Where's the Music?

MTV. Music Television. But really, is MTV still music television? I turn on my television; press the buttons five and two, and what do I see? I see the re-run for The Hills for the seventh time that day…so yes, that may be somewhat of an exaggeration, but lets be realistic, it’s all they seem to the play these days, reality shows. At first we saw MTV’s sister channel, VH1 start to play more reality shows, for every person involved in one seems to manage to get offered their own spin off. Although VH1 has many reality shows, they still keep true to their original purpose, playing music videos but focusing more so on the older generations, hence the “I Love the 80’s”.

MTV on the other hand, has stopped almost all of its viewing of music videos. The popular show TRL which was shown after school is no longer in production, leaving little time for the display of music videos. All we see today are The Hills, The City, Cribs, MADE, Real World, True Life, and many more. It’s as if the only aspect of music you can find on MTV is through their website. It leads me to wonder why?

The truth is, is that we (society), mainly being the younger generations, are who decides what gets shown on MTV. The cheap reality television sucks us in, increasing the demand, expanding the shows, and pushing the actual foundation (the music) farther and farther away.

During MTV’s Video Music Awards one award winner, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day for best rock video even states: “videos, yes, MTV play more videos, keep em’ comin.” I agree. I say MTV play more videos! The songs themselves are art, and so are their videos. Forget the reality television, and if we cannot, then at least make more time for the actual music!