MTV is pushing 40?!? Tarzan Dan from YTV’s Hit List drops by Studio 3B to talk about those in music television who came before him, he and Alan swap tops on how to interview a rock star, and we find out how he reacted to landing in the pages of Canadian music history.

MTV airing The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” to launch the network was not the first music video ever broadcast. Nor was it the first music video ever made. 

It was far from the first time music appeared on TV, that’s for sure. 

But the two pop culture staples have often worked hand-in-hand for entertainment and cross-promotional purposes, a practice that dates back to at least the 1950s. 

How old are music videos?

What qualifies as the first music video is up for some debate.

For example, waaaaaaay back in 1894, a pair of sheet music publishers, Edward Marks and Joe Stern, hired an electrician named George Thomas, along with some musicians, to promote the sale of their new song, “The Little Lost Child.” Using a very early form of movies, a series of images set to live performed music was displayed and came to be known as the “illustrated song.” Does that make it the first video? 

Jump ahead to the late 1920s, as the “talkies” started to take the world by storm, and Vitaphone started producing shorts with bands, singers and dancers. Max Fleischer, an animator, produced a series of short cartoons called “Screen Songs,” which were kind of like a precursor to karaoke, in that the audience was encouraged to sing along. By the 1930s, we have the legendary incorporation of opera music into Looney Tunes cartoons — Elmer Fudd as a viking, anyone? —  followed soon thereafter by Walt Disney’s Fantasia, one of the most visually and artistically stunning creations of all time (think about how painstakingly it was produced and how incredibly imaginative it was at the time before arguing this point). 

By the 1940s, we’re into the era of short films set to music, such as those from musician Louis Jordan, including a feature-length film called “Lookout Sister.” That’s been added to the LIbrary of Congress to be preserved for its historical significance. 

Tony Bennett claims he created the first music video with 1956’s “Stranger in Paradise.” His label at the time filmed the crooner walking through London’s Hyde Park and added that song behind it. The video was sent to TV networks in the U.S. and UK and it played several times on American Bandstand. 

 

About that Bandstand

Two shows are inextricably tied to music and teenage culture in the United States: American Bandstand and the Ed Sullivan Show. 

The so-called perpetual teenager, Dick Clark was the affable host who helped provide apple-cheeked youngsters a place to dance, wholesomely, to some of the country’s top pop bands. The show started on Philadelphia public TV in October 1952 and ran well into the 1980s, featuring a respectable variety of genres: doo-wop, teeny boppers, psychedielic rock, disco and hip-hop over the course of its 30 years. Clark took over for the show’s original host (after he was arrested for driving while intoxicated) and helped kickoff the career of Paul Anka, the first performer to make his debut on a nationally televised show. 

A few months into Clark’s tenure, the show moved to Monday nights from 3:30 p.m. and expanded to a full hour, but the ratings tanked and they moved it back to the afternoon time slot, until it was eventually so popular and so important, it was moved to Saturdays.  

From then on, anyone who was anyone played Bandstand: Sonny and Cher, Gladys Knight, Ike and Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder (just 12 at the time!), Aretha Franklin, The 5th Dimension, The Doors, Michael Jackson as a solo artist and as part of the Jackson 5, Little Richard, Paul Revere, Annette Funicello, even Talking Heads and Prince.

All good things must end, of course, and after refusing to cut back from a hour-long show to 30 minutes, Dick Clark left, the show moved from ABC to the USANetwork and, six months later, on October 7, 1989, the curtain fell for the last time. 

Equally important was The Ed Sullivan Show, famously the host of the Beatles debut in the U.S. It went on the air earlier than Bandstand, starting in 1948 when TV was still relatively new, and folded sooner, in 1971,but by that point the influence was obvious and unmistakable. 

In many ways, Sullivan was the polar opposite of Clark: Awkward, not all that telegenic, often tripping over his words when introducing his guests, which were not limited to just musicians but also comedians and casts from Broadway plays. But in many ways, his awkwardness was part of his charm. 

