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How Did MTV Influenced American Culture

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Starting with its iconic introduction, where Neil Armstrong lands on the moon and plants a fictional MTV flag in the ground, MTV makes history as a “deeper dimension to everything” and introduces viewers to an out-of-this-world program (Tannenbaum 1). It is a sudden, “unheralded, unannounced, un-anything” appearance that crept into the daily lives of young American adults (Tannenbaum 1). MTV Music videos took the world by storm, just like the “prophetic” opening music video for MTV by The Buggles says, “video killed the radio star” (Tannenbaum 5). MTV not only grasped the attention of teenagers, but parents, musicians, actors, and young adults showed interest in its unique culture. As one of the most popular forms of expression, music brings people to feel what they hear. The …show more content…
From the Gilded Age to the Cold War, or any period throughout American history, people adhered to the feeling of safety and freedom, so the public valued MTV for the new feelings of self-expression and freedom it elicited. While it introduced a new wave of rock and roll music, pushed music industry boundaries, and invented reality television, MTV played a prominent role in society, giving people a sense of freedom while declaring itself a vital part of American history. The ingenious minds behind the creation of MTV began their journey as “idiots in hotel rooms” (Morton 25). Oddly enough, most of the original staff had little to no TV background; most of its important founders came from radio backgrounds (Tannenbaum 15). In 1979, American Express joined forces with Warner Cable Corporation and formed two divisions: Warner Amex Cable Company and Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company, or WASEC (Tannenbaum 16). Jack Schneider went to the company when it originally started and inherited The Movie Channel along with Nickelodeon, a channel for younger audiences (Tannenbaum 16). His intent in the world of cable television was to revolve it around specialized networks, and radio

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