Video Killed the Radio Star

I did too...then I learned what ironic meant.

1000 spoons when all you need is a knife?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ...

@weezerific:cutlery Some of the true irony is that it was the first video on MTV and as well the last video on MTV when they dropped the "radio style" VJ format and went to all of the reality shows and such. So even on MTV it "was the first, it was the last one!" <br /> Also this song was actually recorded five years before MTV began! <br /> Another fine Irony is that Mike from The Monkee's was the major funder and promoter of the beginning of MTV.<br /> Now here's the kicker, the song is about a time long before MTV when there were radio programs. Shows on the AM radio that were sound only plays written just for radio. They were the introduction of "Soap Opera's" that were sponsored by the laundry soap companies for the housewives to listen to while doing the housework, and especially the laundry and ironing! George Orwell was a VERY famous "Radio Star"! (Ever hear of his most famous ever radio shows called "The War of The worlds" which caused public panic all up and down the east coast when the listeners thought that it was an actual news report of Martians landing at a small town in Connecticut! Orwell even said several times that it was a fictional radio play during the live broadcast, but his writing and his performance was so very powerful that widespread panic broke out. The Television came into the American life and the "radio stars" were just voice overs for the cartoons because they didn't "look" like the characters they were so known for. The reference to '52 is about the man who discovered the FM (frequency modulation) that brought forth the TV signals whom committed suicide in 1952 after being driven to financial ruin by RCA who then produced the first TV sets and owned all of the earliest broadcast stations. ABC (American Broadcast Company) was wholly owned by RCA originally. Also a correct line is "put the blame on VTR (not VCR) because it was about radio to television and VTR is Video Tape Recording. Though the switch from music radio to MTV was partly due to the invention of the VCR and bands that would do a music video that could be bought just like their albums on vinyl!<br /> Also in 1964 through late 1965 a publishing group tried to bring back the "radio play" as an art form but again RCA bought them out and then killed it! (Find the old recording of "ChickenMan" Mild mannered shoe salesman Benton Harbour who was secretly a superhero! (With of course the ironic reference to Benton Harbor Michigan where they were from!)<br /> As another bit of irony the same thing happened in the silver screen movie industry when silent movie stars couldn't make the switch to talkies because their voices and accents prevented them from the switch. (reference the success of Bette Davis who made the change and several of the bombshell girls of that era that couldn't because of their accents or even a couple whom spoke very little English!) So yes it is about the irony of how each entertainment technology takes over from the previous. That is why Mike himself chose this five year old not much known song for the FIRST video on MTV and why the later CEO of MTV when changing the format made it also the LAST song on the VJ format! <br /> The song is about the change of technology and the irony of being a "STAR" isolated in one technology or adapting to the change!<br /> <br /> Scotty