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Yeah, but as Mtv evolved (there's an oxymoron), all the sudden, you "simply HAD to have a VIDEO, dahling", and other idiotic marketing 102 constructs. Mtv did as much to help pretty boy artists as it did to harm plain, old Rock and Roll - easily - but so what?
It also, along with the 18 to 21 drinking age restructuring in the US, helped to break the circle of "Kid comes of age, kid can go see live bands at concert clubs, kid can order 3.2 beer, kid is exposed to rich history of live rock performance".
I think Mtv was a reasonably good idea that, like all profitable media ventures, got whored out as fast as they could slap the lipstick and "fuck-me-baby", strapless pumps on it.
I don't want Rock and Roll in some marketing manager's pocket or some cocaine-addicted director's HandyCam. Let alone in a fucking museum.
Of course there's still a lot of good music out there. How much of sees the light of day without doing the EmpTyVee fandango or sucking off half the executive staff of Clear Channel®?
I'm just very pissed off at media octopi these days, don't mind me.
I think I'm in love.
No, but seriously, bunnerabb, did you see the Bob Smigel cartoon banned from NBC? Octopi is an apt description. Also, if you haven't already, check out some material by Bill Hicks. He was THE rock 'n roll comedian, and the only voice of reason in a fucked-up era.
Onto the Seattle thing... I loved Nirvana, waaaay before he blew his brains out everywhere, and so did a lot of other people. Some of his lyrics were great and deep, some were nonsensical and unnecessary, and you can trash the three-cord sound, but they did some pretty creative shit with those three cords, and Cobain had an enthralling voice. Some people found it annoying, shrill, and grating, but I loved its scratchy quality. I loved Pearl Jam before they made Vitology or whatever the name of their piddling, treacly third album was called. I STILL love Alice in Chains. If it was not for AIC, I never would have gotten introduced to NIN, and if it wasn't for NIN I would not have found Depeche Mode. If it wasn't for Nirvana, I never would have found Black Sabbath, and if it wasn't for them I would never have found Zeppelin, or Hendrix, or Blind Faith. Nirvana did something a lot of other musicians couldn't, and that was reach the disenfranchised youth in great numbers. A lot of people had no fucking clue what Cobain was talking about, but those riffs were fucking hypnotic. Nirvana may have accidentally graduated to pop music, but there were better albums than Nevermind, and they truly were a great, great band. They were a huge part of what defines my generation. There are a shitload of good rock bands that are now no more, and the only one really worth listening to these days, which is TOOL, uses that music video medium as it should be used. AS AN ART FORM. A supplement to the song. All these guys like Cobain, Scott Weiland, and others DID make good music. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of them can't do it without the aid of heroine.
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The giant three-phallused phallus of Uzbekistan will one day squirt the cosmic jizz of revenge all over Canada.
