Still want your MTV? For Throwback Thursday, we’re going back to the Golden Age of Music Television

MTV used to be more than reality shows and a skateboarder showing internet videos. When the channel launched in 1981—when it was only broadcast to New Jersey households—the debut music video was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.

While the radio is still alive and well (shout out to all our WXPN supporters and members), MTV is a far cry from its original form, airing mostly reality shows and syndicated programs.

But for about 30 years the channel was an integral source for music discovery, and gave rise to the music video format as an inroad to new artists, and even directors.

So this week, we’re going all in on MTV for Throwback Thursday airing songs from Culture Club and The Cure to MJ and Madonna, Yo! MTV Raps to TRL.

Be sure to tune in to 88.5 or stream the broadcast right here on the WXPN website starting at 6 a.m. to relive the heyday of Music Television.

1996 was 30 years ago. Can you believe that? We harkened to the year that saw the world’s first cloned sheep, Bill Clinton winning a second presidential term, the Atlanta Olympics, and Will Smith’s blockbuster movie Independence Day.

We hit you with songs released only in ’96 on Thursday last week. “Where It’s At” by Beck, “What They Do” by The Roots, “Criminal” by Fiona Apple, “Henry Lee” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and “Un-Break My Heart” by Toni Braxton, to name a few.

We played all Yacht Rock for Throwback Thursday on July 23, spinning artists and bands such as Bryan Adams, Supertramp, Rupert Holmes, Steve Winwood, The Doobie Brothers, and more.

Our own Dan Reed broadcast his show live from the Delaware River as he rode on the Riverlink Ferry in the afternoon.

Week 7

We gave you a bit of audio whiplash with The Long and Short of It for this Throwback Thursday.

All day Thursday, we played sets of songs 6 minutes or longer and songs under 2:30 minutes.

From “Riot” by Earl Sweatshirt (1:06) to Led Zeppelin’s “Achilles Last Stand” (10:31), “Way Down” by Tori Amos (1:13) then “Pyramids” by Frank Ocean (9:52), we kept you on your toes with song length.

Week 6

We played all things jam for week six of Throwback Thursday: Grateful Dead, Phish, and the Allman Brothers Band to Goose, Billy Strings, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and more.

If you missed our day of DEAD-icated programming, Bruce Warren is back on Monday nights to host JamNation. First launched by Warren in the early 2000s, the show is built around artists new and old, with a focus on improvisation, long-form live performance, and the jam scene in all its forms, spanning rock, funk, jazz, bluegrass, reggae, prog, electronica, and beyond.

Week 5

It was the year Peter Frampton came alive, Stevie Wonder released one of the greatest albums ever made, and disco and punk were both on the rise, pulling music in opposite directions at the same time. Half a century later, the songs still hold up.

Weeks 3 & 4

For two weeks, we highlighted the ABCs of R&B, from Jackson 5’s “ABC” to The Trammps’ “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart.

Week 3

With Independence Day nearing, we got a wee bit cheeky and played songs from our across-the-pond counterparts with a British Invasion Throwback Thursday.

While the Brits don’t call the shots anymore, their influence on American music is undeniable. From The Beatles to Duran Duran, we be played Great Britain’s finest musical exports all day.

Week 2

The perfect song choice can make or break a scene, so we highlighted the songs filmmakers and show runners leaned on to make their visuals hit even harder.

For the second week of Throwback Thursday, you heard songs from iconic needle drop moments in movies and shows such as Reservoir Dogs, High Fidelity, and The OC.

Week 1

For the first week of Throwback Thursday, we traveled back in time… to 1986. Can you believe that was 40 years ago already?!

Spandex and big hair ruled, and a ton of great music came out, too. The year saw big releases from Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, R.E.M., Janet Jackson, Madonna, and Metallica. Hip-Hop also moved into the mainstream a bit more when Run-DMC taught us to “Walk this Way,” and the Beastie Boys invited us to fight for the right to party.