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MTV, the first and most popular music television 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.
Usually, MTV is referenced in popular culture after events or material within the channel and/or its programming generate controversy or embarrassing events. Examples include the controversial MTV reality program Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, which has generated much criticism and controversy for its indecent material and negative portrayal of Laguna Beach, California, the MTV Video Music Awards, in which Late Night With Conan O'Brien character Triumph the Insult Comic Dog mocked artists like Eminem and Christina Aguilera, and most notably, the controversial, MTV-produced Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, where Justin Timberlake ended the show by tearing off part of Janet Jackson's wardrobe to reveal her right nipple briefly. Following the incident, the FCC launched a campaign against broadcast indecency, also fining CBS, which aired the event, $550,000. In addition, many late-night talk show hosts like David Letterman and Jay Leno and other entertainers and programs mocked the event.
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
- 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".
- The song "MTV - Get off the Air" by the Dead Kennedys was a protest against the content and style of music that dominated MTV during the '80s.
In television
- 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 "Fat Camp", Howard Stern interviews "Tom Green" and "Johnny Knoxville from MTV's Jackass", as he announced.
- In the episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Loder and MTV News were once again depicted in a fictionalized interview with alternative rock band Radiohead.
- "Hell on Earth 2006" is a parody of MTV's reality series My Super Sweet 16, as in this episode, Satan has a huge birthday bash in Los Angeles.
- NBC's sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live has also made spoofs of MTV:
- In 2005, a skit regularly appeared covering a television program called Deep House Dish on the fictional "MTV4" television network, its slogan "The Alternative to the Alternative", in response to MTV establishing the Hispanic-oriented spinoff channel MTV Tres (tres being Spanish for "three") as well as numerous other MTV-branded channels targeted towards people who are of a certain ethnicity or prefer a certain genre of music, as the main MTV channel reduces its focus on music videos. The skit also appeared on episodes of Saturday Night Live in 2006 2006 and 2007.
In books
- 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".
References
- Script to South Park episode "Chef Aid"
- Script to South Park episode "Timmy 2000"
- Script to the South Park episode "Fat Camp"
- Script to South Park episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die"
- Script to SNL episode from 11/19/2005
- Script of SNL, 1/14/2006
- Script of SNL, 3/17/2007