MTV's Buzz Bin was a select group of music videos by up and coming artists and bands that the network deemed "buzz worthy", "cutting edge", or "the next big thing". As such, the selected videos received heavy rotation on the channel, and were also featured in special promotional commercials that highlighted the latest Buzz Bin selections, which were sometimes known as Buzz Clips.
The Buzz Bin began in 1987, and featured artists and bands from all genres of music (not just alternative rock or modern rock acts, although those were the majority). Many music industry trade publications have noted the direct effect Buzz Bin selection has had on album sales, with some sources stating that upwards of 75% of the selected acts have gone on to achieve RIAA Gold Certification or better. In 1992, The New York Times noted the Buzz Bin label's power in increasing sales and creating hit songs and Entertainment Weekly called it "Alternative rock's best friend."
In an article published in the journal of Music and Science, Osborn, Rossin, and Weingarten conducted a thorough content analysis of 288 Buzz Clips videos to "assess the kinds of people and cultural practices MTV promoted as buzzworthy in the 1990s." The study found high degrees of correlation between gender ethnicity, instrumentation, and genre: BIPOC musicians' videos were often coded as hip-hop or R&B, featuring drum machines and keyboards; white musicians' videos featured more electric guitars; and women were shown playing instruments with less frequency than men.
The Buzz Bin ended in 2004 and was split in half into MTV's "Discover and Download" and VH1's "You Oughta Know".
MTV released two compilation CDs of Buzz Bin tracks, on Mammoth Records.
Artists featured in the Buzz Bin # 10,000 Maniacs 311 3rd Bass 50 Cent
A AFI Christina Aguilera Akon The Alarm Alice in Chains Alien Ant Farm The All-American Rejects Amerie Tori Amos Sunshine Anderson Andy Prieboy Fiona Apple Tasmin Archer Arrested Development At The Drive-In The Ataris Audioslave Aztec Camera
B The B-52s Erykah Badu BBMak Beastie Boys Beck Adrian Belew Belly Tony Bennett Better Than Ezra Big Audio Dynamite Bingoboys Björk The Black Eyed Peas Blind Melon Blink-182 The Blue Nile Blur Tracy Bonham Brand New Brand New Heavies The Brandos The Breeders Edie Brickell & New Bohemians Buckcherry Jeff Buckley Joe Budden Bush Kate Bush Butthole Surfers
C Cake The Call Camouflage Camper Van Beethoven Cam'ron The Cardigans Vanessa Carlton The Charlatans The Chemical Brothers Neneh Cherry Toni Childs Chingy The Church CIV Coheed and Cambria Cold Coldplay Edwyn Collins Common Concrete Blonde Julian Cope Cornershop Nikka Costa Elvis Costello Counting Crows Cowboy Junkies Cracker The Cranberries Crash Test Dummies The Cure Mark Curry Cypress Hill
D D'Angelo Terence Trent D'Arby Daddy Freddy Daft Punk The Dandy Warhols Danzig The Darkness Dashboard Confessional Dave Matthews Band Craig David Howie Day De La Soul Deep Forest Definition Of Sound Deftones Depeche Mode dEUS Dido Dig Digable Planets Dinosaur Jr. Disturbed The Divinyls DNA Fefe Dobson Dog's Eye View Thomas Dolby The Donnas Drivin N Cryin Drowning Pool Bob Dylan Ms. Dynamite
E Eels Elastica Elephant Man Missy Elliott EMF Eminem Enigma Erasure Evanescence Faith Evans Eve Eve 6 Everclear
