New, improved MTV still the same
A female Elvis impersonator gy
rates on the screen and mutters a few
non sequiturs about her art. When she
finishes, the MTV logo flashes on the
screen. . . . Click. . . . The scene
switches to MTV VJ Julie Brown, who
has been reduced to the size of a Bic
lighter. As she introduces the new
Tiffany video, she speaks from a tiny
television set covered with flashing
day-glo geometric patterns.
Later, as Tiffany’s pubescent wail
fades, a teen-age boy is shown bab
bling about his girlfriend and his
hometown. He mutters something
about his town being nothing but a
haven for pancake houses; then the
MT\' logo is seen again. ... Click..
.. Julie Brown is back to introduce the
new White snake video. As she squeals
in her grating British accent, psyche
delic lights distort her face.
Once Whitesnake has finished
headbangin ’, we see a group of surre
alistic muses wearing togas on a
dimly lit stage, talking to Beat poet
Allen Ginsberg. "I have seen the best
minds of my generation," one pro
- I •_A_-I_
iiui/rti). nnuiricr mubc rncniiurib burnt
thing about the best minds of the
generation tooling around suburbia
in BMWs, reading the Wall Street
Journal and living in corporate bliss.
As they finish, the MTV logo flashes
on the screen.
Then it’s back to Julie Brown, who
now has her face superimposed over
some Keith Haring pop-art mural.
But she's not about to recite Beat
poetry or deliver some message about
the apathy of youth. She’s just talking
about Stevie Nicks' new concert tour.
When it began in 1981, MTV was
a forum for introducing new music to
the masses, an alternative to the top
40 and AOR repetition on radio.
Seven years later, MTV is merely top
40 and AOR radio’s video counter
part. But it’s more. MTV is perhaps
the first broadcast medium to actually
make fun of its audience.
This notion was first evidenced in
a scries of promotional ads the net
work aired last fall. In one ad, a teen
age airhead girl babbled about how
horrible her boyfriend was. She pro
ceeded to tell some incoherent non
sense about her last dating disaster,
then summed everything up: “And
then I got in the car and decided I
needed a doughnut or something.” As
the ad ended, a voiceover stated:
“MTV. ..at last, a channel for the way
you think.”
One of the best promotional ads
I . .- ... " --1
was a parody of beer commercials.
Corny, ethereal music played as
scenes of nature, mountain streams,
hang gliders jumping off cliffs and
eagles soaring were juxtaposed with
ad copy like “Pop it open . . . Pop it
open .. . Pop open an MTV.” At the
end, a working-class palooka was
shown opening a can of MTV Beer.
“This stuff tastes awful!” he shrieked,
grimacing as he swallowed the unsa
vory booze. The ending voiceover
stated: “MTV ... we never said you
could drink it.”
| h
These ads reek of self-parody,
contempt for the network and con
tempt for the mindless viewers sof
tening their brains as they absorb
endless bad heavy-metal and top-40
videos.
About a year ago, MTV tried to
beef up its old image. Veteran VJs
like Martha Quinn and Nina Black
wood got the ax and were replaced
with trendier, younger VJs like Julie
Brown and Kevin Seal. Along with
the new image came the high-tech
graphics and the offbeat promos, but
the music remained the same. New,
alternative music was tucked away on
a two-hour late Sunday night show,
“120 Minutes,” meaning that viewers
could only see underground acts like
Sonic Youth once a week but could
sec Debbie Gibson, Belinda Carlisle
and Bon Jovi several times an hour,
several limes a day.
But the question is this: Why
bother creating subversive ads when
they only promote the new shopping
mall siren or the latest metal gods in
leather and lipstick?
Does MTV’s PR department truly
believe the Michael Jackson and
Bangles set has any idea who Allen
Ginsberg is? Of course not. Perhaps
the promos are MTV’s way of pro
claiming that although the network’s
executives have better taste in music,
they can’t program offbeat artists
because 15-year-olds would rather
groove to George Michael’s “Father
Figure” than Pussy Galore’s or Mojo
Nixon’ s latest. So we have to settle for
incessant Belinda Carlisle videos
^-- " .. .. .
fused with Julie Brown shrunk down
to the size of a pinhead to satisfy our
craving for something original. But
wouldn’t we rather see better music
than funky promos?
