MTV Rewind is a developer’s homage to the 24/7 music video channels.

MTV close its remaining 24/7 music channels in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, by the end of 2025. The main network MTV has focused on reality shows a long time ago and it sometimes comes back to music with things like the Video Music Awards, but this shutdown felt like the end of an era. If you long for the days when MTV actually played music videos, you might be in luck. A developer named Flexasaurus Rex has paid homage to the old MTV with a web app offering multiple channels of non-stop streaming music.

MTV Rewind has 11 channels at the time of writing, including one that features videos from the original channel’s first day of existence in 1981. There is a channel dedicated to MTV unplugged performances, a rap focused stream, one for each decade from the 70s to the 20s and (my personal favorites) 120 minutes And headbangers ball choice. MTV Rewind has released over 33,000 music videos so far. This represents more than two months of music, like Loudwire Remarks.

“MTV was a cultural institution that changed music, fashion and youth culture. Then they stopped showing music videos and became reality shows”, Flexasaurus Rex said. “I felt a wave of sadness when the announcement was made. Nothing seemed to fill that void. So I started coding. I built it in 48 hours: MTV Rewind.”

Each channel plays videos in random order and there is a shuffle option if you can’t decide which stream to watch. If a song doesn’t suit you, just tap the Skip button. There are also period-appropriate advertisements. For example, I hadn’t seen this one from Got Milk? campaign before it appears. This reminded me of the J. Walter Weatherman gag from Arrested development:

The application database is powered by IMVDB (The Internet Music Video Database). The videos are all taken from YouTube, one of the things that contributed to the demise of MTV’s 24/7 music channels. There weren’t really any solid arguments for Total demand live to stay on the air, for example, when we have access to virtually every video clip at our fingertips.

One of my favorite things about MTV Rewind is that it has a hit counter like the Geocities of old. So very 90s. Actually, it’s all great. Tubular, some will say.

MTV Rewind is not associated with MTV or its parent company. However, it uses the MTV name. Here’s hoping Paramount lawyers are not cracking down on this. It’s nice to have fun on the Internet.