Once upon a time, MTV was a REFLECTION of the culture. Now it has BECOME THE CULTURE!
We've seen this once before. With the "Woodstock" movie. In one fell swoop, Top Forty music was killed, the last remaining straight people grew their hair and embraced peace and love, and music that both said something and took you on a journey RULED!
But there was only one Woodstock. Maybe because there were no corporate sponsors, no investment OTHER than people having a good time listening to GREAT MUSIC! Whereas MTV has been refining its culture-defining act for over two decades now. Driven not by what's the best music, or a message of loving your brother, but by what generates RATINGS!
Yup, the original Woodstock was free. MTV may only cost a nominal fee on your cable system, but it's paid for by marketers dying to reach this captive market. It's got NOTHING to do with music. Hell, it was realized about a dozen or so years ago that music itself garnered LOUSY RATINGS! Now music takes a BACK SEAT! It's a motherfucking YOUTHQUAKE twenty four seven. But instead of changing society, like Woodstock, it's about individuals clawing their way to the top, with momentary TV exposure and hoped-for riches. MTV is SO far from what built the music industry that one can only watch the VMAs INCREDULOUS! Asking oneself WHAT IS THIS?
Watching one would believe there's ONLY hip-hop. That the WHOLE COUNTRY is beat-crazy.
But rock outsells hip-hop no problem. Live, hip-hop is barely a factor. But hip-hop is sold through MILLION DOLLAR VIDEOS! Which work as interstitial visual material on MTV.
We had screaming girls in the audience...but what were they screaming FOR? Being at a faux event. This was NOT the Beatles. It was a celebration of CONSUMERISM! The higher value was PARTYING!
People party in the videos so the people on "The Real World" PARTY TOO, life imitating art. It's not only about the clothing, it's about the language, the behavior.
USED to be that the VMAs were a record company frenzy. Now the record co mpanies are incidental players. Hell, the music is not primary. And MTV is more interested in Pepsi than Atlantic, or Sony.
I spent the afternoon with a seventeen year old. I asked her how she felt about missing the VMAs, being here in California ("Cali" on MTV!) visiting colleges with her dad.
She told me she didn't watch MTV. Not even the reality series.
And she said she NEVER LISTENS TO RADIO!
But she considered herself a music FANATIC!
She loved Fountains Of Wayne. She could quote the lyrics of songs which not only never made it into video form, but never graced the commercial airwaves.
She loved Taking Back Sunday.
She loved emo bands I never even HEARD OF!
She learned about them from friends, via the Internet.
The VMAs are a clusterfuck for the least hip. They've lost their relevance. It's a circle jerk for corporations. The kids in the pit tools of the man. Anybody with half a brain would refuse to attend. The "stars" in attendance only appearing to garner additional revenue and kiss the video channel's butt for adding to their bank account.
The concepts of cool, thinking for oneself, they were completely ABSENT!
What music there was tended to be on tape. Lip-synching was rampant. It was a living video. And, videos are one of the most inert artistic forms EVER!
We're watching the end of a dying system. MTV used to be DEPENDENT on the major labels, IN THRALL to them. Now the major labels are tools of the outlet no different from the kids dancing in front of the stage. THRILLED just to be able to attend.
The only thing being celebrated is youth ITSELF! Hell, the awards don't mean shit. It's all about how you LOOK! And it's the best advertisement for education EVER! These people sound so DUMB!
Used to be that rock stars were youth's HEROES!
But I have no doubt that if the youth could vote for the number one person they looked up to today, Steve Jobs would eclipse not only everyone at this lame show, but everybody who's been ON the channel in the past year.
You see Steve Jobs is about CREATING something. Money is SECONDARY! He's about changing the culture. It's not only Apple, it's Pixar...movies that will be remembered and viewed for DECADES, in a future wherein Fat Joe is working at the fish market and no one can recall the tunes played at this affair.
It's said that today's kids have no values. That they're stupid. That they NEED the fodder of MTV.
I don't believe that for a minute. MTV is a sideshow. REAL kids are enriching themselves on the Net. Thinking not of becoming uneducated rappers, but CHANGING THE WORLD!
As for music. It's already moved on. Music lives on the Internet, not on MTV.
And radio's been eclipsed by XM. SIXTY PERCENT of GM and Honda buyers who purchase cars with XM compatible radios sign up. Because they want to listen to stations ONLY containing their music, without commercials.
The music of MTV doesn't dominate XM. It only seemingly dominates the culture because MTV PLAYS IT!
When MTV dies, when it's revealed that the emperor is wearing no clothes, THEN the media will wake up and see that people don't only want to hear a narrow brand of evanescent music. And that there are REAL artists, plying their trade, making statements, that would resonate with the youth if only THEY were featured in million dollar videos on MTV. But, music is about hearing, not seeing. And these artists have scruples. They won't do ANYTHING to make a buck.
A fucking sell-out/endorsement-fest. With everybody talking about their new albums being released, wearing the clothing they're selling. The music played in MEDLEYS so as not to interfere with the SPECTACLE! Don't you GET IT? The music is INCIDENTAL on MTV!
And do you think we'll care about Jessica Simpson when Longhorn comes out?
No.
The music business of the twentieth century is rotten to the core. It's done. A new business, a WOODSTOCK NATION business, is emerging as you sit on your ass holding the remote. Oh, people thought the bands of Woodstock were SIDESHOWS until they blew everybody else off the landscape when the movie was released. The underground acts of today aren't truly underground, it's just that they're not privy to the vast exploitation of MTV. But, they're building. They're gonna take over. They already have. All we need is for the media to WAKE UP!
As for MTV?? Let's just call it what it is. Nickelodeon graduate school. I mean watching tonight's fiasco I got the eerie feeling I was watching the Kid's Choice Awards. The only difference being that the attendees had hit puberty.
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