When I was a kid, MTV actually played videos and the number of musicians performing onstage was always greater than the number of backing dancers, even on those years when Madonna was featured. If any one thing symbolizes the willfully belligerent decline of the music biz, it is that all one needs to "make it" these days is a complete inability to sing, write songs, or operate clothing.
I mean, what message is an eight-year-old girl going to take from last night's VMA's; that in order for a woman to truly be empowered, she must first find a bunch of 40-something men to write and produce her material, and a team of stylists to tell her what to wear?
Is it really that easy?
Sad to say, yes it is. There is no other reason to explain the success of Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, or Iggy Not Pop. Keep in mind that Iggy Not Pop's main musical influence was TLC. Yep, TLC. Not Aretha Franklin, or Diana Ross, or even Debbie Gibson, but TLC.
Last night's VMA's wasn't a case of "giving the people what they want", but, rather, a gluttonous celebration of the 1% that was filmed and broadcast to the remaining 99%, who aren't smart enough to realize that these folks care not for them, but only for being part of the 1%.
Ever teenager who watched that debacle should have felt sick to their stomach at what they were seeing, but chances are they didn't because they too aspire to join the 1% and to text during a phony tribute to one of their own who was gunned down by a police officer.
Don't think for a second that every set of impressionable young eyes wasn't watching and taking notes on what constitutes acceptable behavior in the modern world.
Thing is, five years from now, we'll be looking back on this year's VMA's as "the good old days" because of how much lower the bar will be dropped next year.