What's the Big Deal With MTV?

is MTV still on?

wow

it jumped the shark so long ago.....

Hmm MTV might be the first example of network drift.

kids like novel stimuli...and desperately love hipness similarly still require a authoritative source for sound decision making, hence mtv does work well with the "under age" groups but instead of having to search find niche markets they took a more disney-esque approach to artist development at least for their mainstream programming...end result, crap that most reasonable people cannot tolerate...unfortunately what i think is adrift in this instance are the now adults that grew up endlessly watching mtv, as as single channel, and thinking that they were getting into some hip new cutting edge material, well okay 120 minutes with the snarky hat wearing brit, and yo! mtv raps as well, but in the end it was still t-n-a all they way. but will they ever play the ass and titties song, probably not but yet. its funny, nearly naked girl in the metal video has a black bikini on and a snake, girl in the rap video has a neon orange bikini on and is writhing on a rented boat, girl in r&b video is in some near naked yet heartbroken state on a bed, all in white of course... nearly naked girl in female r&b video is madonna, tee har...lowest common denominator will win until the next novel act comes along... maybe "circuit" house music will be next? oh wait we already went through that with the boy bands....

This may be a topic better suited for a sociology thesis rather than a blog post. You've bitten off quite a hunk Kim, but I liked the article (as you can see).

Actually, the Movie Awards garners massive ratings and continues to be a success, despite the declining ratings of the Video Music Awards

Go figure. MTV hardly plays even a 15-second clip of music videos any more - at least, hardly here in the states. Though, I imagine that the other global editions of MTV are essentially exporters of American culture more than they are intricately intertwined with their own regional markets, and have also done away with the music video (at least, a cursory browsing of MTV UK, MTV Europe, MTV Asia, MTV Australia, and MTV Japan would indicate as such). It seems almost silly that MTV would host such a rewards show, when networks like FUSE or online sources like YouTube actually play music videos. Does TRL even exist anymore?

While some would argue that MTV is giving its viewers what they want, I would argue that as a long standing trend setter, MTV holds much more influence than some would give it credit for.

It may be giving its viewers what they think they want, or rather, MTV it telling it's viewers what they want, and then delivering. Still, I think MTV acknowledges that there may be people out there like myself or my girlfriend who can't stand much of MTV's programming, but still watch it anyway, sort of like witnessing a train wreck in action - on the odd occasion, I can still find an episode of True Life that I find not only entertaing but touching as well (such as True Life... I'm a Schizophrenic, I'm a Sex Worker, or I Have Anxiety). Also, I think that for those who are my age (25 or so) are targeted less by MTV and more by Viacom's sister network VH1, as it more regularly features programming that at least ties into music and culture (their rockDocs are quite solid, especially when discussing things like the Sexual Revolution or the Drug War).

Still, it's hard to say we didn't see this coming. I mean, once you have an award show, there's bound to be a goody bag, and where there's goody bags, there's money. Also, something that can catch the attention of young people for any length of time is bound to eventually catch the attention of those who will seek a profit from that kind of focus. I mean, when you realy break it down, the causes of the fall from grace of MTV's integrity are myriad, and someone can point to almost any cultural ill in our current day and likely have a point: Children are over-medicated and have no attention span for a 3-and-a-half-minute video on anything, even with music. Increasing intellectual apathy amongst young people leads to increasing vapidity of their media. Corporate buyouts and tie-ins lead to a greater focus on materialism and consumption, and a decreasing focus on product quality. All are probably valid and on point. If MTV has ever been a reflection of the state of youth culture, I think that its current programming content and style are sadly an honest depiction of where we are today.

The proliferation of the Internet and digital media has democratized media in ways that few expected, putting more control in the hands of the consumers and forcing the various media industries to reconsider they way they do business.

This is probably the truest statement. MTV was started by (at least, if you believe it) a bunch of upstart kids who wanted to do something new with media. Today, upstart media youths don't found their own TV networks, they make viral videos, webcomics, blogs, and who knows what next. The truth is that the really cool kids are not on MTV, they're on Newgrounds, YouTube, Blogger, and the internet in general.

I think there are other entertainment technologies that have leaped frogged cable television.

