Remembering THE 1996 DVD

One of the great, forgotten shows on TV was MTV’s 120 MINUTES. On Sunday nights at midnight, this series aired what were then considered the “alternative” or modern rock videos of the day.

I would watch the show every week, taping videos on VHS. Years later, after MTV had stopped airing music videos, and I briefly had a DVD recorder, I went through those tapes and burned some of the best moments of the show onto DVD. I call it the 1996 DVD, as that was the peak period for the show.

I will now try to recreate that video.

It opens with the end of an episode of THE STATE, with the end of a sketch about a coffee addicted family. The end credits of that episode featured a dead on recreation of the ending credits of THE CANNONBALL RUN.

Then the first video.



“Walk This World” by Heather Nova - A popular video at the time, it seemed to always air.



“Enough” by Dance Hall Crashers - At the time it was a song from the ANGUS soundtrack, this was and still is a fantastic ska song.

This song was immediately followed by



“Cellophane” by Knapsack - I love, love, love this video. Sadly, the video has never been on Youtube. It was very briefly on MTV Music but was taken down. Great video that alternates between a girl walking around looking through a Viewmaster and the band playing.

Then we have a commercial.



The Living in the 90’s CD. I actually ordered this one. Notice how there wasn’t even a website in the ad?

While I have no idea her name, the girl in the ad is still in commercials. She is playing the mom in another ad today I think it is for Zyrtec.



“Jesus Loves You (Not As Much As I Do)” by Eve’s Plum - One of my favorite bands of the day. I wrote about the CD this is from here. Sadly, it was the band's final CD. The lead singer, Colleen Fitzpatrick who had previously appeared in the movie HAIRSPRAY, would reinvent herself as Vitamin C.



“Inside” by Patti Rothberg - Sorry about the video being out of sync. I didn’t post it. Another great song.



“Bad As They Seem” by Hayden - Very popular on 120 Minutes, and a very catchy song (“What do I do this for / got to get out some more / go down to the grocery store / meet someone I adore”). I bought the CD based on this song, didn’t get into it and put it aside. I then saw Hayden as an opening act a little later. The audience, made up of drunken frat guys, was rather abusive. So much so, he kept to the faster songs on his set list and didn’t even play this. Another couple years after that, I listened to this CD again and LOVED it.



“Someday I Will Treat You Good” by Sparklehorse - One of the decade’s greatest videos. I posted it recently after the suicide of Mark Linkous, lead of the band and co-director of the video. I never tire of this video.

While most of the videos were taken from 120 Minutes, the above was taken from RAGE, a similar late night music video show from Boston.

At this point in the tape, there are two ads that give you a look at the era. There was an ad for an AIDS walk to be held in Boston on June 2, 1996 as well as a trailer for THE CRAFT.

Next up, and not embeddable, is “Walking Contradiction” by Green Day. While I was never THAT big of a Green Day fan, this video, with the band members walking nonchalantly through a city while all manner of hell breaks loose around them is a pretty amazing video. It was directed by Roman Coppola. He would go on to direct the very stylish film CQ, but should be doing more as this was logistically one of the most stunning videos of the ear.



“Honeycomb” by Helium - Very depressing song. But it was the 90’s. Everyone was depressed.



“Never Said” by Liz Phair - Always loved Liz, even in her commercial days. Can’t say this is one of her best videos but it was all they showed.

“I’m Waiting” by the Rentals - Another rather amazing Roman Coppola directed video, that is also not embeddable. In the video, you can see future SNL star Maya Rudolph on keyboards. She didn’t play on the CD (which was a great one) but joined the band later.



“Shame” by Stabbing Westward - Another of the decade's best videos. It tells a story, with subtitled dialogue (like Radiohead did in another video from the time period). Plus, with the band members slowly leaving the performance part to go watch the story, it is actually quite funny.



“Open the Door” by Magnapop - Great song. Right before the video on the tape is an interview with the band by Matt Pinfield, the host of 120 MINUTES who seemed to know more about each artist he was introducing than the artists knew about themselves. He would reference obscure European B-sides from bands you never heard of. Pinfield lets us remember how troubling the time period was by mentioning that two of his friends had committed suicide in the previous two weeks and how the song impacted him.



“Popular” by Nada Surf - An only in the 90’s song.

And that is it. An hour of music videos from 1996.

Then came the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which pretty much ruined radio and music driving the “Modern Rock” market off the air.

Music will never be the same.