VH1Classic.com officially launches today, an effort to shore up the online brand of the cable oldies channel as the destination on the internet for classic music videos at the same time the channel seems to be removing that unique position from itself by playing movies, countdown shows, basically anything but music videos.

Initial thoughts:

  • The site design is far too ’70s, with all the brown & orange and funky font treatments. I half expect my cursor to become a big-eyed Keane head icon.
  • The big selling point of the site, the availability of thousands of music videos to play, post on your site, etc., is muted by the paltry selection. One ABC video (guess which one)? One Buggles video (guess which one)? If I can see “All Of My Heart” on VH1 Classic, why can’t I see it on the website?
  • Why is it this Viacom-owned website can post video content they don’t own the copyrights to (i.e. ALL OF IT), but they’ll shoot off cease & desists to YouTube every ten seconds?

And what happened to The Vault?

Lost in the '80s, Music

About the Author

John C. Hughes

John C. Hughes began his Lost in the ’80s blog in 2005 and is now proud to be a member of the Popdose family, where he’s introduced LIT80s’s companions, the obviously named Lost in the ’70s and Lost in the ’90s, alongside the slightly more originally named Why You Should Like…

View All Articles