MTV's target audience is "teeny boppers," and they play a huge role in developing youth culture today, which is quite scary when you think about the content they air. Young teeny boppers are becoming brainwashed with the superficial values and representations on MTV's programming. The current epidemic of eating disorders in youngsters could easily be attributed to the unreal looks of the "normal" people on reality shows. How "normal" or average are these reality stars in reality? Not so normal. The cliche phrase "sex sells" fits perfectly here. They promote looks that people like to look at or watch, not that most people can easily attain. This can result in young people acquiring serious complexes that haunt them for extended periods of time or even their whole life.

What happened to the music videos, and why is so much of the public infatuated with the garbage reality shows on MTV? MTV has become a damaging segment of the media that offers basically nothing of true value.

Just MTV? Hell, pretty much all the music channels have gone this road--VH1 had turned into the "I Love the Best" channel: nothing but "I love the 80s/90s/70s/Victorian Age" and "B3S+ W33K EV@H!!!!111!@". The only one I can think of that does some music is Fuse, and even that's going by the wayside.

There are still some mostly music channels--MTV Hits and VH1 Classic, mainly. They show some stuff (re-runs of TRL and music documentaries, respectively), but mostly music.

But I don't give a crap about them. Indies from the Internet all the way, baby. :D

I heard this from someone who works in television production: He said the reason MTV and other music networks have turned to reality television garbage is because the production costs of making such shows are much much cheaper than music videos, whose costs can run very high, while still attracting the same coveted teeny-bopper demographic.

This is a great article, but I do have one thing to say, I'm not too sure about MTV being responsible for Michael Jackson's celebrity.

I don't watch reality shows and I hate how MTV has changed.
MTV was great back in the day but now it's just another channel to that bites.

MTV is now emblematic of everything wrong with pop culture today and an example of conglomerate media establishment.

Word.

I agree wholeheartedly, and have been making these observations for years now. I've always been, what I consider to be a fairly cool geezer of 55 now, and have followed MTV since its inception. MTV seems to be doing now, what it did earlier on in capitulating to the hip-hop generation by going completely in one direction, at the expense of its earlier hard core fan base. Wouldn't it be nice if they could at least hold onto SOME of its time honored traditions to appease some of it's fans (that made them what they are today). The whole instant gratification thing with the cheaper than cheap "reality shows" (that are anything but reality), celebrity worship, and generally just crappy programming begins at the top and trickles down. No wonder the kids of today are in the TV watching rut that they're in.

MTV is pretty much worthless, just like every other television station that broadcasts primarily reality television. Stations with so much reality TV offer nothing educational, they are just game shows where most of "reality" is actually acted out, editing makes things seem different than they truly are, and the content is just terrible. Shows like "Rock of Love" or even "The Bachelor" are called Reality, but when is a guy or girl going to have 30 people who want to marry them without ever being in a real relationship.

ABC TV in Australia has been producing a show called rage for 20 years and it's still in pretty much the same format as when it began (no ads, no stupid ditzy compares, just all music).

It airs on Friday and Saturday nights and is a real fixture now. The kind of thing you zombie out to at midnight when you're staying in, or at 6am after a big night out! They often have guest programmers who are musicians/ bands and that can be really fantastic, and they usually have a section of the night dedicated to a theme. ABC is not a cable station (although they now have a digital channel called ABC2) and so when they introduced a music program in the late 80s that ran from about 11 pm to 9am the next morning it was pretty cool! I don't think there was any (??) cable in Australia at that time...

Nice article kymlee, thanks so much! :o)

I remember when MTV played music...back then it was cool.

I remember when VJ Adam Curry quit MTV because he was sick of watching it be dumbed down and having to introduce shows like Beavis and Butthead...Adam Curry became very cool to me that day.

MTV today? Useless data coming down the pipe. Not relevant. Not important. Not interesting.

I too have had this discussion over the years with many and have figured out something. First, I remember one year they had the VMA and they ran a montage of people's comments. Had the execs tuned in they would have picked up on this. In the middle of all the clips was a kid that said "Hey MTV, I've got an idea, why don't you show MUSIC VIDEOS!" The crowd roared and then applauded. This was only 10 or 15 years after it's conception, incidently, that was roughly the age of the kid if I remember correctly. If a teen ager or even 20 something can recognize that why can't MTV. I'm in my 40's now and wouldn't have it in my house if someone paid me because of the direction they took years ago and I know plenty that share the same feeling.

