Wednesday, February 25, 2004
23 Years since the Birth of MTV and The Death of Music
MTV has ruined music! That's what the radio commentator said the other day. Of course, a radio man would have a bit of an axe to grind. But he also makes a great point.
Before MTV, we actually listened to music. We didn't watch it. We didn't judge it by what it looked like, how cute the girls were, how good the dancing was. We sat back and imagined what the music was about, we played little pictures in our heads that related to our lives. We pictured loved ones, neighborhood parks, summer vacations, school days. We were galloping down the trail, soaring through space, or boogieing across the railroad tracks. Music was the backdrop to our personal movies, the sound effects to our lives. The impact was personal.
Now, with MTV, we are told what and how and why to think and feel about the music. Instead of our pictures, they have branded their pictures onto our collective consciousness -- and most of those pictures are crotch-grabbing, hip-gyrating, not-so-subtle scenes of the steamier side of sex. Like the song "Last Dance with Mary Jane", it seemed such a lovely little heart-felt statement, until they decided to make a video about necrophilia. Now, when I hear that song, I only see Tom dancing with a dead blond.
Lately, I find myself immersed in jazz, classical and modern symphonic music, and sometimes bluegrass or folk. Not out of any higher minded purpose, but because I find the words to songs painful at this time in my life; lyrics are glimpses into someone else's world -- not mine. So I listen to CBC2 radio out of Canada. I hear old classical, new classical, symphonies from around the globe. I even hear some opera (but can't understand the words -- who can).
And what do I picture? I picture little cartoon fairies flitting from flower to flower, or wolves tippy-toeing to cottages of straw. I see a kaleidoscope of colors dancing and changing into shapes which -- you guessed it -- turn into more cartoons. Damn that Wascally Wabbit! To Hell with the Sorcerer's Apprentice! See, it's really the cartoons that have killed the music, especially classical. They were the first music videos. So maybe it's pointless to blame MTV.
We are a visual species and we happen to live in a technically capable world with lots of visual opportunities. With some luck and some time, musical expression will make its way back to an art form. Hopefully in my lifetime. Just as the great masters painted nudes (not little peek-a-boo-breast stunts like Janet pulled accidentally on purpose) but real studies of life. The musicians will soon weave honest searches for purpose and soul. They will again inspire and enlighten. And just as Delibes's Lakme Flower Song blew me away, took me to a place way past words or pictures or cartoons, musicians will again raise us up to new levels of spiritual illumination. They just need to find voices amid the technology.
MTV has ruined music! That's what the radio commentator said the other day. Of course, a radio man would have a bit of an axe to grind. But he also makes a great point.
Before MTV, we actually listened to music. We didn't watch it. We didn't judge it by what it looked like, how cute the girls were, how good the dancing was. We sat back and imagined what the music was about, we played little pictures in our heads that related to our lives. We pictured loved ones, neighborhood parks, summer vacations, school days. We were galloping down the trail, soaring through space, or boogieing across the railroad tracks. Music was the backdrop to our personal movies, the sound effects to our lives. The impact was personal.
Now, with MTV, we are told what and how and why to think and feel about the music. Instead of our pictures, they have branded their pictures onto our collective consciousness -- and most of those pictures are crotch-grabbing, hip-gyrating, not-so-subtle scenes of the steamier side of sex. Like the song "Last Dance with Mary Jane", it seemed such a lovely little heart-felt statement, until they decided to make a video about necrophilia. Now, when I hear that song, I only see Tom dancing with a dead blond.
Lately, I find myself immersed in jazz, classical and modern symphonic music, and sometimes bluegrass or folk. Not out of any higher minded purpose, but because I find the words to songs painful at this time in my life; lyrics are glimpses into someone else's world -- not mine. So I listen to CBC2 radio out of Canada. I hear old classical, new classical, symphonies from around the globe. I even hear some opera (but can't understand the words -- who can).
And what do I picture? I picture little cartoon fairies flitting from flower to flower, or wolves tippy-toeing to cottages of straw. I see a kaleidoscope of colors dancing and changing into shapes which -- you guessed it -- turn into more cartoons. Damn that Wascally Wabbit! To Hell with the Sorcerer's Apprentice! See, it's really the cartoons that have killed the music, especially classical. They were the first music videos. So maybe it's pointless to blame MTV.
We are a visual species and we happen to live in a technically capable world with lots of visual opportunities. With some luck and some time, musical expression will make its way back to an art form. Hopefully in my lifetime. Just as the great masters painted nudes (not little peek-a-boo-breast stunts like Janet pulled accidentally on purpose) but real studies of life. The musicians will soon weave honest searches for purpose and soul. They will again inspire and enlighten. And just as Delibes's Lakme Flower Song blew me away, took me to a place way past words or pictures or cartoons, musicians will again raise us up to new levels of spiritual illumination. They just need to find voices amid the technology.
