VH1
Ownership | |
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Owner | MTV Networks (Viacom) |
VH1 (spelled VH-1 (Video Hits One) until 1994) is an American cable television channel that was created in January 1985 by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (at the time a division of Warner Communications and owners of MTV, which originally came up with the idea of the channel). It and sister channel MTV are currently part of the MTV Networks division of Viacom.
With then four-year-old MTVs popularity rising drastically among teens, VH1 began with the intention to capitalize off of the success of the music video. However, VH1's aim was to focus on the lighter, softer side of popular music, including such musicians as Elton John, Sting, Diana Ross, Kenny G, and Anita Baker, in hopes of appealing to people between the ages of 18 and 35, and possibly older. It has also historically played more adult R&B than its sister channel and rarely, if ever, played any rap videos. Also frequently featured in the network's early years were "videos" for Motown and other 1960s oldies consisting of little more than newsreel footage with some concert footage added.
While VH1 still occasionally plays videos and has "video countdown shows", its more recent claim to fame has been much like that of MTV's, in the area of music-related reality programming, such as the signature show Behind the Music, and its focus on pop culture.
Early history
Early years and "Music First" branding
From the start, Video Hits One was branded as an urbane version of its sister/parent channel. It played more jazz and country artists than MTV and had a higher rotation of urban-contemporary performers. Its early on-camera personalities were New York radio veterans Don Imus (of WNBC and now WFAN); Frankie Crocker, program director and DJ for WBLS; and Tim Byrd of WPIX-FM (now WQCD), a station whose eclectic ballad-and-R&B oriented format mirrored that of VH-1. Not long after launch, additional veejays Scott Shannon (of Z100) and Alison Steele ("The Nightbird" of WNEW-FM) were added and Byrd left. Non-radio performers Jon Bauman ("Bowzer" from Sha Na Na), Rita Coolidge and Rosie O'Donnell later joined the outlet's veejay lineup. O'Donnell would also host a stand up comedy show featuring various comedians each episode.
The format left room for occasional ad-libs by the VJ, a godsend for emcees such as Imus and O'Donnell. In true Imus style, he used a 1985 segment of his VH-1 show to jokingly call smooth-jazz icon Sade Adu a "grape" for her oval-shaped head.
Typical of VH1's early programming was New Visions, a series which featured videos and in-studio performances by smooth jazz and New Age bands and performers, including Spyro Gyra, Andy Narell, Mark Isham and Yanni. At first, various musicians guest-hosted the program, but eventually musician/songwriter Ben Sidran established himself as permanent host.
VH1 catered to adult top 40, including musicians such as Ace of Base, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, and other slightly more rock-oriented popular music than what it had originally played, though AC favorites such as Des'ree, Elton John, Madonna, Céline Dion, and Mariah Carey still received heavy video play in 1994, as well.
By 1996, VH1 was heading down the same path as its sister station, MTV, choosing to focus more on music-related shows than on music videos. Old episodes of American Bandstand could regularly be seen on the channel. By that time, the channel's ratings were beginning to fall. As a result, the channel began to lose money, verging on the brink of bankruptcy.
Pop-Up Video
Things changed very drastically for VH1 in the fall of 1996, with the premiere of Pop-Up Video, a very successful and popular show which offered tidbits of information as music videos were being played.
"Pop-Up" television has gone on to become something of a cultural phenomenon, yet created a powerful TV show with people going against this show and The Rock and Michael Jackson appearing on episodes of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Drew Carey Show, Brady Bunch reruns on sister Viacom channel Nick at Nite, and even a special episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Behind the Music
In August 1997, VH1 again hit it big with the premiere of the first of the network's flagship shows, Behind the Music. The show features interviews and biographies of some of popular music's biggest stars qualified to be profiled on the series. The premiere episode featured Milli Vanilli. To date, there are episodes on everyone from Queen to Queen Latifah to MC Hammer to Fleetwood Mac to TLC to "Weird Al" Yankovic to Britney Spears to Selena, with more episodes being produced sporadically. The show was spoofed on The Simpsons episode "Behind the Laughter", South Park's "Behind the Blow" featuring Terrence and Philip, and on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, with segments on bandleader Kevin Eubanks and announcers Edd Hall and John Melendez. Saturday Night Live did a parody of the show with a profile of Fat Albert's Junk Yard Band, but the better-known SNL Behind the Music spoof involved the band Blue Oyster Cult recording their hit Don't Fear the Reaper, which featured guest-host Christopher Walken repeatedly imploring the band to give the song "more cowbell!"