Block programming! Don't run Hip Hop with R&R, the two have never mixed well back to back, visually or in audio. Old formats were never the problem, the video content was to blame. Split the channels MTV R&R, MTV SOUL, MTV CLUB DANCE. Bring back a Friday video party type show. Night Flight and Night Tracks stole many away from MTV cause it was straight up with what it was going to present. MTV ... not so much! It's seems that VIDEO KILLED IT'S OWN VIDEO STAR!

I miss the old MTV. I've found VH1, once the stodgy adult contemporary music video channel, plays more new artists. I never thought I'd be watching it but it's where I go (late nights and mornings) to see new videos. MTV has moved on to this Tila Tequila and Real World garbage and forgot its music roots.

MTV and pop culture in general became irrelevant to me probably around the time I turned 25. By then I had a real job, was buying my first house, and considered myself an adult for the first time. The lifestyle I saw reflected on MTV was no longer my lifestyle. These days I wouldn't know most of the artists on any current Top 10 list if they walked up and introduced themselves. I guess it's about time to go to Carousel.

The last line, "virtual mirror for today's pop-culture of celebreality obsession, materialism and obnoxious, self centered youth." That says it all.

Ever since MTV abandoned the music video programming on which it was built, the "M" has come to stand for Moron.

Being a 50 something male, I remember when MTV first came on line. We had just erected a 10' satellite dish in the back yard. Along with the dish we received coordinates of the first available 9 satellites that broadcast open signals, and locked on. We found Music Videos and a limited sports programming show called ESPN. It was "COOL" to watch these new things called music videos. These videos opened up a new world of music to me, which in turn prompted me to go out and spend my money on these artists. Sure Beavis and Butthead were (at the time) wayyyy out there, but they were uncomfortably funny. For me, being in Seattle, Grunge Rock was becoming the in thing, that was MTV's first step outside of the mainstream (then) music. After Pearl Jam and Nirvana, came Rap, which is where they lost me. I have not watched MTV in what must be 12 years. My 27 year old daughter still watches, but, if we had the choice of which programs we pay for, MTV (or its spin-offs), they would have been culled from my channel list. Is all about the money, and money is (Lack of) Reality TV.

Ditto for me. When MTV first came on (1981?) it was always our primary channel - we would occasionally watch other channels for news. I still watch VH1 classic when they have 80's music videos on. When rap and the other BS became the primary focus in the mid 90's, we were gone. Haven't watched MTV since.

Rap may be a legitimate form of expression, but it's not music. Talking is not music and a turntable is not a musical instrument.

Beat poetry in the 1950's was a legitimate form of expression, but it wasn't music either. Disco sucked, but it was music. Polka music sucks, but it's music.

There are lot's of musical genres besides rap that I can't stand including "smooth jazz" and anything by current, former, or wannabe "boy band" members, or the current group of pop tarts, but it is still music.

You darn kids get off my lawn!!!

That about sums up the sentiment I'm gathering from these comments.... not that there is anything wrong with that. I'm in my mid-30's and fondly remember the heyday of MTV. While I wasn't there to see "Video Killed the Radio Star" in 1981.. We did get cable in 1984 when I was still in grade school... with an almost otherwordly lineup of 35 channels. Much like today, the majority of these channels were junk... but MTV stood out. It was fresh and something all together new. Of course, that was almost 25 years ago... and let's face it, the music video format itself was always more novelty than substance.

By the late 80s/early 90s the novelty was pretty much used up... I was no longer tuning into MTV because of the videos... but more for the music. More to hear what was coming out from my favorite bands or to watch interviews from those same bands. The fact that pictures were playing along with the songs had become secondary... the excitement was gone. That was not the case in 1984... when you'd gladly sit through an awful song from Kajagoogoo or Rockwell just to watch the video unfold.

By the early 90's... I was still in the core MTV demographic... but couldn't have cared less about the videos themselves. Sure, something cool like "Sober" from Tool or even something perposterously overblown like "November Rain" from GNR showed that the video could still rise to something larger than the song itself... but for the most part, music videos just weren't exciting enough anymore to warrant dedicated watching when I could just as easily listen to a CD or the radio while doing other things..

I helped kill the MTV that we all fondly remember today... and while it's always fun to throw on the rose colored glasses and wax poetic... The music video format just wasn't ever going to be self-sustaining over the long haul.

Re: MTV. What I most miss Is 120 Minutes and Alternative Nation because they played the songs and videos I really liked.

Also I LOVED Siffl and Olly.

Also in high school, being a bit of a loner, New Year's Eve parties consisted of me, two friends and watching MTV's New Year's Eve party