Dave Kendall Dies: Creator & Host Of MTV’s ‘120 Minutes’ Championed Alternative Music

Dave Kendall, who created and hosted MTV’s 120 Minutes, has died, according to his friend and former MTV colleague Matt Pinfield.

Pinfield did not disclosed a cause or date of death, nor was Kendall’s age immediately available.

“Dave was one of the true believers,” Pinfield wrote on X. “Long before alternative music found its way into the mainstream, he was there every week on 120 Minutes, introducing people to bands that would go on to define an era. He didn’t just host a show. He gave a home to music that deserved to be heard.

“He loved the music,” Pinfield continued, “respected the artists, and connected with fans in a way that always felt authentic. That’s a rare gift.”

With Kendall serving as producer, 120 Minutes debuted on March 10, 1986, envisioned as MTV’s platform for alternative music and punk, airing videos featuring The Ramones, Morrissey, Kate Bush and others. One of its most notable contributions to the pop culture moment of the era was its world premiere of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video on September 29, 1991.

A British music journalist, Kendall championed what he would call “cool and original” music despite some initial push-back from the network to include videos that were already in rotation. Kendall held fast to the program’s original vision, and by 1989 he was serving as its host, a position he’d hold through 1992. He later told the music website Consequence that the most important contribution of the program was in popularizing “non-mainstream music” that at the time was confined to “a few local college radio stations.”

After leaving MTV, Kendall worked as a freelance music writer, a SiriusXM host, and, in more recent years, served as a correspondent for the Bangkok Post, reporting on environmental causes. He recently lived in Thailand and Indonesia.