I don't want my MTV

You know how when you were younger, you'd always say to yourself, "I'll never be like my parents" or something along those lines? Well, even if you haven't, I usually thought that when I was in trouble or I wanted to do something and was told no. However, one thing I never agreed with my mother on was music.

When you are young, you fall in love with certain bands and it seems that your parents are bound to hate them due to some genetic trait that causes them to dislike everything you find interesting. My mom would always say that what we listened to wasn't music. She would go on an on about "real music" which was just oldies to me at the time. Now, I have an appreciation for the oldies and my childhood favorites after watching the VMAs on MTV.

First of all, as you all know, MTV is no longer "music television." It's just MTV. It has become a haven for reality television and digitally remastered musicians. There are still good artists out there, but they aren't that mainstream. While I switched between the VMAs and the football game last night, all I heard from the stage performances was noise. There wasn't much else. So when did I become my mother? Why did I start disliking this music? Three reasons:

Music isn't about lyrics anymore—Have you listened to some of the things these artists talk about? I hate listening to the radio because the songs are so pointless. That is if I can even make out what they are saying.

Music isn't about music anymore—The digital beats are sometimes catchy and creative, but more often than not, they are sampled parts of other artist's songs. Talk about being unoriginal. Even worse is that people don't have to be good singers anymore because they digitally enhance their voices.

Music isn't about anything anymore—Music used to mean something to artists. They were expressing ideas or supporting causes. Nowadays, they are just talking about any old thing. The meaning has changed and I don't like the direction it's gone in.

I wont judge you if you like today's music. I just don't feel like I hear much that is worth listening to. What are your thoughts?

Image via Multnomah County Library