lit a candle 1h ago63. That's it. Thoughts to his family, wherever they are.
Their story
Dave Kendall was the British-born music journalist, producer and VJ who created MTV's 120 Minutes and, as its host from 1989 to 1992, became the face of alternative music on American television. Long before the word "alternative" had settled into the language, his late Sunday night show gave airtime to…
Dave Kendall was the British-born music journalist, producer and VJ who created MTV's 120 Minutes and, as its host from 1989 to 1992, became the face of alternative music on American television. Long before the word "alternative" had settled into the language, his late Sunday night show gave airtime to the Smiths, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Depeche Mode, R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana, whose "Smells Like Teen Spirit" premiered on the show on September 29, 1991.
David Kendall was born in Liverpool, England, on April 28, 1963, according to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT). Friends said he grew up in a Christian Scientist family. As a young man he wrote about music, and his features and reviews appeared in Melody Maker and, later, Spin and the New York Post. In November 1984 he arrived in New York City on an exchange program through the London School of Economics. He soon dropped out and threw himself into the downtown scene, living on East Ninth Street between Avenues B and C, writing for the East Village Eye and working at clubs such as Danceteria.
In 1986 MTV hired him as a writer for a new, still unnamed two-hour program. 120 Minutes debuted on March 10, 1986, with videos by Robyn Hitchcock and Iggy Pop. "At the beginning it was pure chaos," Kendall later recalled, describing a programming department that wanted to fill the show with light-rotation pop videos while he pushed for music he thought was cool and original. "I had zero experience as a TV producer," he admitted. His vision won out. As the budget grew he became the show's producer, and in 1989 he succeeded Kevin Seal as its second permanent host. "I essentially just wrote myself into the script as the host," he said.
With his English accent, spiky black hair (friends said he hid his natural blond under a black wig), leather jacket and earring, Kendall became the on-air guide for a generation of college rock, post-punk, goth, synth-pop and indie fans who had few other places to see that music. He joked with a young Trent Reznor under fake snow on Christmas morning, toured Tijuana with his teenage idol John Lydon, interviewed Sonic Youth and Mudhoney at the 1991 Reading Festival, and was famously tackled on air by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. By the time he left in 1992, many of the bands he had championed had conquered the mainstream. He told Newsday in 1993 that MTV had decided he was "too old and ugly." He returned for the final 120 Minutes episode on MTV2 in 2003 alongside Matt Pinfield and Jim Shearer.
Kendall's career after the show was restless and inventive. He hosted and co-produced the syndicated talk show Music Scoupe, anchored the Woodstock '94 pay-per-view, and hosted radio shows including Hot 97's Planet Traxx, which his website described as the first electronica show on commercial radio, and the syndicated Left of the Dial and Cross Currents. He spent seven years as a resident DJ at New York's Limelight. From 1995 he moved into online media, creating the video-streaming music site alterworld.com, producing at THINK New Ideas, editing and hosting Columbia Records' streaming show The Daily Dish, developing internet strategy for Raygun Publishing in Santa Monica and leading content development at Soundbreak.com. His trance mix CD A Voyage Into Trance, Volume 2 was released on Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records. From 2002 he wrote and produced television for TechTV/G4, Sky, Channel 4, Travel Channel and Animal Planet.
In 2005 he left California for Chiang Mai, Thailand, to volunteer and, as he put it, "basically retire." Television drew him back. From 2008 he hosted Party 360 on SiriusXM's First Wave channel, and from 2011 he presented and produced the travel show Destination Thailand, touring Thailand's temples and ancient ruins. After stints in Hong Kong and Shanghai, he joined the Bangkok Post in 2017, working as a sub-editor and later an online reporter and producer, and hosting the Deeper Dive podcast on subjects from regional scams to cannabis policy and climate change. Colleagues credited him with helping shape the paper's editorial standards and mentoring younger journalists. He served on the FCCT board in 2020 and 2021, earned a business degree from National University in San Diego and, in June 2021, a master's degree with distinction in international journalism from Edinburgh Napier University.
Friends described him as funny, intense, curious and unfailingly modest about his fame, and spoke openly of his lifelong struggle with mental health. In his final years he divided his time between Bali and Chiang Mai, became an advocate for reducing meat consumption, and was building a site called livestockclimatefacts.org.
Kendall died on July 10, 2026, aged 63, according to the FCCT; he is believed to have died in Bali, Indonesia. Matt Pinfield announced the news on July 14, and MTV paid tribute to his "role as a tastemaker in discovering the artists who would shape popular culture." His cause of death was not made public.
Biography adapted from Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (July 23, 2026); The New York Times via Bangkok Post (July 17, 2026); Bangkok Post (July 15, 2026); Variety; Rolling Stone; Pitchfork; The Washington Post; dav. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“What all the music had in common was passion and a desire to be original and creative. There wasn't a word for it.”
On the music of early 120 Minutes, to Consequence (2016)
“At the beginning it was pure chaos. I wanted to play music that I thought was cool and original, but the programming department wanted to include all the videos that were in light rotation.”
SiriusXM documentary on 120 Minutes, quoted by Variety
“I had zero experience as a TV producer.”
On being hired to make 120 Minutes, SiriusXM documentary
“I essentially just wrote myself into the script as the host.”
On becoming host in 1989, What Difference Does It Make? podcast (2025)
“I had sort of spiky blond hair, and they just thought I was such a freak that they left me alone.”
On living on East Ninth Street in 1984, What Difference Does It Make? podcast
“Dave was one of the true believers... He didn't just host a show. He gave a home to music that deserved to be heard.”
Matt Pinfield, tribute on July 14, 2026
Photos
2Dave Kendall DJing in 1993
Jan 1993 · by People Forever
Dave Kendall, host of MTV's 120 Minutes, in the 1990s
by People Forever
From social media
7Posts by Dave, and posts about them, kept here so they are not lost.