Fuck MTV!

Yeah, I know it's been years since the M in MTV really stood for music, but I have to say, their live "coverage" of Live8 is a new low. I remember watching Live Aid on MTV when it happened (yes, I'm really an old geezer). Back then you got full coverage of the songs, then maybe a VJ would pop on in between acts to say something quick, then back to the reason we're all watching... the music. Contrast that with MTV's Live8 coverage. Barely an entire song from anyone. They cut off the beginning of The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again with chatter from their annoying commentators, then cut out right in the middle of the song. To be fair, most MTV people only have an attention span of a couple of minutes - they probably didn't realize a song can be longer than that.
There were really only two acts at Live8 I cared about seeing, Joss Stone and Pink Floyd. Instead of covering Joss' first song, they decided to cut to the afore mentioned idiot commentators interviewing people standing in line for water. Thanks guys, I was on the edge of my seat all day long wondering what was on the minds of the water people! At least they covered almost one full Joss song a few minutes later.
Floyd at least got better treatment. They actually covered three full songs without cutting away. I guess even MTV managed to realize what a momentous occasion Waters' reuniting with Floyd was. But of course, then they had to spoil it. Right in the middle of the fourth song, Comfortably Numb, MTV cut to their London commentators so we could here them talk about what a big deal it was that Waters was back. Then they cut back to the song. Again, thanks guys, I really needed to know what was on the minds of some MTV wankers instead of hearing the performance. Then they cut the end of the song off not long after the guitar solo started. Guess it wasn't as big a deal as they claimed. To be a little positive in an otherwise negative entry, I do have to say that Floyd was great. Unlike some of the other acts I saw, you can tell they actually rehearsed before the concert. They somehow managed to get a good sound mix as well, most of the other performers sounded horrible. It was so nice hearing Numb live again with Waters and Gilmour doing their respective vocal parts. Would have been even nicer had I heard all of it instead of MTV cutting away.
I'll bet if you took all 8 hours of MTV's Live8 coverage, cut out the non-music parts (and I mean almost full songs, not the "highlights" clips of a few seconds per act that kept running), you'd be hard pressed to come up with an hour. That's a far cry from the coverage Live Aid received which was non-stop all day long. Now, I didn't mind MTV breaking away for messages about poverty in Africa, that is after all the reason for the concert. The celebrity interviews, many of which were actors that had nothing to do with the concert, should have been dumped though. I really didn't need to know Mike Myers' thoughts on the plight of Africa. All the celebrities said the exact same thing anyway, "I'm here to help bring attention to this terrible problem. Poverty is bad." Gee, thanks for that deep insight Brad Pitt.
So that's my rant for today. A big middle finger extended to MTV for once again forgetting that the M once stood for music, and for thinking that we wanted to see their commentators more than watch the performances.