I Want My MTV (Back)!

Ladies and gentlemen, rock n' roll.

Those were the words spoken as MTV aired for the first time back on August 1, 1981. So I have one simple question - where has the "music" in "music television" gone?

'Cause for the life of me, I can't seem to find it.

I was 12 when I found MTV during a run through of the channels on our cable box in the summer of 1982. I hit on it by accident, but I kept turning back to it to make sure it was still "there." In those early days MTV didn't have a lot of videos, so I sat through the same ones over and over, and a lot were by bands I didn't even like. To this day, just the mention of Talking Heads' Once in a Lifetime gives me the shivers. But the channel introduced me to music that would literally change my life and eventually became almost the only thing I would watch. My friends and I would discuss music, bands and videos for hours on end. A World Premiere Video of a favorite band became an event, something to mark on the calendar. Pleas were made with parents to stay up late to watch band members play guest VJs. I sat glued to the channel for every hour of Live Aid. And I could never figure out why the powers that be always had to show the Video Music Awards the first week of a new school year!

So, even though I was getting older, it was with dismay that I noticed MTV was decreasing the amount of music in their programming. At first, it was just "The Real World," which was bad enough, but now? They may as well just change the name of the channel to TV. They have shows about dating and fashion and teen pregnancy and other absurdities. Would someone please give me the phone number of the person who said putting snobby rich kids' Sweet 16 parties on the air is something Americans need to see, cause that person needs a swift kick. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good episode of "Jackass" every now and then, but all day long? Uh-uh.

For the hell of it, I read the Wikipedia entry on MTV before I began writing today, and it stated that the amount of time MTV aired actual videos per day in 2008 was three hours. Three hours, for a 24 hour music channel. Pathetic. I tried to find those three hours, and couldn't. It must be for the night owls who like to rock out at 3 am.

Even MTV's sister channels don't really air videos anymore. VH1, which used to be the "older person's" music channel, doesn't really show videos but at least make an attempt at music programming with countdown shows and Rock of Love (which is a whole other post!). MTV2 and VH1 Classic are doing the same things. Less music, more formatted programming. If I want to watch a video these days I log on to YouTube.

So is it necessary for artists to even make videos anymore? If they do, where are they seen? I saw Mariah Carey's latest pop up on the TV show America's Got Talent, but her husband is the host, so that's a no brainer. Are new artists only getting exposure if their songs are used in commercials and on TV shows? Is YouTube the new MTV?

In his 2007 VMA acceptance speech, Justin Timberlake challenged MTV to "play more damn videos, " but his challenge has, it seems, gone unanswered so far. I wonder where his next video will premiere?