Video Killed the Radio Star, Someone Killed MTV

The other night I caught the last hour of this year's Video Music Awards. The premier event of the year for the network that has made us ask ourselves, "MTV stands for Music Television...right?"

I'm one who was born into, lived in, and enjoyed the MTV era. I couldn't wait to watch the VMA's every year. I knew I was going to see something crazy, awesome...something important
I couldn't afford to miss.

What I saw Thursday night, was none of that.

The closing of the show made it clear. As J-Lo presented the coveted award of the night, "Video of the Year", MTV drove the nail into their own coffin. She began her presentation by hilighting how the VMA's have awarded the artistic expression of Music Videos for 23 years. She mentioned the early videos to take home video of the year honors, Peter Gabriel's, "Sledgehammer", and ten years later, the importance of Pearl Jam's, "Jeremy". She then introduced this year's nominees:

Shakira, Christina Auguilera, Madonna (who used to be important), Panic! at the Disco (a bad Killers knockoff), and probably embarrassed their included, Red Hot Chili Pepper's for "Dani California". I didn't even want them to win I was so dissappointed.

When did MTV sell itself out to Y-100, Ryan Seacrest, teen pop? The VMA's have become an overproduced, overhyped, Teen Choice Awards.

What happened to the network that for 15-20 years, was the mouthpiece of a generation? The network that captivated us and forced us to watch, that had such influence it affected Presidential elections. When did the programming start targeting 12-18 year old girls?

What happened to the days when Axl Rose challenged Kurt Cobain to a fight? With Courtney Love egging her husband on! That's MTV! How cool was it when Pearl Jam and Neil Young took the stage together? Or when Nirvana refused to play "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and played, "Rape Me" to every network exec's horror. Instead, all we have is one bad teen pop song, after another. Where is anything important? Is there nothing important being done in pop culture? Is that why MTV never pays attention to it? Or did the guy who killed the radio star kill MTV too?

Art is important. Music is important.

MTV.

Not important.

Not anymore.