Beavis and Butt-head
In Beavis and Butt-head’s acne-scarred faces, heavy metal t-shirts and socially awkward giggling, a generation of teenagers saw their reflection — and man, were they awesome.
In these pre-South Park, pre-Family Guy times, Mike Judge’s animated idiots were easily the most offensive cartoon America had ever seen. And during the cartoon’s four year run on MTV, from 1993 to 1997, it earned a fair share of criticism. In 1993, a 5-year-old boy started a fire, allegedly after watching an episode of the show that claimed fire was fun. MTV “reevaluated” the series and removed references to fire from its episodes.
Beavis and Butt-head inspired a hit film and the spin-off cartoons Daria and King of the Hill, but the show’s most memorable contribution to society’s decay will always be the Beavis’ alter-ego Cornholio.
Nirvana Unplugs
MTV aired many great moments in music history but rarely did the music network have a hand in actually creating them. But such was the case in November 1993 when Nirvana performed on the acoustic music series MTV Unplugged. Surrounded by candles and lilies, Kurt Cobain shied away from his band’s big hits, instead preferring to cover the likes of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” and the traditional folk song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” The performance was one of Cobain’s last; he would commit suicide just six months later. Nirvana’s Unplugged performance — subsequently released as a multiplatinum album — captured the band in all its stark, depressive beauty.
