Spring Break
Music Television has ruined music for bands, teens
Dreck Sells
Robin Czyzewicz
Issue date: 2/20/04 Section: Ed-Op
- Page 1 of 1
Many people watch MTV on a daily basis. Total Request Live is perhaps one of the most heavily watched afterschool programs by people our age and younger. I can count on one hand the number of times that my sisters have come home from school and not watched TRL. Many kids these days call in for every show and watch each day, knowing exactly who will be on and what spot they will be in on the countdown.
MTV also provides a place for bands to get their name into the mainstream of America. Concert sales and merchandising go through the roof for nearly any band showing up on MTV's shows. In addition, my sisters, as well as many others, get to see any band perform on a daily basis. Most of these things sound like a good activity for young people to partake. It seems as though it has helped the music industry and has allowed for people to become more familiar with their favorite bands. But has it all really been good for the kids of America? Would they have been able to be as music savvy without the advent of MTV?
In a way, I feel as though MTV has taken away opportunities for bands and teenagers to get up close and personal with the bands. Musical groups of the 60s and 70s did not have too many opportunities to play in large venues. Their best way of getting their names out on the town was to go to each city and put on a show as often as they could, some playing in venues that today would never even be considered.
My father and uncle grew up in an area outside of Philadelphia and graduated from York Suburban High School. In their time spent there, they had gotten to see two popular bands play at their own high school gymnasium: The Turtles, famous for their song "Happy Together," and Sam and Dave, popular for their song "Soul Man." These were big hits of the day, and these groups came right to their high school to perform in front of a group of several hundred teenagers on a Friday night.
Things like this rarely ever happen today, but they were a fairly common occurrence with high school graduates from the pre-MTV era. Bands of today may get famous after time from playing local stops, but rarely do you see them back at small venues to play to a small crowd. It doesn't profit like selling out Madison Square Garden does, and that is what it comes down to now.
What MTV has created is generations of teenagers who stay inside to get their music experiences and who are forced to overpay for concerts. It is no wonder that when the opportunity arose for music to be downloaded off the Internet that people in this age bracket jumped all over it. What 12-year-olds can really afford to buy a $100 ticket to see N'SYNC play unless their mommy or daddy pay for it? I am not going to say there is anything wrong with mom and dad buying you stuff, since mom and dad buy me food and such every week, but they cannot afford to send me to see a band every week for $65 a pop. I know of very few kids who make that kind of money at the young age of 12, but MTV markets these bands toward that age bracket and has made it impossible to actually get to know what these bands sound like in a close intimate setting.
I had the pleasure of seeing three relatively well known musicians play at a small venue. Three years ago, "Weird" Al Yankovic came to the Keswick Theater - a small music hall in my home town that seats only a few hundred people, more on the scale with a high school auditorium than on the scale of the Wachovia Center. It was quite the show, and it gave you the feeling of being up close with a good performer. I also saw Maroon 5 and Vanessa Carlton play the TLA on South Street to a crowd of perhaps 200, another close setting where you could see what was going on with the performers while they were putting on their show. That's an experience that is difficult to get these days unless you are willing to spend hundreds of dollars to sit in the front row of a sold-out stadium. I am not saying you cannot see good bands play at small venues near your home. In fact there are many great opportunities to see highly-talented local bands play nearly every weekend of the year, but you will not see the bands that play on MTV making the local coffee shop a stop on their tour.
MTV has thrown the idea of a DJ into the spotlight as well. Proms and weddings are rarely played now by bands. Many times they are now entertained at these events by DJs playing records rather than the live music created by hiring a band. The idea of a DJ really took off thanks to MTV and their VJs of the 80s. People began to see the potential of this job and that it could be offered at a cheaper price than that of a live band. But we all lose out on the experience of a live band playing music, something that, no matter how high-tech the equipment is, cannot be reproduced.
While MTV has created a great venue for musicians to sell their product, it has also removed the close, one-on-one connection that used to be a regular experience of music fans in the era prior to MTV. Every advance in technology involves a trade-off, but is this trade-off really a benefit to the music industry, or will it contribute toward its eventual downfall? This is a question that will take time to be answered. Until then, keep watching MTV and downloading your music and paying $100 per ticket for your mainstream pop bands. Mom and dad will still give you the money if you just ask nicely.
