Why Mtv sucks

I used to be obsessed with this TV station.

Back in the late 80's and early 90's it wasn't a TV station here in Australia. It was a Friday / Saturday night TV show shown on the 9 network. Richard Wilkins was the host, with Allison Drower as his co-host. They played a wide mix of music videos both current and older material. They played live gigs from all over the world - I remember seeing Guns playing at the Ritz in New York. They interviewed local and overseas bands. And these interviews weren't puff pieces. They asked questions we the fans wanted to know about.

I remember seeing Aerosmith's Love In An Elevator (the R rated version) for the first time. It was played right after the R rated version of Alice Cooper's Poison. I had to stay up until almost 230am to see these clips - even for a Saturday night it was way past my then 12 year old bed time. I also remember going to school the following Monday and all my mates were like "man, did you see it?? how cool was that video - and those tits!!!!" Good times....

Richard Wilkins was a great host. Artists respected him. He was the yin to Molly Meldrum's yang. I did some work with Richard back in 2002. Nice guy. I had to go to his house to train him up on some stuff. He took me to his study so we could use his PC. It was lined with CD's. He saw my jaw drop and casually mentioned that this was just the ones in rotation - the rest were in storage. Bastard! We spoke briefly about the Mtv days. I didn't want to come across all fanboy on him. I asked about the 1989 Bon Jovi Australian tour as id recently seen an old video tape f mine with an interview he did with the band. Told him I was a big fan of the band - hoping that he might cough up some juicy stories. But alas all he said was "those were some crazy days" Bastard!

Anyway - Mtv currently blows. Has for years.

They play few videos. They play more "reality" tv shows and play more commercials for premium phone services than they do videos. And when they play videos its all crap. Theres little there that interests me anymore. I do occasionally watch Mtv Cribs. Kinda cool to see how the other half live.

My favourite Mtv show when I have a shit about the station was the annual Mtv awards. Great bands playing great tunes in front of actual fans (not the rent a crowd Mtv use these days). The 1991 awards was a masterpiece. Poison, Metallica, Guns and Nirvana all performed. Guns played a live version of Live And Let Die from London via satellite. It has to be the best live version of the song ive ever heard.







But it was their performance in 1992 (i think it was the Mtv video vanguard award??) of November Rain that blew me away. Elton John performed with the band and the song closed the awards ceremony.



Since then the awards have had some elements of cool. I recall seeing U2 play at the 1997 awards - or it might have been the European Mtv awards. And occasionally Mtv add some decent programing - like when Foo Fighters took over the New York Mtv studios for a 24 hour block and played old videos, live sets, accoustic sets, interviews with the band, etc. There was the odd lame Jackass style stunt, but all in all it was a good 24 hours for the station.



So yesterday I received an email about Saturday nights Australian Mtv awards. I didnt bother to watch them. I knew they would suck. I saw the nominees - sucked. I saw the awards they were nominated for - sucked. I saw the list of artists appearing - sucked.

Mtv - you used to rock. You now suck. Suck suck suck suck suck.

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The MTV Awards, It Was A Joke, Right?

by Paul Cashmere - April 27 2008
photo by Ros O'Gorman

Seriously, what the hell was the MTV Australia Awards? Is this no more than an excuse for a piss-up and a stroll down a red carpet?

The MTV Australia Awards were handed out in Sydney on Saturday night but told you absolutely nothing about the Australian Music Industry.

Of the 11 awards, 6 had nothing at all to do with music. A Good Karma Award? A Bad Karma Award? A Television Moment of the Year Award? A Remake Award? A Movie Star Award? It's a joke right? The real award show is on tonight, right?

Unfortunately, no. MTV was serious. If MTV thinks that PexclamationmarkNK is the greatest live performer this country has seen in the last 12 months, if MTV thinks that Delta Goodrem's 'Believe Again' really is the video of the year, if MTV really thinks that the Australian Artist Music Award should really go to The Veronicas, then MTV really needs to be sent to its room and not come out until it is ready to apologize.

The MTV Australia Awards looks like it was decided during recess at kindergarten. This farce looked like the Nickelodeon Awards, but then, at the least the Nickelodeon Awards targets its core audience … kids.

So, was the MTV Awards just a poor excuse for a piss-up? I certainly hope not. Whoever put this circus act together surely won't even reach the legal age of drinking for another 6 years.