All the reports about the death of music videos have been wildly exaggerated. But that’s only fair, since wild exaggerations are exactly what music videos are all about. These days MTV and CMT might be going down in flames, but nobody can kill the dream of music videos. Why? They’re the best starmaking machinery the pop world has ever invented, the ultimate expression of rock-star fantasy, outliving all the countless predictions of their demise over the years. As one of the all-time great MTV stars once asked: Isn’t it ironic? Doncha think?

MTV debuted on August 1, 1981, which means it was probably August 2 when people started complaining MTV didn’t play music anymore. But really, MTV doesn’t play music anymore, and that’s nothing new. Fans still devour videos, just as artists still love

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