Biography: I Want My MTV

A touchstone in the lives of millions of young people, as well as a home for musicians and filmmakers to display their frequently offbeat sense of artistic vision, upstart music network MTV burst onto televisions on August 1, 1981. Via a combination of the scrappy handful of young adults serving as hosts, the fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants production style, and the music mini-movies that were the foundation of the original channel, MTV was like nothing Americans had ever seen before. 

A nostalgic and thrilling ride, ”I Want My MTV” takes its audience back to the beginning, when the idea of a television channel devoted solely to screening newfangled videos from music’s hottest stars seemed destined for failure. From DEVO and Cyndi Lauper to David Bowie and Madonna, the film provides a peek into how the videos that defined a generation, as well as how the team of young executives—now some of the most prolific and powerful leaders in American media—tasked with growing this seed of an idea, which would quickly flourish into a beloved but often controversial cultural juggernaut. Featuring commentary from Sting, Tegan and Sara, Fab 5 Freddy, Jerry Cantrell, Tabitha Soren and more.