When I think of the MTV Video Music Awards, I immediately think of this:
I remember watching this performance (from the 1993 VMA's) over and over again with Dennis and our friends. Now, I am not a big Neil Young fan, but we thought this was amazing. Right before they sang "Keep on Rocking in the Free World", Pearl Jam did "Animal" which was the new single from their 2nd cd,Vs. We were all eagerly anticipating their performance and hearing something new from them so much, that I think the excitement carried on over to the duet with Neil Young. We loved it. That whole performance sums up what our excitement was like for that awards show back then.
Dennis and I always made a big deal about the awards. It was usually the night before we went back to school and some times (after we were sent to bed for the night), we would sneak down stairs to catch a glimpse of what was happening. I remember doing this when Guns N' Roses were performing "Live and Let Die" and being so upset I couldn't sit and watch it. Of course, this was back when MTV still played videos and we could discuss which ones we thought should win and which ones were going to win.
These days, MTV doesn't play videos. At all. So the fact that they still have an award show boggles my mind. I get it, it's a tradition, but really? Who is seeing these videos? Other than Lady Gaga, I didn't think artists even made videos anymore. Do the bands/artists/performers make the video and then it gets sent immediately to the MTV website? I know there are other stations who show videos, but MTV is not one of them. Perhaps it's time to let one of the other legitimate music networks take this award show over?
I'll admit, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the show last night. I fast forwarded through the entire first hour, but what I did see of it, wasn't too exciting. Maybe i'm too old now, maybe i'm not "with it", but the performances didn't do much for me and a good majority of them were lip synced. That's one of the things that I can respect about Lady Gaga. She may be kooky and out there and wear dresses and hats made of meat, but she is talented. Her voice is amazing and as extravagant as her musical performances are, she always sings live (as far as I know anyway). That's awesome.
Watching the VMA's is more of a joke now. Who is going to make a fool of themselves? Who is actually going to sing live? Who is going to interrupt who? At least I will always have those fun memories of staying up late on a school night, with my brother and watching our favorite bands rock out.
Now, the reason I dvr'd the first half of the VMA's is because we were watching the season finale of True Blood. It literally pains me to say how disappointed I am in the finale. It started off fantastic. It is probably the best Sookie episode so far. She was funny and finally, FINALLY stood up for herself and got her snarkiness on. So fun! The Eric parts had me riveted, not only because I love Eric, but because they were the most interesting parts of the episode. Other than that, the whole thing fell flat. The timing seemed off and to be quite honest, I don't think I care about any of the cliffhangers they left off with. A small part of me thinks I am being hugely biased because of the books. For the most part, I try to separate the books and the show. I know each is their own world, but when it veers off so much from the characters and story I love, it irks me... and I am irked. I won't get into specifics because I don't want to spoil anyone but I am a little annoyed. The only thing I wanted them to do with that episode, was set up the following season. As far as i'm concerned, there was no set up. Not if they are following the books anyway. If you know me, or have spoken to me about the Sookie books, you know #4 is my most favorite of all 10. L O V E it. The finale should have ended in a very specific way... I have the final shot they should have used in my mind and when it didn't, it left me disappointed. Maybe I need to not be so critical and just enjoy the ride? Oh well, I'm still looking forward to next season!
"God bless pop music and God bless MTV"
ReplyDeleteTrue Blood's finale was so disappointing. BAH.
Great blog though as always.
I think you are still "with it", as much as I am anyway. But those awards are no longer about the video or relating to the video anymore. I think they just keep calling them the VMA's is, like you said, tradition. You're right when you said that its just about being outrageous and being controversial. MTV has completely lost focus on what their original intent is. Also, majority of the music sucks now and the "artists" don't know how to sing live and are all auto-tuned. Except for Gagaloo...of course.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to say that I completely agree with you on the topic of Trueblood. It was a big waste of time only to see the big chandelier from the sky. Eric WAS riveting, that much is true.
Finally, great blog per usual!!
I live-tweeted the VMAs...well...it was so bad that there wasn't even much to make fun of... everything was so bad. But I said some pretty hilarious things, of course.
ReplyDeletedid Sookie books come before this show? i didn't know True Blood was based on books!
I will check out your Twitter page, Sam and see how the live tweeting went!
ReplyDeleteThe Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris came first. The show is based on those books. At the time True Blood came out, I believe there were 7 books. Now, there are 10.
As you know, I'm not nearly as disappointed in True Blood as you are. Then again, I haven't read the books and have no idea what to expect next. Without giving away spoilers, I'll say I am disappointed with what's being done to Sam's character. I'm also bummed that one of my favorite characters probably will not be back anytime soon, due to getting the Jimmy Hoffa treatment. The Lafayette story is boring, as well. Honestly, though, just about every other episode of this season was better than the finale. The one thing I'm looking forward to the most... the possibility of not having to watch Tara's poor, poor me act. HATE her!
ReplyDeleteThe VMA's. I am no longer surprised by how much they suck. And while Lady Gaga is not my cup of tea, she is by far the freshest face in the music industry today. Maybe she can do for pop music what Nirvana did for rock music in the 90's. OK, that last bit was a joke. Nirvana = OVERRATED!
Jeffrey, you are so right about Sam. As dorky as this sounds, the Sam Merlotte that I know and love from the books would NEVER act the way he does on the show. It makes me sad. Tara and her poodle hair can keep right on driving and driving and driving. And yes, EVERY other episode this season was better than that finale. Up until the final episode, this season was phenomenal. Last night's episode felt like a giant dud.
