it's not particularly deep music, but mtv pushing it. so that's selling. >> when i would turn on mtv, all the rock bands looked a certain way. they played a kind of music. they were expected to have a certain facade. >> mtv's ratings are surprisingly small. but those who do watch, mostly teenagers and young adults, buy a lot of records and tapes and cds. and buy the most of what they see the most. >> recently, two members of the heavy metal band aerosmith dropped by mtv's offices to screen their new video and brought a big bag of cash as an incentive. >> the record companies would submit videos every monday, and then we'd have our music meetings and look at all the videos and decide who was going to get put into the rotation. i was a 21-year-old kid that loved punk rock, and i pretty quickly realized that the music that they were playing just wasn't what i was into. when the new nirvana video was delivered to mtv, i was completely blown away. ♪ i said, listen, they really are incredible and we need to give them a shot, and if it doesn'

when the new nirvana video was delivered to mtv i was completely blown away. i said, listen, they really are incredible and we need to give them a shot. if it doesn't work, you can push me out of the music meeting. >> it's from the seattle band, mir vanna. smells like team spirit. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ everybody alive can tell you when they heard that song because nothing existed until that point. ♪ ♪ every day now. >>> here we are now, entertain us. it's not like a threat. coming in what are you going to do for us. >> slackers, generation x, they're not being paid attention to. this pressure was building up, especially in the music industry, for something that actually spoke to them, this is the first american generation that will make less than their parents will. it's a tough time to grow up in and i think the band and kurt cobain in particularly reflect that angst. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> curt co bap was a great songwriter. with his ability to scream almost in tune, it just gave an intensity that was really unique. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> nirvana gave the record indus

in this country. ♪ >>> mtv makes the hits. it's as if there were one national radio station for songs. ending the '80s, you get a lot of hair bands, poison, rat, warrant. ♪ ♪ sweet surprise ♪ ♪ sweet cherry pie ♪ >>> a lot of sexually explicit lyrics. that's selling. >> when i would turn on the tv all the rock bands looked the same way, they were expected to have a certain facade. >> mtv's ratings are surprisingly small but the ones who watch buy a lot of records and tapes and cds and they buy the most of what they see most. >> recently two members of aerosmith dropped by to screen their new video and bought a big bag of cash. >> they would submit videos every monday and we would have our meesk meeting and decide. i was a 21-year-old kid that loved punk rock and i quickley realized that the music they were playing just wasn't what i was into. when the new nirvana video was delivered to mtv i was completely blown away. i said listen, they really are incredible and we need to give them a shot. if it doesn't work, you c

in this country. ♪ >> mtv makes the hits. it's as if there were just one national radio station for new songs. >> ending the '80s in terms of rock music, you're getting a lot of hair bands. you've got poison, rat, warrant. ♪ ♪ sweet cherry pie ♪ >> a lot of hairspray going on. a lot of sexually suggestive lyrics. it's not particularly deep music, but the mtv pushing it -- so best selling. >> well when i would turn on mtv, all the rock bands looked a certain way, they played a kind of music. they were expected to have a certain facade. >> mtv's ratings are surprisingly small, but those who do watch, mostly teenagers and young adults, buy a lot of records and tapes and cds, and they buy the most of what they see the most. >> recently two members of the heavy metal band aerosmith dropped by mtv's offices to screen their new video and brought a big bag. cash as an incentive. >> the record companies would submit videos every monday, and then we would have our music meeting and decide who was going to get put into the new rot

microban 24 >>> in 1991, we got a call from mtv. and they were toying with the idea of doing some kind of a scripted show about young people. >> they said it was like a mixture between big chill and the breakfast club. >> but ultimately, decided the idea of a show with writers and actors would just be too expensive for them. >> "the real world." that's what this is supposed to be. >> so, we essentially applied all the drama rules to documentary to get our, what we called at that time, a docu-soap. >> this is the true story. >> true story. >> of seven strangers. >> social experiment to kind of watch what happens when you put these strangers together in a house. you know, when people stop being polite and start getting real. >> do you sell drugs? >> you hadn't seen anything like that on television. that kind of open, honest discussion of race. >> i can try as much as i can to try to deal with you. but ignorance is ignorant. stupidity is stupidity and that's it. black, white, green, purple, blue, whatever. >> the real world becomes thi

>> in less than two years, arsenio hall has fired his talk show for the mtv generation into a contender for the crown of late night television. >> yes, yes! >> how come i didn't hear all of that woofing going on? when i would watch you? >> too many white people. >> johnny was the big dog. but i knew everybody on the planet wasn't watching him. and it dawned on me that i could go many weeks and not see a motown group on "the tonight show." >> arsenio hall has been dubbed the prince of late night. >> there was a whole world of talent that had never and would never have been on any late night show. ♪ sitting at home watching arsenio hall ♪ >> 2livecrew came on and sang "meso horny", it was like the sex pistols. i'd never seen anything like it. it was an explosion in the audience . >> he appealed to a black and white young audience and it was a much broader appeal than the powers that be estimated. >> rap. rap is real big among our teens. that's poetry. >> of course it is. >> having maya angelou on, i mean, where would you have seen her otherwise? >> in 1892 he wrote a poem that called

by the time of the '90s, mtv wasn't merely a music channel. they were having great success in terms of creating shows that incorporated music but that also were showed and programs that stood on their own. >> that was cool. >> certainly, beavis and butthead sort of established what mtv could be because the show is people making fun of music videos just like people in the audience were doing. >> whoa. check out his neck. >> yeah. >> there is, like, all these bones and vestiges moving around. >> my manager would call me like, hey, you the got this big bump because you were on beavis and butthead last night. >> i sit there just like a doughnut watching these guys. now -- and -- and i find them endlessly entertaining because i know and you know and the world knows these guys are, always will be, and cannot be anything but idiots. >> that's right. >> mtv has a detrimental, damaging developmental effect on the sexuality, on the morality, on the spirituality, on the -- maybe even the physical development of our young people. >> now, we hit the '90s.

. >> we got a call from mtv and they were toying with the idea of doing some kind of a scripted show of young people. >> but, ultimately decided the idea of a show with writers and actors would be too expensive for them. >> the real world. >> that was what it was supposed to be. >> we apply all the drama rule to documentary to get our, what we call at the time a docu show. >> this is as true story. watch what happens when you put these things together in a house when people start being polite and start getting real. >> you had not seen anything like that on television of the open and honest discussion of race. >> i can try as much as i can and trying to deal with you but ignorance is ignorance and stupidity. >> the "real world" becomes this moem for real tv. >> you had a young woman getting an abortion and the camera goes right up to the doctor's door. by the third season, you have a young man who's feeling aids. >> he's hiv positive and it was like no, not him. i like this guy and i don't want him to have to suffer. >> it was such a triumph that pedro had the courage to come out wit