Wow. I posted a casual question about MTV and VH1's Live 8 coverage, and the readers responded in droves. The general consensus is that MTV royally screwed up this event. Here are some choice comments:
"I totally agree. The MTV broadcast has been a joke. It's a mesh of
random clips of parts of songs of various artists with a bunch of
random interviews and talking. And I want even start on the f-ing
commercials every 10 mins." -- Kristen
"It seems like everything is highly edited and I'm wondering if the performers were told not to mention the US government" -- Elvis of Dallas
"The MTV and VH1 coverage are identical, and pitiful. The sound quality
is very poor, and we are seeing way too much of their "reporters" and
such ... They completely ignored
Sarah McLachlan and did not broadcast it at all. I'm so disappointed." -- JKL
"The BBC is showing everything! Not a single advertisement in sight! The
BBC rules! Great piece of socialism seems to have kicked MTV's
commercial arse. :D" -- Wai-Tung Leung
"The U.S. MTV/VH1 coverage is horrible...I wouldn't even consider it
coverage. It's a commercial fest padded with their personalities
jabbering on about God knows what with the bands playing in the
background." -- Denise
You said it, not us: MTV/VH1 sucks
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Unfortunately, MTV and VH1 turned themselves into "A JokeBox" playing noise! Watch broadcasts from Paris, Rome or London and notice musicianship comparing to cities in USA. Shame!!!
My band belongs there! RELIC
Posted at 10:28PM on Jul 2nd 2005 by Count Sebastian
3. Unfortunately, MTV and VH1 turned themselves into "A JokeBox" playing noise! Watch broadcasts from Paris, Rome or London and notice musicianship comparing to cities in USA. Shame!!!
My band belongs there! RELIC
Posted at 10:55PM on Jul 2nd 2005 by Count Sebastian
4. The nerve, the unbelievable balls to cut in on "Comfortably Numb" with your worthless driveling endless MTV blather and cut off the end of the song. The Pink Floyd reunion was a sacred event. Your tongues should be cut out.
Posted at 11:05PM on Jul 2nd 2005 by julie
5. I agree with the others. I literally sat there and yelled at the TV. Amazingly disrespectful to the music and the message. It was like 50% commercials, 25% VJ blabbering and 25% music. Very disappointed in MTV, but what should I have expected from those people....
Posted at 11:13PM on Jul 2nd 2005 by Jim
6. Viacom, one of the darlings of Corporate America needs to be congratulated on making more money today. Thanks to them the aggressive ignorance that permeates the american p.o.v. will remain. This country is a complete fucking mess,and MTV/VH1 can go Fuck itself. My deepest apologies to those without access to a computer or cable Tv. Let's keep everyone consuming everything in sight never to question authority, never to ponder the world outside of them and hugely obese!!!!
Thank you AOl for finally getting it right though I suspect it was a fluke I'll take it!
Posted at 11:14PM on Jul 2nd 2005 by Ursulla TAdlock
7. Wow!
What a small Globe we live in! I have seen Relic perform live and also on the WebCast Live. They do belong on the stage and crowd of Live8!!! They were featured on MTV during The Battle of The OZz Fest' made it to the top!!!
SHAME on Sharron & OzY
After all, I've seen them perform for 3 hours non stop' IN THE FULL MEDIEVAL ARMOUR!
Wow, my local heros... Relic
Guys, PLEASE do not give up. Give us hope, you guys are no band that I could compare you with.
Posted at 11:17PM on Jul 2nd 2005 by Vitold
8. Not only did they cut in on "Comfortably Numb," but they did it to FUCKING tell us how COOL Pink Floyd is. We KNOW that! How about shutting your pie holes and letting us enjoy this historic reunion!!??
The AOL feed wasn't working for me (Mac probs?), so the whole day was fucked, musically.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, they did Live Aid right and went backwards 20 years later. Pathetic.
