After Nabeel played the video by the Buggles 'Video Killed The Radio Star', it got me thinking. Has MTV killed music? As I listen to the new Timberland album, I feel that I have heard all of these songs before. With Timberland being the producer for Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado alike, his beats seem to be everywhere. This got me thinking again, will there ever be a true superstar or super band in music again. We are so over-saturated with music nowadays that it is hard for a musician to become a true superstar. One moment they are the flavour of the month, next no one really wants to listen to them. No longer is someone able to become a true superstar, selling out concerts at a drop of a hat. If you look at the top earners for 2006, most of the bands that are on the list were around when MTV was in its infancy or around before that. Rolling Stones, U2 and Bon Jovi round out the top three. Probably the only band on the list that you could consider only making it big in recent years is Coldplay who come in at number seven. I don't see any new band at present selling out concerts like U2 and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers can do. Will we ever see a true music superstar ever again? Who knows all I know is that Britney Spears won't fill that category.
Ashley N
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4 comments:
Music Video and the Denigration of radio?!?!
I think perhaps it is easy to say that music video killed the radio star. However, I doubt that there is any currency in that statement. People listen to the radio at work, in their cars, online, in their homes. Music video as a new medium is just that, a new medium, but does not remove the old. If I'm at home, I'll listen to the radio with c4 on mute if I'm trying to study. The music video as a medium becomes more like a visual stimulus or a screen saver.
I agree with Ashley in that I don't think that there will be another super group as there has been in the past. I think this has a lot to do with the internet. People in general are now offered so much choice. We are not influenced by a few large music companies to define our tastes for us. However, I don't see this as a negative. With more choice you get more innovation. And innovation can never be a bad thing, right?
Downloading music is one of the best things that has ever happened to the music industry. Audiences are not at the whims of music stations on TV and radio with their play lists. After all, who needs to hear or see the same rubbish song or video 19 times in the space of 6 hours?
There will come a day when most of the "supergroups" such as U2 and the Rolling Stones will come to an end which is really unfortunate. I was lucky enough to see most of the greats in the eighties such as Queen and Bowie, and they were at the height of their fame. The shows were truly special and memorable. There have been a few supergroups formed in the nineties - Oasis and Nirvana come to mind but they haven't had the lasting power. I wouldn't discount others coming through but the musical style would have to be very unique and original, like when the punk movement exploded in 77.
I was thinking about how I viewed and experienced music videos in the eighties compared to now, and how the videos were viewed by the music media. There wasn't the saturation of music we have now, but the latest video by Duran Duran or Peter Gabriel was a big event. The music presenters used to go into great detail about how the videos were produced, who made them, their cost...virtually everything about the video was scrutinised and there was always a "wow" factor. This was when new and exciting video making techniques were being explored of course. There were a number of artists that knew the power of the medium and utilised it cleverly, even to this day. David Bowie viewed the video as an art form, a way to represent his music through images, changing his image along the way. Bjork is another artist that imagines how her music can be suitably mirrored through the video, creating wonderfully interesting "art pieces". The video isn't just a promotional tool to sell their work or in many cases, showcase big egos. They're like pieces of sonic art that engage your mind,visual and aural senses, and you never get bored of viewing their work.
The problem today is that many artists use the same techniques for producing their clips - similar camera shots, editing, backgrounds - whereas the earlier video pioneers were ground breakers. They developed their own style of film making that set them apart from others, such as U2 and Depeche Mode's director, Anton Corbijn. The days of the celebrity music director have diminished, and the video is now mass produced to markets that are struggling to be original in content.
This is not to say that there are some really great alternative music videos today, but the commercial efforts by artists such as Justin Timberlake and others are not as interesting to view.
As Ricki mentioned, the music video became a new medium for music and rather than replacing the medium of radio it has assisted radio. Id also agree with Ricki about how its easy to say that video killed the radio star but I’d like to argue that the radio star evolved into the radio + video star that we have today.
Depending on how you would measure a superstar to be a “superstar” you could argue that Madonna, Britney Spears or Christina Aguliera are superstars of the radio + video generation. After all Britney and Christina still have lasting power, (compared to most artists in the video + radio generation) they’ve been around for around a decade now and still as powerful in the media as ever. Britney has even been named the most powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes magazine. Madonna, although probably not selling as many top albums as she was in her heyday, Id argue that she’s one of the few artists that have had true lasting power.
I disagree with the notion that MTV has killed music. I do agree with Ashley in that perhaps we are “over-saturated” with music today and it is hard for artists to become true superstars, which is why I think when artists such as Madonna or Britney break through and last for at least a decade, it is something of an accomplishment and shouldn’t be overlooked.
Vanisha
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