The VMAs

[yendi]

So, watched the VMAs last night. By "watched," I mean that if a performance didn't catch my interest in the first ten seconds, I fast-forwarded. Still, there were some moments.

The good:

1. Sarah Silverman's monologue was performed in front of the wrong crowd, but was damned funny (mostly).

2. Chris Brown. Holy fucking shit. Go here. Watch. It doesn't matter what you think of the music; this is what a live performance should be.

3. Justin Timberlake. That reprieve he got as a result of "Dick in a Box?" Extend that by a couple of years. He used both his award speeches to implore MTV to start playing videos again. Oh, and his exhortation for MTV to play more videos and fewer reality shows? Came after being presented with an award by the skanks from The Hills. And he used the rest of his "Male Artist of the Year" speech to do nothing but rave about Chris Brown. Classiest guy at the awards show.

4. Rihanna. Most folks (Brown, Timeberlake, and a few others excluded) phoned it in. She, meanwhile, performed about sixteen times, including numbers with Brown and with Fall Out Boy.

The bad:

1. Britney. It wasn't even bad in a "train wreck" sense. More like watching a really bad karaoke video by a girl who just swallowed a handful of quaaludes. Truly pathetic.

2. The ongoing reminder that the "V" in VMA is pointless. Only one award was actually presented for a video.

3. Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. Off-message and out-of-it. Bad combo (but good train wreck).

4. The fact that many music stars suck as presenters.

5. The fact that almost no talented artists get played on MTV any more, anyway.

Anyway, I'm back to my tradition of not watching MTV again until this time next year.

Comments

[hughcasey.livejournal.com]

Rihanna is absolutely fantastic. I'm not much into R&B or Urban Dance, but she really trancends whatever genre she sings. Her new one, "Pom De Replay", is actually a great song to swing dance to.

Timberlake used to just be lame. I admire him now, though, because he keeps trying to get better and better, and he regularly challenges himself. He could have just sat on his ass, career-wise, but instead he decided he wants to be a "big talent", and works toward it.

Britney... Wow. So THAT'S what a career implosion looks like. I can remember when she could actually PERFORM. See, kids... don't do drugs.

[yendi]

But at least she provided Silverman with some good material. :-)

[brak55.livejournal.com]

Pom De Replay was acutally her first hit from a couple of years ago and, yes, it is a great song. Her new one is called "Shut Up and Drive" and is more of a rocker than a dance number.

[envoy.livejournal.com]

Cant' watch it, MTV blocks non-US replay. Wankers.

[yendi]

Wankers indeed. For years, they also blocked non-Windows users. I suppose the winds of change move slowly there. Youtube should have it soon enough, I'd hope.

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

What nothing about the Kid Rock/Tommy Lee fist fight that the morning radio jocks WOULD NOT SHUT UP about?

[yendi]

They never actually showed it on the broadcast, so the only stuff we got was Jamie Foxx mentioning it, and it was hard to tell if he was talking out of his ass or not.

[beldar.livejournal.com]

I'm with you in not watching MTV but once a year, but in our case its the MTV Movie Awards, which used to be the best awards show on TV -- but not only did this year's awards suck overall, the whole evening was an informercial for an upcoming movie; they keep doing that and I'll stop watching.

Never cared about the VMAs as not only does it not make sense on a network that stopped playing videos but because I'm out of touch with a lot of the crap pop of today (as opposed to the crap pop I put up with when I was younger [g])-- same reason I ignore the Grammys.

If I want videos, I watch VH1 Classic for older stuff or Fuse for more recent hits.

[jmfunnyface.livejournal.com]

What Chris Brown did is exactly what Britney should have done. It doesn't matter that he wasn't singing for like the last 2 minutes of the performance, the dancing, the scenery, the other dancers-that's what people want to see at these shows. You don't have to sing, if you entertain them with the dancing, people ignore the lip syncing and the flabby stomaches. No one really remembers what Britney sounded like at the 2000 and 2002 shows. They remember her ripping off that black suit with the nude body suit underneath, or the dancing with a snake or making out with Madonna. If she had the common sense of a gnat, she'd have done something huge with the scenery and dancing (my God, just doing a remix of her old songs would have gotten a better reaction) and slightly shocking and that would be her "comeback."

[phantom_wolfboy]

Yeah, if Rihanna doesn't flame out in the next few years, she's gonna be a major talent.

Meanwhile, in light of Britney's public self-destruction, I am forced to reconsider my disdain for Christina Aguilera. Now there is a woman in control of her own image.