Has MTV been taken over by freepers?

[jdj]

I'm serious.

I watch this Laguna Beach and I think, how is this relevant...
The show about high school pranks is chock full of future fascists and freepers.

"Total Request" thing has always made me cringe, I have never been able to sit through it.

The Real World, however, is very relevant this year because of Karamo's story line, I'm loving that, but he might have slipped in under their radar since he is not always openly gay.

But MTV is getting blonder and creepier every time I turn it on. It's 180 degrees from what it used to be.

[Droopy]

1. Did you know they actually used to play music on that channel?

Yeah really.

[jdj]

3. I was a kid when it came on.

they had these people, they called them "veejays".

they called them that because, it was like a d.j., but back then, they played "videos". videos were like a mini-movie they made to go along with the song they (the singer or the band) was singing.

wow, that WAS back in the day.

good point.

[VOX]

10. Bonus Points for naming all the original VeeJays!

I'll name two: J.J. Jackson ("Triple J"), now deceased, and Mark Goodman.

:thumbsup:

[jdj]

13. Martha oh shoot I can't remember her last name.

Nina Blackwood?

Kennedy's in there somewhere, but I don't think she was an original.

[FreedomFry]

16. Quinn n/t

[flygal]

15. Alan ????? damn I'm old!!...

HUNTER!!! Was it Hunter?!!! He lasted the longest - did some spring break stuff. They brought on Pauly Shore.......and then it was all over. They started the hair band stuff and then it was mostly shows - less music. I switched to VH1 after that.

[enigmatic]

20. Shoot me, but I can..

Nina Blackwood
JJ Jackson
Martha Quinn
Alan Hunter
Mark Goodman

And yes, I remember when they actually played videos..........a long, long time ago..

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. MTV = Viacom = Bush

. Speaking to some of America's and Asia's top executives gathered for Forbes magazine's annual Global CEO Conference, Mr. Redstone declared: "I look at the election from what's good for Viacom. I vote for what's good for Viacom. I vote, today, Viacom.

[jdj]

5. which is why they market ashlee/britney/jessica.

I have been saying this and saying this.

Of course notice how Xtina got a bad rep all of a sudden with Dirrty.

No coincidence she's a flaming liberal/feminist, now persona non-grata.

However the bimbots above are all repukes, and we can't have them foisted in our faces enough by MTV. The marketing done for Ashlee Simpons was f*cking unprecedented, it was SO alarming to me.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. how is this relevant

It has nothing to do with being relevant. It is about cute teenagers shopping at South Coast Plaza, going out to dinner at expensive restaurants and driving along the coast in SUVs. "I'm all over that thing, girl!"
Don't all teenagers do this stuff?

[jdj]

8. they are rich white blond teens from the privileged set.

exactly the group least likely to form a social conscience about anything.

This show and the prank show are the antithesis of what MTV was when it started. And I remember. New Wave bands may have been preppy as a sarcastic joke, like haircut 100. and we went from Madonna's "Like a Virgin" which is one of the most punk videos/songs ever produced by a female, to twenty years later having the American fascist poster girl Jessica Simpson shoved down our throats like there is no tomorrow. How in the hell did we get here from Madonna writhing around on the floor at the 1st VMA's?

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. When MTV started it had a really cheesy look and feel

The VJ's were kind of homely radio people. The videos were just promotional films meant to be played on after school TV dance programs and variety shows. That formula couldn't last forever, thus all this other crappy stuff. The Laguna show is really offensive, since the "stars" are just the sort of boring vacuous twits that I would avoid at all costs.

[jdj]

17. not only that, but their diction is terrible.

they have a valley girl slurr to their words, so half the time you can't understand them.

I bet MTV is shitting about this. They all look alike, act alike and you can't understand them.

oh yeah, and I liked the cheese. it's so slick now it is sickening. The veejays, or any of the other stuff, didn't take away from the music.

[Hello_Kitty]

19. Ahhh....I miss the cheesy videos

My fave cheesy video w/bad production values of all time: Rick James "Superfreak". Rick with his Jheri curl surrounded by what looked to be hookers dancing against a white background.

[Dukakis88]

6. Blonder?

MTV mainly plays rap and urban pop... I'd say that besides Britney and Justin (who perform music highly derivative of black music), most of the music on MTV is not blonde. They did a musical talent search program ala StarSearch a few years ago, and didn't even audition anyone who wasn't a soul singer or rapper. There were no rock musicians auditioned.

I don't deserve to complain because there is so little black programming on TV that it would be ridiculous for me to cry "prejudice" in the case of MTV -- once upon a time they played zero rap, which isn't my favorite music style, but they underrepresented it back in the day -- but I do miss the early days when they played quirky, visually inventive new wavish rock and synth pop music. (Hated the lite heavy metal era, with all of those ludicrous glam metal hair band macho party-hearty concert videos.)

[jdj]

11. Question for ya

somethin I can't figure out. Nobody doubts Xtina can sing, but for the others, why in the HELL when any average black woman can sing the pants off these white chicks (and having spent years working in factories in rural south carolina I can vouch for this, or if you don't believe me look at america idol) why in the HELL are these women being marketed on MTV almost always white? For every JOJO or Joss Stone I bet there are 10 African American women who can beat them hands down, yet where are they?

what you call derivative, I call theft, but this story is at least 70 years old.

and my thread didn't start out about race, it is more about economic bracket. I'm not so naive to think it is a coincidence.

MTV in the beginning was alternative and political, and it is slowly drifting to fascist and irrelevant.

[pauliedangerously]

7. I'm cancelling my cable tv this week

I'm not an MTV viewer anymore, but I did see commercials for Farenhype 911 on the Science Channel and NWI. That's it for me; I'm not paying for tv anymore.

[jdj]

9. I just saw one on the Discovery channel about 3 minutes ago.

[HEyHEY]

12. If you've notice programming getting dumber - probably

[LibLover]

18. I rid myself of the social pariah (cable)

MTV was never entertaining to me. I wish I could have been my age now when the channel was new. All music, all the time. I'm a good old fashioned rock and roll chick. I can't stand rap. For a while MTV was the rap network, but apparently the pendulum has swung back. If you can't stand the "white bread" wait a year or two. I'm sure the trend will return.

Overall, I think cable is trash. I got rid of it a year ago and don't regret the move one bit.

[Swamp Rat]

21. MTV is a corporation that sells corporate crap.

Video not only killed the radio star, but music in general, as it was absorbed and transformed by a faceless corporate entity. MTV could have been a force for good but the alien lizards got hold of it and turned it into a tool to brainwash the masses.



If only folks would click the remote a few more times and listen to Chomsky and Amy Goodman, for example, on CSPAN.