ReplyDeleteLOL as much Nirvana is overrated, you cannot deny the fact that they changed music and paved the way for Grunge rock. Also, I almost posted the video of when they performed "Lithium" at the VMA's. That's one of the other performances that stands out to me because it's when the one dude threw his guitar in the air and it came down and hit him in his nose. Haha
Yes, I agree they changed rock music. But, it's debatable whether it was for the better or worse. My opinion is, grunge took a lot of the fun out of music. Say what you will about 80's music; pop, punk or hair metal... it was fun! It's one of the reasons most of the stuff I listened to in the early to mid 90's was stuff coming out of Europe. Now, I'm going to get back to watching Nickelodeon's Mega Music Fest.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I didn't miss much. I made the decision to not watch the VMA's this year because I didn't think music in general was good this year. The hit song of the summer was that damn Katy Perry song which is a complete ripoff of a Ke$ha song. Even looking at The Internets, there were no viral videos except for maybe "Telephone" (and frankly, that was less of a music video and more of a 5-minute commercial for Virgin Mobile). Lady Gaga won me over with her SNL performance last spring because it showed her talent without all the gimmicks, but I still consider her an occasional iTunes download and not a full album artist.
ReplyDeleteI agree last night's True Blood wasn't as good as the other episodes this season, but I didn't consider it disappointing. Then again, I've never read the series so I don't know the direction it went in the books. I assign blame for trying to fit in too many storylines into one episode--they were trying to answer too many questions AND create too many cliffhangers. As a result, it was overly edited. The foundation for next season is still good, but the richness of the details and dialogue that the series is normally so FANTASTIC at was missing in the finale.
P.S. I really need to know the "very specific way" True Blood should have ended and I just may have the necessary motivation to continue with the books. Ha!
ReplyDeleteJen, it involves a naked Eric. There's your motivation. GO!
ReplyDeleteWHHHHAAAATTTT!?! Oh man, now I'm disappointed in the finale. Books here I come!
ReplyDeleteYou used to sneak downstairs after we went to bed? Sarah Jeans! OMG....
ReplyDeleteLOL! You and Mom were still awake. And only on VMA night. Hahaha
ReplyDeleteLoving your blog....You know I ♥ ERIC too ♥ Did not watch the VMA's ....
ReplyDeleteYou snuck back out of bed ????? Sarah Jeans no wonder you did not want to get up in the morning....after.....grrrrrr
k you know i agree on true blood. pointless stupid tara. mean sam. they can run their butts over to another show. could care less. loved spunky sookie! finally! and if they mess up 4 i will be SO MAD! faaavorite!
ReplyDeleteVmas.. my parents never cared if i watched mtv or stayed up late. hooray for hippies! loved pearl jam so much and sarah you know this was your favorite vma performance ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvuDf0X6ww8
i think i'm going to have to go with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LDkb3bgbBk
for my favorite
Ahh! How did I not know about the new blog post?!? I think of the same exact performance when I think VMAs--or MTV for that matter. I remember we recorded it, and watched it over and over after that. That's a perfect pre-internet moment for me. That type of anticipation doesn't really exist now in the world of youtube and dvrs. You felt like you had to experience it live and tape it or you would miss out--it would be lost forever. Now I can eyeball my Twitter feed while watching Mad Men to see if Kanye has out-jack-assed himself this year. If I feel up to it, I can check it out online... whenevs.
ReplyDeleteI've accepted that MTV is totally and completely irrelevant (in the "music" sense). I get why they don't play videos. It doesn't make sense. They pump out cheap reality TV, and they likely make WAY more money than they did at the height of the music video's popularity. If they switched their content back to (primarily) videos, they wouldn't exist in their current state. They would be FUSE TV, which isn't even carried in a lot of areas because there isn't the same demand for an all music video channel in an age when we can dial up any video ever created with a few keystrokes.
I agree on the Gaga thing too. I've been impressed with all of her live performances that I've seen. I've resisted digging in further or paying her any additional compliments because I can't decide if she's only awesome in the context that I've seen her in: mainly sandwiched between many shitty, lip-sync-y acts.
I also totally agree on True Blood. What a joke!! OK... I can't fake a True Blood comment, but if it helps at all, Christine at HDN hated it. She told me.
Just watched that performance for the first time since I last popped in that VHS tape. Not NEARLY as great as in my brain. F YouTube!!
ReplyDeleteHere's a fun, brain-meltingly-crazy fact: Eddie Vedder is almost the same age (45) as Neil Young was (47) at the time of this performance. HOW WAS NEIL YOUNG ONLY 47 IN THAT CLIP!? I remember thinking he was like 80!
But wait, there's more: In about the same time that has passed since this performance (17 years) YOU will be the same age as Neil Young was in this clip! There's no doubt you will hold up MUCH better.
Keep on rocking in the free world, sis!
Nichole, good call on the Paula Abdul performance. LOL I came very close to posting that one as well. Also, my parents allowed us to watch MTV, we just had to go to bed early because the next day was the first day of school. We didn't want to wait to watch the taped version. Watching the live version was much more fun!
ReplyDeleteDennis, I was waiting for you to read this post. Haha, I'm glad you finally did! I never even thought about MTV wanting to make more money by producing cheap reality shows. That makes total sense and works out well for them, especially when you have a successful/fantastic show like the Jersey Shore (Vomit. I have never watched a second of that show, nor do I ever intend to).
Haha! I thought the same thing when I rewatched the Pearl Jam/Neil Young performance. It made me smile, but then I was like, "wait a second! we LOVED this??". Like I said before, I think it had a lot to do with our excitement in general, not necessarily the performance itself. Alos, I cannot believe that EV and NY are about the same age. That shocks me. I should hope that I will hold up better than NY. Gross! Haha