Tyler Knott Gregson - Tyler Knott Productions Brain Rain

Friday, April 04, 2003

I did it, and I am glad I did. I just watched TRL on MTV after a long time gone. I say I am glad I did it because it completely reaffirmed all of my previous thoughts on not only the channel, but the lifestyle it directly represents. The show runs an hour and a half, and I sat through the entire thing. Here are some of the things I learned...

1) Celebrities. In the United States, and probably worldwide, celebrities are in a very sad state of affairs. Further, I believe that there are different levels of celebrity-hood, with each level directly stroking the collective ego's of the level directly above them...their ego's stroked by the level directly below. Example: "LaLa" from TRL was interviewing Vin Diesel today and the entire interview was nothing more than LaLa oohing and aahing about every thing that came out of his mouth...be it his "sexy voice" his "amazing arms" or his acting ability. Wait a tick, acting ability...Vin Diesel...same sentence? Clearly things are going too far.

2) Music. The music in this nation is going downhill, Fast. It seems to me that every single day that passes another boy band, punk band, alternative girl singer, pop princess, or rap star emerges. MTV has been ignored on my television for over a week, and when I turned it on today there were at least 8 people on the countdown that I'd never heard of. America's new favorites, the next big thing? No, the flavor of the week, the next breed of one hit wonders. Where have bands like the Stones, U2, the Beatles, Zeppelin, Bob Marley, The Boss, or Bob Dylan gone? Today we are slapped in the face by 50 Cent, B2K, 3LW and every other flash in the pan, "follow the leader," pathetic group of people who have the audacity to call themselves musicians. The emergence of someone or something truly new and great is a rarity and when they do their airtime and success is still measured up to the N*Sync's and the Rapper of the Week, where it most often falls short. Thank God that those few great bands still going are indeed Still Going. There are a few great bands/musicians out there today, I just hope their faces do not get lost in the TRL crowd, drowned out by screaming teenagers fighting to give a "shout-out" in the picture-in-picture during some awful video.

3) "News." For far too many in our generation, news is a topic that is becoming skewed to a point of absurdity. Today during the TRL broadcast they took about 10 minutes to do an important News Flash. Obviously given the war that the nation is immersed in, I was expecting something concerning our troops, or Saddam, or even a random night-vision video of some tank being bombed. Obviously not. Instead some girl named Souchin Pak came on, dressed like an anime cartoon in a Cher costume, and said that the breaking news of the day was not about the war, rather it was about Lance Bass, a singer in N*Sync. Apparently he is a judge on some NBC "American Idol" wannabe show, but even more "breaking" about this newscast is that he is also making an appearance on "The Pet Psychic," because his dog Jack has a bladder control problem. According to Pak, Bass commented: "He just needs to learn the right times to go." Wow. How riveting. The scarier fact, this is NEWS to our generation.

4) Literature. This generation doesn't even have a name. We're not the "Beat Generation," not the "Post-Modernists," not the "Romantics;" the quality of the novel in this generation is so sad, and if it keeps up I am terrified what will be left behind as a representation of this era for our children's children's children. Will they read Stephen King novels and marvel at its metaphoric genius? Will they read Tom Clancy and paint the pages yellow with highlights, analyzing and examining each sentance? The answer, a heartbreaking NO. Think about it, in the past 10 years how many novels have been released that are truly revolutionary? The argument must be made however that perhaps no novel achieves greatness until far after its time, but still 99% of the novels released today are either sequels, books based on movies, or formulaic pieces of work that are as predictable as Scream 5, or Rush Hour 4. This nation, this generation in its entirety is Starving for something new, something bold, something Timeless for God's sake.

5) Change. A change is coming, like winds blowing a settled storm from a valley, change is coming. I think it is starting as a whisper, but soon it will be a scream. Slowly more musicians are coming out that actually write their own lyrics, actually play their own instruments, pour out their hearts and souls with each G chord, with each strained vocal. Slowly the youth of today are trying to belong, trying to stake their claim on the time line of history, no matter how small a blip that claim may be. Granted I am disappointed in those protesting for the sake of protesting, not really knowing what they stand for, but at least they are trying to stand for something. I see the apathy of our generation starting to melt away like snow in Spring, and I know the relief when it does melt will be just as great. Perhaps I am just optimistic, but I see a change coming and it is good to see. Affluence and apathy have been the adjectives of choice for our generation and I really hope that all of us are starting to take offense to that, and make a change that will prove that despite the relative luxury and ease that surrounds these times, we still care. Maybe it needs to start with TRL falling, toppled like a archaic Empire so ripe for dismantling. I see the change coming, I just think it needs a little help.

