MTV Video Awards nominees have been announced

July 25, 2000 8:01 AM

MTV Video Awards nominees have been announced...and there's no "best alternative video" category anymore. What the hell! Granted, MTV has never been noted as a supporter of good music (remember 120 minutes? that got the boot a while ago), but seeing those early "alternative" bands rock out on screen was what initially got me into music as a kid - I cringe at the thought that there's a whole new batch of 11 year olds out there who see the guitar as nothing more than a prop in a choreography routine.

At least I can take solace in the fact that Weezer is finally touring the East Coast - all is not wrong with the world.
posted by NickBarat (11 comments total)

I can't wait till they come down south to this here Dallas Texas. Yeehaw! Weezer is one of my favorites. If you haven't already, check out OZMA at http://www.mp3.com/ozma/ download the first 4 songs or so (from the latest album) I promise you'll love em! Especially BattleScars.
posted by Satapher at 8:45 AM on July 25, 2000

umm... 120 minutes is still on. just later, i think.
posted by sugarfish at 10:14 AM on July 25, 2000

Hurrah! The rampaging rumors that Weezer is broke up are nothing but malicious lies!
I've listened to the blue album at least 200+ times, and still never tired of it.
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:19 AM on July 25, 2000

Pinkerton changed my life. I'm not sure how exactly, but it did do something.
posted by smeat at 10:52 AM on July 25, 2000

Hasn't the term "alternative" music become a bit meaningless? Is there really a difference between "alternative" and "mainstream" music anymore?
posted by bobafet at 12:18 PM on July 25, 2000

120 Minutes apparently died at the end of May or after the June 4th show, because it certainly hasn't been on since. I know -- I've looked and waited, and at 4 a.m. when I'm treated to a 1996 Choose or Lose special or Tabitha Soren's 1994(!) piece on youth violence in order to fulfill the obligation to air an hour of "educational" programming every week for "Cable in the Classroom," it becomes clear that 120 Minutes isn't happening again and I go to bed dejected. . . 7 weeks in a row now.
posted by Dreama at 1:51 PM on July 25, 2000

Is there really a difference between "alternative" and "mainstream" music anymore?A few years ago, that argument would have held quite a lot of water. However, the current climate of "mainstream" music is pretty sad. There's nary an alternative band in sight among the N'Syncs, Eminems, Brittneys, and Santanas who have had MTV and radio in a death grip for the past year or two. A close exception would be the Limp Bizkit/Korn mini-explosion, but their rap-metal is far, far removed from the alternative rock heyday of '94. If you're not under 25, singing bland teen-pop or blaring tuneless, angry riffage, there's no place for you in the current musical climate. Perfect example - the new albums from Ultimate Fakebook and Tsar came out today, with zero fanfare, radio support, or a video - yet they're two of the best "alternative" records in a long while. If MTV chose to show even a scrap of interest in supporting new artists who dont fit the current cookie cutter molds, these two bands might have a chance to catch on. But as it stands, you'd be lucky to hear them at all, let alone on MTV, and the cable channel's decision to drop the "alternative" category from their premier event of the programming year is indicative of such a lame attitude.
posted by NickBarat at 2:06 PM on July 25, 2000

You can keep your alternative, just gimme gimme indie rock. I'm listening to the Mekons -- as far as I know, still videoless after twenty years -- at this very moment.
posted by snarkout at 3:27 PM on July 25, 2000

MTV sucks a dead goat's balls.Sorry, just thought it needed to be said.
posted by Mr. skullhead at 4:19 PM on July 25, 2000

Nick, well said. The problem is that MTV's part of the big cycle now... no one will hear those albums because they don't sell, but they don't sell because no one hears them. They're outside of the big huge ugly promotion machine... and of course, God forbid we make up our own minds on music. :)

No wonder the record companies are running scared... what if someone actually realized that N'Sync is crap? That Britney Spears has less talent than a can of soda? That Enimem's act is as engineered as those of the pop stars he targets? I could go on, but you get the idea.

I was pleased to see R.E.M. had a whopping two nominations - at least that's some acknowledgement that some videos are, you know, unique. Also good to see: Bjork's "All is Full of Love".
posted by hijinx at 8:47 PM on July 25, 2000

MTV's atrocious. What's galling, especially comparing the US product to the UK version, is the way that dance tracks (you'd call it techno) provides the incidental music for most of the "reality" programmes, but the videos themselves never feature. Nice one, fellas.
posted by holgate at 11:22 PM on July 25, 2000