Throwback: R.I.P. MTV!

Across the UK, European Union and here in the states, MTV‘s music-only TV programming — MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live — will shut down today.

My understanding is that there are several reasons why MTV’s music-only TV programming is closing up shop: Shifting viewing habits, declining audience engagement, corporate restructuring and cost-cutting measures, as well as a change in focus from linear channels to digital and streaming platforms.

I spent a significant portion of my childhood — between roughly 8 and 19 or so — obsessively watching MTV. Matt Pinfield is a hero of mine — because of MTV. I remember watching MTV News with Kurt Loder telling the world that Kurt Cobain had died, and feeling absolutely heartbroken.

As a child of MTV, I’m sad to hear of MTV’s death as a channel. But I’m also not surprised.

I want my MTV! I want my MTV!

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The Joy of Violent Movement is a completely independent and completely D.I.Y. media outlet. Over the course of this site’s 15+ year history, I’ve used my fiercely independent stance to cover music with an eclectic and global perspective that a lot of other publications just don’t have — and will likely never have. 

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