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🗓️ 1 August 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
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August 1, 1981. MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
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0:00.0 | There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad-free. |
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0:06.0 | As a member of NoisorPlus at noisor.com or in Apple Podcasts, |
0:10.6 | or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com. |
0:20.4 | Music It's the summer of 1977 on a beach in Los Angeles, California. |
0:33.2 | 35-year-old musician Mike Nesmith sits on a deck chair on a rocky bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. |
0:39.7 | Sitting next to him are three beautiful women. They give Mike flirty looks as they sip cocktails, |
0:45.2 | but it's all for show. Mike and the women aren't actually flirting. They're performing for the camera |
0:50.0 | and film crew on the bluff with them. Mike is making a promotional video to accompany his |
0:55.4 | latest single, Rio. Since his heyday as a member of the 60s boy band The Monkeys, he has |
1:00.9 | struggled to find consistent success in his solo career. But that's not for lack of trying. Mike has |
1:06.6 | experimented with all manner of different ways to promote his music. At one point, he even released a tie-in novel to accompany one of his albums. |
1:14.6 | His latest venture is this music video, which he hopes will promote the newest release. |
1:19.6 | But as Mike continues to mug for the camera, behind him, a large beach umbrella collapses |
1:24.8 | in the wind, ruining the take. |
1:27.3 | The director calls for a pause in filming while the crew fixed the problem. |
1:31.3 | Waiting for the next take, Mike gets out of his deck chair and moves toward a craft |
1:34.7 | services table stocked with food and drinks. |
1:37.7 | As Mike picks through what's on offer, he hears two crew members snickering and making |
1:42.1 | comments about this absurd project. |
1:44.6 | They stop when they realize he can hear them and quickly scoot away to make themselves busy. |
1:49.3 | Mike just pours himself with coffee and smiles. |
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