MTV — Bunk History

An astronaut on the moon with the MTV flag planted.

Watch the First Two Hours of MTV’s Inaugural Broadcast

MTV's 1981 broadcast was advertised to be as important as the moon landing.

by Ted Mills via Open Culture on August 6, 2021

Ronald Reagan and popular musicians from 1980s, black and white collage with colorful shapes

I Want My Mutually Assured Destruction

How 1980s MTV helped my students understand the Cold War.

by Tom Nichols via The Atlantic on May 8, 2021

Cover of "Cue The Sun!" featuring videographers filming people lounging in backyard.

Time to Face Reality

Charting the history of a TV phenomenon.

by A. S. Hamrah via Bookforum on July 2, 2024

How “The Real World” Created Modern Reality TV

The rules governing everything from “Big Brother” to “The Real Housewives” started three decades ago, with a radical experiment on MTV.

by Emily Nussbaum via The New Yorker on June 15, 2024

Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter surrounded by African American artists' records.

The Song of the Summer Is Actually the Song of 1982

Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” is one of several recent hits bringing back the genre that never got a name.

by Dan Charnas via Slate on June 4, 2024

Parental advisory sticker warning of explicit content.

Who Gets to Regulate #*%&? Free Speech in Popular Culture

When speech offends, who decides where boundaries should be drawn?

via Retro Report on January 18, 2024

The Go-Go's on July 30, 1981. From left, Kathy Valentine, Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin, Belinda Carlisle, and Gina Schock.

We Got the Beat

How The Go-Go’s emerged from the LA punk scene in the late ’70s to become the first and only female band to have a number one album.

by Lisa Whittington-Hill via Longreads on January 16, 2024

Four women (L7) sit on a bench together wearing jeans and jackets.

The Women Who Built Grunge

Bands like L7 and Heavens to Betsy were instrumental to the birth of the grunge scene, but for decades were treated like novelties and sex objects.

by Lisa Whittington-Hill via Longreads on June 29, 2022

Nas performing at the 2022 Grammys.

Grammys Have Little Credibility in the Hip-Hop Community

While the awards have recognized achievements in rap, Black artists continue to face musical segregation.

by A. D. Carson via Made by History on April 10, 2022

The Mean Girls Game for DS

Meet the YouTubers Determined to Find Lost Media

New media meets old.

by Brendan Bell via The Verge on September 16, 2021

Linda Kay Klein as a teenager

Shamed Over Sex, a Generation Confronts the Past

Former followers of an evangelical “purity” movement that promoted a strict view of abstinence are grappling with aftershocks.

via Retro Report on April 6, 2021

A graffiti mural in Los Angeles

The Emergence Of Gangsta Rap

A review of "To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangsta Rap Changed America."

by Katherine Rye Jewell via The Metropole on March 30, 2021

Vanilla Ice in front of an American flag

The Rise and Fall of Vanilla Ice, As Told by Vanilla Ice

Thirty years after "Ice Ice Baby," Robert Van Winkle is ready to talk about it all—his rise, his fall, and that infamous night on the balcony.

by Jeff Weiss via The Ringer on October 6, 2020

Photo of KRS-One superimposed on photo of NY subway station in the Bronx

How KRS-One’s ‘Sound of Da Police’ Went From Anti-Cop Anthem to Theme Song and Back Again

The 1993 song reinvigorated the rap legend’s career — and against all odds became a Hollywood (and police) favorite

by Eric Ducker via Medium on July 25, 2020

Demonstrators against police brutality.

The Explicit Anthem of Anti-Racist Protest

Rap group N.W.A. understood vulgarity and controversy were necessary to draw attention to police brutality.

by Felicia Angeja Viator via Made by History on June 22, 2020

“Like Sonny Liston”: An Appreciation of Tom Petty

Patterson Hood argues that Tom Petty achieved perfection in his songwriting... time and time again.

by Patterson Hood via The Bitter Southerner on October 6, 2017

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