''I.R.S. Records Presents: The Cutting Edge'', also known as ''The Cutting Edge'' or IRS's ''The Cutting Edge'', was a music program that aired on
MTV (US) from March 1983 to September 1987, on the last Sunday of every month. The show was retitled ''The Cutting Edge Happy Hour'' in 1986.
Background
The show was intended to feature performers who might otherwise not be seen on MTV, and featured the earliest appearances on MTV for acts like
Madonna, the
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...
and
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...
The co-founders of I.R.S.,
Miles Copeland III
Miles Axe Copeland III (born May 2, 1944) is an American music and entertainment executive and former manager of The Police. Copeland later managed Sting's musical and acting career. In 1979, Copeland founded the I.R.S. Records label, producin ...
and Jay Boberg, also saw the program as an effective promotional tool for I.R.S. recording artists at a time when much of the music industry had not yet perceived the marketing value of music videos.
Copeland later described himself as "the only record company executive ever to have had his own show on MTV".
Broadcast history
Produced by Jay Boberg and Carl Grasso of
I.R.S. Records for MTV, and directed by
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Jonathan Dayton (born July 7, 1957) and Valerie Faris (born October 20, 1958) are a team of American film and music video directors who received critical acclaim for their feature film directorial debut, '' Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006). Later t ...
,
the first year of the show featured a variety of hosts including
Jools Holland,
Jeffrey Vallance
Jeffrey Karl Reese Vallance (born January 25, 1955, in Redondo Beach, California) is an American contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for projects that blur the lines between object-making, install ...
, and
Wazmo Nariz, before settling on
Peter Zaremba, the lead singer of
the Fleshtones
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York, United States, formed in 1976.
History 1976–1979
The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York, by Keith Streng (born September 18, 1955, New York City) an ...
.
Interviews with musicians and performances were videotaped in clubs, recording studios and private homes.
As it evolved, the program began to produce programs that focused on regional
music scenes
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
around the United States, such as in
Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...
,
Austin and different neighborhoods around
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.
A 1985 episode filmed in Austin was an important contributor to the brief flourishing of the local "
New Sincerity
New Sincerity (closely related to and sometimes described as synonymous with post-postmodernism) is a trend in music, aesthetics, literary fiction, film criticism, poetry, literary criticism and philosophy that generally describes creative works ...
" music scene.
''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' critic Terry Atkinson, writing in July 1986, called ''The Cutting Edge'' "simply the best program about pop music that we have", with "the most interesting and adventurous new acts".
In 1986, the name of the program was changed to ''The Cutting Edge Happy Hour''. The renamed show was videotaped at a single location, the Hollywood
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...
. A June 1987 episode presented a wide range of performers from
Frank Zappa to
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of '' isicathamiya'' and '' mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with Paul Simon on his 1986 album '' Graceland'', and have won ...
,
but overall, the series became more focused on Southern California bands, and lost popularity before ending by September 1987.
References
{{Music based programs on MTV
I.R.S. Records
1983 American television series debuts
1987 American television series endings
1980s American variety television series
1980s American music television series
MTV original programming
English-language television shows