Subterranean | Main

Used to be that if you wanted to hear some music - not that everyday radio nonsense - if you wanted to hear the real s#@%, the far out s%^#, you had to stay up all night. It was 1986 and the Internet was still strictly for scientists and the most dedicated forum trolls. Back then, before blogs, before torrents, before mp3s, there was 120 Minutes. Hosted by the likes of Dave Kendall and hero-to-the-bald, Matt Pinfield, the show was home to then little known bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, The Verve, Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, KMFDM, XTC, Morrissey, Hüsker Dü and Nirvana.

It ran for seven years and it was good. Real good. But then a heavy dose of reality came along and edged out the avant garde. There was no longer room or audience for long heady days of experimental music and haircuts. And so 120 Minutes was cancelled. But, like any great rock 'n roll legend, 120 Minutes refused to die. Refused! Because rock 'n roll never dies. No. It just goes underground. And that's where it went. And that, dear grandchild, is how it came to pass that the phoenix called 120 Minutes was reborn Subterranean.

Subterranean is a mighty show. In the 1940s they would've called it a son of a bitch. For a time it was hosted by Jim Shearer, a former McDonald's employee and a regular modern-day Horatio Alger. Between setlists of the cutting edge's most illuminating videos, Shearer would pick the brains of artists and help to define the movement to which they were so essential. Call it indie rock, call it alternative, glam, goth, dance punk or electroclash. Whatever it is, it's important, it feels good and it's on Subterranean.

Subterranean airs Thursdays at 1AM on MTV2, where it is feverishly devoured by creatures of the night. The insomniac's staple has featured tons of guest bands. Bands like Radiohead, Beck, CSS, Tokyo Police Club, M.I.A., Santogold, Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire. Anybody who does it their own way and does it right. The interviews are mixed in with the greatest music videos on television. Want to see them again? Want to see more? They're all online at MTV.com, too.

You like to feel good, right? Well then why not relive all those years of underground music history, from the comfort of your home office? We have hours upon hours of pristinely preserved interviews and videos from the entire indie rock pantheon. Highlights from years of Subterranean, hosted by Jim Shearer, now live on forever in the city that never sleeps: MTV's corner of the Internet. Watch Subterranean. It'll make you a better person. A more attractive person.