Historicist: Life in Wartime
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
Sometimes you have to wonder what they're thinking down on Queen Street.
First there was MuchMusic, "The Nation's Music Station."
Remember when you were growing up and you told all your American friends how much cooler -how much more REAL it was than MTV?
Well, then it kinda stopped playing music (just like MTV) so they brought in Much More Music which played LESS music than the old MuchMusic but more than the current MuchMusic, if you follow.
But MMM quickly devolved into a depository for regurgitated VH1 crap with tenuous ties to music (The Surreal Life, The Fabulous Life of Donald Trump etc.) as well as enough list- and alphabet-related shows to put Sesame Streetto shame. If you were lucky you might catch a Stabilo or Ron Sexsmith video airing at 8:30 a.m. (albeit in the upper right corner of the screen) but, hey, it was something.
Now, we can't help but wonder about the current glut of reruns taking over the MMM airways. It seems that they are constantly running 80s-quasi-classics Fame and Coz-spawn A Different World. The former at least has some connection to the arts and music but the latter?
Sure, it's nice to see the antics of Dwayne Wayne back on the air and it's exciting to see Marissa Tomei honing the acting chops that would soon bring her Oscar gold but we have to wonder - wow did Chum put this one past the CRTC? Did they remind them that Lisa Bonet was once married to Lenny Kravitz? That she played a Frampton-spewing indie-folk-rock artist in High Fidelity?
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
(By the way, did you know that A Different World was on TV for SIX seasons? It's a fact!)
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The music industry as a whole is a good one to blame on this... Of course it all comes down to money. There's more money to be had in keeping people's asses in the seats for longer periods of time, subjecting them to more ads. With music videos, people click away as soon as a video they don't like comes on. They might come back later, but who knows when? Music videos have been eclipsed by 'drama' when it comes to marketing music. Getting people's faces in the 'news', or having them appear live on MTV's TRL or other stops on the talk-show circuit, or (shudder) having them star in their own reality show, gives them a lot more exposure. Just another example of how cynical the music industry is to the 'music' they purport to represent.
I'm loving the late-night Fame on MMM.
The rest of the station was adult contemporary balls anyway.
I am sad about how Much Music has fallen off over the years, though. I used to think that it was because I had aged out of their target demographic, but then I thought "If Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet came out today, would they get played on Much, even late at night, or on a Sunday? No. How about 808 State? No."
I miss the old VJs (Richard, Williams, Deol, Ehm, Anthony, T) too
It's not the music industry's fault, it's MTV's. They created the format of video-commercial- video-commercial, and they created the 'solution' (video-commercial- show-commerical-show) to the pressure they felt over getting advertisers to support it.
I don't know if MTV had anything like it (I've never seen actual old school MTV), but Much used to have themed shows like The Wedge (back when it was at 5:30 every weekday) and The Power 30 and r u receiving? and of course Rap City and such. If you're watching a video in a genre of music you like, you'll probably watch the whole show because it's more likely you'll see more videos for songs you like than you would in the random scatter-shot. Did this not sell advertising?
What are Much Loud and Much Rap and all those spinoffs like now? They've been around for a few years, so I have to wonder if they're showing signs of converting to crap shows too.
MuchMusic is weak as hell now. After I wrote my last article on Torotontoist about it, I kept thinking if I was right to declare that MTV was the better station, but now, after a summer of alternating between the two, I really prefer MTV. I've gotta say, though, that until we have VH1, MMM is the only good way to get their shows. Just like how MM was the only good way to get MTV's shows.
You think MMM's bad now? Wait until we get VH1, and MMM has to up their own content.
I'm all for the MTV Canada. They have better "VJs" and tolerable reality shows. Oh and MTV Live >> MuchOnDemand.
Finally a post with a title clever enough to battle the classic "TSN: The Stupid Network"
I love it..
and much music does suck.