Before teen moms, Ke$ha drinking her own urine, and fist-pumping golden boys dominated the screens of MTV, we hear there was music. Yes, I think I remember now. Rushing home after school to catch the premiere of that new video was a thing, and it’s a thing of the semi-recent, still-very-nostalgic past. MTV feels a little bit badly about it and has decided to launch a throwback to tunes with the official “Music Independence Day” on July 4. Twelve hours of of unadultered sounds and abstinence from Snooki – it’s all very real.

The MTV channels, including VH1 and CMT, will be playing back-to-back music found on the networks’ Artist Platform, a portal that allows for independent artists to build band pages, sell their music, and get exposure. Bands will be able to receive tips from listeners and even get a piece of the ad revenue generated on their page. MTV will be selecting artists from the platform to air on the fourth of July alongside Top 40 and MTV favourites, with big guns like the Michael Jordan of music, if you haven’t heard of this guy yet, you should check him out.

The day will re-play major music moments from throughout MTV’s music history and will bring in contemporary artists as hosts. Catch The Roots, John Mayer, Demi Lovato, Ne-Yo, and others on VH1 at 8pm for the Philly 4th of July Jam. VH1 will also be launching their new music series titled STOP/WATCH which features artists condensing three-minute songs into thirty seconds through creative performances. Kind of like condensing a year’s worth of music videos into one day, but we’ll take what we can get.

UPDATE: Music Independence Day will be aired on MTV and not on MTV Canada. Alternatively, Canadian music-lovers can tune in to this weekend’s Much Music Video Awards.

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Farrah Khaled is an intern at the Toronto Standard. Follow her on twitter at @farkhaly.