MTV: Music, Myths and Mysteries (found MTV promotional special; 1999)
MTV: Music, Myths and Mysteries is a one-shot, television special which aired in 1999 as part of the promotional push for the then-newly released feature film Sleepy Hollow starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. The special, as the title infers, focused on various rumors, myths and urban legends related to the music industry including murders, alleged supernatural occurrences and relationships between different bands and artists.
The special featured VJ Ananda Lewis, placed in a forested area near a graveyard, allegedly the graveyard victims of the legendary Headless Horseman were buried in and this element, a direct connection between the supernatural elements of the movie and the urban legends mentioned in the special, seems to be the wraparound plot. The only remaining footage involves the host describing an alleged romance between Tori Amos and Trent Reznor with a scene from the movie featuring the romance between Ichabod Crane (Depp) and Katrina Van Tassel (Ricci).
The special first emerged on the internet in 2017 on the r/TipOfMyTongue subreddit,[1] where it was reposted several times over the last five years, as well as other subreddits such as r/LostFilms and even this site. Over that time many people, mostly on Reddit, have said they recalled the special[2] but even the original poster, u/ThatGamingAsshole, had only vague memories. Until recently there was no evidence of its existence beyond these Reddit posts.
Footage
On March 29th, 2022, a Redditor (u/LittleMissChriss) who had previously been involved in the early searches managed to uncover a single video on a YouTube page dedicated to Tori Amos which directly presented evidence of MTV: Music, Myths and Mysteries' existence and subsequently one other website which reiterated this (likely made by the same YouTuber) was also discovered the same day.[3] The YouTuber posted a video of the short section involving Amos and Reznor's possible relationship and nothing else but it matched every other aspect described in previous searches on Reddit 1-for-1 including the appearance of the host, the setting and other effects added to it such as special effects attempting to make the host appear ghostly. According to the single website that mentioned it and YouTube page with the only known existing film, the special aired on November 16th, 1999.
Status
Beyond this almost everything else remains unknown, however memories from viewers, however few there are, on Reddit include other elements featured on the program. So far beyond the YouTube page and mentions on Reddit and a single website, nothing else has been recovered.
On April 5th, 2022 YouTuber Brenner no Densetsu found an old VHS recording of the special and uploaded it onto his channel.
Possible Content
- Urban legends concerning the Biggie Smalls/Tupac assassinations.
- A segment on Jim Morrison faking his death.
- Rumors that Kurt Cobain made concert appearances after his death.
- A story about a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd being buried in a Neil Young T-shirt.
- A segment about someone being murdered during the recording of "Love Rollercoaster.
- Rumors of a sexual relationship between Tori Amos and Trent Reznor.
- A nameless "phantom band" which performed at a venue then was never heard of again.
Gallery
Footage
Videos
References
- ↑ r/TipOfMyTongue subreddit page on MTV: Music, Myths and Mysteries. Retrieved 31 Mar '22
- ↑ r/LostFilms subreddit page on MTV: Music, Myths and Mysteries. Retrieved 31 Mar '22
- ↑ A webpage on MTV: Music, Myths and Mysteries and its content. Retrieved 31 Mar '22