F Fabolous Faith No More The Farm Dionne Farris Fastball Fatboy Slim Bryan Ferry Filter The Flaming Lips Flesh For Lulu Folk Implosion Foo Fighters Forest for the Trees Fountains of Wayne Franz Ferdinand Freestylers Frente Fuel
G Garbage Gene Loves Jezebel Gin Blossoms Allen Ginsberg The Godfathers Godsmack Goo Goo Dolls Gorillaz David Gray Macy Gray Green Day Guadalcanal Diary
H Hanson Happy Mondays Helmet Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians The Hives Hole Hoodoo Gurus Hot Boys The House Of Love Hunters & Collectors
I Enrique Iglesias Natalie Imbruglia Incubus India.Arie Indigo Girls
J James Jamiroquai Jane's Addiction Jellyfish The Jesus & Mary Chain Jesus Jones Jimmie's Chicken Shack Jimmy Eat World Norah Jones Junior Senior Jurassic 5 JXL v. Elvis
K Kelis Alicia Keys Kid Rock Kina King's X Kittie The KLF Lenny Kravitz
L The La's LaTour Avril Lavigne The Lemonheads Len Julian Lennon Letters To Cleo Glenn Lewis The Lightning Seeds Lil' Jon Lil' Scrappy Limp Bizkit Linkin Park Live Living Colour The Lo Fidelity Allstars Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories Jennifer Lopez Monie Love Love and Rockets Lucy Pearl Baz Luhrmann Kevin Lyttle
M Marilyn Manson Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers Maroon 5 Ricky Martin John Mayer Mazzy Star Sarah McLachlan Men Without Hats M.I.A. Midnight Oil The Mighty Lemon Drops They Might Be Giants Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Mission UK Moby Alanis Morissette Morrissey Bob Mould Mudvayne Peter Murphy Musiq
N Nada Surf Bif Naked Ned's Atomic Dustbin New Found Glory New Order The New Radicals Nine Inch Nails Nirvana No Doubt
O Oasis Sinéad O'Connor The Offspring Orgy Joan Osborne Outkast
P P.O.D. Papa Roach Pavement Pearl Jam Liz Phair Pharrell P!nk The Pixies P.M. Dawn Iggy Pop Porno For Pyros Portishead Powerman 5000 The Presidents of the United States of America Primal Scream Primitive Radio Gods The Primitives The Prodigy Psychedelic Furs Public Image Ltd.
Q Finley Quaye
R R.E.M. Radiohead Rage Against the Machine Rammstein Rancid Ranking Roger Red Hot Chili Peppers Lou Reed Reef The Refreshments The Rembrandts The Rentals The Replacements Republica Res Busta Rhymes The Robert Rawson Duet Rocket From the Crypt The Roots
S Scarface Jill Scott Screaming Blue Messiahs Screaming Trees Seal Erick Sermon, Redman and Keith Murray Semisonic Shakespears Sister Shakira Shudder To Think Silverchair Simple Minds Siouxsie and the Banshees The Smashing Pumpkins Patti Smith The Smithereens The Smiths Jill Sobule Social Distortion Sonic Youth Soul Asylum Soundgarden The Soup Dragons Space Monkeys Spacehog Spearhead Sponge Squirrel Nut Zippers Stabbing Westward Stardust Static-X Staind Stereo MCs Stone Temple Pilots Story of the Year Stroke 9 The Strokes Sublime Sugar Ray The Sugarcubes The Sundays Superdrag Matthew Sweet System of a Down
T Taproot Teenage Fanclub Temple of the Dog Terror Squad They Might Be Giants Carl Thomas Thunder Thursday Toad the Wet Sprocket The Toadies The Tomato Can Experience Tool Travis Trik Turner Tripping Daisy Triumph the Insult Comic Dog TRUSTcompany Tweet Twiztid
U U2 Urban Dance Squad Urge Overkill Us3 Utah Saints
V Veruca Salt The Verve The Verve Pipe The Vines
W The Wallflowers Crystal Waters Wax Weezer Kanye West The White Stripes White Trash White Zombie Robbie Williams Wire Andrew W.K. World Party
X XTC
Y Yeah Yeah Yeahs Pete Yorn
References
External links Entertainment Weekly review of 'MTV's Best of the Buzz Bin'