Sullivan has the distinction of twice breaking TV records, drawing in millions of viewers when Elvis Presley performed in 1955, swiveling those controversial hips — think of the children! — and again in 1964 when he introduced North America to the Beatles during their first trip to New York. That remains one of the most-watched episodes of television in history, nearly 60 years later. It’s the night that the British Invasion really hit audiences hard on this side of the pond. 

He also had more controversy than Clark: He booted the Rolling Stones from coming back after their first performance went a little off the rails. He had to explain to the audience why Bob Dylan didn’t appear after Dylan was prohibited from singing “Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues,” about the hunt for Communists in the U.S. at the time. And then there’s the incident with The Doors, who were famously asked to change the lyrics to “Light My Fire,” removing the line “girl we couldn’t get much higher” because, y’know, drugs are bad, kids. Jim Morrison sang it anyway, looking directly into the camera to avoid any kind of confusion about his intent. They were not invited back. 

There were others, of course, including Dick Cavett’s long-running shows in which he interviewed some of the biggest stars of the 1960s and 1970s, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Lennon with Yoko Ono. Cavett would also interview politicians and Hollywood types and musical performances were few, but he deserves mention here for the conversations he hosted. 

Let’s also tip our caps to Lawrence Welk. The adults in the room needed their entertainment too, with ballroom dancing and all those bubbles.

 

Let’s Get Dancing

The immediate precursor to MTV and its ilk were dance shows. We’re definitely not talking about Welk here. Also not talking about Dancing with the Stars. 

Shows like Solid Gold and Soul Train blew open the doors for people who were bored with the dancing on Bandstand — though early-career Madonna had fun with her club-kid look and moves. 

Soul Train started in Chicago in 1965 when a UHF station broadcast two dance programs aimed at younger viewers: Kiddie-a-Go-Go and Red Hot and Blues. Both programs had predominantly Black audiences and in-house performers dancing to records. Don Cornelius, the host most dearly associated with Soul Train, was hired by the station in 1967 as a news and sports reporter,but he also hosted a series of local talent concerts that he called the Soul Train. By 1970, WICU saw what he was doing and offered him the chance to bring the concerts to TV. They secured a sponsorship with Sears & Roebuck and, on August 17, 1970, a legend was born. The show aired live on weekday afternoons, first in black and white, with Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites and the Emotions as the first guests. At first only viewed in Chicago, by the end of the first season, Soul Train was on in 18 market and was the only commercial program produced by Black talent for Black audiences. It was moved to Los Angeles and went into syndication, becoming one of the longest-running TV shows in history, with 1,117 episodes over 35 seasons. 

Cornelius would host the local Chicago-based version of Soul Train in addition to the national LA-based show, eventually focusing more on the national while still overseeing production in Chicago. The only episode Cornelius didn’t host was the finale of the 1974-75 season; hosting duties that day went to Richard Pryor. 

For Black audiences, this was the representation they needed, wanted and deserved. It was fine to see the Jackson 5 and other artists on Bandstand, but most of the artists there were white. Soul Train featured Black artists almost exclusively — among the few exceptions were the Beastie Boys and David Bowie.  Eventually, as hip hop and rap became more popular, Cornelius spoke openly and often about not understanding the music, in addition to not liking the more sexually aggressive dancing from some groups and their fans. He eventually stepped down as host in the early 1990s, but the show lost momentum and faltered, finally ending for good in 2006. 

When Cornelius died in 2012, fans and devotees of his work arranged flash mobs in cities across the U.S., wearing their finest ‘70s clothes and dancing in his memory. 

Solid Gold was, in many ways, an imitation of what Bandstand and Soul Train already did really well. One of the key differences was that the dancers on Solid Gold were professional, performing choreographed routines instead of representing the dance moves of the moment. It did bring on some popular performers of the time, but also felt more like a mix between a music show and a workout tape at a time when those were beginning to gain traction, thanks to Jane Fonda and Denise Austin. The show lasted a little less than eight years, running from September 1980 until July 1988. 

