Billboard July 24, 1993    MUSIC VIDEO -Artist & Music

Beavis & Butthead: "Cool" Reaction
Viewers Tune In, Some Execs Turned Off

By Deborah Russell
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LOS ANGELES-"I remember junior high like it was yesterday," says 30
year-old Mike Judge, the creator and voice of Beavis and Butt-head,
the two terminally stupid characters whose moronic charm has
captivated the warped imagination of MTV viewers.

  Judge's revelation should come as no surprise to anyone who's ever
watched an episode of "Beavis And Butt-head," which debuted in March
and has since ascended to its current status as MTV's highest-rated
half-hour series.

  Each show mixes two cartoons chronicling the animated misfits'
adventures with a number of abbreviated music videos that inspire
goofy commentary. The network's team mines the MTV vaults to find old
videos by such acts as Wham! and Toni Basil to mix with brand-new
clips by the Butthole Surfers and Aerosmith.  As the animated stars
preview each clip, their commentary can often take a scathing turn.
Ween's "Push The Little Daisies" got a big thumbs down: "These guys
have no future."

  Other acts that have felt the mindless wrath of Beavis and
Butt-head include Amy Grant, Winger, and the "artier than thou"
Sinead O'Connor. "It's great when you contrast something so serious
with two really dumb guys reacting to it," he says, alluding to
O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" video.

  "Sinead just takes herself so seriously," says Judge. "And that
video is so heavy. But most of the people watching it are 14-year-old
guys going, 'huh, huh, huh, huh.'"

  The humor in the show is not meanspirited, says Judge. "Part of
what's funny is not just that someone's cutting down the videos, but
that it's Beavis and Butt-head doing it," Judge says. "It's like when
a dumb guy calls you stupid, and you can't convince him he's wrong
because he's just too stupid to get it."

  And while it's all in good fun, according to MTV, some of the
labels take issue with the very premise on which the show is based.

  "It's ironic that a show that blasts the network and the music
video medium, itself is the most successful show on the channel,"
says Mark Ghuneim, director of video promotion at Columbia
Records/Sony Music. "That really says something about the state of
the medium, MTV, and its playlist."

  MTV has a long history of poking fun at itself, says Abby Terkuhle,
executive producer of "Beavis and Butthead," who notes, "I've always
had an irreverent attitude about MTV and music." And, adds, Judge,
"Beavis and Butt-head do like stuff that's cool."


  Clearly that attitude has struck a chord with viewers, and MTV is
responding in kind with 35 new cartoons set for fall, and 100 more
scheduled for 1994.

  That's good news for the labels, who rely on MTV's ratings success
for their own artist development plans.

 "The more people watch, the stronger MTV gets, and it's hard to
dispute that," says Linda Ingrisano, Elektra's national director of
video promotion.

  One person who is clearly surprised by the success of Beavis and
Butt-head is Judge himself. He likens the show's appeal to that of
the Three Stooges or Cheech & Chong.

  "Sometimes you just don't want to think too much," he says. But, as
a writer, he notes he sometimes is frustrated by the limitations
posed by his brainless characters.

  "We might come up with a very clever line, but it may be too
serious and Butt-head would never have thought of it so we can't use
it," says Judge, adding, "unless he's been visited by the spirit of
a smarter person."

  Much of the banter exchanged by Beavis and Butt-head could be
classified as juvenile, junior-high material, with subject matter
ranging from masturbation and sex to other bodily functions and
general destruction and mayhem. For label executives who often face
the prospect of editing videos to meet MTV's own loosely knit credo
of standards and practices, listening to Beavis and Butt-head discuss
their erections in prime-time can be a bitter pill to swallow.

  "There's a real double standards and practices line going on here,
and that area is gray enough as it is," says Columbia's Ghuneim.
"There's a desperate need for continuity, because Beavis and
Butt-head can talk about beating off at five in the afternoon and the
biggest music stars in the business can't talk about it after
midnight."

  Terkuhle defends the show's language and content, noting, "The
language Beavis and Butt-head use is the language a 15-year-old might
use. They're over the top, and they're not real."

  The characters, themselves, may not be real, but their impact on
entertainment clearly is. Judge has been approached by a number of
record labels and film companies, and Beavis and Butt-head will host
their own holiday special this Christmas.


 (c) 1993 Billboard Publications