My recall is a bit different. I can remember video breaking artists out rather than radio breaking in their videos. Stroke's reference to the Buggles is a classic example. Nirvana is another. The "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video broke a whole genre of music out for the radio. None of the grunge bands had widespread airplay before that video came out.
The Buggles really didn"t break out after the moment of fame either.
Nirvana did not really hit mainstream until 92, same with the rest of those grunge bands. Most of them flamed out in 3-4 years too.
But we are talking about the 90's here too. MTV was also starting into its second season of its reality show and was changing its format from being a platform for known bands to showcase their videos for thier hit songs, to trying to change pop culture through reality tv and the "breaking" of new sounds and bands.
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