I haven’t really watched MTV in years. It is one of the channels that is regularly tuned in on the bank of television monitors in the gym, but I listen to the music in my MP3 player. From what I can tell of the brief glimpses of MTV that I get, it’s not quite my taste.
But, on the other hand, I don’t understand why people whine about the poor quality of MTV. It was never that original in the first place. An MSNBC article actually gives MTV credit for breaking Public Enemy, which is laugh-out-loud funny.
Anyway, as for the whining, the MSNBC article notes that MTV is very profitable, but then adds,
But not everyone is feeling the love for MTV. Critics say the secret to its success is the result of a Faustian bargain, where the station sacrificed its initial credibility to cater to teens’ most immediate and banal tastes. … Its prime-time hours (from 3:30 p.m. until dinner time) are filled with this fare, not to mention nonstop T&A in videos and beach-house specials, while more edgy artists are relegated to off-peak viewing hours or the smaller satellite station, MTV2. “It would be nice if MTV’s music programming was as risk-taking as the people who run it,” says former news anchor Tabitha Soren, who was at the station from 1991 to 1998. “It would be nice if their programming was more diverse. MTV now has enough power and has shown how irreverent and how creative it can be, so they should distinguish their programming from radio programming.”
Umm, I think people who are upset that large corporations aren’t giving them cutting edge culture are sort of missing the point. Do people really sit in front of their television sets and think to themselves, “Man, I wish this were actually good.”?
Don’t whine if MTV isn’t showing the videos you want to see, turn of the television and do it yourself. And don’t say it can’t be done.
MSNBC also recently profiled Christian pop music. Okay I haven’t heard of any of these groups but the size of contemporary Christian music is amazing — 7 percent of total music sales in the United States, which puts it not too far behind the popularity of country music.
At least their not sitting in front of their televisions saying, “Gee, why doesn’t MTV play more Christian pop videos.”