Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Gotta' view this one from a different perspective to truly decipher what happened to MTV. Does it suck?...yes. Is there a total lack of music?...yes. Is it mislabled?...yes. However, what purpose would MTV serve today if it DID decide to show hours of endless videos and countdowns like it used to? We're living in the internet era where all you need to do is head on over to youtube to look up anything and everything that's music related. In addition, you also have artist pages on myspace and even the conventional interweb that make everything from live footage to video and audio catalogues available for instant access.
The music video itself has basically died...it was a nice little novelty during the 80s and 90s, but there's really not much of a purpose any more. Bands and artists used to need a way to attract attention and to put themselves out there...so they made a controversial or interesting video. That doesn't really apply anymore, and the music video is really suffering as an art form. Everythng has been done to death, there really isn't anything that hasn't been done before in terms of videos. Videos have gotten stale, there's nothing to really gain from even bothering with these things as a musician. And as for the hours of endless videos and countdown shows...people used to watch those for hours on end in hope of catching their favorite song or video. Instead of sitting there, waiting for an hour..you now can instantly hop onto the web and catch that song or video in about 10 seconds.
I'm 24, so I'm old enough to have had some good times watching MTV in hopes of seeing something cool like the Smashing Pumpkins video for "Tonight, Tonight"...both video hopping and listening to FM radio are two things that are dead and gone in today's world, but the overall charm and sense of wonder behind those two experiences is something that I still value and miss dearly...but I'm also young enough to know that today's upwardly mobile and connected culture really has no need for things like MTV or FM radio and that there are much better alternatives that readily available and right at my fingertips.
In short...MTV is a business, it needed to change in order to stay afloat and stay relevant with the masses. They sniffed out the potential turning of the tide during the music fallout of the late 90s, and caught a glimpse of what was to come during the advent of the Napster/file sharing era while it was still considered a fad/controversy. MTV is a smart company, it may not be pretty and the musically inclined may not like it, but shifting to entertainment and a 16-22 year old targeted demographic was the right call and just about all that they could do. If anybody remembers how painfully redundant things became during the late 90s, MTV's decision to head in another dirrection is really not all that tough to understand. I miss the good ol' days like everybody else, but there's seriously not a market for this type of format anymore.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
MTV Classics: Memories of the 1980s (The Original VJs)
