Music Television Stepping Back Into The Future is an album released by The Alarm on The Twenty First Century Recording Company on 19th April 2024. The album was released as a limited edition of 250 purple vinyl albums or limited edition of 250 yellow vinyl albums or as a CD. There was a repress of the CD ready for the USA Live Today Love Tomorrow tour that was due to start in May 2024 but this tour was cancelled. There was also a limited edition bonus CD that pulled together a number of cover version that had been released over the years to appear for the first time on an album.

Inspired by David Bowie’s Pinups album, Music Television by The Alarm will step back into the future by reimagining songs from some of rock’s most influential and defining moments in visual music. “The Alarm came of age in the MTV era” says Mike Peters. “So many of our longstanding fans also grew up on MTV and saw The Alarm for the first time on MTV’s The Cutting Edge or via the historic ‘Spriit Of ’86 Live Global Broadcast concert, and have stayed with us ever since”

The first single from Music Television was a psychedelic David Bowie-inspired / Nirvana-influenced acoustic cover of The Man Who Sold The World, which Peters attributes to his fascination with the ground-breaking MTV Unplugged acoustic performance series. “Unplugged was a series that redefined music as we knew it,” he says. “I remember watching in awe at some of the incredible stripped-down arrangements of classic songs and, at the same time envious that I had been denied the opportunity to appear on the show back in the day. [The Alarm appeared in the series’ first season but without Peters]. This is my chance to take back part of music television history and pay my respects to an era that changed everything”

The first single from Music Television is a psychedelic David Bowie-inspired / Nirvana-influenced acoustic cover of The Man Who Sold The World, which Peters attributes to his fascination with the ground-breaking MTV Unplugged acoustic performance series. “Unplugged was a series that redefined music as we knew it,” he says. “I remember watching in awe at some of the incredible stripped-down arrangements of classic songs and, at the same time envious that I had been denied the opportunity to appear on the show back in the day. [The Alarm appeared in the series’ first season but without Peters]. This is my chance to take back part of music television history and pay my respects to an era that changed everything”

A redrawing of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” embraces the original’s spacious atmospherics and injects raw electronic blues into the mix, centering it on Peters’ iconic vocals. “I was walking with my guitar in NYC’s Central Park when I came across a busker playing a stripped-back minor key version on a beat-up old guitar and I joined in,” recalls Peters about his chance encounter in 2023. “It was truly amazing to hear a song so familiar in unfamiliar surroundings. I asked him where he first heard the song, and he said ‘MTV, Man!’ and that gave me the inspiration for this version of the track.”

Music Television by The Alarm has been produced by George Williams and also features a rev up of the original Man On the Moon MTV Theme. The Music Television artwork has been created by graphic artist Dan Shearn

Album Musicians & Credits
Mike Peters – Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
James Stevenson – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Steve “Smiley” Barnard – Drums, Backing Vocals
Jules Jones Peters – Piano Organ, Electric Piano, Backing Vocals
George Williams – Bass, Piano, Orchestration
Dave Morait – Drums

Produced by George Williams
Recorded at Rock Hard Studios, Blackpool, England; Sain Stiwdio, Caernarfon, Cymru
Dan Shearn and 21st CVenturt put the sleeve together

Discography
21C139LP : The Alarm – Music Television Stepping Back Into The Future.
Released on 19th April 2024 on Limited Edition of 250 copies Yellow Vinyl album.
Released on 19th April 2024 on Limited Edition of 250 copies Purple Vinyl album.
Track listing :
PROGRAM ONE : Money For Nothing, Video Killed The Radio Star, Live Today Love Tomorrow, Imagination, Beat It.
PROGRAM TWO : Don’t Change, In The Air Tonight, I Melt With You, Screaming For Emmalene. The Man Who Sold The World (unplugged)


21C141CD : The Alarm – Music Television Stepping Back Into The Future.
Released on 19th April 2024 on CD.
Track Listing : Money For Nothing, Video Killed The Radio Star, Live Today Love Tomorrow, Imagination, Beat It, Don’t Change, In The Air Tonight, I Melt With You, Screaming For Emmalene. The Man Who Sold The World (unplugged)


21C141CDB : The Alarm – Music Television Stepping Back Into The Future.
Released on 19th April 2024 on Limited Edition Bonus CD.
Track Listing : The Message, Safe European Home, Going Underground, Better Scream, The Cross, Should I Stay Or Should I Go, Chance, Get Down And Get With It


21C141CDNA : The Alarm – Music Television Stepping Back Into The Future.
Released April 2024 on CD. Repress Intended for sale during the USA tour which did not go ahead due to Mike’s Richter’s syndrome diagnosis. This is a foldout digipack with a different matrix No on the sleeve, also the colours on the CD are slightly different.
Track Listing : Money For Nothing, Video Killed The Radio Star, Live Today Love Tomorrow, Imagination, Beat It, Don’t Change, In The Air Tonight, I Melt With You, Screaming For Emmalene. The Man Who Sold The World (unplugged)

The album is also available to download from Amazon or Apple or stream on Deezer or Spotify and includes a version of Transition (live)

Review – September 2024 – NO EARPLUGS Website
The Alarm Reimagine Music Television
Four decades of Alarm fans have been painfully aware of singer Mike Peters’ recent cancer battles. The ups and downs have been documented by his wife, Jules. After a healthy patch, Peters was diagnosed with an ultra-rare cancer condition known as Richter’s Syndrome in May, just days before the Live Today Love Tomorrow 45-date tour of the U.S. was to begin. Once again, Peters was thrust back into chemotherapy and will most likely need a stem cell transplant in the very near future. Music Television was to be released at that time, but along with the tour, it was put on hold.
It is out now, and for fans of 80s music, it’s about time. The subtitle of the album reads, “Stepping back into the future.” Appropriate for a man who is simultaneously reminiscing and looking forward to what’s next. The 65-year-old Welsh singer has a lot to be thankful for, with loving and supportive fans around the globe. The album consists of a collection of MTV staples from it’s inception in the early 80s. All wonderful tunes, but not just “cover songs.” Peters has reimagined these tunes as only he can. “Money for Nothing,” the Dire Straits mega hit, is redone with heavier drums and refreshed with harmonica. His voice is strong and smooth (but no Sting backups on this one). The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” is a risky venture by anyone, but dang, the band hits a bullseye, with a rockier version and an updated lyric, “AI killed the rock ‘n’ roll star!”
Peters doesn’t just rely on the hits, though. Lesser known songs made the cut including covers of Belouis Some, The Blow Monkeys, and Gene Loves Jezebel. These may not be household names for the Top 40 crowd, but they helped shape much of the decade’s best music. On the Michael Jackson version of “Beat It,” Peters sticks to the script without altering the classic much. Well done. “Don’t Change,” the uplifting 1982 single from INXS is a true gem, here. Dropping the music and exposing Peters’ vocals is used to his advantage, highlighting his still excellent voice.
The Phil Collins hit “In the Air Tonight” is a revelation, brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century. The band play with switching up guitars and keys, but that drum solo is exact. I mean, why would you change it? The definitive new wave stalwart, Modern English‘s “I Melt With You,” has been transformed into a torch song with decreased tempo and increased soul. It may challenge the original. On the David Bowie exemplar “The Man Who Sold the World,” Peters leans toward the Nirvana Unplugged version more than the prototype. A highlight lies in the final 30 seconds of this song when the band breaks into MTV’s original, guitar-heavy theme song. A real surprise and a true rush for those of us who were there in the beginning.

(Page update 26/09/2025)