The Best Music Television Shows of the Past 20 Years?

Turn on MTV right now, and you’re most likely to see reality show contestants hocking loogies at each other or footage of Britney Spears being restrained by a paramedic. It didn’t used to be this way. Over the years there were a choice few music-oriented programs that were immensely influential and focused, you know, on the music. Here are a few of my favorites:

120 Minutes – Arguably the most influential music television program ever for the indie rockers, 120 Minutes ran on MTV from 1986 until 2003. Although its name was a bit of a misnomer (the show only ran 80 or 90 minutes long without commercials), 120 Minutes not only premiered the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana but also provided mainstream exposure for decidedly unmainstream bands such as the Replacements, XTC, Hüsker Dü and countless others. After being cancelled, the show was replaced with Subterranean, a similarly themed show hosted by Jim Shearer from 2003 to 2007 that tried its best to keep the show’s legacy alive. The most groundbreaking part of the original program? Artists featured on the show would actually come into the 120 Minutes studio to perform their songs. One of our favorite clips is this blazing rendition of Sunny Day Real Estate’s “Seven,” recorded live on the show during the proto-emo band’s heyday.

Headbangers Ball (original) — Although you can currently see the resurrected version of Headbangers Ball on MTV2, for me nothing beats the original version of the show that aired late-night on MTV from 1987 to 1995. In fact, it’s hard to calculate how many of today’s metal stars stayed up past their bedtimes in order to catch videos by acts like Napalm Death and Morbid Angel on a network that was ironically spinning videos featuring Paul Abdul and MC Skat Kat during its daylight hours. In addition to having everyone from Faith No More to Alice In Chains on the program, Headbangers Ball would also let some of metal’s biggest underground acts like Anthrax actually host the three-hour show, something that’s as likely to happen today as it is for Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian’s hair to miraculously grow back. Besides, what other program on a major network would headbang in the new year with a band like freakin’ Slayer?


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Farmclub — Although Farmclub only aired from 1999 to 2003 it managed to provide a national outlet for underground icons like ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, At the Drive-In, and Chimaira as well as mainstream acts like No Doubt, System of a Down, and LL Cool J. The coolest part was that based on viewer voting, the show actually signed acts to legitimate record deals and released their albums through collaborations with various major labels. Farmclub had plenty of milestones during its short run, but for my money the most memorable moments were the return of seminal gangster rap act N.W.A. with Snoop Dogg assuming the duties of the band’s deceased rapper Eazy-E and a stellar live performance by U2.

 

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