All that in an hour and a half of Total Request Live. My goodness.

eloquently said by

| 3:53 PM | | |


Friday, April 04, 2003 MTV I did it, and I am glad I did. I just watched TRL on MTV after a long time gone. I say I am glad I did it because it completely reaffirmed all of my previous thoughts on not only the channel, but the lifestyle it directly represents. The show runs an hour and a half, and I sat through the entire thing. Here are some of the things I learned... 1) Celebrities. In the United States, and probably worldwide, celebrities are in a very sad state of affairs. Further, I believe that there are different levels of celebrity-hood, with each level directly stroking the collective ego's of the level directly above them...their ego's stroked by the level directly below. Example: "LaLa" from TRL was interviewing Vin Diesel today and the entire interview was nothing more than LaLa oohing and aahing about every thing that came out of his mouth...be it his "sexy voice" his "amazing arms" or his acting ability. Wait a tick, acting ability...Vin Diesel...same sentence? Clearly things are going too far. 2) Music. The music in this nation is going downhill, Fast. It seems to me that every single day that passes another boy band, punk band, alternative girl singer, pop princess, or rap star emerges. MTV has been ignored on my television for over a week, and when I turned it on today there were at least 8 people on the countdown that I'd never heard of. America's new favorites, the next big thing? No, the flavor of the week, the next breed of one hit wonders. Where have bands like the Stones, U2, the Beatles, Zeppelin, Bob Marley, The Boss, or Bob Dylan gone? Today we are slapped in the face by 50 Cent, B2K, 3LW and every other flash in the pan, "follow the leader," pathetic group of people who have the audacity to call themselves musicians. The emergence of someone or something truly new and great is a rarity and when they do their airtime and success is still measured up to the NSync's and the Rapper of the Week, where it most often falls short. Thank God that those few great bands still going are indeed Still Going. There are a few great bands/musicians out there today, I just hope their faces do not get lost in the TRL crowd, drowned out by screaming teenagers fighting to give a "shout-out" in the picture-in-picture during some awful video. 3) "News."* For far too many in our generation, news is a topic that is becoming skewed to a point of absurdity. Today during the TRL broadcast they took about 10 minutes to do an important News Flash. Obviously given the war that the nation is immersed in, I was expecting something concerning our troops, or Saddam, or even a random night-vision video of some tank being bombed. Obviously not. Instead some girl named Souchin Pak came on, dressed like an anime cartoon in a Cher costume, and said that the breaking news of the day was not about the war, rather it was about Lance Bass, a singer in NSync. Apparently he is a judge on some NBC "American Idol" wannabe show, but even more "breaking" about this newscast is that he is also making an appearance on "The Pet Psychic," because his dog Jack has a bladder control problem. According to Pak, Bass commented: "He just needs to learn the right times to go." Wow. How riveting. The scarier fact, this is NEWS to our generation. 4) Literature.* This generation doesn't even have a name. We're not the "Beat Generation," not the "Post-Modernists," not the "Romantics;" the quality of the novel in this generation is so sad, and if it keeps up I am terrified what will be left behind as a representation of this era for our children's children's children. Will they read Stephen King novels and marvel at its metaphoric genius? Will they read Tom Clancy and paint the pages yellow with highlights, analyzing and examining each sentance? The answer, a heartbreaking NO. Think about it, in the past 10 years how many novels have been released that are truly revolutionary? The argument must be made however that perhaps no novel achieves greatness until far after its time, but still 99% of the novels released today are either sequels, books based on movies, or formulaic pieces of work that are as predictable as Scream 5, or Rush Hour 4. This nation, this generation in its entirety is Starving for something new, something bold, something Timeless for God's sake. 5) Change. A change is coming, like winds blowing a settled storm from a valley, change is coming. I think it is starting as a whisper, but soon it will be a scream. Slowly more musicians are coming out that actually write their own lyrics, actually play their own instruments, pour out their hearts and souls with each G chord, with each strained vocal. Slowly the youth of today are trying to belong, trying to stake their claim on the time line of history, no matter how small a blip that claim may be. Granted I am disappointed in those protesting for the sake of protesting, not really knowing what they stand for, but at least they are trying to stand for something. I see the apathy of our generation starting to melt away like snow in Spring, and I know the relief when it does melt will be just as great. Perhaps I am just optimistic, but I see a change coming and it is good to see. Affluence and apathy have been the adjectives of choice for our generation and I really hope that all of us are starting to take offense to that, and make a change that will prove that despite the relative luxury and ease that surrounds these times, we still care. Maybe it needs to start with TRL falling, toppled like a archaic Empire so ripe for dismantling. I see the change coming, I just think it needs a little help. All that in an hour and a half of Total Request Live. My goodness. eloquently said by \| 3:53 PM \| \| \|	Tyler Knott Productions Tyler Knott Photography Vimeo Tumblr Twitter Clutch Del.icio.us MySpace Last.fm LinkedIn Resumé Atom Feed Twitters follow me on Twitter Horizon Expanders McGraw Donovan Dave Morin Flickr Blog Jaymie Keller Kevin Casey Nate Warner Rachel Hoffenberg Sarah Joelle Sarah Joelle's Music My Photography Past Downpours Copyright This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.