This is hilarious honestly. People are legitimately complaining on one side that MTV doesn't show enough videos, and on the other side people are saying that even if they did their music would blow anyway. FUCKING DUH.
I actually remember a time when I could sneak downstairs at night and watch YO! MTV RAPS in all its ghetto goodness. A time before gay Pedro and snot-rocketing Puck. I remember seeing Metallica's Enter Sandman, GnR's November Rain, and I can remember how important that was at the time, how impactful. I remember the day that Cobain died, and I remember how awesome Unplugged was. The MTV News segments were fucking awesome.
I also remember the day that MTV really started to decline. It was the day Biggie died. Some may not acknowledge it, but it was that event and the rise of bling-Puffy videos combined with the huge success of The Real World (which was then in its 4th or 5th season) that really destroyed MTV.
Now if you look at it from a larger perspective, you see that it's also the year (1996) that the internet became relevant and MP3s had more downloads than CD purchases. Napster was huge. For the first time, johnny-suburban could idolize more than rock gods in drag or rappers pretending to be criminals. They could download anything they wanted, at any time...and the veil began to tear. Normal kids (you know, suburban whiteys that actually had MTV and cable wasn't a requirement for normal living) were no had to choose what MTV fed them--look to the rise of indie (which is disgusting to me, but w/e). See YouTube.
Someone earlier stated it, but I'll expound upon it: even if MTV started playing more of its corporate-pushed soulless music, it would still be irrelevant. MTV started the path, and its only fitting that their lack of music diversity, and lack of actually playing music, led to the rise of outlets like YouTube where people can watch music videos all day long.
I loved MTV once, but I'm glad its dead.
