On August 1, 1981 at 12 midnight, music history was made! Although it didn't seem like it at the time, the launch of MTV, the world's first 24-hour music channel, not only revolutionalized the music business, but also transformed film, fashion and television around the world. Not bad for a cable channel that started with a mere eight hours of programming, no advertisers, and very few supporters. ...
The short-lived (1965-66) Shindig! knockoff Hullabaloo epitomizes the often-faltering steps U.S. network television made to keep up with the explosion of rock & roll culture in the wake of Beatlemania. Sometimes inspired, sometimes silly (definitely the latter with hosts and guests like Jerry Lewis, Michael Landon, Freddie and the Dreamers, and Vikki Carr), seven episodes plus bonus ...
Elvis Presley's performing career, punctuated by its extra-musical achievement as the first global satellite broadcast devoted to a single entertainer. Both the broadcast and its companion album captured the King in his most grandiose persona, fueled by Hollywood scale and Vegas glitz, as a caped pop superhero. He may have looked trim, but posthumous accounts (especially Peter Guralnick's ...