What killed MTV?

 

  Generation Xers would be sad to hear that MTV is ending. Well....the music portion of it that is. I remember MTV for its music videos, and certain news programs. Now...it's just nothing but Reality shows since 'Jersey Shore' was considered a ratings hit. For me...it was a plummet to where MTV could never return to.

    Music Television.

  MTV was started 3 years before I was born. Generation X was mostly known as the 'MTV Generation'; I sadly....am not that generation. Yet...I remember the music videos they played and how amazing it was that music videos were getting attention as well as VH1 was another music station.

    The question is.... when did it all go wrong?

   MTV was just not meant for music videos. They had game shows that were cringed to watch...even if they were more meant for teenagers.

     Around the 90s, they even started showing cartoons like 'Bevis and Butthead'. That's when MTV was becoming popular. It was a cartoon not meant for children. 

 

     Not only was MTV showing Bevis and Butthead, but other shows that were interesting. Like Daria...which got her start on MTV and ended by the time the mid 2000's were around.

     Other MTV shows were around as well. They even had MTV Unplugged where most musicians would perform. Nirvana was another where Kurt Cobain performed one of his most memorable songs. Sadly, it would be the last time he would be seen alive.

     What I remember most about my middle to high school adolescence.... was watching TRL after school was over. TRL or Total Request Live, came around in 1999 and stayed for a couple of years. They would countdown what music videos were on the list.

    They would have the guest of those music videos like a young Britney Spears to N'SYNC to Backstreet Boys. Carson Dailey was the host of the show until he left, and MTV decided to retool it.

   Even if I was little...I would remember people shout: "I want my MTV." Now, I think they're shouting: 'What the hell happened to MTV?"

   Was it TRL that started the downfall of MTV? I don't think so...but MTV was starting to go away from Music Television and focus on reality shows. Ever since Survivor was the biggest hit, MTV was starting to think...they should make their own reality shows.

  Jersey Shore became a hit on MTV and suddenly.... music videos were rarely seen on TV unless it was 3 to 6 in the morning...and who would be awake to watch Music Videos.

    By the time 2010 came around...MTV stopped airing Music Videos. With the rise of YouTube and other sites to watch or even listen to Music was more the popular way. 

  Sometimes...you would have to imagine music videos of certain songs you liked.

   I've already talked about Parental Control before. That was another live action reality show on MTV. Even though most of it was scripted...it played out like a real show. 

    There were more than just Parental Control. They also had World Strictest Parents....Wife Swanp and many more. 

    It is sad what MTV became after being known for its Music Videos and became known for mostly reality shows.

   They had other channels to help make their station stronger. Showing that they were still showing Music Videos. Some from back in the 80s, they even had news. Now...MTV is nothing.

   VH1 vanished as well.... but at least we still remember the pop-up videos that came with it. MTV is no longer the Music Television it used to be. For shame. (RIP 1981-2025)