Isn't it funny how back in the Age of the Music Video, the plot of the video would end up getting inextricably woven into the perceived meaning of the song? "Oh, I love Lionel Richie's 'Hello'! You remember - that song about this teacher who has a huge crush on this blind student, who he endlessly fantasizes over, and then she sculpts his head?"
It's kind of a shame that MTV turned suck, forgoing videos in favor of "programming." They had created this wonderful social commonality, via a resource that could be shared by all - Music Television! Tune in anytime to see music videos! A mishmash of all the most popular acts of the day, plus a liberal salting of oddballs. You would always be happy to sit through the one you didn't like, because you knew something good would be not far off. Meanwhile, your tastes were being broadened through the exposure to the stuff that you wouldn't have otherwise sought out. Insidious! MTV was responsible for the erosion of genre boundaries across a whole generation of kids.
Then they gave that up. They turned away from that unique role, that they themselves had pioneered. For what? Game shows. Reality TV soaps. Nowadays when they play videos at all, which is rare, it's gentrified genre-specific blocks. It's like they gave up on the idea that music can transcend boundaries.
Well, I guess they knew what they were doing.
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