Lewis Largent, '90s-era MTV '120 Minutes' host, dead at 58

Lewis Largent, the MTV VJ who hosted alt-rock show 120 Minutes in the mid-’90s, has died following a long illness, as originally reported by Variety. He was 58.

A native of Southern California, Largent got his start at L.A. alt-rock station KROQ where he began as an intern in 1985 but rose to Music Director in 1989. In 1992 he left the station for a job at MTV as VP of Programming and as an on-air VJ. He took over hosting duties of Sunday night alternative show 120 Minutes following the departure of Dave Kendall, and was the face of the series from 1992-1995.

When he stepped down from 120 MInutes, making way for Matt Pinfield, Largent remained in his VP position at MTV till 1999 when he took a job as senior vice president of A&R at Island Def Jam Records where his signings included Sum 41 and Andrew WK. He left the label in 2004 and, as Variety reports, went back to school, getting his MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence in 2015.

Rest in peace, Lewis. Watch a few of his 120 Minutes interview segments, including talks with Pavement, Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Billy Corgan, Jawbox, Dinosaur Jr, Juliana Hatfield, and more — plus read tributes from Matt Pinfield, John Norris, Thursday, and more — below.