The MTV effect

After 25 years of MTV Video Music Awards I have to say they are now one of my favourite award ceremonies. This year’s was brilliant, especially the performances on the Paramount back-lot, which took musical performance and turned it into musical theatre.

This is true of the production values of many music videos these days too. Switch to MTV and I believe you now see “music short films” instead of music videos. Some of them now take on a theatrical quality that engage viewers beyond passive watching and really immerse them in a storyline throughout the song. Case and point is the new Metallica video, an 8 minute epic with an Iraq inspired storyline. 

It’s a sign that music videos still mean a lot to record companies. After 25 years of MTV, the music video is still a great marketing tool for new music. Or is it?

How effective are music videos these days in capturing your attention?  When you watch music TV channels, are you really watching them? As much as I enjoy the MTV VMA’s, I wonder if the TV is still just a jukebox with pictures and all these marketing dollars are going down the drain…

Why the Beatles beat Panic at the Disco

I’ve always wondered how the bands of today will be viewed in 30 years time. As a musician, I have my influences, and they’re mainly from years gone by. What makes the bands of the 60’s and 70’s so timeless? Is it the hazy, drug-filled mystique of a by-gone era – or the simple fact that the music is better?

 

   

Hmm…

 

Amy Winehouse, Duffy, the new Panic at the Disco album. These are examples of the wheel being reinvented – sounds and styles drawn from the past – and I’m not particularly impressed. In fact I really wonder if in 30 years time anyone will remember them…

 

Will we have any bands that will truly define Generation Y? Who deserves to represent the sounds and styles of the 2000’s? How come the Beatles still have the relevance to be blatantly copied? 

 

I don’t have the answers, so I’d love to hear your thoughts.