By Staff
What happened to MTV? Seriously.
I believe I have stressed my frustration with this channel before, but my time bomb on this issue has been ticking for quite some time, and now, you can pretty much say it exploded.
For the past few years – actually about 10 plus years – this station has gone downhill. Forget about falling off the bunny hill, MTV took a plunge from Mount Everest and has yet to find its way back up. The good days of showing music videos have been replaced with shows about snobby rich teenagers who only care about themselves. Even the very few music videos they do show have been cut to 30-second clips.
I was still very young when MTV first came out, but I can remember watching countless hours of videos, mostly because my dad is a huge fan of music. He always has been. He can tell you the name and artist of pretty much any song.
My dad has hours and hours of tapes of music video from MTV – everything from Phil Collins and Journey to Madonna, and any big haired 80s band you can imagine.
I can honestly thank him for my love of music because I grew up around it. There was always music playing in our house, whether it was old records or cassette tapes ot, of course, MTV.
Huey Lewis and the News was a band I enjoyed as a youngster, mainly because of the song Heart of Rock &Roll. That video made me dance and tap my feet on the floor just like the video did. I also liked Don Henley's Boys of Summer video. And Ronald Reagan's head featured in Genesis' Land of Confusion always freaked me out, but it kept me interested. And I can't forget George Harrison's I Got My Mind Set On You video, which would make my day!
Now days, you're chances of seeing a video on MTV are about as slim as me belting out a Mariah Carey song on The Singing Bee.
I will be the first to admit that there are a few shows on MTV I enjoy, like The Hills and Run's House. And I will admit that it's alright to show other things besides music videos to keep people tuned in. But the station can do without money-wasting shows like Sweet 16, Parental Control and constant reruns of The Real World. And that's only three shows which not only waste your time, but brain cells as well.
If you have no idea what shows I'm talking about, I'll fill you in.
The Real World – Let's have eight strangers live together in some marvelous house and see how many days in a six month period they can get drunk, hook up, fight and cuss each other out. Oh, but MTV made it somewhat educational because they make the roomies work a lame job for about one month.
Sweet 16 – A super rich boy or girl plans for a huge party on their 16th (or in some cases 18th) birthday and watch as their filthy rich daddy makes it all happen. "But daddy, $300,000 is only going to cover the cost of my dress and invitations." Give me a break.
Parental Control – Parents, who "despise" their child's boyfriend or girlfriend set up blind dates for their child and watch as their date is captured. The parents and the boyfriend or girlfriend sit at the house and watch the date from their television. Mind you, the boyfriend or girlfriend usually cusses at the parents and calls them some pretty bad names.
And what was the deal with the constant showing of America's Next Top Model on MTV? I didn't watch that show when it first came out nor would I ever. So why are they showing four-year-old reruns? Oh, that's right, because it has nothing to do with music! I get it now.
Great choices MTV! Then we wonder why today's youth are so obsessed with looking drop dead gorgeous and want plastic surgery at 15 years old.
It's too bad MTV cannot even find two hours out of the day to play music. They have TRL, which is the daily show where the top 10 videos are counted down. The sad thing about this show is that only about one minute of the video is played and the show focuses more on the screaming audience and an annoying host than music.
It's a shame, but for some reason MTV feels they need rerun a show 27 times in one week and if you ask me, it's laziness. Not only has the station become a disgrace to itself, but it has become a disgrace to music as well. Obviously their only goal is to teach young viewers the importance of being a brat, having sex and drinking as much as you possibly can before and after you're 21.
Music has been proven to have a positive effect on people. And while some would agree that music today is everything but educational, it's music and not everything you hear is bad. We have some phenomenal artists out right now who send excellent messages in their songs.
Dire Straits said in their 1985 hit Money For Nothing, "I want My MTV." Well, I want my MTV back!