Say Goodbye to Your Day: The 120 Minutes Archive Is a Wonderland

Any alternateen worth their ringer tees was obsessed with MTV's late-night weekly alt video show 120 minutes -- if you were born between 1975 and 1985, chances are you currently have some VHS tapes stashed in your parents' garage marked "120 Minutes, DO NOT TAPE OVER." My mom famously recorded some of a PBS Mystery! series over my sister's VHS of the Beastie Boys' 120 Minutes episode -- the one where they did "Sabotage" live and MCA spent the whole time dressed as Sir Stewart Wallace -- and it was like there had been a death. Airing Sunday nights from 11 pm to 1 AM, the show was a mix of classics and artists whose work would never be shown during the light of day on MTV -- including the Sex Pistols, Nick Cave, Jesus Lizard and Sonic Youth  -- as well as bands that had major cross-over success like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. Though the show went off the air in 2003 with a brief revival from 2011-2013, an internet archivist named Tylerc has created The 120 Minutes Archive, which lists every musical guest host and video shown on every episode during the series' 21-year history. So cancel your plans, say goodbye to the day, and relive the 1992 magic that was the "Detachable Penis" video. There's also a deep well of rap-rock videos, starting in 1994, if you're curious as to whether 311's videos hold up. (They don't.)

Below, a few gems from the site.




Sonic Youth / Dirty Boots
 

King Missle/Detachable Penis
 
Cut Your Hair/Pavement
 

Andres/ L7
 

MC 900ft Jesus - If I Only Had A Brain