Music Television

Thursday October 30, 2008 - 22 months ago

Posted by James Ellis / Filed under Music, Web

As a kid – in second grade as I recall – I remember wondering why our television skipped from channel 10 to 12. I’d ask my folks why this was, only to be told that “we don’t get that channel.” This seemed odd to me.

At my buddy’s house I investigated the issue further to discover that channel eleven was this thing called MTV, and they broadcasted a lot of interesting content. Like guitar solos. I realized this was the sort of television for me.

I began to suspect the reason why our television skipped eleven. Shortly thereafter I figured out how to operate the clunky switches in the back of our TV to enable the channel. I’d watch all I wanted while my folks weren’t around, and simply re-disable when I was finished. At the same time, all of my pre-adolescent income (from lawn-mowing, yard-raking, log-splitting, etc.) was diverted from collecting baseball cards to purchasing cassette tapes at the local record store. My folks figured out what had happened, and after a short period of resistance (mostly related to the PMRC’s push for parental advisory stickers on essentially all of the records I wanted to buy) the battle fizzled out: MTV remained unlocked, and my personal identity took a permanent turn.

I loved watching music videos, and for a period of time, I enjoyed some of the additional programming as well. But, as we all know, MTV eventually stopped showing videos in favor of all sorts of weird shows. They had MTV2 for a while there, but I’m not even sure if this still exists.

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So this week I’m excited to see the introduction of MTV Music, a new video site with a large collection of music videos that date back to the early 80s.

It looks like they’re still building the library, but already it’s quite robust. Check Bowie’s page — there are some deep cuts in there. Also, you can search by director. For instance, Athletics’ David Ahuja.

I’m glad this new site exists. It’s a more focused, and less chaotic version of YouTube.

But in a way this signals the end of the MTV I grew up with. MTV was how I kept up with music: I took MTV News seriously; I watched 120 Minutes with pen & paper in hand, taking note of the videos I liked. MTV Music, however, isn’t a tool for keeping your finger on the pulse. It’s more of a nostalgia machine for revisiting moments from 10-20 years go.

By the looks of the MTV Music home page, it appears MTV understands and embraces this new dynamic.