Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Lamenting the Fall of M2
Lots of people who read this blog (my mom comes to mind, but there are others -- you know who you are) have no interest in a discussion of music videos. You pay as much attention to them as I do to Home Shopping channels. To you, I suggest you come back later to read another story about fish eating my friend's dangly mole. That story will be posted here next week, I am sure.
But there are a diehard few of you who probably feel the same way I do. To wit, there just aren't enough places to see good music videos anymore.
I recall the glory days of music video -- way back in 1999-2000, when MTV2 called themselves M2 and presented an absolutely glorious ad- and VJ-free 24-hour stream of (quality, mostly indie / alternative) music videos. There was no reality programming, no Ashton Kutcher, no Spring Break, no XTreme sports, no Pimp My Ride. The only time I recall M2 straying from its 24-7 video format was just this once: the weekend before it was available to the general public, M2 broke Radiohead's Kid A in its entirety, playing the whole record several times while showing nothing more than a tonearm riding the grooves of a vinyl record.
Near the end (which was when they rechristened themselves MTV2 and began showing the worst mainstream hip-hop imaginable, 24-7, plus infomercials), M2 ran a pretty cool project. For a period of about 5 weeks, they played every single video in the MTV library, in alphabetical order by song title. During those five weeks, you could turn on M2 and see Aphex Twin, Warrant, Mariah Carey, Eminem, or Fisher Z. If you didn't like what they were showing now, chances were pretty good you'd like what was on 20 minutes later. For nearly a year, I estimate my TV was tuned to M2 as much as 70% of the time it was on. I knew the remote key sequence 1-6-1-Select by heart -- I could find M2 even in the dark. It was wonderful, this M2. It really was.
And I used to blog about it, back in the days before I even knew what a blog was. Once a week, I would sit down for 30 minutes in front of M2 and describe each of the videos I saw during that time period. I even graded each video (videos in heavy rotation were reviewed several times over successive weeks, and inevitably both the descriptions and the grades changed over time). I called each installment "Half Hour Wasted," and sent it in email attachments to friends who also dug music videos. I archived most of the HHWs on another laptop -- maybe someday I'll revive some of them here on The Bitter Buffalo.
In a world with M2, I might have seen Rachel Spektor's subtly disturbing video for "Us" a year ago. And I would have bought the CD for myself (as it is, I only saw the video the other day because it is on an add-in DVD from her latest CD release, which I bought for Beth because she heard a cut on XM). I can think of so many albums I purchased back in the M2 days simply because I liked the video I saw on M2 so much. The Dandy Warhols ("Godless," "Bohemian Like You"), Outkast ("B.O.B"), David Gray ("Babylon"), The White Stripes ("Fell In Love With A Girl"), etc. -- these are CDs I still listen to today. And I never would have bought them had I not seen the videos on M2.
Yes, I know I can download music videos to my computer, but that experience doesn't work as well as watching them on a television, while lounging on the couch, with the stereo cranked. Besides, it's sort of fun to find oneself at the mercy of a talented video programmer -- the old "just one more, I gotta see what's next" feeling doesn't happen when you're watching a video in Quicktime in a 2- by 3-inch window.
I can also watch IMF (the International Music Feed) on my satellite dish, but their rotation is shockingly limited – it seems to be compiled entirely of artists affiliated with the Universal Music Group. So, for every time I see Beck's jaunty "Girl," I have to sit through Eminem's regrettable "Ass Like That" -- twice. And nobody should have to suffer through that particular Eminem tragedy more than once. You won't see me wasting a half hour watching IMF -- ten minutes is about all I can take.
Given the number of quality artists who are making creative videos these days (link to your favorite band's websites -- if they've commissioned videos, chances are good they're available there), and the amount of bandwidth available in today's digital satellite and cable networks, it seems like it would be a no-brainer to develop a really good M2 substitute for today's artists. And given the popularity of events like Coachella, Intonation, and Lollapalooza, as well as encouraging CD sales for upstart artists like the Arcade Fire, there ought to be an eager audience.
So who's gonna pick up the slack?
But there are a diehard few of you who probably feel the same way I do. To wit, there just aren't enough places to see good music videos anymore.