Legends
Shortly after, VH1 created a companion series, Legends (originally sponsored by AT&T), profiling artists who have made a more significant contribution to music history to qualify as "Legends" (that is, those artists who do not fit in the category of Behind the Music biographies). The artists profiled so far have included The Bee Gees, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Doors, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and U2
VH1 Divas
In 1998, VH1 debuted the first annual VH1 Divas concert and featured the "divas" Aretha Franklin, Céline Dion, Shania Twain, Gloria Estefan and Mariah Carey, and the "special guest" Carole King. Other hugely successful shows were produced in the year after, in VH1 1999 featuring "divas" Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Cher, Leanne Rimes, Mary J. Blige, Faith Hill, Chaka Khan, Elton John, and Brandy. It became a huge success and was featured in the following year starring Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Destiny's Child , Shakira, Anastasia, Dixie Chicks, Jessica Simpson was also featured as divas in VH1 concert. Some artists, such as Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Cher and Faith Hill featured two VH1 concerts.
Late 1990s to 2003
In the late 1990s, VH1 continued to get more diverse and teen-based with its music selection, and with that, the network updated its 1994 "Big 1" logo. Various late-night rock shows have been shown on VH1, featuring alternative rock and metal videos from the 1980s and 1990s. VH1 eventually warmed up to harder rock acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Foo Fighters, and Metallica, and their new videos are generally added into VH1's playlist right away.
By the early 2000s, VH1 even began to play mainstream rap musicians. The latest videos by Eminem, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Missy Elliott began to be shown in VH1's rotation and even started to crop up on VH1's top 20 countdown, as of late 2002.
Save the Music Foundation
During its "Music First" days, VH1 was involved in a foundation that served to preserve and enhance music education programs in local schools. The VH1 Save the Music foundation was established in 1997 and purchased new musical instruments to restore music education programs that have been cut due to budget reductions in the past or to save programs at risk of elimination due to lack of instruments. The Foundation also conducted awareness campaigns, musical instrument drives and fundraising events. It still exists as of 2005, but with a much lower profile.
Music behind bars
VH1 endured criticism for having a show that focuses on musicians who are in jail. Critics thought that prisoners, mainly those convicted of murder, should not be entitled to any exposure. [1]
Movies That Rock!
In 1999, VH1 aired its first original movie, a bio-pic on Sweetwater. Over the next three years, they made over a dozen movies, including bio-pics on Ricky Nelson, M.C. Hammer, The Monkees, Meat Loaf, Pink Floyd and Def Leppard.
VH1 continues to air "Movies That Rock" on a regular basis, expanding to include movies not produced by VH1. Typically, these movies air on weekday afternoons and on weekends. The subject matter remains mostly focused on music and musicians, though it recently aired the Looney Tunes movie "Space Jam" which deals with sports.
After 2003
In 2003, the network changed its focus again, dropping "Music First" from its name, and introducing their new and current box logo, which can be viewed at the top. Having saturated its Behind The Music series (and spinoff BTM2, a 30-minute version that told the stories of current chart-toppers) and gotten past the point of showing music videos on a regular basis, the network began to target the pop culture nostalgia market just like its sister MTV. The network started increasing the number of reality shows with a programming block called Celebreality. Today, they include shows like Flavor of Love, The Surreal Life, Celebrity Fit Club and Hogan Knows Best. VH1, once the serious face of music, has joined other networks in what is believed to be successful reality show programs that features beautiful women and, naturally, attract more viewers.
