Too Much Is Never Enough: How MTV changed the minds of generations and initiated an era of globalism
Nothing Is Taboo: Born to the most prosperous generation in the history of mankind, millennials were not subjected to the vagaries of life. They were able to explore the natural teen rebellion to the full extent without a worry about the future.
The title is a tagline from the MTV advertisements in the early 80s “I want my MTV”. The said advertisement is a testament to the ‘break the norms’ nature of MTV. The conservative cable operators were unwilling to carry MTV on their network and the solution MTV found out was to make the phones ring off the hook for the cable operators. Young viewers on other television channels were bombarded with advertisements in which their favourite artists, like Mick Jagger, were seen impatiently demanding MTV to their cable operators.
Though an excellent marketing campaign, this advertisement encapsulates the insolent nature of the generation that grew up watching MTV. Need to have every whim satisfied by banging a fist on the table.
Nothing Is Taboo
Born to the most prosperous generation in the history of mankind, millennials were not subjected to the vagaries of life. They were able to explore the natural teen rebellion to the full extent without a worry about the future.
The opulence is on display when Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses say “We are making this (video) for ourselves. If we made a nice video for MTV, we can put it out and sell some records and shit. But instead we are spending a hundred and fifty grand just to make something we wanna see” and the crowd goes berserk. This display and the video which follows would have been termed vulgar and would be termed taboo a 30 years before that. But was cheered, celebrated and broadcast on national television in the 90s.
One of the most popular artists from the MTV stables would be Madonna, right after Michael Jackson. More than music, her art was in making jaws drop every couple of years. Each time she went to a territory that is taboo, upsetting the bigwigs and showing ostensible display of liberty.
The first mammoth she upset was the Church, though she was born a Catholic; maybe because she was born a Catholic. The music videos of her songs “Like a Virgin” and “Like a Prayer” had religious symbols and symbolism being used in an expletive manner. She was declared the most popular artist by MTV in 1989, the same year the song “Like a Prayer was released.
In a couple of years, she would go on to upset even MTV; purportedly the uncensored channel. The music video for her song, “Justify My Love”, was too sexually explicit for even MTV.
Not just pop stars, but also Presidents
In 1992, the Governor of Arkansas was put on scrutiny by the youngest voters of the U.S.A. and was broadcast on MTV half a dozen times. The young voters asked the presidential candidate blunt questions holding back a thing. The name of the governor was Bill Clinton and he was elected President of the United States.
By 1992, eighteen year olds were not necessarily started working. They went to college for an extensive 4 years of partying, games and exercise of liberty as they saw fit, paid for by their parents. The questions asked by the youngsters to the future President rarely had mention of the economy and job creation. More pertinent topics of discussion were abortion rights, ecology, climate change, etc.
What has to be considered is that nearly 60 percent of the younger demographics (18–24 year olds) voted for Ronald Reagan and George Bush in the previous elections. The psychographics of the younger demographic in 1992 was not the same as the younger generation that voted for Reagan and Bush. This was a generation who thought that absolute liberty had to be brought to them on a platter by others.
Not just Bill Clinton, but the subsequent presidential candidates of the U.S had to woo the same voters though they resorted to other modes.
Non-conformity or Confirmation Bias
Unlike Spotify and YouTube of today, there were fewer options to listen to music as an individual. Music listening was a communal event rather than an expression of individuality. The television stations and the radio stations were centrally distributing media and all the subscribers had no other choice than to listen to the same music everyone else is listening to. They heard the same songs, the same visceral music videos and the same things a teenager would want to hear.
A teenager is seeking to make a mark in the world; to stand out, be different and to be recognised. They are fed through the network television that the establishments are there to curtails the freedom and individuality of their being and disregarding, belittling and fighting against the norm is the way to gain true freedom of their spirit.
Impressionable teens learned the lessons in non-conformity from Madonna, Michael Jackson, Guns N’ Roses, Prince, through videos that gave psychedelic experience by themselves. The Video Jockeys or VJs of MTV became what priests were for Christians. The music artists were the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The music videos were the daily mass.
This new evangelism took place in the living rooms of these youngsters. That is where they learnt the lessons in non-conformity. But the problem was that every teenager was fed the same diet in their living rooms by the very same priests. When they discuss the same things with their peers, they will agree with the viewpoints and the identity seeking teenager would be elated to meet like-minded individuals who are on a crusade against the establishment.
These youngsters thought similarly, talked similarly and acted in the same manner. Though non-conformity was what they thought would make them stand out, they became more confirmed with the same ideas than any other generation before them.
The irony.
No platter
Once this generation got out of college, they were confronted with the grind involved in the real world. They had to buckle up, work hard and fight for their place in the world. In 2008, the world economy crumbled and the pain of finding a job, keeping a job and doing well in the said job exacerbated. The lifestyle and ideas put forth by their idols didn’t seem to work well when confronted with the realities of everyday life. They gradually got disillusioned by the idols that adorned their teenage bedrooms.
They set forth to find new ideas and ways of life that will justify their existence. This made them in the need to find new experiences to fill the voids in life. They started to travel to far away and exotic places; adding souvenirs from the latest country they visited. Gorging on food and becoming an accredited foodie; exploring every new hole in the wall food place they come across, cooking and trying exotic food and ingredients. Effortlessly undertaking risky and adventurous activities; jumping out of a plane, jumping with a rope around legs, camping, trekking, and mountaineering. Creating spectacles for validation online; likes, shares, comments, retweets, hearts.
The journey of the incomplete always remains incomplete.
Omnifinery — Feel Comfort in Your Individuality
Text: Editorial Staff
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Evgeny is an art director and a global citizen based in Hong Kong and working between Asia and Europe.
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