Today, December 31, 2025, we lower the volume and pour one out for the empire that invented modern cool. From teased-to-the-heavens ’80s hair bands to flannel-soaked ’90s grunge, from neon countdowns to MTV Unplugged, the channel didn’t just play music—it taught a generation how to look, sound, and argue about it.

For a glorious stretch, MTV was the culture. If it aired there, it mattered. If it didn’t, it probably shouldn’t have.

Then came The Real World. Suddenly, the music videos clocked out, the cameras moved into the house, and MTV accidentally beta-tested reality TV for the entire planet. Not all of it was bad. Some of it was… very bad. But the spell was broken.

Still, for a few bright decades, MTV told us what was cool before the internet could argue about it. MTV didn’t just kill the radio star—it threw a party, invited everyone, and then forgot why it showed up in the first place.