Internet Killed the Video Star

What happened to music videos? What happened to MTV and VH1? I haven't seen a music video on television in years and Im not exaggerating. Sometimes I click over to MTV for nostalgia's sake, hoping I might catch a Nirvana video. Or maybe some NIN on 120 minutes. VH1 used to be the place you, or your parents, could go to watch a Chris Isaak or Bonnie Raitt video. It was like the adult contemporary music video channel. No more. Now it's all "reality" shows. Some kind of alternate universe where "reality" is a bunch of morons competing with each other to see who gets to go home with another moron. No time for music on Music Television when there's great shows like "Bromance" and "Who Wants to Hump Brett Michaels?" to watch. But I digress.

I think it's probably for the best. Now you can go online and see any video you want and artists don't have to depend on MTV to break them to a larger audience with a music video. Besides, sometimes videos ruin a perfectly good song. Especially during the 80's. I love the song "Maneater" by Hall & Oates. It's a great song when you just listen to it. It has a slight reggae groove to it, vocals and lyrics are good, danceable, a real 80's staple hit but in a good way. I was listening to it in the car the other day and just out of curiosity I checked out the video on youtube when I got home. It's one of those stereotypical 80's videos with a panther and a mysterious woman (the Maneater). All of the instruments are unplugged, Oates is rocking that 80's mustache and mullet, there's a gratuitous sax solo and plenty of unnecessary eyeball and facial close-ups. It's the corniest video and it totally changed my opinion of the song at that moment. All of a sudden this song that I loved was corny and lame. I've since recovered but check out this video and tell me if you feel the same way. This is assuming that you actually like the song Maneater to begin with.



See what I mean? Did you catch a young G.E. Smith of SNL fame on guitar?

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to bash Hall & Oates because Im a genuine fan. More of a music video/MTV bashing. Actually Darryl Hall has a great site where he hosts a different band or musician every month and they jam at his house. Check it out along with an excellent reggae version of "Maneater" at http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/index.php?page=ep3