MTV Destroyer of Souls

People older than about 23 may remember a time when MTV used to be cool. In the 80’s MTV showed mainly music videos. Over time the programming changed. Initial shows included Liquid Television, Headbangers Ball and Yo! MTV Raps, NTM the groundbreaking reality show called The Real World. The whole idea of Real World was fascinating and very new. I remember the first couple of seasons were enthralling. Slowly Real World would morph into a vacuous 30 minutes of shit, devoid of anything intelligent or valuable. The same degenerative transformation happened to all of MTV. Now it’s a network of self-entitled, self-advocating, shameless, dumb fucks that encourage some of the worst qualities of mankind: greed, materialism and ignorance with little emphasis on music at all. The scarce music that is promoted via MTV is not created by the artists but by companies and groups of songwriters using vigorous surveys and test groups. After the most marketable, most likely to be commercially successful songs are chosen, an attractive face is attached to this newly manufactured sound. The complete package is sold to America’s youth in an over-sexed fashion. It is an entirely soulless and callous enterprise.

There are rare bright spots that have littered the vast sea of emptiness known as MTV. Beavis and Butthead was hilarious and novel for it’s time. Remote Control was one of the first game shows to scrutinize it’s subset of pop culture. But for every thoughtful show like Unplugged, executives would make Undressed followed quickly w/ TRL and Laguna Beach.

Of all the despicable options to pick on the MTV lineup there is no more abhorrent selection than My Super Sweet 16. My next piece will specifically investigate this show, why I believe it is contributing to the downfall of humanity and most curiously, why I still insist on watching it.