by Kevin L'dux

Created on: March 27, 2009   Last Updated: March 29, 2009

Cable TV itself was a phenomenon that took the nation by storm in the early 1980s. MTV was but one of those channels offered to our unquenchable needs to be entertained. It seemed as if the IQ of the country went down by several points once the mind was infected by 24 hours a day of music videos and sports on ESPN. Add to this CNN and The Weather Channel and people quit reading.

I was in my young 20s when I first witnessed cable television, the first of two media "eyes" we have invited into our homes - at substantial premiums - to entertain our minds. I am loathe to use the word entertain in this situation for the reasons that both "eyes" often run simultaneously in many homes for good and bad reasons. Notice I use the term "eyes". We are seduced to do the bidding of what the "eyes" tell us to. TV commercials can prompt people to do what they might never had before. The home computer brings us the internet and warps minds with endless data, be it benevolent or malevolent.

My draw to this article was my own want to ask others of the relevance of MTV in the 21st century. Prior to the new visual exposure MTV brought to us of seeing bands play songs over and over as in rotational format we listened to them on the radio or tapes and records. We used our imaginations back then because we didn't get to see the band lip sync to the studio recording and run through a mad sequence of bizarre situations that video directors had dreamt up for them. I remember the bizarre assortment of VJs that presented this all to us. Who can forget Kennedy or Downtown Julie Brown?

I attended more than my fair share of live concerts in the 1970s so I knew what my favorite bands looked like on stage. There were several bands that became popular after the advent of MTV for the fact their videos had wide and popular appeal. A lot of one hit wonders came to be due to MTV. The television version of a band at play while singing lyrics appealed to most who watched. I prefer a live performance.

MTV spilled over to MTV2 when the original started airing inane reality shows catered to the young teen crowd. They had to keep the videos on to sate the public's want of them. A move that I still find hilarious was the emergence of VH1, supposedly for the older crowd as the videos seemed to be aimed at that segment of society. That has spilled into a second VH1. I never watched an MTV music awards show - what was the point? MTV/VH1 has been lost to me for several years now.

I can look up any band I want on YouTube and watch countless hours of live performances from the present as well as years past - commercial free and at my choosing, not another's.

So...what is the relevance of the one time phenomenon know as MTV in modern society? I don't think it to be cutting edge as it once was, but some might like it for it's hokey look at reality shows.

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