Bootsy Whoosh
07-28-2001, 09:24 PM
With the 20th anniversary of MTV coming up, I thought it would be appropriate to ask: what do you think is the place of MTV in music? In other words, what are your opinions about its influence on the industry?
Personally, I do think that MTV deserves credit for what it did in the past. In the beginning it was innovative and groundbreaking, and in many ways I think it helped to expose people to artists that maybe weren't getting airtime nationally on radio. In some ways I still think it does that. There are many artists that I see on MTV first before I hear them on the radio.
However, I do think that in many ways MTV has had a negative impact on music. MTV has a lot of influence over which bands get exposure and which don't. On the other hand though, not all blame should be layed on MTV. Radio stations also get to decide what's popular, and record companies get to decide which bands they are going to aggressively promote and which ones they are going to basically ignore.
I think that any really good musician is going to over come this. Good bands will find their niche no matter what MTV says. So maybe they won't be multi-trillionaires. That not what it's supposed to be about anyway. I do think that though perhaps musicians have to work alot harder to be recognized unless they are on MTV.
I think in some ways MTV has had differemt influences over different forms of music. For example, I think that MTV has hurt rock n' roll. Rock bands out nowadays just can't hold a candle to the rock bands of the 70s. (IMHO). I doubt MTV is entirely to blame for this, but I do think it played an important role in it. For one thing, before MTV one of the interesting things about music was that you didn't know what artists look like. You had to actually go to a show to see what the artist looked like. That was part of the mystique, the intrigue. I think that also helped to insure that more talented people were on the music scene since it wasn't based on what you looked like. Also, nowadays, it's really hard to be successful unless you have enough money to make music videos, which alot of struggling artists don't have.
However, I do think that for as much damage as MTV may have done to rock music, I think they really helped to push rap and hip-hop to the forefront. (Which is not to say hip-hop wouldn't have come into its own anyway, just that I think MTV helped it along the way). In the beginning of course MTV was not friendly to rap artists, and in fact they refused to even show black artists' videos. After showing a very small handful of black musicians' videos (pop artists), MTV finally decided to show RUN DMC videos. RUN DMC were the artists who really made rap popular, but I think part of that is because of MTV. By showing videos and through shows such as Yo! MTV Raps, MTV really helped expose rap music to the world. I think MTV still plays an important role in promoting rap and hip-hop, and in that way I think MTV is good.
And of course nowadays MTV is not very good (IMO) because they have way too much non-musical programming. Then again, I don't think I'm exactly MTV's target audience. I still however do find myself enjoying the occasional MTV show, and I do enjoy some of their awards shows, which are not as stuffy as those shown on the broadcast stations.
Personally, I do think that MTV deserves credit for what it did in the past. In the beginning it was innovative and groundbreaking, and in many ways I think it helped to expose people to artists that maybe weren't getting airtime nationally on radio. In some ways I still think it does that. There are many artists that I see on MTV first before I hear them on the radio.
However, I do think that in many ways MTV has had a negative impact on music. MTV has a lot of influence over which bands get exposure and which don't. On the other hand though, not all blame should be layed on MTV. Radio stations also get to decide what's popular, and record companies get to decide which bands they are going to aggressively promote and which ones they are going to basically ignore.
I think that any really good musician is going to over come this. Good bands will find their niche no matter what MTV says. So maybe they won't be multi-trillionaires. That not what it's supposed to be about anyway. I do think that though perhaps musicians have to work alot harder to be recognized unless they are on MTV.
I think in some ways MTV has had differemt influences over different forms of music. For example, I think that MTV has hurt rock n' roll. Rock bands out nowadays just can't hold a candle to the rock bands of the 70s. (IMHO). I doubt MTV is entirely to blame for this, but I do think it played an important role in it. For one thing, before MTV one of the interesting things about music was that you didn't know what artists look like. You had to actually go to a show to see what the artist looked like. That was part of the mystique, the intrigue. I think that also helped to insure that more talented people were on the music scene since it wasn't based on what you looked like. Also, nowadays, it's really hard to be successful unless you have enough money to make music videos, which alot of struggling artists don't have.
However, I do think that for as much damage as MTV may have done to rock music, I think they really helped to push rap and hip-hop to the forefront. (Which is not to say hip-hop wouldn't have come into its own anyway, just that I think MTV helped it along the way). In the beginning of course MTV was not friendly to rap artists, and in fact they refused to even show black artists' videos. After showing a very small handful of black musicians' videos (pop artists), MTV finally decided to show RUN DMC videos. RUN DMC were the artists who really made rap popular, but I think part of that is because of MTV. By showing videos and through shows such as Yo! MTV Raps, MTV really helped expose rap music to the world. I think MTV still plays an important role in promoting rap and hip-hop, and in that way I think MTV is good.
And of course nowadays MTV is not very good (IMO) because they have way too much non-musical programming. Then again, I don't think I'm exactly MTV's target audience. I still however do find myself enjoying the occasional MTV show, and I do enjoy some of their awards shows, which are not as stuffy as those shown on the broadcast stations.