Metal Reviews

I was talking with a friend of mine a while back, and he made a rather interesting point. In terms of music, the 80's had a defining sound, the 90's had a defining sound, but the 2000's don't really have a defining sound. Music today isn't really much different than it was 13/14 years ago. And I'd say it's almost no different than it was 10 years ago. Compare that with the large difference between 1995's popular music and 1985's popular music. I've also seen other people suggest that the 2000's haven't really had nearly as many "defining fashions" (if any) as the 80's and 90's did, and television shows and movies are pretty much the same now as they were 14/15 years ago. And thus, one person (whose name escapes me) suggested that, after more than 25 years, the MTV era may have finally been replaced... with the Internet Era. Since it seems, during the last few years, a lot of trends and fads have been coming from internet sites like Youtube rather than MTV.

Thoughts?

It's all very well saying that, but Limp Bizkit have reformed and are on the cover of Kerrang, which just about sums it up. Even if today's kids are going online, it doesn't mean their tastes in music are as cool as, say, mine.

You've got a good point about how bland it's been so far, though. I probably have a different perspective on it to the average mainstream man who's never heard of Negura Bunget, but it seems from where I'm sitting that MTV will just be replaced by YouTube etc. Maybe sites like RateYourMusic and LastFM and (hopefully) this one will encourage people to check out the interesting stuff, and I do think that the internet is a good tool for discovering new music, but consider that John Peel had Napalm Death on his radio show back in the day...

Because of the internet things get old far faster and there is always new things springing up.

So, for me, music is now springing off in a million new directions without a definable sound that everyone is into at any one time.

Isn't what you're saying somewhat contradictory?

And shit is way different now than 15-20 years ago, so I would have to entirely disagree with that point.

::Shudders at the thought of Limp Bizkit reforming::

You definitely raise some good points. And it's especially interesting how bands like Lamb Of God and Mastodon (who would've had almost zero chance of mainstream album success in 1998/1999) are now releasing chart topping albums. Basically, it seems to me that after 2001 or 2002, MTV has been gradually losing its cultural influence. It may even be safe to say that it's a slowly dying network. And 15-20 years from now, somebody will publish a New York Times Bestseller called "The Rise And Fall Of MTV."

Or may be I'm just getting old!

....how so?



Wellllllllllll, I'd certainly say that by about 1997 (when the "Alternative Music Era" ended its three or four year run in favor of the "Boy Band Era"), mainstream music became pretty stagnant. It certainly hasn't changed much (if at all) since the late-90's. Every mainstream pop punk band is still trying to sound like Green Day, every alternative band is still trying to sound at least a little like Nirvana, every girl pop band is still trying to sound like [insert any overhyped 90's girl band here], etc. Actually, the only real noticeable difference I've seen is that Metal has made somewhat of a comeback during the last five years with the success of bands like Lamb Of God and Killswitch Engage.

The fact that TRL (MTV's flagship series) is now off the air seems like a bad sign to me - well, bad for MTV at least.

well, in terms of music the influence isn't that big because starting a few years ago it replaced the music programming with a ton of reality shows, including gems like 'date my mom' and 'the best high-school stories'.

culturally i still associate the average retard with their target audience though, and i'm talking about portuguese kids.

You're saying nothing has changed, and there was nothing defining about the previous generation... but then you say that influence has changed from MTV, over to the internet. Which in my opinion suggests that there is a change in what is a major influence on pop culture.

These changes are clearly noticeable in daily life, within everything from how people talk to one another, dress, the style of music, etc.

Yeah, I probably could've worded that a little better. What I meant was that MTV doesn't seem to have the stronghold on pop culture it used to have. And it seems that, because of the "Big New Influence" (the internet), different aspects of pop culture are being effected, while what MTV used to have the greatest effect on (music and fashion) has been somewhat stagnant compared to the previous two decades.

MTV doesn't have the same impact it did in the 80's and 90's in fact you really can't call it a music channel anymore because most of the time they play stupid reality programs and crap.

agreed, they've been playing TRL and Pimp my ride too long, have you noticed that the only real time they play music is on blocks between 12 and 3 in the morning? Its retarded but proves every medium has its hayday and then it just kind of regresses to somewhat moderate use. Its not the end of MTV'S reign it just means that its the beginning of the internet era.

The 2000's have seen a huge rise in the popularity of Indie music, and a rise and (hopefully) fall in Emo. There have been movements, just not TV related.

the shift from music television towards 'regular tv' by mtv is understandable though, imo, with the internet people can listen to and watch whatever songs or videos they want.

Exactly. So, MTV=boring.

They play music videos on MTV 8: The Ocho

i honestly think it's also because we are now in the era of dance and indie and if you think about it there are so many djs on the radio and in clubs that mtv can't keep up with and all these indie bands are british and that's what is appealing to thoes americans