The Ten Biggest Dallas-Related MTV Moments

​As you've no doubt figured out by now, MTV turned 30 years old today. Indeed, that's a formidable amount of time -- enough, for sure, for almost any entity to leave a mark.

And, for sure, MTV has made plenty of marks. But beyond its groundbreaking debut as a music-centric cable station and past, even, its establishment as a standard-bearer in the world of reality television, the station's also had a strong effect on Dallas. A number of local artists got their big national break when MTV decided to play their music videos. On the other hand, MTV also helped run a few Dallas-bred acts into the ground. Either way: There's no denying the fact that MTV's 30-year run hasn't gone unnoticed here in North Texas.

So, on that note, we decided to slog through the station's entire 30-year history to look back in the biggest Dallas-related happenings in MTV history. Check out our picks for the best after the jump.

10. Play-n-Skillz on MTV's Made. As producers, brothers and two of the many thorns in Lil Wayne's side, Play-n-Skillz have helped put Dallas on the hip-hop map. And this year, they were featured on an episode of Made, a makeover show that turns ambitious teens into what they want to be "made" into -- i.e. singers, athletes, etc. For their episode as coaches, Play-n-Skillz were given the task of turning two teen girls into marketable pop singers, which, understandably, kind of drove them up the wall. The episode aired last month, which shows that, no matter how relevant MTV is in the world of music, they're still paying attention to us here in Big D.


9. Meat Loaf, "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)." Meat Loaf was born in Houston, but he grew up in Dallas and attended UNT. The above head-scratcher of a video for his song "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" helped launch Meat's 1992 comeback. It featured Meat as a Phantom of the Opera-type character. Not since Bonnie Tyler and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" has a music video been so epically, cheesily theatrical.


8. Pearl Jam Unplugged. This was the performance that helped break Pearl Jam into the mainstream, while similarly contributing to the national rise of the Seattle grunge sound. So, you ask, why are these guys on this Dallas-intensive list? Well, because they've got some serious Dallas ties, courtesy of former drummer Dave Abbruzzese, who joined right after they finished recording their legendary album Ten. Before joining Pearl Jam, Abbruzzese was a Deep Ellum mainstay; he grew up in Mesquite, and played with legendary local hard rockers Course of Empire as well as his own band, Dr. Tongue. He drummed with Pearl Jam throughout their heyday, and left after Vitalogy, at which point he returned to Dallas, where he lives to this day.