Dionne Warwick hosted the first season and picked up duties again from 1985-86, with other comedians and radio personalities taking up the helm. The show also had a big countdown episode each January, hosted by Warwick and Glen Campbell the first year. And unlike other shows, the music on each week’s episode was determined by Radio & Records, an industry trade newspaper. 

 

Cue the Video

To bring things back to the beginning, MTV launched in August 1981. Solid Gold, American Bandstand, late-night TV talk shows and other programs were still on the air, showcasing musical guests, but videos were at the heart and soul of MTV in its early days. What a time it was. 

MTV, based in New York City, might have the first to run videos almost all the time, but credit where it’s due: Canada had two dedicated shows, both on CBC: Video Hits, a daily afternoon show, and Good Rockin’ Tonite, which aired on Friday nights. Video Hits was 30 minutes, Good Rockin’ Tonight ran for an hour, but they both offered almost the only opportunity to see videos by Canadian artists (in addition to international stars) without needing a cable subscription. 

Full disclosure: I have vivid memories of watching Video Hits with my mom in the early 1980s. She had me when she was almost 20 and was still a big music fan, so we’d sit down in front of the TV at my grandparents’ house, making sure the antenna was juuuuust right so we could get a clear signal from across the lake. I have to credit Video Hits for sparking a love of Canadian music in particular that very much continues to this day. 

Both Good Rockin’ Tonite and Video Hits were cancelled in the early 1990s, airing their final episodes one day apart and bowing out of the way for the juggernaut that was MuchMusic. 

Smartly, there was a show aimed directly at kids — The Hit List, hosted by “Tarzan” Dan Freeman, on YTV. It lasted 14 seasons, starting in 1991, and had an all-star guest list, ranging from Weird Al Yankovic, boy band show stoppers Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, Hanson, as well as singers of interest to parents, like the Smashing Pumpkins, Simple Plan and Alanis Morissette. “Tarzan” Dan hosted the show for six seasons and, during the show’s peak, it released two compilation CDs, in 1994 and 1996.

Now, if you want to watch videos, just flip over to YouTube or TikTok or an artist’s personal page and you’ll get your fill, day or night, anywhere there’s a wifi connection. The only place you can’t find videos is on TV. 

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Audeze founder Sankar Thiagasamudram explains that the next big thing in audio is 3D in a way you didn’t know you were missing with your typical headphones today. The headphones of the future will be spatially aware, and adjust to your listening preferences using artificial intelligence. And the crazy thing is these headphones already exist.

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What if that random joke you make turned into a party game? The Brothers Hermann of My Fake Band drop by Studio 3B to talk about kickstarting the Next Big Thing around the campfire. Plus: K-pop as the world’s conscience and a middle finger to Donald Trump.

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The United States might have put a man on the moon first, but it was the Russians who first sent a woman to space. The Vintage Space star and author Amy Shira Teitel joins the geeks this week on a supporters-only livestream recording session and Q&A about Valentina Tereshkova, a woman 20 years ahead of her US counterparts.

Russia won the female space race 57 years ago by G&B Senior Segment Producer Amber Healy

From the early days of the space race, research supported the idea of women serving as astronauts and cosmonauts. Women tend to have smaller bodies in every measurable way, and since spaceflight often has to account for every ounce considering the price of rocket fuel, it just made sense to send lighter, smaller bodies into orbit. But in the 1950s and 1960s, sexism was still king in both the USA and the USSR. So women waited. The first woman in space, on June 16, 1963, was Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova. She was 26 at the time and one of several women recruited into an aggressive cosmonaut training program due to her early enthusiasm and skill for parachute jumping. The effort was backed by Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev, who ordered a small group of women be selected and trained for a women-in-space program.

