The graying of MTV
As everyone in the world knows by now, MTV turned 25 this week, which means it's ancient by the standards of its target audience.
I was fascinated by the video music channel when it debuted, but disturbed at its playlist, which in the beginning almost totally excluded black artists.
MTV is credited with having revived a troubled recording industry at the time of its inception and early growth. But it also placed a premium on how artists looked versus how they sounded.
That's not a good thing.
In retrospect, some of those dazzling videos were godawful (if Pat Benatar doesn't want to nuke "Love is a Battlefield," she should.
Now we have a new 800-pound gorilla in the music industry in "American Idol."
That's not a good thing either.
Comments (4)
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I think MTV started as a rock-n-roll, heavy metal channel. But, "Yo! MTV Raps" is one of the biggest reasons hip-hop is the multimillion dollar, worldwide industry it is today. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Probably a little of both.
I don't watch MTV anymore. I can't afford cable.
That's definitely a bad thing.
Posted on August 3, 2006 4:21 PM
Good to hear from you, Chad. Hope all is well in Citrus County. As for MTV, I don't watch it anymore, either, though I must admit the Puck-Pedro season of "The Real World" caught my attention and kept it.
Posted on August 3, 2006 4:31 PM
Do they still play videos? I stopped watching a long time ago.
Posted on August 5, 2006 3:31 AM
Only a few, as far as I undertstand. But now they have a spinoff channel that does videos almost excusively.
Posted on August 7, 2006 9:15 AM