long in coming playing female artists. So, its definitely a different sort of environment and attitude now. If it makes you happy female artists like sheryl crow or liz phair, even though they had success they were still routinely marginalized within every aspect of the industry. There was not a lot of space in pop culture for a young womans thoughts, feelings, voices, to be respected or taken seriously. Im just a girl there was such a strange dichotomy to gwen stefani, super girlie but then also kind of tough. And then in front of this band of all guys. Thats all that youll let me be im just a girl in the world and thats all that youll let me be. You know, it was like the middle finger up to every guy that ever annoyed you. Look whos here. Alanis. Hi. We ran into each other. Were shopping today. We thought wed take you with us. And alanis is here with a brandnew album. A brandnew look ive noticed. Yeah. I was dropped from mca records after having made music through my teens. And my personal promise to myself was i wouldnt stop until i wrote a record that really exemplified and nailed on the head what was truly going on for me. Another version of me is she perverted like me would she go down on you in a theater that was a little pearl clutch moment. What did she say . Women could say that . And, yeah, they could. She was singing about a relationship that had obviously gone wrong, but it wasnt this kind of nice like oh, my god, you left me and now im sad. This was rage at this man. You didnt hear that a lot from women. And im here to remind you of the mess you left when you went away its not fair in america alone, jagged little pill sells 50 million albums. Its alanis moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you oughta know over the last four years just learned to write for my own reasons and write for myself. And its pretty ironic the moment i started doing that was the moment most people related to it. An old man turned 98 you know, it was that egocentric tendency on my part and perhaps everyones part to think youre alone in your pain. I quickly realized that i was not alone and that millions of other people were feeling along with me. People were tired of sublimating, people were tired of being inauthentic about their real experience and conforming. So, i think there was this door that busted open, and i was on the crust of the wave. Its like rain on your wedding day its a free ride and youve already paid ironic was really funny because what she was talking about wasnt ironic at all but she became one of the biggest stars of the mid 90s. And i think out of that you get not only Alanis Morrissette but theres lots of other women making music too and lets celebrate all of it. The latest trend in rock n roll, women. Last night, some of the top female artists took the stage to launch lilith fair. It is a series of summer concerts rocking the world and shattering misconceptions. A lot of the summer festivals are very maledominated. And i just thought that it wasnt representational of all the music that was out there. So this is sort of a way to even the scales a little bit. I went to the doctor i went to the mountains i looked to the children i drank from the fountains theres more than one answer to these questions lilith fair was incredibly powerful. Our brains, our bodies, our creativity, our ambition mattered. It validated a lot. The closer i am to fine yeah [ cheers and applause ] hey. This is amazing. With moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay . Even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications havent worked well enough. And it helps people achieve control that lasts. So you can experience few or no symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores.