MTV and culture
musicismylife78
Posts: 6,116
What is everyones take on why MTV moved away from playing music videos and essentially is a reality show station. I remember as a kid in the early 90’s. It was the height of grunge and I could turn on my MTV and see Smells like Teen Spirit or Jeremy or see scenes of Lollapalooza 94, or see Black Hole Sun. These were songs and bands that defined my life, and our lives, in the early 90’s. And the cool thing was, there was MTV to cover it all. Even the non music video shows, tended to have relevance, Beavis and Butthead talked about metal and rock, and came to define Gen X. And Daria had the wit, cynicism and deadpan humor that was also seen as a defining characteristic of that time Flash forward a decade plus later, and turn on MTV. Now, rarely if EVER do we see a music video. TRL doesn’t play the entire videos on their top 10 countdown, and during the songs, they breakaway from the video and talk to audience members, thus ruining the vibe of whatever song they are playing. TRL also seems to be more about celebrity than appreciating music as an art form, where movie stars and various other celebs come to hawk their products and movies.
The funny thing is, MTV and other youth oriented media forums like VH1 are supposed to cater to the wants and the needs of just that : the youth. But do the youth really want to see The Road Rules or Real World marathons? Do they really want to see I Love New York and a reality show using old and useless icons of days past? Do they really want to see an entire season of a show about rich, white, and asinine youth in The Hills?
Why have MTV and VH1 abandoned their mission statements? Sure music videos can be gross and stupid, and inane and dumb, but once in awhile, there is the diamond in the rough, one that provides the music with a visual, and provides an additional piece of art to the existing art.
The funny thing is, MTV and other youth oriented media forums like VH1 are supposed to cater to the wants and the needs of just that : the youth. But do the youth really want to see The Road Rules or Real World marathons? Do they really want to see I Love New York and a reality show using old and useless icons of days past? Do they really want to see an entire season of a show about rich, white, and asinine youth in The Hills?
Why have MTV and VH1 abandoned their mission statements? Sure music videos can be gross and stupid, and inane and dumb, but once in awhile, there is the diamond in the rough, one that provides the music with a visual, and provides an additional piece of art to the existing art.
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Comments
Judging by the ratings these shows get I'd say yes the youth of today want to watch this stuff and not videos.