30 YEARS OF MTV

MTV made the video star: clockwise from far left,
Rod Stewart; Suggs, of Madness; Boy George; Duran Duran; Madonna

In a new book to mark thirty years of MTV, Marks and Tannenbaum recall its birth and key figures tell how it turned British bands into brands. 

Visit The Times online for a slideshow of MTV's iconic moments. www.thetimes.co.uk/music

Nirvana recorded a performance for the series MTV Unplugged in 1993 after long negotiations - five months before the death of Kurt Cobain. Following his death in 1994, the album, MTV Unplugged in New York, debuted at No 1 in the billboard charts

An MTV classic from 1984, Rod Stewart in the video of Some Guys Have All the Luck

With his eccentric dress and make up, Boy George created a sensation when he appeared on screen in the early days of MTV. Here's pictured here in a still from the Culture Club's Karma Chameleon video in 1983

Lionel Ritchie performing in the video for Hello in 1984

The Eurythmics' androgynous video for Sweet Dreams are Made of This benefitted from being played heavily on MTV in 1983, when the channel was still only a new influence in the music industry

Birmingham-based Duran Duran were among the British bands who exploited MTV to gain exposures to US audiences, with Videos for Hungry Like the Wolf, Save a Prayer and Is There Something I Should Know (pictured) were played on heavy rotation

Dire Straits in the video for Money for Nothing, which includes a cameo appearance from Sting singing "I Want My MTV" in the introduction and chorus. The video first aired on the channel in 1987

Having rarely before previously promoted work by black artists, MTV jumped upon Michael Jackson's now iconic Thriller video in 1983. Their frequent plays generated huge publicity for Jackson and pulled in viewers for the fledgling network Rex

Peter Gabriel in the innovative Sledgehammer video that helped give the band their commercial breakthrough in 1986

Madonna in the video for Vogue in 1990, which won three awards at the MTV Video Music Awards that year

The video for Fat Boy Slim's Praise You in 1999, which, after much play on MTV, acted as a springboard for the career of its director, Spike Jonze

Bjork in the video for Human Behaviour in 1993

The Buggles' video for Video Killed the Radio Star was the first ever music video
 to be shown on MTV when it launched on August 1, 1981