Posted on 05/22/2017 11:28:23 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
Elton John told an audience at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday that the MTV generation had promoted many musicians who didn’t deserve the attention, but he also paid tribute to the positive role that music videos have played in the music business.
John, who was on-stage with his long-term song-writing partner Bernie Taupin, said: “We were before the MTV generation and I’m glad we were because we were real artists. The MTV generation brought along a lot of people who were great but a lot of people who just made videos. So a lot of the artistry went out of the music.”
The singer, who was answering questions from Spike Lee at the winners’ presentation for a new music-video competition, added: “Visuals — whether it is a painting, a drawing, a piece of film, a video — enhance music. You get to use your imagination; you get into it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...
Hard to argue with Reg on that one.
I will not argue with the truth.
The modern emphasis is on the video and not the song.
With the videos your imagination becomes inoperative..........................
“I’m glad we were because we were real artists.”
Howls, Bruce. Howls of derisive laughter.
Never liked that no-talent little corksoaker with his genital warts in the throat and his cub-scout dancers. His fame was fired solely by the glamor of Evil.
I am very fond on 80s music and I think MTV ushered in a lot of creativity.
The music industry itself changed and discovering and developing new talent became out of fashion. The big contract? Your garage band isn’t going to get one. It’s very tough to start out and to last a long while. Much (not all) of the acts promoted by the big companies today are just flavor of the month.
If you search for independent labels, you can find some really good artists. But Elton John came from an era with a very different industry. I’m not at all sure that MTV was the reason that all faded away.
And, oh by the way, the fact that I can’t buy a CD of a 40-year-old album for less than 20 bucks is an absolute crime. They sell more if they lowered their dang prices. Lousy business model.
corksoaker
Johnny Depp look-alike contest?..............
LOL. One of the knocks on Sir Elton in the 70s was that he wasn't a real artist. He was just pop fluff. And there were plenty of no-talent acts from the 60s and 70s. Terry Jacks was worse than anything the MTV era produced.
Frank Zappa put it best. In the sixties there were the old guys with the cigars choosing the bands that would get recorded. They had no idea what it was, but they gave it a chance.
Then the young “hip” guys who think they knew what the kids wanted started choosing the acts to sign, and all the creativity went away.
Elton: “Thoje whippersnappers jusht don’t know how to make good mujic any more! Get off my manicured lawn!”
Yes and no. In my mind it’s like salt or other seasoning on food. A good video compliments and enhances the content, mood or themes of the music. A poorly done video overwhelms any flavor the music might have had. That said, some videos became neat little short films even though the music itself had little merit.
"Mad Man Across the Water" was hardly pop fluff. But yeah, right after 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road', it was all downhill for him.
Now that you mention it.... Adam Ant from MTV’s early days.
Well, I don’t know how they set prices of CDs. Any business model takes into account the costs of doing business, and demand for the product.
Cursory review of sale bins makes me think that musical groups that are less popular, and/or I’ve never heard of, are the one s which sell for cheap.
Milli Vanilli for one...
and killed the concept of the Rock band.
does MTV even have music videos anymore???
Just from channel surfing, I get the impression that they have mostly reality shows about people acting like ideas, and girls who are pregnant.
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