TV killed the video star

When was the last time that you watched MTV? What was the show that you tuned in to see? Did you turn it on to catch ‘Cribs’? Or was it ‘My super sweet 16’? My personal favorite was always the classic ‘Pimp My Ride’ when Xzibit was at the helm it was good, however the true genius started when the UK decided to put Tim Westwood as the presenter of our version of the US classic. He ruined cars up and down the country as he brought his gangster persona to a larger audience laughing at him, my personal favorite clip was in found in his lead up to Jay-Z’s performance at Glastonbury when he proceeded to pimp Michael Eavis’ tractor in the ludicrous BBC Three coverage of Hip-Hop coming to Glasto, which went completely overboard with Westwood’s ridiculous world.



The point about all of the above was when was the last time that you watched MTV for its musical programming? MTV has lost its direction, after all Mark Knopfler was singing “you play the guitar on the MTV” back in the 80’s with Dire Straights. Nowadays the only mention we receive of MTV is an advert on a different channel for their new reality show or on within the news for their ‘Jersey Shore Punch’.

MTV did of course branch out with several different channels; we now have MTV 2, MTV Base, MTV Hits, MTV Dance all of which are genre specific. However if you ask someone what music they like, the response I tend to hear is “I listen to a bit of everything”; after all we are the iPod generation. MTV used to cover all the genres, if you wanted Metal you could tune it last thing at night and get your fix, if you wanted mainstream pop you just turned it on during the day. The final music affiliation that MTV has is all those damn awards ceremonies! How many times do you need to give Beyonce an award for a good video or Green Day for an album! Unfortunately all these ceremonies now look identical and the winners appear to win the same award on a monthly basis.

I understand that MTV has received a large portion of coverage in this week’s blog; however I still haven’t mentioned the largest TV element which killed the Video star. I am of course talking about the world’s most notorious A&R man, Simon Cowell. It’s ironic that he is mentioned in this blog as he is one of the main reasons why I am able to work at Sony Music, who without him would be in financial difficulty this year. They have successfully extended their contract with him this previous week which must have cost some unthinkable sum.



Whilst he has scouted some of the largest talent the UK has to provide, the X-Factor organisation has also released several classic ground breaking hit albums and singles which can now be located in your local Oxfam bargain bin. After all can you remember the timeless masterpieces of; G4, Andy Abraham, Journey South, Ray Quinn, Same Difference, Eoghan Quigg? If you can’t trust me your not missing out on much at all, however the crème of the lot is the first X-Factor champion Steve Brookstein who apart from having a huge amount of albums sitting in our warehouse is due to be announcing his 2010 UK tour shortly, I’m certain that it will be a mind-blowing success and receive huge coverage as he graces the UK with another superb album of covers! Unfortunately the success of the X-Factor has also led to a rise in popularity of talent shows that are trying to now find the next best; dancer, singer, fire-eater, farmer and dentist the UK has to offer! I am not sure how long it will be before we finally get bored of this shows format much in the same way that Big Brother no longer creates D-rate celebrities!