I Love the 70s, 80s, 90s
The shift began in late 2002, with the success of the I Love the 80s 10-part series. This spawned I Love the 70s in 2003, thought to be based on the BBC 2000 series of the same name [2]. Eventually, VH1 caught lightning in a bottle several times more with I Love the 80s Strikes Back, I Love the 90s, and I Love the 90s: Part Deux. More recently, VH1 premiered I Love the 80s 3-D and I Love the '70s Volume II, along with the non-decade-based I Love the Holidays and I Love Toys.
The format of these shows (various entertainers giving their takes or opinions on popular culture) has been repeated for the weekly program Best Week Ever. In a sketch on FOX's MadTV envisioning an as-yet fictitious "I Love the 00's" show, VH1 was referred to as "the bitter comics ragging on real celebrities" network.
The Greatest series
VH1 also produces its "The Greatest" series, in which a similar format is used to count down lists like "The 50 Sexiest Video Moments", "100 Greatest Songs of Rock 'N' Roll", "100 Greatest Songs from the Past 25 Years", and "100 Greatest Kid Stars". In 2001, Mark McGrath hosted VH1's miniseries "100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock 'N' Roll", which compiled a list of the moments in music history that changed its course and shook its foundations. The network also has a list of the "Awesomely Bad Songs" that made the artists' singles the worst. Different themes in this format include "50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad No. 1 Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad Dirty Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad Metal Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad Love Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad Breakup Songs" and "20 Most Awesomely Bad Songs of 2004".
CelebReality
VH1 also touts its "CelebReality" programming block of reality shows featuring minor celebrities, anchored by The Surreal Life, which mimics MTV's The Real World, instead placing minor celebrities from the past into a living environment. The CelebReality block has also aired such shows like Hogan Knows Best (Hulk Hogan's reality show) Celebrity Fit Club (a show where marginal-at-best celebrities get in shape), Strange Love (a program spun off from The Surreal Life, following the relationship between Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav), Flavor of Love (a show spun off from Strange Love, where Flavor Flav, "hype man" of the hip hop group Public Enemy picks a lover out of multiple women) and My Fair Brady (another spin-off from The Surreal Life, which follows the relationship of Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady on The Brady Bunch, and Adrianne Curry, who won the first season of America's Next Top Model), "Breaking Bonaduce" which covers the therapy and life of Danny Bonaduce, and most recently "Celebrity Paranormal Project", in which minor celebrities are placed in haunted locations to explore and perform tasks.
Other Shows
It should be noted that the network does play music videos -- just like its sister network, MTV -- from 3AM until 10AM. The overnight block was called Insomniac Music Theater until August 2005, when it was renamed Nocturnal State.
VH1 Rock Honors
On May 25, 2006, Queen, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and KISS were the inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honors in Las Vegas. The ceremony aired on VH1 six days later.
VH1 Hip Hop Honors
Since 2004 VH1 has showed their appreciation for hip hop music by honoring pioneers and movements that reflect the black culture. Musicians include Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., and Public Enemy. All of the shows have been taped in the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
Spinoff networks/Movies
Like MTV and Nickelodeon before them, VH1 also launched spinoff digital networks as part of 'The Suite From MTV. Initially, four VH1 spinoff networks were formed, which were:
- VH1 Classic: Primarily classic rock music videos, movies, and concert footage.
- VH1 Country: An all-country music video outlet and sibling network to CMT, which became less dependent on music videos starting in the 2000s. The network is now known as CMT Pure Country.
- VH1 Mega Hits: A channel which played mostly top 40 adult contemporary videos from throughout VH1's history, from the 80's to the 00's.
- VH1 Soul: Classic and neo-soul music videos from yesterday and today.
- VH1 Uno: A mix of Latin pop, rock, and traditional ballads, Tropical, Salsa and Merengue music.
- VH1 Film:This first movie made by this 2006 Vh1 spinoff was a spoof of 1980s, entitled Totally Awesome.
On June 30, 2005, VH1 Mega Hits was discontinued because of low viewership. MTV Networks used the satellite space previously occupied by Mega Hits to launch LOGO, Viacom's channel targeted toward the gay and lesbian community,
In May 2006, VH1 Country was renamed CMT Pure Country.
International channels
VH1 Australia
Since March (April for Optus customers) 2004, VH1 has been available in Australia on Foxtel, Optus Television and Austar.