Fearless female leadership

Let’s not mince words here: Tereshkova was a badass from the word go. She joined a paramilitary flying club without telling her mother, spending her weekends training and completing 90 jumps before she caught the Kremlin’s eye. “I did night jumps, too, on to land and water — the Volga River,” she told The Guardian. “I learned to wait as long as possible before pulling the cord, just to feel the air; 40 seconds, 50 seconds… it’s not really falling; you experience enormous pleasure from the sensation of your whole body. It’s marvellous.” She joined the Communist Party in 1962, as would’ve been customary for the time. The Soviets, of course, sent Yuri Gargarin into space in 1961, but the director of cosmonaut training, Nikolai Kamanin, heard shortly thereafter that the Americans were preparing to train female pilots to be astronauts. Not wanting to be outshined, the Soviets started their program with five women, including Tereshkova, and had their training start before their male counterparts. The rules stipulated that the women had to be a parachutist and under the age of 30, standing less than 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) tall and weigh no more than 70 kg (154 lbs). Of the small class of specially trained women, only Tereshkova went to space, selected to pilot Vostok 6, while cosmonaut Valeri Bykovsky piloted the sister mission on Vostok 5. He launched on June 14; she launched two days later. Over the course of 70 hours in space, they came within 5km (3 miles) of each other while in orbit and exchanged messages. Tereshkova orbited the Earth 48 times, with European and Soviet TV beaming back images of her smiling from space. At the time, both Tereshkova and Bykovsky were record holders: she for being the first woman in space; he for spending more time in space alone than anyone — a record he still holds at just five days.

Hers was not a flawless flight, however. The full details of her stressful journey became apparent when her flight log was released to the public in 2013, including that she failed in her original attempt at manually orienting the spacecraft while in orbit. The vehicle kept listing to one side, with warning lights indicating things were off kilter along all three axes. When she activated manual control, she heard an empty knocking noise. On the second day of her flight, she tried again but was unsuccessful, meaning she couldn’t complete her mission of photographing the Earth from above. It was during her 45th orbit that she successfully completed a breaking maneuver, holding it for 25 minutes. Later, as she was returning into Earth’s atmosphere, she and her vessel had no communication with the ground and she wound up in the wrong place. The team on the ground blame Tereshkova for the failure; she says the equipment failed. Once she was collected by her countrymen, she was named a Hero of the Soviet Union. She never went to space again, but none of the women she trained with ever made it that far.

Life on Earth

In November 1963, Tereshkova married a fellow cosmonaut, Andrian Nikolayev. There was much fanfare about their marriage and the birth of their daughter, Elena, as she was the first child born to parents that had both been to space. In 1980, Tereshkova and Nikolayev divorced. There’s speculation that the marriage was basically propaganda, because, y’know, Soviet Russia. Tereshkova received the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace, directed the Soviet Women’s Committee in 1968; from 1974 until 1991 she was a member of the Supreme Soviet Presidium. She was appointed deputy chair of the parliament of Yaroslavl, her home area, and was elected to the Duma in 2011. She has also been awarded the Order of Lenin twice.

NASA does better — sorta…

The United States didn’t launch a woman into space until 1983, when Sally Ride went into orbit on STS-7 aboard the Challenger. (Yes, that Challenger.) This was almost a year after Russia sent its second woman, Svetlana Savitskaya, into space. Savitskaya, by the way, was the first woman to walk in space and the first woman to go to space twice (1982 and 1984). Ride joined NASA’s astronaut corp in 1978. She was one of the first six women to join NASA as an astronaut. The U.S. has taken a few strides toward leading the space race for women in recent years. In 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African American woman in space when she flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavor. In 2008, Peggy Whitson became the first woman to command the International Space Station; eight years later she became the first woman to command the ISS twice, also earning the title of the oldest woman in space at the age of 57. It wasn’t until last year, October 2019, that NASA celebrated its first all-female space walk, when astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, spent seven hours and 17 minutes replacing a power controller outside the ISS. But it wasn’t something NASA went out of its way to organize — instead, the agency said it was “bound to happen eventually” given the increasing number of female astronauts.

