The Death of Music Television

Every evening I am amazed. As I flick through the channels that in recent history use to air Music Videos, there is nothing there but cheap, low brow, white-trash television programming. I can’t help but wonder “What in the heck happened?” As a musician it is startling to me that music just “up and disappeared” from these three networks. MTV, VH-1, and BET were founded upon the concept of playing Music Videos. Ironically “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the song by the British musical group The Buggles, was the first video shown when the ground-breaking music channel debuted on August 1, l981. It seems fitting enough that another band acknowledge the second generation of the evolution of music conveyance. “iTunes,” “Satellite Radio,” and “YouTube” killed the Music Video. Only the former half of that statement can be proven, because it is a process still in transition. Given a reasonable amount of time it would seem the masterminds behind Google will devise a way to reach an agreement with the major record labels to show copyrighted Music Videos. I welcome such an occurrence. Because I mainly am a jazz performer and classical composer doesn’t mean I don’t delight in the availability of a venue for young up-and-coming bands to show their wares. Advertisers have been unsure where to place their money, just like most manufacturers of entertainment- related goods. Since the disappearance of the “Main Stream,” a movement akin to the disappearance of Animal Chin, America’s marketers have been lost. I would like to openly suggest we invite YouTube to be the bearer of the torch. I for one have had enough of the bleak and barren landscape that is television in terms of airplay for creative music. No one can argue MTV changed FM radio, and maybe it did actually “Kill the radio star.” FM radio endured. What is it that prompted Howard Stern to “fly to the moon” and inhabit a satellite? Was Les Moonves the man really responsible for killing radio like Stern says? It is due time that the issue of the disappearance of quality FM programming be addressed. Recently when I visited a friend of mine in Nashville who is a reputable country music video producer, he remarked that there was a sudden proliferation and promotion of music in the “pop” genre. He also remarked that one particular company had purchased most of the radio stations in America. In his particular field the boundaries were being stretched. Nashville was having difficulty producing and promoting “Old School” country acts. It had become a struggle to do what they had been doing successfully for many years. The “glam” of Glam Rock and the sexuality of New School R&B videos forced their way into country music. Unlike Garth Brooks and Shania Twain’s successful “pushing of the boundaries” of country music, these new influences didn’t gel with the real connotation of country music. Real country music always has been about sadness, loss, and hardship. This down to earth content is what defined it as country music. The careless influx of media tools used in other genres of music created a weakening in country music. Much like Barry Gordy’s Motown, although a commercial success, watering down the content of country music for easy palletability is proving to be a mistake. When the roots of the music are abandoned, glossy images and raw sexuality are not enough to keep it alive. Whereas Motown kept enough of the original musical content to keep the product valid, Glam Country got lost. The desire to reach mass audiences and therefore produce only “happy” and “pretty” images and sounds still is proving to be a failure. In the decade of 9/11 and the War in Iraq such images pale in reflection to reality. There is no connection at all, and that has no potential to produce artistic music. Who is it that decided pure superficial escapism was more important than producing music with realistic and therefore human content? Who is it that decided Super Heroes, comic book characters, Ninja Turtles, Kung Foo Fighters, and Sony Playstation characters were more suitable for entertainment than history’s more down to earth personalities? The humble characteristics of Charlie Chaplain, Buster Keaton, Red Skeleton, Will Rogers, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, and the Little Rascals proved that humility was humorous. It gave America a soul. Egocentric grandstanding means nothing. Maybe it will be YouTube that picks up the tattered remains of the Music Video industry and breathes new life into it. Garage bands unite and take America by storm!