with Joe Cortese

A Staple of the Video Music Era is Shutting Down

It’s how you learned about the death of Kurt Cobain. It’s where you learned about “The Week in Rock.” It’s also how a woman was able to ask the President of the United States about his undergarments!

MTV News was appointment viewing during the video music era.

But MTV’s news division is now shutting down after 36 years.

MTV’s parent company Paramount Global announced it would cut its domestic workforce by 25% and some divisions, like MTV News, would be shut down entirely.

It’s sad news for millions of MTV fans who remember tuning in to see Kurt Loder reporting on important events in music and pop culture history.

Things like the Berlin Wall coming down in 1989. Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991. Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994. Tupac Shakur’s killing in 1996. And of course, the MTV News special “Enough is Enough” on violence in America in 1994 when a 17-year-old asked President Bill Clinton, “Mr. President, the world’s dying to know: boxers or briefs?”

Check out some of the clips we found and enjoy this trip back to the video music era…

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