I have a longer post in mind regarding recent events featuring noted model citizens Serena, Kanye and Joe Wilson, but I wanted to post a few random thoughts from my viewing of the recent MTV Video Music Awards.
- First and foremost… MTV shows videos? When did that change?
- Did noted Hollywood nitwit and potential anorexic Megan Fox really complain that the host said another actor’s name before her?
- Who is Russel Brand, and why are we being subjected to him? Is England getting us back for George Bush?
- I was really happy to see that Madonna was able to make the Michael Jackson tribute all about her.
- A classy move by Beyonce, someone I don’t normally like.
- Lost in all the hubbub was the first “live” performance by the British band MUSE on American teevee. FUSE has been airing their videos for years, so it’s nice to see MTV realize there’s good music out there after all. If you haven’t heard them, they are an odd mix of Bowie, Queen, Duran Duran and Green Day.
- And then there was… Lady Gaga.
The VMAs allowed me a chance to finally “get” Lady Gaga. Clearly, she is the current generation’s version of Madonna: oddball Monroe wannabe who with the right computer and producers can churn out passable music. While I won’t repeat some of the harsher comments I saw about her appearance on the show, I will say that it took some interesting work to have her at one moment dressed as the Phantom of the Opera, and at another moment look like the love child of Bjork and an Ewok. It took a lot to make Pink’s Cirque du Soleil like performance look completely normal or boring, but Gaga managed just that.
Clearly there is something wrong with Kanye West. No matter what you think of what he says, there is something wrong with his wiring that goes beyond someone being a jerk. Consider this along with his “Bush doesn’t care about black people” outburst during the Katrina fundraiser and you have evidence of a deeper problem.
Whatever the results, the VMAs were the quintessential American program: all about the spectacle rather than substance.
Nicely done, MTV… You made us forget about the music once again.
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