I recall the glory days of music video -- way back in 1999-2000, when MTV2 called themselves M2 and presented an absolutely glorious ad- and VJ-free 24-hour stream of (quality, mostly indie / alternative) music videos. There was no reality programming, no Ashton Kutcher, no Spring Break, no XTreme sports, no Pimp My Ride. The only time I recall M2 straying from its 24-7 video format was just this once: the weekend before it was available to the general public, M2 broke Radiohead's Kid A in its entirety, playing the whole record several times while showing nothing more than a tonearm riding the grooves of a vinyl record.
Near the end (which was when they rechristened themselves MTV2 and began showing the worst mainstream hip-hop imaginable, 24-7, plus infomercials), M2 ran a pretty cool project. For a period of about 5 weeks, they played every single video in the MTV library, in alphabetical order by song title. During those five weeks, you could turn on M2 and see Aphex Twin, Warrant, Mariah Carey, Eminem, or Fisher Z. If you didn't like what they were showing now, chances were pretty good you'd like what was on 20 minutes later. For nearly a year, I estimate my TV was tuned to M2 as much as 70% of the time it was on. I knew the remote key sequence 1-6-1-Select by heart -- I could find M2 even in the dark. It was wonderful, this M2. It really was.
And I used to blog about it, back in the days before I even knew what a blog was. Once a week, I would sit down for 30 minutes in front of M2 and describe each of the videos I saw during that time period. I even graded each video (videos in heavy rotation were reviewed several times over successive weeks, and inevitably both the descriptions and the grades changed over time). I called each installment "Half Hour Wasted," and sent it in email attachments to friends who also dug music videos. I archived most of the HHWs on another laptop -- maybe someday I'll revive some of them here on The Bitter Buffalo.
In a world with M2, I might have seen Rachel Spektor's subtly disturbing video for "Us" a year ago. And I would have bought the CD for myself (as it is, I only saw the video the other day because it is on an add-in DVD from her latest CD release, which I bought for Beth because she heard a cut on XM). I can think of so many albums I purchased back in the M2 days simply because I liked the video I saw on M2 so much. The Dandy Warhols ("Godless," "Bohemian Like You"), Outkast ("B.O.B"), David Gray ("Babylon"), The White Stripes ("Fell In Love With A Girl"), etc. -- these are CDs I still listen to today. And I never would have bought them had I not seen the videos on M2.
Yes, I know I can download music videos to my computer, but that experience doesn't work as well as watching them on a television, while lounging on the couch, with the stereo cranked. Besides, it's sort of fun to find oneself at the mercy of a talented video programmer -- the old "just one more, I gotta see what's next" feeling doesn't happen when you're watching a video in Quicktime in a 2- by 3-inch window.
I can also watch IMF (the International Music Feed) on my satellite dish, but their rotation is shockingly limited – it seems to be compiled entirely of artists affiliated with the Universal Music Group. So, for every time I see Beck's jaunty "Girl," I have to sit through Eminem's regrettable "Ass Like That" -- twice. And nobody should have to suffer through that particular Eminem tragedy more than once. You won't see me wasting a half hour watching IMF -- ten minutes is about all I can take.
Given the number of quality artists who are making creative videos these days (link to your favorite band's websites -- if they've commissioned videos, chances are good they're available there), and the amount of bandwidth available in today's digital satellite and cable networks, it seems like it would be a no-brainer to develop a really good M2 substitute for today's artists. And given the popularity of events like Coachella, Intonation, and Lollapalooza, as well as encouraging CD sales for upstart artists like the Arcade Fire, there ought to be an eager audience.
So who's gonna pick up the slack?
posted by Bill Purdy, 2:06 PM
1 Buffaloes were bitter enough to post comments:
It's your fault I got a Dish. I came out to NC and you got me all hooked on M2 just in time for them to crumble into another crappy channel that dares to use the word "music" in its title.
I also tried to warn you about IMF when you called me all excited about a new music channel. Could I see Gwen Stefani ONE MORE TIME?
I agree - it sucks, it's pathetic, and none of the great video directors have a place where one can see their talents!
I also tried to warn you about IMF when you called me all excited about a new music channel. Could I see Gwen Stefani ONE MORE TIME?
I agree - it sucks, it's pathetic, and none of the great video directors have a place where one can see their talents!