VH1 Brazil
The Portuguese-language version of the channel was launched in Brazil on November 21st 2005. However, VH1 Soul is available to digital cable subscribers since 2004.
VH1 Europe
VH1 Europe broadcasts from London to Continental Europe. The line-up mainly consists of documentaries, including series like 'The Fabulous Life Of...' and 'The Rise and Rise Of...'. Shows are usually subtitled or dubbed in various languages. Most strands of programming identical to VH-1 UK, but with different schedules and advertisements.
VH-1 Classic Europe is also available to many viewers and is, at present, entirely devoid of advertisements, with round-the-clock music videos.
VH-1 Germany
During the mid-1990s, a German-language version of VH-1 was broadcast, featuring more adult music than MTV, and using the original 1985 US logo. It proved unsuccessful and eventually had to make way for a mobile-content teen channel called MTV2 Pop.
VH1 Poland
Launched (well, to say the truth renamed) on December 1, 2005. The channel is aimed at people in Poland over 25. The channel was formetly known as "MTV Classic" and (especially in its last months) was the same as present VH1, airing the same programs for the same target group.
VH1 India
In December 2004, MTV India and Zee-Turner teamed up to bring VH1 to India. In India, VH1 will be a 24-hour pay channel that will cater to the 16–44 age group.
VH1 Latin America
On April 1, 2004, VH1 Latin America joined MTV and Nickelodeon Latin America targeting audiences 25–49 years old. Until then, the VH1 main channel available for Latin America was the original US version. The Spanish-language channel is tailored for the market and feature a mix of music and entertainment with local and international-recording artists, as well as original programming.
VH1 UK
VH1 UK targets 25–44 years old, and has much of the same content as the main US channel. There has been two sister stations in the UK: VH1 Classic and the now axed channel VH2.
VH1 Export
VH1 Export is a version of VH1 UK available in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Levant territories broadcasting via satellite, exclusively from the Showtime Arabia pay-TV network. In Africa (on DStv) and Thailand, on UBC 33. In Indonesia, VH1 programming also airs on MTV Indonesia at 5 and 7 pm, and on local terrestrial channels such as Jak-TV, Jakarta, TV Borobudur, Semarang, and Makassar TV, Makassar (UHF21) and also a full link channel seen on satellite PALAPA C2.
VH1 programs
- 100 Greatest Songs of the 80's
- 100 Hottest Hotties
- Bands Reunited
- Behind the Music
- Best Week Ever
- Breaking Bonaduce
- Can't Get a Date
- Celebrity Fit Club
- Celebrity Paranormal Project
- Driven
- VH1 Rock Docs
- Legends
- The Fabulous Life of...
- Flavor of Love
- The Greatest...
- Hogan Knows Best
- Ice-T's Rap School
- I Love the 70s
- I Love the 70s Volume 2
- I Love the 80s
- I Love the 80s Strikes Back
- I Love the 80s 3-D
- I Love the 90s
- I Love the 90s Part Deux
- I Love Toys
- Jump Start
- Kept
- My Fair Brady
- Pop Up Video
- Rock Bodies
- Rock Honours
- Smells Like The 90s
- So 80s
- So NoTORIous
- VH1 Rocks
- VH1 Storytellers
- Stripsearch
- The Surreal Life
- VSpot Top 20 Countdown
- Web Junk 20
- World Series of Pop Culture
See Also
External links
- VH1 US
- VH1 Classic US
- VH1 Soul US
- VH1 Country US
- VHUno US Latin Channel
- VH1 Divas Live
- VH1 Save The Music Foundation
- VH1 Europe
- VH1 Classic Europe
- VH1 Latin America
- VH1 Brazil
- VH1 Poland
- VH1 Australia
- VH1 UK and Ireland
- VH2 UK and Ireland
- VH1 Classic UK and Ireland
- VH1 Thailand
- VH1 Cable Music Channel 2001 All Time Album Top 100
- VH1's "just us guys" pop-culture harkens back to 80s ESPN
- The Best & Worst Music Videos of All Time
- Jump The Shark - VH1