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*In The ] episode "The Drake and Josh Inn", MTV crew enter Drake and Josh's house to broadcast spring break from their. Helen, the boss of the cinema in the show, compliments the channel by saying "Well I do love Music Television."
*In The ] episode "The Drake and Josh Inn", MTV crew enter Drake and Josh's house to broadcast spring break from their. Helen, the boss of the cinema in the show, compliments the channel by saying "Well I do love Music Television."
*In the comedy series '']'', comedian ]'' comments that ] airs more videos than MTV, satirically referring to the numerous ] and other terrorists associated with the ] terrorist network.
*In the comedy series '']'', comedian ]'' comments that ] airs more videos than MTV, satirically referring to the numerous ] and other terrorists associated with the ] terrorist network.
*]'' parody featured on ]'s '']'' in ].]] ]'s satirical news program '']'' ran a two-part segment on ] and ], ], "The Daily Show's Laguna Beach: The Real, Real Orange County", hosted by correspondent ]. It parodied the MTV reality show '']''. The segments, which are structured very similarly to the average ''Laguna Beach'' episode, even including the ''Laguna Beach'' theme song "]" by ], investigate ] over the the depiction ''Laguna Beach'' poses over ].
*]'' parody featured on ]'s '']'' in ].]] ]'s satirical news program '']'' ran a two-part segment on ] and ], ], "The Daily Show's Laguna Beach: The Real, Real Orange County", hosted by correspondent ]. It parodied the MTV reality show '']''. The segments, which are structured very similarly to the average ''Laguna Beach'' episode, even including the ''Laguna Beach'' theme song "]" by ], investigate ] over the the depiction ''Laguna Beach'' poses over ].
MTV, the first and most popular musictelevision network in the U.S., has been referenced in popular culture countless times. Other TV channels, TV shows, musicians, films, and books have referenced MTV in their works.
In addition, other general reasons to include MTV in popular culture is to mock the channel for its move toward reality programming as opposed to music videos, or its decisions to promote "bubblegum pop" music. Otherwise, MTV is simply used as a pop culture reference to enhance the program or simply to support the plot, without any connotation or criticism.
In music
The Red Hot Chili Peppers track "Punk Rock Classic", from the breakthrough album Mother's Milk features the lyrics "Put us on MTV, All we really need, Begging on our knees, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please."
George Michael's "Freedom! '90" makes reference to the pressures the network placed on visual image: "I went back home, got a brand new face / For the boys at MTV". Ironically, Michael does not appear in the video.
Dire Straits' 1985 song "Money for Nothing" — at the start and end of the song, guest singer Sting repeatedly sung the channel's slogan, "I Want My MTV".
Lyrics to Manowar's "Blow Your Speakers" include "Wrote a letter to the MTV/What's goin' on now/Don't ya care about me."
Lyrics to Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi" include "she turns on TV/guess who she sees/skater boy rockin' up MTV."
Lyrics to Reel Big Fish's "Don't Start a Band" include "And even if you make it all the way to MTV/I don't think you could take it all the bullshit and the greed."
Lyrics to Beck's "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack" include "MTV makes me wanna burn flesh!/Having an orgy down in the satellite dish!"
The opening track on Pantera's The Great Southern Trendkill song with the same name include the lyrics, "Buy it at a store, From MTV to on the floor, You look just like a star, It's proof you don't know who you are."
In the Eminem song "Without Me": "The FCC won't let me be/ or let me be me, so let me see/ They try to shut me down on MTV/ but it feels so empty without me"
The band Sublime made a song called "Don't Wanna Be No MTV Motherfucker".
In Canadian singer Esthero's 2005 song, "We R in Need of a Musical Revolution", as an introduction she sings, "I'm so sick and tired of the shit on the radio/And MTV they only play the same thing/No matter where I go I see Ashanti in the video/I want something more."
In a reference to how some artists cater to MTV's audience, Pepper's 2002 album, Kona Town, featured a song, "B.O.O.T.", with the lyrics, "We're on the road you see/we're not on MTV/But when we get there/we won't shave our hair/or be fags like Creed"
Rapper Ice Cube make a reference to MTV on his song "It Was a Good Day".
In the song "Get Your Self Up" from his 2001 album The Sneak Attack, rapper KRS-One questions, "What is real hip-hop? Is it MTV? Is it BET?" referring to the dumbing down of modern mainstream hip-hop music by major corporate record labels and these respective music channels.
The Dream Theater song "Just Let Me Breathe" on Falling into Infinity features the lyrics (written here as spelled in the lyric sheet) "A daily dose of eMpTy V will flush your mind right down the drain." The phrase "eMpTy V" is pronounced as "MTV" when sung aloud.
The band Clutch on their 1995 self titled release mentions MTV in the following line of the song "Escape From The Prison Planet", "And as featured on the MTV, the local high school lets out, And the town becomes anarchy."
Frank Zappa was a sharp critic against MTV. He wrote a satirical song called "Be in My Video", which can be heard on his album Them or Us.
An alternate lyric to Robyn Hitchcock's 1986 song "Trash " states, "And I saw you down at MTV / Well, baby, better you than me / Maybe they've got a special department there / For losers".
In Blues Traveler's 1994 hit "Hook" John Popper sang about how today it seems that if a song is catchy, it doesn't matter if the lyrics have a message. He mentioned MTV in the last verse: "What you're doing to me / this MTV is not for free / It's so PC it's killing me"
The chorus to Illy Oi! by mc chris says "Mtv said no so I'm just on fuse, everything to gain but nothin to lose."
