Video Killed the Radio Star...Uh, Maybe Not

Yet another boring MTV Video Music Awards took place Sunday night for the first time in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, this award show once filled with excitement and surprises have not been living up to its expectations in the last couple years. I have been watching the show ever since 1992 and I miss how it used to be.
I know that I am not the only one who feels this way because MTV tried something different this year in hopes of boosting their declining ratings. One of the main changes they made was having some of the performers put on a small concert in their hotel suites. The camera would go to these performers throughout the show. Another change was that there were no fans up front right by the main stage; it seems like the only audience members were the artists themselves. Plus, there was no host this year.
Needless to say, I did not particularly like the changes. The way that they had the audience set up (in round tables with drinks) just made it look like a typical award show to me, and the video music awards has never been a typical award show. That is why it used to be so fun to watch. Plus, they did not show some of the music artists’ performances all the way through. Of course, considering that they rarely show complete videos anymore, that change really was not that surprising. The concerts in the suites were weird. What is the point of having the artists perform in different places?
I guess MTV accomplished what they wanted to get done…their ratings increased from last year’s award show. However, I have a feeling that Britney Spears opening the show had something to do with the increase in ratings. People wanted to tune in to see how Britney would make a comeback. It was not exactly a comeback though, more like a career disaster. Spears’ performance was awful. Apparently, she did not rehearse that much because during her performance she forgot her dance steps and how to lip sync. When a singer forgets how to lip sync, then that is a pretty good indication that their career is down in the dumps. The expression on some of the audience member’s faces was priceless. They seemed to be saying, “What in the world is she doing?”
There were a couple of good performances though. Alicia Keys and Chris Brown were the highlights in my opinion. Brown did a Michael Jackson imitation of “Billie Jean” and Keys did a cover of George Michael’s hit song “Freedom.”
In my opinion, the award show just gave me another reason why the network has gone down hill. As I mentioned above, MTV rarely shows complete videos anymore. Even on Total Request Live they only show some of the videos on the countdown. For the majority of the day MTV airs reality shows. I think there are enough reality shows on television today, but to have them shown all day on a network that is geared towards music is ridiculous. In order to watch videos you have to tune into MTV Hits because MTV2 and VH1 do not show that much videos anymore either. Even singer Justin Timberlake mentioned this at the award show the other night by urging MTV to play more videos.
I really do not see that much of a point anymore in music artists making a video because they can have better promotion elsewhere. If I want to see a video that I have not seen in a long time then I will go to You Tube on the internet. An important fact: The first video that was ever aired on MTV back in 1981 was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. That title was very appropriate back then, but today it would not make much sense. For heavy rotations of their music, artists will have to count on radio for now.