I’m sure this has been asked before, but it’s pretty hard to do a search for MTV. Anyway…MTV is supossed to be MUSIC television, right? Then why is that whenever I’ve turned that station on over the past couple of years, there are always shows on that have NOTHING to do with music? The Real World, True Life, Jackass, Sorority Life … call me naive, but what do these shows have to do with music?
on a related note, how can VH1 consider Showgirls or The Godfather “movies that rock,” … if by the definition of rock they mean “movies having something to do with rock music” (and even if it’s the “cool” definition of rock, how would Showgirls – with superimposed bras – still apply?)
MTV makes me wanna hit something. I thought with MTV2 they might get some obscure artists some airplay, but now MTV2 is also running several shows that do not actually play videos - mainly biographies on rappers.
It’s ironic, but in some respects, a cycnic might argue that the purest form of music which exists now in the Western World is “elevator muzak” - dreadful banal artform that it is.
But I’ve got a point I’d like to think. You see, at least with “elevator muzak”, all you’re meant to do as a listener is just hear it in the background. You’re not meant to analyse it, or debate it’s cultural worth, and most importantly - you don’t give a shit what the musos who recorded it look like. You don’t care about the video’s that go with it. You don’t care about the image. You don’t care about the marketing etc etc etc. It’s just “muzak” playing away in the background.
Arguablly, that’s music in it’s purest form - before it becomes a tool for giant conglomerations to exploit the public with every cynical marketing trick imaginable. And mark my words… you name a famous song in the last 70 years… from Alexander’s Ragtime Band thru to Smells Like Teen Spirit… and there was some epic marketing involved.
MTV is just part of the process. Me personally? I boycott it at every opportunity because I perceive it to have really fucking ruined the music caper in the last 20 years.
Between MTV and Clear Channel Communications, popular music nowadays is like sticking your dick in a trash masher.
My theory on the music caper is this - it’s a bit like a group of companies charging us for the right to breathe air. You see, music is a gift which exists within all humanity - in every culture of every continent on the planet.
But these companies who are in the “music business”? Really? Honestly? What are they “genuinely” offering for sale? If your answer is ‘art’, I say “Hogwash sir!” If your answer is ‘culture’, I say " fiddlesticks!"
The simple truth is that the music business is all about manipulating the market place to ship units. Adn there are all sorts of hot button and subliminal psychological methods of attack to achieve this goal. And not the least of them is the awareness within the “music business” that teenagers, in particular, use music as a means of attempting to “identify” who they are - and what they’re personalities are like.
The “music business” is UTTERLY aware of this flaw in the teenage pysche, and they exploit it to the nth degree.
I have a plan, actually. I think a law should be passed which bans the sale of copyrighted CD’s and DVD’s and LP’s and 45’s and cassettes to EVERYONE under the age of 18.
I know it sounds AMAZINGLY draconian, but I would argue this… the “music business” prays on teenagers. If Cigarette companies tried to pray on teenagers in the same way, do you think there wouldn’t be cries of “BLUE MURDER”?
If you ban sales of CD’s to under 18’s - all of a sudden you pull the rug out of the amazingly disproportionate demographic which currently rules the “music business”.
Now, I would point out - if such a law was to be implemented, that there’s nothing to stop the major labels from GIVING their CD’s away to teenagers… nothing at all. But who’d like to take bets that the major labels would ever come within 5 light years of being THAT altruistic, huh?
M is for Moronic. Also, ** Boo Boo Foo **, isn’t banning music sales to those under 18 a little harsh. Its not like bad music causes cancer. Of course, it may result in hearing loss/brain damage, but the type of teens who listen to bad music don’t have much of a brain to begin with.
Marketing, because that’s what the network’s all about today. They tell the youth of America (And all the other nations where it’s been franchised.) what to do, what to wear, what to listen to, what to aspire to, who to admire, what causes to support . . .
They’re marketing youth culture and making a killing on it, a phenomenon that pretty much defeats the purpose of youth culture.
