Globex Corporation Newsletter

I remember what I wanted to post about again, MTV, MTV Networks and Viacom. I've been one of those who laments the fact that MTV doesn't play music videos anymore. I was working at USSB (no link, the company no longer exists) when MTV Networks launched MTV2. We found it ironic that MTV found it necessary to launch a network that actually played music videos. MTV was busy running crap like The Real World and Road Rules 24 hours a day, that didn't leave much (any) time to run music videos. You know, I thought the 'M' in MTV was for 'Music.' Anyway, MTV2 (or M2 as they called it then, which was hilarious to us at USSB because M2 is a really crappy tape format from Panasonic) played music videos 24 hours a day. OK, that's a bit misleading because they ran 8 hours of stuff then repeated it two more times in a 24 hour period (hey, I noticed this stuff, then again, I was getting paid to watch it). Still, you could turn to MTV2 and be assured of seeing a music video as opposed to seeing some show about "pimping" your ride.

I have to admit that I haven't seen a rock music video in years. My current cable package doesn't include MTV2. Anytime I flip by MTV or VH1, its some sort of show. Hey, I could live with that, but it's very rarely a show about music. On MTV it's generally a show about youth culture of some sort. I don't have a problem with that type of show, but there's an 'M' in the name of the network, not a 'YC.' VH1 is no better, Remember the '80's/'90's seems to run constantly. I can stomach that type of stuff better, but it's a little more culturally relevant to me. Still, the 'VH' in VH1 stands for 'Video Hits.' Admittedly, I have less of a leg to stand on here as VH1 is not just an audio service, video is provided as well. 'Video Hits' does seem to imply music videos though.

Oddly, the videos I've seen lately are country music videos. The country music video channels on my cable system actually play music videos. I was flipping through the channels the other day and saw a music video. Frankly it was stupid. I don't say that because it was a country music video, I say that because it was a music video in general. I guess I had forgotten how stupid music videos are. So I've spent the last couple of years lamenting the fact that MTV doesn't play something I think is stupid (music videos) and instead is playing something I think is stupid (reality shows, youth culture programs, etc.).

I want to apologize for all of the bitching I've done on this matter. I want to apologize, especially after seeing a little tiny bit of some dumb-ass music video awards show last night on MTV while sitting in a bar listening to real music. I realized that when they were listing the videos nominated for "Best Pop Video of the Year" that I had't seen a one of them. As it turns out, I'm glad I hadn't. Lyndsey Lohan was one of the nominees, for Christ's sake, Lyndsey Lohan! At least the sound was off. As near as I could tell (and I wasn't paying that close of attention) Ashlee Simpson won. Ashlee Simpson! Well, I'm sure Milli Vanilli won these kinds of shitty awards and they couldn't sing either.

So again, I want to apologize to my friends who've had to hear me bitch about no music on MTV. I'm no fan of the crap that they're running, but at least it takes some creativity to "pimp" my ride.

BOJ