Wow. In the worst kind of way, wow.
We’ve all seen MTV slipping away from its original purpose for quite some time now, but the 2007 Video Music Awards seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. In my opinion at least.
They say that curiosity killed the cat and the curiosity that led me to sit through two painful hours of music drivel nearly bored me to death.
It initially began with my interest to see Britney Spears’ alleged comeback. It was for the same reason that I decided to watch the World Cup and caught Zinedine Zidane headbutt an opposing player; the same reason I tuned into the Superbowl and witnessed Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction.”
These are the events that leave people buzzing for months and I like to stay up to speed when it comes to pop culture.
So, half expecting Spears to drunkenly fall off the stage, attack someone with an umbrella and start foaming at the mouth, I watched eagerly with the intention to turn it off immediately afterwards.
First of all, may I discuss Spears’ performance?
In the beginning, she stumbled twice as though she may be drunk so my eyes widened with anticipation as I watched for more follies.
Fortunately, for Spears, she completed her performance without hitch, but without entertainment. She practically blended in with her backup dancers.
She wasn’t committing to her performance at all, half-heartedly going through the choreography and didn’t even seem bothered enough to lip synch convincingly.
All in all, “Gimme More,” for me, translated into “Gimme Bore.”
For a comeback after Spears’ spinning, spiraling downfall it would have had to have been mind blowing.
I do have to give Spears credit for setting the mood for the most trivial, boring and non-music music television event I’ve ever seen.
Sure there was music and performances but the heart of the event was lost in ridiculous cuts to the VIP room where musicians danced around easily expendable partygoers who seemed about as disinterested in being there as I was watching from the comfort of my home.
The Video Music Awards gave away 11 awards, less than it has in previous years and even cut down on the air time by an hour.
So then what was the point? And why honor music videos that you don’t even play? The videos that were being honored I hadn’t even seen on MTV.
Even Justin Timberlake upon exiting the stage asked MTV to play more music videos.
His request was probably the most meaningful thing that happened during the awards.
Will MTV take this to heart? Probably not. It’s hard to reverse the habit of not playing music videos that has been forming for years.
Nowadays all you can catch on MTV is reality shows that are becoming more and more redundant and more and more raunchy.
For example, “A Shot at Love with Tia Tequila,” where Maxim cover girl Tia Tequila invites over 12 lesbians and 12 straight men to vie for her affection and help her decide which sex she prefers.
From the commercial that played several times while I sat through the mind-numbing awards, there appears to be cat fights, foam parties and lots and lots of, well, sex.
It seems MTV is pushing the envelope so far that it has become offensive.
I’m not sure what happened from the channel’s exciting beginning in 1981 but now it’s devoid of music and full of lurid material that has become basically interchangeable.
“The Hills” and “Laguna Beach,” “Real World” and “Road Rules,” shows that, after watching for several minutes, leave me with a headache brought on by the shrieks, the insults and the drunken fights. I miss the music.
For the channel that claims to be strictly about music television, you can only catch music videos when they come on at 6 in the morning or tiny snippets of them on TRL that are interrupted by the screaming of fans or video clips of fans at home.
MTV, either revert back to the way you used to be or change your name.
