On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV launched with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll!” while the footage of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon was played. These words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching classical tune composed by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen.The purpose of the channel then was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs. – it’s been thirty years since then and MTV doesn’t play as much music as it used to (though there exist a few channels on the MTV network which have 24 hour music programming; none in India). Oh and we are talking about MTV in USA , not MTV India which is a much recent start.
MTV has become a pop-culture icon all over the world. From inspiring generation after generation about what is right (what is left!) and what is wrong, MTV is today a Reality TV overdose (with lame shows like Jersey Shore) that the internet loves dissing. For those of us with access to the older MTV shows like 120 Minutes and Unplugged, we know what an awesome channel MTV used to be.

MTV (and MTV India) has been coming with innovative content in recent times but that channel that was loved for it’s love for music videos is seriously missed. Nevertheless, managing to create such an impact on the thoughts of the youth is no ordinary feat – and for that, we love you MTV! Happy 30th!