120 Minutes was a television show in the United States dedicated to the alternative music genre, originally airing on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then on MTV's sister channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After its cancellation, MTV2 premiered a replacement show called Subterranean. A similar but separate MTV Classic program, also titled 120 Minutes, plays many classic alternative videos that were regularly seen on 120 Minutes in its heyday. 120 Minutes returned as a monthly series on MTV2 on July 30, 2011, with Matt Pinfield as host. (More from Wikipedia)
With their final album, Monster (1989), Fetchin Bones had mastered a sound that presaged the grunge sound that was to come in the following decade; but the band was always out of step. In the beginning, they were alternative rock even before anyone really knew what that was, and their sound became the template for the riot grrrl movement as well. Their albums are quite good; I used to see their videos occasionally on MTV's late-night alternative-rock showcase 120 Minutes, and they were briefly college-radio favorites. They should have been FM Radio hitmakers as well, though it never happened.
(February 2014)
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When a long overdue retrospective of Joy Division called Substance finally came out in 1988, one of the songs, “Atmosphere” got to #34 on the British charts; and the Spartan music video that played on the MTV program 120 Minutes made a deep impression on me as well.
(June 2014)
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The Sisters of Mercy (named for a well-known Irish religious order) was one of my favorite bands of the 1980’s alternative rock explosion, particularly their video of “This Corrosion” that I saw numerous times on the late-night MTV alternative rock showcase 120 Minutes. (The extended version of “This Corrosion” on their album Floodland was not nearly so effective). Andrew Eldritch is the only continuous member of the band (along with a drum machine called Doktor Avalanche that really is something special), though the grim visage of Patricia Morrison on the video for “This Corrosion” is at least as memorable as his own.
(October 2014)
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The Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album that I have, Tender Prey (1988) is their sixth album. I was introduced to Nick Cave through the video for the opening track on this album, “The Mercy Seat” that I saw several times on the MTV late show 120 Minutes.
(November 2014)
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