In a chorus of JoJo's song, "Baby It's You", she sings, "Why is everyone tryin' to be/what they see on MTV".
In Timor, Shakira sings "It's alright, it's alright/if the planet’s split in three/cause I'll keep on selling records/and you've got your MTV".
In a chorus of Everclear's song, "Rock Star", Alexakis sings, "That's why I want to be a rock star / I want to be like all those guys on MTV / I just want to be a rock star / I want to make those girls on the real world fantasize about me".
In Cinderella (band)'s song called Shelter Me, a part in the song says "Tipper led the war against the record industry, she said she saw the devil on her MTV"
In television
The declining popularity of MTV was noted as Bart scrawled "I no longer want my MTV" in a Simpsons' Season 9 Chalkboard gag. This is a reference to the Dire Straits' song "Money for Nothing".
Also on The Simpsons Homer and Marge come up to Bart and Lisa with news about Homer needing a triple bypass; Lisa responds by saying, "Nothing fazes us. We're the MTV generation; we experience neither highs nor lows." Homer inquires, "What's that like?" Lisa replies, "Ehh..."
Cartoon series Megas XLR frequently features the destruction of billboards and other paraphernalia for a group called "PoP TV", whose symbol is clearly based on the MTV Logo. XLR was directed by Chris Prynoski, a former MTV animator whose own show, Downtown, had been cancelled by MTV years ago.
Andy French, the lead character of the short-lived animated series Mission Hill, briefly becomes a cast member of The Real World after writing the words "MTV Sucks" on his buttocks and mooning the camera crew.
Other music video stations, such as BET, censor any and all MTV references, and vice versa.
The satirical cartoon series South Park depicted MTV several times in its run:
In the 1998 episode "Chef Aid", Eric Cartman tells Chef that he had seen the Alanis Morissette video "Stinky Britches", which is a fictional song created in the series, "on the radio, MTV, everywhere."
In the episode "Timmy 2000", the MTV announcer describes the network as "the cool, brainwashing, twelve-year-old-and-younger station that hides behind a slick image", and is "so cool, we decide what's cool." MTV News as "the news that is singlehandedly dumbing down our country (which is cool)." Kurt Loder describes himself as "the oldest person in this network by at least 40 years."
In the episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Loder and MTV News were once again depicted in a fictionalized interview with alternative rock band Radiohead.
In 2004, the episode "Good Times With Weapons", although not mentioning the network name itself, made a spoof of the controversial MTV-produced Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show that was known for Justin Timberlake tearing off part of Janet Jackson's costume to reveal her right breast briefly. Toward the end of the episode, character Eric Cartman sneaks up nude on a stage of an art auction thinking that he is magically invisible, but ends up exposing his penis to numerous attendees at the art auction. At a town hall meeting afterwards, Cartman blames the problem on a "wardrobe malfunction", similar to Justin Timberlake's claim of the cause of the halftime show controversy. Eventually after the Super Bowl incident MTV ceased to air music videos of Janet Jackson yet continued promoting music videos of Justin Timberlake, thus hurting Jackson's career and increasing Timberlake's popularity, despite the fact that the incident was provoked by Timberlake. See also Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy: Parody
On The Day Today there was a spoof of MTV and more specifically MTV News called Rok TV.
In The Angry Beavers episode "Un-Barry-ble", the episode starts off with a television broadcast of "Empty-V", a pun of MTV.
"Empty V" was also used as a reference to the network on several episodes of another Nickelodeon show, Roundhouse.
Puppet-TV sitcom Dinosaurs created a music video inspired on the catchphrase of one of its most popular characters, Baby Sinclair, "I'm the Baby, You Gotta Love Me." In it, the song itself is preceded by an intro where Baby is watching "DTV", punning the network to the point of recreating the iconic "Moon Landing" ID, with a puppet dinosaur playing the astronaut.
Cult satirical police sitcom Sledge Hammer! makes a dig at MTV in its Season 2 episode, "Sledge, Rattle, 'n' Roll." At a certain point, the titular character rages at a record company executive and starts blaming rock music for all evil things under the sun, at one time pointing out the youth-corrupting influence of "that NBC" (sic), to which Doreau (his partner) remarks: "Hammer, that's MTV"! Interestingly enough, the part of the record exec was played by Davy Jones of The Monkees, of which one of MTV's creators, Michael Nesmith, was also a member.
Nickelodeon TV series All That spoofed TRL (Total Request Live) as TRYell.
In The Drake & Josh episode "The Drake and Josh Inn", MTV crew enter Drake and Josh's house to broadcast spring break from their. Helen, the boss of the cinema in the show, compliments the channel by saying "Well I do love Music Television."
In the film The Lost Boys, the character Sam says "No Tv Mike! Do you know what that means? No MTV!"
In the film Spies Like Us, a missle defense test (parodying the Reagan era SDI program) goes wrong and accidentally hits the MTV satellite.
In the beginning of the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ferris turns on a TV on which MTV's famous first ID is shown (montage of the Apollo 11 moon landing).
In the film "10 things I hate About You" When Kat walks into her sister's room she is watching the begining of The Real World (Seattle).
In Kickin' it Old School, the main character, Justin, watches MTV after being in a coma that started in the 80s, saying "Mom! Somethings wrong with the TV... All I see is girls whining" refering to the switch from mainly music videos, to reality shows.
In books
In the book Maximum Ride Nudge mentions that she is thankful for MTV to exist.
In the Family Guy book Stewie's Guide to World Domination, Stewie gives a list of reasons as to "why MTV is the root of all evil".
