{"id":479,"date":"2006-08-10T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2006\/08\/i-want-my-mtv.html"},"modified":"2006-08-10T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-08-10T12:00:00","slug":"i-want-my-mtv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/08\/i-want-my-mtv.html","title":{"rendered":"I Want My MTV?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MTV celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, but I couldn’t figure out what they were celebrating. I find myself singing the Dire Straits\u2019 classic lyric, \u201cI want my MTV,\u201d because my MTV–or, at least, good<\/span> MTV–hasn\u2019t been seen in a long, long time.<\/p>\n

Mark Knopfler called the early MTV stars \u201cyo-yo\u2019s,\u201d said \u201cthey aint workin\u2019\u201d and that they were earning \u201cmoney for nothin.\u2019\u201d What he thought was bad then has become downright disgusting since. \u201cMy\u201d MTV was mostly mainstream music with hints of alternative and headbanging stuff, played between the greetings of original Veejays Martha Quinn, Mark Hunter, Nina Blackwood, downtown Julie Brown, and the late J.J. Jackson.<\/p>\n

At that time, MTV was truly an on-screen version of radio. Its jingles were unique, the sign-ons were original (who can\u2019t remember the Apollo spacecraft, among other frequent images?) and the music at least felt like music. Some videos were hard to understand, like confusing dreams. Others made the song more real. But today, MTV is some kind of variety of gangsta wrap, teen reality shows, and the closest you can come to teen porn on TV without breaking FCC rules. So for me the 25th anniversary was more of a requiem tribute than a celebration.<\/p>\n

The only thing I like about the current trend is the emerging popularity of Christian bands (especially those who aren’t called “Christian” bands) on Christian stations, local individual stations, and even MTV’s sister-network, VH-1. “The Zone” is one example, now playing faith-based videos in over 200 local television markets. Medium-market cities are being exposed to what the Bible Belt has had for a long time: lots of faith-based entertainment on several stations. Perhaps someday the big cities will have the same. Strong young balladeers and aspiring musicians with faith-driven lyrics are finding a home outside of MTV’s bias–and I’m glad for it.<\/p>\n

I’m not provoked to say “good riddance, MTV,” but I’ll certainly say “R.I.P.” to a fading cultural phenomenon, while clicking past it for more positive–and spiritual– music and videos.<\/p>\n

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MTV celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, but I couldn’t figure out what they were celebrating. I find myself singing the Dire Straits\u2019 classic lyric, \u201cI want my MTV,\u201d because my MTV–or, at least, good MTV–hasn\u2019t been seen in a long, long time. Mark Knopfler called the early MTV stars \u201cyo-yo\u2019s,\u201d said \u201cthey aint workin\u2019\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":279,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nI Want My MTV?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/08\/i-want-my-mtv.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Want My MTV?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MTV celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, but I couldn’t figure out what they were celebrating. 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