I Want My MTV

ICARUS PLUNGING TO THE SEA?
"Are you serious?"

The music didn't die that February night in Clear Lake, Iowa. Oh sure, Buddy and Ritchie and the Big Bopper did, but that was only a hiccup, as I see it, in the protracted choking spasms of music for the masses. I mean, face it, when the summer touring schedule features individuals and band members in their 60s (not lost in the 60s...60 years old!) charging aging wannabe rockers $100 just to hear music the way they remember it (somewhat), things are askew.Also cited as evidence is the Simpsons episode in which Homer goes to rock 'n' roll camp with said aging rockers as instructors. D'oh!
For awhile there, it looked like MTV was going to be the visual savior that Rolling Stone magazine had tried to be for the reading public. What we've seen lately is definitely not what producers imagined in 1981 when The Buggles were aired as the very first music video in their performance of "Video Killed the Radio Star." Little did we know it would also kill music on TV as well! MTV has turned into a freak sideshow totally unlike the relevance of airing the first video by an African-American artist (Michael Jackson's world premier of "Beat It"), or its daring release of the premier of the 14-minute video of "Thriller." It has fallen precipitously from meaningful programming like the 17 hours of Live Aid...back when performers were socially conscious, I guess. So what do we have now?
Prents sitting on the couch with teens watching a video of someone else dating the teen's steady girlfriend/boyfriend; private (turned public) lives of people randomly thrown together in an approximation of "real life." This reached its nadir this year when filming began on the University of Wisconsin campus, detailing the social life (e.g. drinking) that goes on across campus. Some recruiting tool! But the Cohen, Slim Shady deal has got to be to topper...or "bottomer" if you prefer.
The MTV Awards Show has always shown a penchant for the bizarre...generally, the more bizarre, the "better." Sunday night proved no exception. Sacha Baron Cohen(Borat)-- suspended by wires above the audience, dressed in white with feathered wings, portraying the flamboyantly gay character Bruno--claims to experience mechanical difficulty and asks to be lowered...and ends up in Eminem's lap. Ah, but that's not the "best" part: seems Cohen has no underwear on and brushes very close to the oft-said-to-be-homophobic rapper's face before landing in Slim Shady's lap. "Explosive" would be the best way to describe the reaction by the rapper, who shouted "Are you serious?" in his best John McEnroe impression before storming out of the theater (conveniently filmed by well-positioned camera people!)...but not before Cohen could say, "Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?" Really...it happened. Now the ocntroversy began: was it orchestrated or did Eminem have NO idea this was going to happen?
The internet is abuzz with opinions on both sides of the issue. Of course, that is fueled by the fact that NOBODY is talking: not Cohen, not Eminem, and not MTV reps. By now, you are either so interested as to check it out yourself, or back to your Facebook account, so I'll just leave it at this:
I want my MTV back: music videos and veejays who knew music. It's no wonder my iPod gets more play than MTV.