MTV is at death’s door

NY Post ^ | July 23, 2015 | Richard Morgan

[oh8eleven]

Viacom is vulnerable in that many of its networks, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Spike, target youngsters — “the segment of the population that’s most rapidly and definitively abandoning linear TV,” according to the analyst.

[cripplecreek]

At that time there weren’t a lot of videos being made so just about any band could make one and get it played on MTV short of X-rated.

That’s where you got videos like Roly Poly Fish heads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGR_EgWfXfI

[cripplecreek]

MTV made bands like Midnight Oil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E

And lets not forget where U2 came from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM4vblG6BVQ

Or the talking heads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU

Funny thing is that none of them are really my kind of music but they do have a nostalgic attraction today.

[mrsmel]

“So now I come to youooooo, with broooooken a-a-armmmsss....”

[mrsmel]

Gracious I loved that song. This one is pre-MTV, but in the same line of twisted songs-”Hey baby I’m your telephone man...”. Nobody does funny/twisted little songs anymore. Reminds me of Dr Demento, Mr Jaws, etc.

[cripplecreek]

Like the 3 little pigs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtffv9bpB-U

[Steve_Seattle]

After listening to the Zappa tape, I can see how MTV pushed the music industry in the direction of overemphasis on visuals, production effects, hairstyles, pyrotechnics, choreography, clothing, etc., at the expense of the music. Thus it probably was a definite step in the direction of today's emphasis on divas doing elaborate production numbers, as at Super Bowl halftime shows.

It probably also had something to do with the decline of "Top 40" radio stations and the relative ease with which a band could get airtime and exposure. Yes, Top 40 also had its issues (payola, etc.), but I remember that local bands could still get airplay with material they recorded themselves. They were often personal friends of local DJs who moonlighted as hosts of dances and local concerts. Some of them caught on and became national acts.

[dfwgator]

“Yo, Wolf Face, I’m your worst nightmare.”

[oblomov]

They had no choice but to change formats.

Filesharing/streaming/MP3 killed packaged recorded music as a revenue stream. Most bands make more money from touring now than from their recorded music, an inversion of the business model that existed until the early 00s.

When someone could sample whatever music they liked online, then instantly downloaded individual songs and read reviews from other music fans, it also obviated the demand for a DJ or VJ to curate music.

I think they attempted to find a niche where the old business model still could work. An example of this was the program “Amp”, which aired for about 5 years in the late 90s and early 00s.

[oblomov]

There are newer bands like that, in which all of the musicians are accomplished on their own merits, such as New Pornographers.

[Steve_Seattle]

A couple of weeks ago someone posted a story about the fact that the average age of performers in live concerts has increased 10 years in the last two decades. This suggests that it is getting harder for new acts to gain widespread exposure.

Yes, a band or a singer can post a homemade video to YouTube and theoretically have widespread exposure, but they can't necessarily get anyone to watch their video no matter how good it might be.

[cripplecreek]

There were bands making videos before MTV but they were basically just filmed in studio like this Ozzy Osbourne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3LvhdFEOqs

Judas Priest was a little more theatrical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L397TWLwrUU

However, videos from way back also exist that were well done.

House of the Rising Sun was Number 1 on the billboard charts on the day I was born in 64.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A-4VGfx5lU

Procol Harum: Whiter shade of Pale was another early video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3iPP-tHdA

[oblomov]

Now, this was a prescient song (from 1986), just 30 years too early. Although MTV really died in 1992 or so.

“MTV-Get Off The Air”, Dead Kennedys

Fun Fun Fun in the fluffy chair
Flame up the herb
Woof down the beer
[click!]
Hi
I’m your video DJ
I always talk like I’m wigged out on quaaludes
I wear a satin baseball jacket everywhere I go

My job is to help destroy
What’s left of your imagination
By feeding you endless doses
Of sugar-coated mindless garbage

So don’t create
Be sedate
Be a vegetable at home
And thwack on that dial
If we have our way even you will believe
This is the future of rock and roll

How far will you go
How low will you stoop
To tranquilize our minds with your sugar-coated swill

You’ve turned rock and roll rebellion
Into Pat Boone sedation
Making sure nothing’s left to the imagination

M.T.V. Get off the
M.T.V. Get off the
M.T.V. Get off the air
Get off the air

See the latest rejects from the muppet show
Wag their tits and their dicks
As they lip-synch on screen
There’s something I don’t like
About a band who always smiles
Another tax write-off
For some schmuck who doesn’t care

M.T.V. Get off the air
And so it was
Our beloved corporate gods
Claimed they created rock video
Allowing it to sink as low in one year
As commercial TV has in 25
“It’s the new frontier,” they say
It’s wide open, anything can happen
But you’ve got a lot of nerve
To call yourself a pioneer
When you’re too god-damn conservative
To take real chances.

Tin-eared
Graph-paper brained accountants
Instead of music fans
Call all the shots at giant record companies now

The lowest common denominator rules
Forget honesty
Forget creativity
The dumbest buy the mostest
That’s the name of the game

But sales are slumping
And no one will say why
Could it be they put out one too many lousy records?!?

M.T.V.-Get off the air!
NOW

[dfwgator]

Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQTFRq1hjtM

[oh8eleven]

Nick jr has some good cartoons. My 6 yr old niece enjoys them
I have two 4 y/o grand-daughters - I'm WELL aware of Nick Jr. and Dora, Bubble Guppies, Berenstein Bears, etc.
I almost know the words from all the theme songs too :)

[mrsmel]

That one was a bit heavy for me in my old age :)

[cripplecreek]

A few of the Heavy metal bands have real staying power. Megadeath, Metallica, and Iron Maiden are still drawing 6 figure crowds. The crowds themselves are young but the bands are my age or older (50 years old and up)

Lot of middle aged metal stars on this stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__j5Z_WcVgE

[Steve_Seattle]

The Animals were my favorite band in my high school days.

I liked the way each band member was different - Eric Burdon was short and working class, with that unique voice (he actually had incredible range, despite his raw style).

Then there was tall Chas Candler, who usually wore a suit, and had that high-pitched backup-singer voice.

And drummer John Steel, with a light touch on drums, kind of jazzy, rode the cymbals a lot, and Hilton Valentine, whose arpeggio guitar riff probably was the key to the success of House of the Rising Sun, and Alan Price, the bluesy organ and keyboard player. It's too bad that internal strife broke up the band prematurely.

[dfwgator]

I liked that other band Eric Burdon was part of, War.

[Steve_Seattle]

I was never into heavy metal, but one song I loved was “Janie’s Got a Gun.” Aerosmith?

[Steve_Seattle]

Burdon fantasized about fronting a (mostly) black band, so War was a dream-come-true for him.