Today Marks 30th Anniversary Of ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ Series On MTV
Today (3/8) marks the 30th anniversary of the debut of one of my all-time favorite animated television series ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ on MTV! The show was created by the brilliantly talented Mike Judge, co-creator of another one of my favorite animated series ‘King of the Hill’ and many others. Beavis and Butt-Head first appeared in Judge’s animated short film ‘Frog Baseball’, which aired in the season two debut episode of the MTV hit series ‘Liquid Television’. I remember the less than 3-minute clip well, Beavis in his Metallica shirt and Butt-Head in his AC/DC top, them harmonizing Sabbath’s “Iron Man” together with Deh Neh Neh-Neh-Neh’s and of course, froggggg baseballlllllll! Honorable mention goes to ‘Liquid Televison’s’ “AEon Flux”, another great series on the show.
‘Frog Baseball’ first aired September 24th, 1992, soon after, MTV ordered a full series of Beavis and Butt-Head with the first episode airing March 8th, 1993 – 30 years ago today! The show was a pop-culture phenomenon, giving us the forever-funny-to-imitate phrases like, “I am the Great Cornholio” and “Give me TP for my bunghole” – and yes, it’s a must that you pull your shirt over your head like Beavis when you say the lines.
The portion of the show I liked the most, however, was when the B&B duo did commentary over music videos. Everyone from Oingo Boingo to Danzig to Soundgarden to Loverboy and countless others were all featured on the show, for better or for worse. I remember seeing the music video for Metallica’s “One” for the first time on there and that made me want to go find the album to hear more. Hearing Beavis and Butt-Head “sing” over Guns N’ Roses “Garden of Eden” video is another hilarious clip.
The original series ran for 8 seasons on MTV with the final episode airing November 28th, 1997. There was a spin-off series ‘Daria’ (Diarrhea cha-cha-cha) based on a classmate of Beavis and Butt-Head’s, Daria Morgendorffer, though Mike Judge was not involved at all except to give permission for using the character. The highly anticipated movie ‘Beavis and Butt-Head Do America’ came out in theaters in 1996. It too featured a great soundtrack of songs, including the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s version of Love Rollercoaster by the Ohio Players.
MTV rebooted Beavis and Butt-Head in 2011 airing 22 episodes over a two-month span. Since then, a second reboot of the series is being featured on Paramount+, where it has been airing since August of 2022 – with new episodes also on Comedy Central following another legendary animated series, South Park. A second film ‘Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe was also released in 2022.
Thank you to Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park and countless other animated series for corrupting me as a youth… and as an adult!
Happy 30th Anniversary to Beavis and Butt-Head Heh Heheh Heh
