The song was an early example of
MTV's efficiency in selling records. The network launched shortly after the release of "Talk To Ya Later" on August 1, 1981, when very few American radio stations were playing songs by the Tubes. In the months following the channel's debut, the band aired a music video on it, causing a surge in sales in the midwest, where
MTV was first popular. This is further supported by the fact that the song was not popular in major markets like New York or Los Angeles, where
MTV had not yet been available. The network used this information to convince record companies to make music videos to promote their artists, which many subsequently did. ==Chart history==