MTV also has tried to soothe the
mainstream overkill blow by pro
gramming shows like “Monty
Python’s Flying Circus” and its own
parody of a game show, “Remote
Control.”
“Remote Control” is MTV’s most
blatant attempt to eviscerate its audi
ence. The premise of the show is trivia
about old, bad TV shows. Contestants
choose from categories like The
Brady Network to the Home Shop
ping Zone, a hilarious satirical slam
aimed at thecable shopping channels.
“Remote Control” contestants tend to
be the most obnoxious frat boys from
coast to coast, and the show’s hosts
put them on display in all their “hey,
dude” idiocy and laugh as they make
fools of themselves on national tele
vision. On one recent episode, the
frat-boy contestants did so poorly that
the host decided to disqualify them all
and ordered three new contestants.
This incident was most likely
planned.
The show s Vanna White copy,
Marisol Massey, is especially cruel to
the frat boys. She constantly wears a
condescending sneer on her face and
strikes pompous fashion poses like a
pint-size Bette Davis each time the
camera is aimed at her. When frat
boys choose the Sing Along With
Colin category, they must listen to co
host Colin sing atonal versions of Bon
Jovi and Van Halen songs a cappclla,
then sing the next few lyrics when
Colin’s finished. As the frat boys
screech out “Livin’ On a Prayer,”
Marisol wrinkles up her face and
claps with sarcastic relish.
MTV should be commended for its
irreverence because its self-parody is
an amusing antidote for guilt — guilt
for spawning the MTV generation,
guilt for making Tiffany a superstar.
But the promos do not make the net
work more palatable. If anything,
they are unintentional warnings for
those who choose to revile the “Shake
Your Love” life. Why don’t they just
come out and say their programming,
is paltry?
Besides, MTV executives must
not feel that guilty. After all, they did
start “Club MTV,” Julie Brown’s
teenybopper disco dance show.
Hurrah is a senior news editorial major
and Daily Nebraskan night news editor.
- .. --V
Deb Harry cameo
movie’s best scene
SATISFACTION trom Page 6
role as Tina, one of the Falcon’s
ex-lovers who hangs around his
kitchen. Supposedly she’s ro
mantic competition. Hardly.
Debbie looks the middle age
she’s reached, but even next to
fresh-faced Bateman, she’s still
the coolest female rock musi
cian there ever was. Seeing her
on the screen remindsone of just
how pale other media creations,
like a certain sevcn-letter-first
name bleachcd-blondc singer,
seem in comparison.
You really can’t hatea movie
that entertains you as hard as
“Satisfaction” tries and tries
and tries. Just when you think
you’re going to go out of your
mind, one of the characters
(usually Bntta Phillips) says
something completely outra
geous to poke fun at the movie.
You’d better see it while you
can.
“Satisfaction”probably isn’t
going to stick around long, al
though I could be wrong, since it
placed in the top 10 box-office
hits for its opening weekend. In
that case, “Satisfaction” doesn ’ t
deserve to stick around long.
OK, maybe '‘Ironwecd’s” out
right now. But if you want
something that requires abso
lutely no thought or belief, if
you like TV movies on the big
screen with the added treat of
hearing Mallory Keaton spew
dirty words, you’ll probably be
satisfied with “Satisfaction.”
“Satisfaction” is playing at
the Plaza Four. It’s PG-13, so
you can take your mom.
(
UPC Black Special Events presents
DR. HARRY EDWARDS
speaking on
“Let's Put the ‘Dumb Jock’ to Rest”
Feb. 26 7 PM Union Ballroom
Dinner Tickets: $5.75 for students
$6.75 for non-students
General Admission Tickets without meal:
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$2.00 for non-students
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From Paris, France
Internationally Acclaimed Bluesman
Luther
Allison
In Concert!
Tues., Feb. 23, 9 pm - 1 am
$6.00 At The Door
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this week's special
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