Where it all began Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles. Unbelievable what has changed in 40 years in music alone and what a force MTV WAS.
Where
it all began Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles. Unbelievable
what has changed in 40 years in music alone and what a force MTV WAS.
Yes,
was. I don't count the more recent MTV
Video Music Awards or even The Jersey
Shore as marvels of pop culture as much I view them as train wrecks and bad
attempts and being influential. I honestly wish Lady Gaga and Beyoncé were
around twenty years ago, but alas I recognize that we need them now more than
ever.
MTV
helped my music addiction. Although radio sufficed until we got cable. I know
my music life would have been different had MTV not been created. Much of my
life growing up was shaped by MTV (shock): what to wear, what to listen to, how
to register to vote, even just background noise. I used to worship MTV : Remote Control, House of Style, Denis Leary,
Dial MTV, Club MTV (where I still cannot believe was filmed where I swim
everyday), Headbangers Ball - I
could not get enough MTV.
Where
did it all stop? Did the creation of the Real
World (the beginning of reality TV) become the beginning of the end of MTV?
It is a joke now that MTV doesn't actually play music videos around the clock
anymore. Think about it, MTV was so ground breaking and had such an impact on
music culture that Dire Straits used their slogan
I want my MTV in one of their songs.
Videos
-- you waited for new releases or just seeing your favorites. Culture Club,
Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Prince, George Michael, INXS, U2, Guns N Roses,
Motley Crue, Poison, Madonna … so much influence from them to me in a 4 minute
video. I wanted to preach about apartheid, wear Jean Paul Gualtier clothes,
walk the Sunset Strip, ride motorcycles and save the world thanks to them. I
learned the best dance moves for the Friday night dance and still think of the
videos to this day when I hear certain songs. Hysteria by Def Leppard, Losing
My Religion by REM and Girls Girls Girls by Motley Crue have visual
cues in my mind when I hear them. To be honest, even though I love her, I can't
picture Poker Face or Bad Romance when I hear Lady Gaga on the
radio. Take a random survey and many people my age and older will describe a
song from that generation though it's video.
I
don't remember my first MTV experience. I do know that I HAD to watch Dial MTV and the Top 20 Countdown to see what videos were #1. I remember wanting to
go to NY to audition to be a dancer on Club
MTV. VIDEOS people, this was about videos. They played them all the time -
with only night time shows like the Half
Hour Comedy Hour, or House of Style. I do remember my first
Video Music Awards. Yes the VMA's to all of you acronymizers - the giving of
the Moon Man Trophy. It was where people dared to be outspoken: Madonna and her
crotch grabbing, the Axl Rose and Vince Neil saga, and Pee Wee Herman asking us
if we had Heard any good jokes lately?
It
was from one of these performances on the Video Music Awards that created buzz
for a show to be titled Unplugged.
Believe it or not, Jersey Boys Bon Jovi and Sambora's acoustic version of Wanted
Dead or Alive caught people so off guard that they wanted more and demanded
a show. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stevie Ray
Vaughan, Eric Clapton, and Alice in Chains were only a handful of artists that performed some
of their greatest moments acoustically.
Late
nights, before the Howard Stern show on WWOR, I would tune into the Headbangers Ball with Riki Rachtman.
When I was weaning myself off Paula Abdul and New Kids on the Block (do you
notice that when I grew up we spelled things out) I had to turn to late nights
to get my fill of what metal was not top 20. Towards 1991, the vibe began to
change as the top interviewees were Mother Love Bone and Alice in Chains.
Sadly, every time Layne Staley appeared on the show, the more out there he was.
MTV
also paid respects to legends when they dedicated weekends to them: Queen, U2,
Madonna. You learned everything about the artists and more. When was the last
time you turned on MTV and learned that Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar or
watched U2 videos A-Z?
Kurt
Loder did his best to bring us the news, which sadly also included some
of music's saddest moments: the loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Freddie
Mercury, Michael Hutchence, Layne Staley, Kurt Cobain, Aliyah, Jeff Buckley
just to name a few. And MTV news also pioneered with getting my generation
involved in politics: Rock the Vote. I set up a voter registration booth for
the 1996 election (but I was not allowed to don a flag, ala Madonna). We
watched MTV broadcast the end of the Cold War and Heavy Metal Music breaking
boundaries in the USSR.
And
then IT happened. MTV created a new "reality" show where they put
strangers into a loft in NYC and filmed them 24/7. I admit, I was hooked (and
had a slight crush on Andre, who did call me by the way that summer). It was a
novelty, but it was also pure - and no one "acted" for the cameras.
But, as it became more popular, the call for shenanigans and craziness won and
we had Road Rules and the Real World putting people in the Emergency Department
with alcohol poisoning. It was the beginning of the end.
You
cannot say that musicians make fewer videos now- or that people don't enjoy
them as much. We all know the Internet probably had something to do with the
downfall of the videos on MTV but not the downfall of the heart behind the
channel. Yes, generations change and so do music tastes, but is it too hard to
understand why MTV fails to be what it was. Maybe we are at the bottom of a
curve and there will be a comeback. Now more than ever
I WANT
MY MTV!!!
