MTV has decided to bring back 120 Minutes.
Thank God that the channel that helped make music visual and basically created reality television finally snapped to the fact that it was time to resurrect what was arguably the best show they ever put on the air.
It debuted in 1986 and ran until 2000 when it was shifted over to MTV2. It eventually died after the network decided it was moving in a different direction and focussing on everything having to do with rap and hip hop was the way to make the most money possible.
For me personally, 120 Minutes was the greatest show to ever grace my
television screen. The format was all about exposing the viewer to music that they would probably never be able to discover otherwise.
This is where I first saw Skinny Puppy, The The, Catherine Wheel and a
host of other acts that I would never have been made aware of it if wasn’t for this show. In a way, it was what MTV originally started out to be: an all music video channel that was all about the music.
Luckily someone, somewhere in the MTV universe, decided it was time to
bring back what can arguably be called the most important program about music to ever be shown on cable (or anywhere else for that
matter).
The network has also wisely tapped Matt Pinfield to host the latest version. Pinfield came on board as host in 1995 during the first run of 120 Minutes. While he didn’t have movie star good looks and his voice sounded like he smoked two packs a day, the depth of his music knowledge was massive.
It’s interesting that a music program that started in the 80’s is coming back at a time when so many bands are taking the music of that
era and reinventing it. How many times have you heard half-wit pundits
say “the 80’s sucked?” Really? Then why do we have The Killers, Interpol, Muse and others doing so well while wearing their influences boldly on their sleeves? It’s because that decade of music was as important as any other before it or since. And 120 Minutes was there to chronicle it.
I guess that everything old is new again and all things eventually do come full circle.
Welcome back 120 Minutes, we’ve missed you.
