Daily Mail: End of an era for iconic music channels including Kerrang! and The Box

Story from Daily Mail:

In an age before streaming and on-demand music videos, music channels were hugely popular with many Britons and an important part of noughties culture.

But now five TV stations - The Box, Kiss, 4Music, Magic and Kerrang! - have closed for good leaving fans mourning the 'end of an era' after more than 30 years on air.

Channel 4 has shut the channels in a cost-cutting move as they ceased broadcasting on Sky and Virgin Media on Sunday amid a shift to watching videos on YouTube.

The oldest is The Box which launched in 1992 as a competitor for MTV and saw viewers call in to request a song, becoming known as 'music television you control'.

But the biggest outpouring of grief on social media in recent days has been for the end of rock station Kerrang! TV which launched in 2001 with Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and finished over the weekend with Fall Out Boy's 'Thnks Fr Th Mmrs'.

Kerrang! - which took its name from the magazine of the same title - became known for championing indie rock, nu-metal and skate punk, with bands such as Green Day, Panic! At the Disco, Limp Bizkit and You Me At Six among those regularly played.

Many fans said the channel had introduced them to various forms of rock music and was a key staple of their teenage years, watching it while they revised for GCSEs or in difficult times.

Abbie Pink, senior music planning manager at Channel 4, was among those paying tribute to the channels and said she had worked on some of them for nearly 15 years.

She wrote on Facebook: 'A true end of an era and a disappointing moment for music but what an incredible 32 years of some iconic music channels - The Box, 4Music, Q, Smash Hits, Kiss, Magic and more!

'Special shout out to Kerrang! TV. When I was a teenager I'd never have imagined I'd be running this channel for years.

'A channel that's led me to meet some of my favourite bands and introduced me to some of the greatest people working in rock who I'm lucky enough to now call my friends. In the words of Fall Out Boy, Thnks Fr Th Mmrs!'

Q TV closed in 2012, while Smash Hits was later renamed Box Hits and closed in 2022.

Enter Shikari were among the bands mourning the end of Kerrang! TV, saying on X: 'A sad day as Kerrang! TV exits. We watched it as young teens, and later were grateful for their support of our band. Thank you Abbie Pink and all who sailed on the good ship K!TV.'

Speaking in February, Enter Shikari frontman Rou Reynolds said Kerrang! TV was important in helping the band reach new fans.

He told BBC Newsbeat: 'The first few years of our first album and everything, Kerrang! was completely supportive.

'It offered us a place where people could see our music videos, where people could see interviews - they were a great resource for bands starting out.'

Sam Carter, lead singer of metalcore band Architects, also told the progamme that the channel was 'a staple of my childhood'.

He added: 'I spent so many hours watching it and when I finally saw our videos on there it was such an awesome moment. I feel like it was a really important place as a gateway into heavy and alternative music.'

But Amy Williams, a youth culture and TV expert at Social Life Media, told MailOnline: 'I doubt that huge numbers of 16-24 year olds will even know that The Box, Kiss, 4Music, Magic and Kerrang channels are closing.

'Why would they when there is so much choice these days and brilliant ways of interacting with music, wherever you are. This is the SAS (Short attention span) generation after all.

'They'll be too busy dancing like Tyla on TikTok, listening to the Dua Lipa: At Your Service podcast on Spotify or watching Yungblud running everywhere on YouTube.

'For those Gen X'ers like me, living off 90's nostalgia, when music videos were THE highlight of the week, it's a sad day. I'll be grieving that they'll never get to sit in their PJ's watching Meatloaf's epic 'Bat Out of Hell', followed by Peter Gabriel's mind blowing 'Sledgehammer'. Those were the days. Now, back to that podcast...'

Many rock fans have written about the end of Kerrang! TV on social media in recent days, although some admitted that it had been years since they last watched it.

One said on X: 'Thanks for all the memories. Kerrang! TV was a such a big part of my teens. So many bands/artists discovered. End of an era. Thank you.'

Another added: 'I've not watched Kerrang! TV for years, but it was a massive part of my formative years.

'It helped fuel my passion for guitar and alt music, which in turn sent me down this path of sound I've been travelling ever since. Nice one Kerrang! and thanks for the memories.'

A third tweeted: 'Man, I haven't watched it - or any TV channel, really - since I left home almost 13 years ago, but seeing the last broadcast minute of Kerrang! TV was weirdly emotional. End of an era.'

And a fourth said: 'Sad to hear Kerrang! TV is no more. Watching the channel when I was younger really helped me through some tough times, and introduced me to a lot of bands/singers - a lot of which I still love listening to! RIP Kerrang TV, you deserve the rest.'

While a fifth tweeted: 'As cheesy as it might be, I'm genuinely gutted about the end of Kerrang! TV. I discovered so much influential music as a teenager because of this channel and still watched it after all these years. It was also a big dream to have a song played on it one day but alas, RIP.'

Kerrang! TV has its roots in the Kerrang! magazine was first published in 1981 and ceased publication as a weekly in March 2020 when the pandemic began.

However, it returned in print in December 2021 and is now published quarterly.

Kerrang! Radio was launched in 2000 as a digital station and still exists today. There is also an awards ceremony called the Kerrang! Awards which began in 1993.

Channel 4 took over ownership of the five TV channels in 2019 but is now closing them all as part of a major restructure after launching a 'Fast Forward' strategy in January to make the broadcaster a 'genuinely digital-first public service streamer by 2030'.

A statement confirmed at the time that it would close 'small linear channels that no longer deliver revenues or public value at scale'.

And a Channel 4 spokesman told MailOnline today: 'As we announced earlier this year as part of Channel 4's digital-first Fast Forward strategy, will be closing our Box network of channels from 1 July across all platforms, as they are no longer of sufficient scale to deliver meaningful return on investment.'

'Our strategy reflects the generational shift in TV viewing and involves reducing costs – particularly in linear activities - to allow us to invest in digital priorities and stay competitive in a world of global entertainment conglomerates and social media giants.'

The closures mean there are now just two players now showing music TV channels in the UK – those being MTV and the Now Music channels. The latter is famed for the Now That's What I Call Music compilation albums, and also runs Clubland TV.