120 Minutes
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120 Minutes was a television show dedicated to alternative music on MTV and MTV2 from 1986-2003. For the first ten years, one could see artists as varied as Kate Bush, The Ramones, Morrissey, Kitchens of Distinction and Hüsker Dü. For a time in the mid-1990s, a companion program called Alternative Nation aired every weeknight on MTV. But as time went on, and MTV found shows like The Real World immensely profitable, the show found its time slot pushed further and further back. Perhaps adding insult to injury, the playlist was becoming more and more mainstream, playing the likes of Sum 41 and Staind and the show became increasingly pre-empted (usually without any warning) for reruns of The Real World and Undressed before being removed from the airwaves in the spring of 2000. In 2001, the show returned to the airwaves on MTV2, where it returned to the style of music it was known for.
On May 4, 2003, the show was cancelled for good with no real formal announcement to viewers. Current host Jim Shearer shared the screen with the creator of 120 Minutes (and later host of the series when original host Kevin Seal left MTV) Dave Kendall and Matt Pinfield (probably the most iconic of the 120 Minutes VJs who also included Lewis Largent, Seal, and artists such as Thurston Moore). The two "classic era" hosts shared their favorite videos from over the years (a full playlist for the final episode can be found [here]), finally ending with the bitterweet selection of Siouxsie & The Banshees's "Kiss Them For Me" as the final video aired.
Not long after the end of 120 Minutes, MTV2 premiered a similar show called Subterranean, hosted by Jim Shearer - which was 60 minutes in length. The show has a weekly "featured artist". Shearer interviews the band and plays their videos.
The current VH1 Classic program The Alternative plays the videos regularly seen on 120 Minutes in its heyday. It airs in a two-hour version Sundays at 11 AM (with a repeat at 11 PM) Eastern, with additional one-hour shows at those times on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
120 Minutes in the UK
In the United Kingdom, 120 Minutes was also featured on MTV in the mid-1990s, hosted for two years by ex-Wonder Stuff frontman Miles Hunt. 120 Minutes moved in 2003 to MTV2, replacing a similar show, 2eclectic, which had sporadically occupied various late-night slots. The format of the show is different compared to the original and Subterranean, in that there are no VJs, commercial breaks, or MTV promotions save for a 'You Are Watching 120 Minutes' graphic that appears after every three or four videos, lasting no more than a few seconds. The two-hour strand concentrates on playing 'the real alternative', including new and classic leftfield indie, rock, electronica, hip-hop and metal videos that may not be played on other channels or during the daytime, although some videos can be seen on MTV2's Spanking New Music programmes during the day. Artists such as Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, and Bloc Party's videos were first played on this show before they achieved commercial success, and many videos are played on 120 Minutes before branching out onto the MTV2 playlist. Regular artists on 120 Minutes also include Bright Eyes, The Knife, Pavement, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Kraftwerk, and Björk, along with Nizlopi, whose song JCB eventually charted at Number One in December 2005.Occasionally, the show has themes, including a festival report at the Triptych festival in 2004, and Kraftwerk, Hexstatic, Björk, and Four Tet specials. Every Tuesday the show becomes 120 Electronic Minutes, and every Thursday the show is known as 120 Pioneers, playing older videos from influential alternative bands. A 120 Metal Minutes strand was cancelled in April 2006, with metal and hardcore videos instead being played on the channel's Headbanger's Ball timeslot on Tuesday evenings.
The show's playlist has also been curated by Franz Ferdinand and Belle & Sebastian, both in October 2005, and more recently by Mogwai and Massive Attack.
The original timeslot was on a Saturday night at 1 a.m. GMT, with the show being repeated on a Thursday at 2 a.m. From March 2005, the decision was made for 120 Minutes to be shown every night at 1 a.m. in addition to the 2 a.m. slot on Saturdays. In February 2006, the show moved forward to 12 a.m. every night, with a 120 Taster, showcasing some of the videos played in the strand at an earlier time of 8 p.m.
External links
- [altmusictv.com's 120 Minutes site] - contains playlists and a full transcript of the final interview.
- [MTV2 UK's official website] - request threads can be found on the messageboards.
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