How MTV made music Weird. // TRAIN BRAIN - Evolve Your Brain

How MTV made music Weird.

Polyphonic

I make things about music. Videos come out when they do, usually on Thursdays or Fridays....

I love this kind of album cover

Songs that Lie to You

Classic Songs that Didn't Make the Record

This Enormous Synthesizer Changed Music Forever

Afroman's Hilarious Second Act

Introducing: Drugs

The Music I Loved in 2025

An Incomplete History of the Concert Film

The Weird World of Teenage Tragedy Songs

Understanding "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

Understanding "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"

When artists don't write their own songs

The War Songs of Greenwich Village

Is SINNERS a Musical?

when rockstars sing about their dogs

Canadian Music is in Danger

Understanding Sympathy for the Devil

We need to talk about Prog Soul

The Experimental Movement Behind the Beatles' Weirdest Song

Pop Punk became what it mocked.

MF DOOM's Most Iconic Look

The Insane Story Behind Kickstart My Heart

I got 99 problems, but the audience interpreting the depiction of my death as a symbol ain't one.

There will never be a more perfect band for AMVs.

Christopher Walken Tap Dancing is my safe word.

Missy Elliott's humiliating walk through Brooklyn.

The world moves for only one man. (it's Jamiroquai)

Y2K futurism at its peak.

do we listen to too much music?

The video MTV didn't want you to see.

Nirvana hired the worst man for the job.

For a brief moment, rock music WAS Guns N' Roses.

My Favourite Songs in 2024

You can thank MTV for Hollywood's biggest names.

The blueprint for all visual albums.

When two masters of their craft team up.

my latest hyperfixation

Music Videos after MTV

And yet they copied him relentlessly.

Take On Me failed without its video.

Albums that aren't "Albums"

He's a hater, but he plays the game.

Elvis's Big Break

How YouTube Dethroned MTV

The mythical origin story of Billie Jean.

I watch it for the plot.

David Bowie calls MTV racist (on MTV)

The First Punk Band (Just Released Their Last Album)

Bowie's first masterpiece on film.

How MTV made music Weird.

Top of the Pops was ahead of its time.

MTV's first video was an obvious choice.

Wild Tales from the Golden Age of MTV

Bohemian Rhapsody became the benchmark for music videos.

Psychedelic goes visual.

bobdylan_lyricvid_FINAL.mp4

How My Chemical Romance Became Immortal

The moment Music became Television.

Remember when there were jukeboxes for music videos?

Elvis did it first.

Insane Stories from the Early Days of MTV

Nobody show Jamiroquai this.

The inspiration behind your favourite music videos.

The invention of the music video.

I can't stop thinking about this Bowie lyric.

We wouldn't have music videos if it weren't for Talkies.

The best music video of 1894.

The Weird World of '60s Music Videos

Talking to Thurston Moore about the State of the World

How Old Hollywood Shaped the Music Video

How Doja Cat Rejected Stan Culture

The First Music Video is Older Than You Think

Channel Memberships

The Story of Smells Like Teen Spirit

The Insane Story of "Cotton Eye Joe"

The best ways to destroy a guitar.

How Benny Goodman Shaped Pop Music

A guitar smashing contest.

Art Content & Me

Tommy and Pink are complimentary opposites.

The Who's cautionary tale.

The Astounding Influence of John Hammond

Pink Floyd's surrogate band.

The metaphor at the heart of The Who's Tommy.

What Drops of Jupiter Taught Me About Music

The Future of AI Music

An Ode to the Guitar Smash

answering questions about my book (and also other things)

How John Lennon Uses Nonsense

Genre is Dying (and that's a good thing)

The Mother of American Music

The Greatest Video Essay in the World

The Future of the Guitar Solo

Nirvana killed the guitar solo.

Hiatus.

The greatest debate in rock history.

A blackout drunk Ozzy Osbourne discovers a rare talent.

The man who taught guitar gods how to play.

The Death of the Guitar Solo

Thrash Metal isn't a scene, it's an arms race.