Robin Czyzewicz is a pre-junior majoring in mechanical engineering.
MTV also provides a place for bands to get their name into the mainstream of America. Concert sales and merchandising go through the roof for nearly any band showing up on MTV's shows. In addition, my sisters, as well as many others, get to see any band perform on a daily basis. Most of these things sound like a good activity for young people to partake. It seems as though it has helped the music industry and has allowed for people to become more familiar with their favorite bands. But has it all really been good for the kids of America? Would they have been able to be as music savvy without the advent of MTV?
In a way, I feel as though MTV has taken away opportunities for bands and teenagers to get up close and personal with the bands. Musical groups of the 60s and 70s did not have too many opportunities to play in large venues. Their best way of getting their names out on the town was to go to each city and put on a show as often as they could, some playing in venues that today would never even be considered.
My father and uncle grew up in an area outside of Philadelphia and graduated from York Suburban High School. In their time spent there, they had gotten to see two popular bands play at their own high school gymnasium: The Turtles, famous for their song "Happy Together," and Sam and Dave, popular for their song "Soul Man." These were big hits of the day, and these groups came right to their high school to perform in front of a group of several hundred teenagers on a Friday night.
Things like this rarely ever happen today, but they were a fairly common occurrence with high school graduates from the pre-MTV era. Bands of today may get famous after time from playing local stops, but rarely do you see them back at small venues to play to a small crowd. It doesn't profit like selling out Madison Square Garden does, and that is what it comes down to now.
What MTV has created is generations of teenagers who stay inside to get their music experiences and who are forced to overpay for concerts. It is no wonder that when the opportunity arose for music to be downloaded off the Internet that people in this age bracket jumped all over it. What 12-year-olds can really afford to buy a $100 ticket to see N'SYNC play unless their mommy or daddy pay for it? I am not going to say there is anything wrong with mom and dad buying you stuff, since mom and dad buy me food and such every week, but they cannot afford to send me to see a band every week for $65 a pop. I know of very few kids who make that kind of money at the young age of 12, but MTV markets these bands toward that age bracket and has made it impossible to actually get to know what these bands sound like in a close intimate setting.
I had the pleasure of seeing three relatively well known musicians play at a small venue. Three years ago, "Weird" Al Yankovic came to the Keswick Theater - a small music hall in my home town that seats only a few hundred people, more on the scale with a high school auditorium than on the scale of the Wachovia Center. It was quite the show, and it gave you the feeling of being up close with a good performer. I also saw Maroon 5 and Vanessa Carlton play the TLA on South Street to a crowd of perhaps 200, another close setting where you could see what was going on with the performers while they were putting on their show. That's an experience that is difficult to get these days unless you are willing to spend hundreds of dollars to sit in the front row of a sold-out stadium. I am not saying you cannot see good bands play at small venues near your home. In fact there are many great opportunities to see highly-talented local bands play nearly every weekend of the year, but you will not see the bands that play on MTV making the local coffee shop a stop on their tour.
MTV has thrown the idea of a DJ into the spotlight as well. Proms and weddings are rarely played now by bands. Many times they are now entertained at these events by DJs playing records rather than the live music created by hiring a band. The idea of a DJ really took off thanks to MTV and their VJs of the 80s. People began to see the potential of this job and that it could be offered at a cheaper price than that of a live band. But we all lose out on the experience of a live band playing music, something that, no matter how high-tech the equipment is, cannot be reproduced.
While MTV has created a great venue for musicians to sell their product, it has also removed the close, one-on-one connection that used to be a regular experience of music fans in the era prior to MTV. Every advance in technology involves a trade-off, but is this trade-off really a benefit to the music industry, or will it contribute toward its eventual downfall? This is a question that will take time to be answered. Until then, keep watching MTV and downloading your music and paying $100 per ticket for your mainstream pop bands. Mom and dad will still give you the money if you just ask nicely.
Robin Czyzewicz is a pre-junior majoring in mechanical engineering.