…but has a lot to make up for

Granted, the first all-female space walk was supposed to happen a few months earlier, in March, but there was only one medium-sized space suit available on the ISS and the other woman on the ISS at the time, Anne McClain, felt she’d be safer and more comfortable in a smaller size instead of wearing a larger suit. Instead, astronaut Nick Hague joined Koch on the walk. That incident prompted lots of angry comments and parodies, of course. NASA might feel confident about the number of women in its astronaut corps, but they still don’t fully account for women in space. The lack of properly fitting space suits is just the most recent head-scratcher from the agency, which at one point was hesitant to put women in space because they weren’t sure how to accommodate them going to the bathroom in space, let alone having their periods in space, should things synch up that way, because the agency was afraid the women might not be able to perform their jobs properly. No joke: When Sally Ride was preparing for her mission, NASA asked her if 100 tampons would be enough for a seven-day trip to space. (There are now ways to prevent a woman from having her period in space, simply by using the Pill. And if you don’t know, 100 tampons would last most women way more than one period.) In the early days of the space programs, scientists knew women had an advantage for leaving Earth’s orbit. “Scientists knew that women, as smaller beings on average, require less food, water and oxygen, which was an advantage when packing a traveler and supplies into a small spacecraft,” wrote historian Margaret Weitekamp for the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. “Women outperformed men on isolation tests and, on average, had better cardiovascular health.” But by 1962, NASA scrapped its First Lady Astronaut Trainee (FLAT) program. Sexist jokes were made about astronauts being all for women in space — as recreational partners. The Soviets, it seems, were ahead of their time by seeing their female cosmonaut trainees as people capable of doing great things, not just sex objects.

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Pop Life host and entertainment gadfly Richard Crouse is cramped in his spacious home office talking to celebrities in his fabulous hair while he waits for COVID-19 to pass and he can get back to making traditional television. We talk about new media and “In Isolation With”, the revenue power of funeral services announcements, and the secret to a successful interview. Oh, and Alan and Michael have a revolting idea on how to cash-in on Coronapocalypse.

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Multi-platinum, Grammy winning mastering engineer Glenn Schick drops by Studio 3B to talk about the evolution of getting a musician’s idea out of their head and into your ears. The digital nomad whose work has crafted the sound of Justin Bieber, Drake, and The Weeknd stuns Alan with an interesting revelation. Also: why men should want to be a grower, not a shower. Yes, that. This episode sponsored by Audeze.

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Music Producer Rob Wells drops by Studio 3B to talk about his crowdsourced version of a classic Journey hit by musicians from around the world. Plus, how the introduction of Pac Man 40 years ago marked the beginning of the end of the Pinball Wizard.

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Amy Shira Teitel of Vintage Space drops by Studio 3B to tell the story of two female aviators fighting for control of a 1960s NASA astronaut program that did not exist. The space historian and YouTube star’s latest book, Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight hit store shelves just in time for COVID19. Awkward. Plus: the ultimate documentary for 80s Sci-Fi nerds flirts with a million dollar Kickstarter milestone and why Alan Cross won’t be going back to CES anytime soon.

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Instrument online sales are through the roof, but returns aren’t. Cosmo Music’s Mark Hebert isn’t worried about a rash of regretful rocker wannabes. But it’s not all rosy: Amazon takes a huge piece of the action. What is Canada’s largest independent music store going to do?  

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Veteran CNN reporter Jessica Yellin on how COVID19 is changing newsrooms, her Instagram-based news service, and why Fox News isn’t solely to blame for the Untied States of America. News Not Noise By Christa Sampson What happens when the news you consume comes from a live stream vs. the mainstream? There are no special effects. […]

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