Posted at 11:42PM on Jul 2nd 2005 by Mark Rabinowitz
9. I agree. I tried to watch VH-1. I knew Empty-V had the same thing. I remember watching Live Aid back in the eighties and dont recall adverts every 7 minutes. It was magical. So now 20 years later I loged online to AOL and even though I hate getting those stupid discs in the mail they got my vote on the best coverage of Live8. The Who and Floyd was the best Ive seen them in years. WOW!!!!!!!!!
Posted at 12:18AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by TC
10. People...people, MTV meant to broadcast "Live Ache" not "Live 8" in the US.
I said this before, this is the reason why this country seems to be completely disconnected from the rest of the world.
Instead of sharing this great event with this country they decided to give us the usual sh*t from corporate America. What really matters is $$$ for stock holders.
Who gives a f**k about the 3rd world in the US? ...I can say it's just sad.
If you really care then just go to the following MTV link and give them a piece of your mind. The more we do, probably next major event in 20 years will be broadcast as it should.
http://www.mtv.com/news/youtellus/
peace!
Posted at 1:08AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by Edgar Gonzalez
11. I didn't even bother to change the channel to MTV. CTV had such awesome coverage starting at 7am this morning and it's just now finishing up. They showed a full 5 hours of repeat performances so we got to see Pink Floyd and others do it all over again. Awesome job!
Posted at 1:13AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by Pam
12. Judy McGrath (President of MTV)is responsible for the horrible broadcast today. Since she took over the network, it moved away from music and toward the kind of trash programming that helps kids develop ADD and lowers the basic cultural level. She is a real powerful woman and a real danger. Sumner Redstone should have her fired.
Posted at 1:42AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by Doug
13. mt and vh1 was garbage. i watched a live feed off of aol. when floyd came on, i ran over to the tv and started my dvr but watched it live online. when i went to see what my dvr record, i was surprised they didn'o easy tot really interrupt floyd....UNTIL the middle of Comfortable Numb. sweet god all mighty, do not interrupt Comfortable Numb. good job mtv and vh1 for screwing up something that was so easy to cover. just set your damn camera up and hit record. we don't need interviews, we don't need to talk to random people in the crowd, and we don't need VJ's acting like they even know who Pink Floyd is...
sounds likes the BBC got it right.
14. I tried to find a way, very early, to get through to the MTV/VH1 idiots. Posted at 1:16 PM ET on Jul 2, 2005
1. I'm probably crazy to think anybody from the broadcast booth will see this, but please if you see this, and if you give a crap about the issue Live 8 is targeting, stop with the assinine commentary from the lame MTV/VH1 personalities, stop the lame interviews with celebrities who have nothing better to do that get their face on camera, stop with the hypocritical commercials, and just show the fucking music. It's about the fucking music you boneheads. People will tune out, and then the message is lost. Just play the fucking music, and stop all the other bullshit.
Posted at 5:30AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by Ripped off american viewer
15. MTV's coverage was SO BAD, it is incomprehensible to me!
What is the excuse for cutting-off of major songs, to get commentary from idiotic "V-Jays"? What is the excuse for SO LITTLE actual performance air-time, when entire sets by major acts were completely ignored? Only after hours of viewing AOL's online feeds, am I begining to understand the scope of this UTTER FAILURE on the part of MTV!
Live 8 was this generation's Woodstock, and it was uniquely wonderful in it's international aspects with so many venues - it is unbelievable that MTV couldn't anticipate constant performances, with (perhaps) commercials shown in small PIP's (picture-in-picture), or scrawls at the bottom of the screen... BUT COME-ON, this wasn't a money-making telethon - it was a consiousness raising event; MTV has finally been buried by CORPORATE GREED.
Posted at 7:39AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by Mad American
16. I think my comments on my MySpace page (NonStopPop) said it all...
MTV and VH-1's coverage of Live8...SUCKED.
No, seriously, dude, that sh*t was AWFUL. Maybe it's just selective memory on my part, but in no way was MTV's coverage of Live Aid this f*cking bad. I waited and waited to see the concerts today, and I can't tell you how let down I was. For one, MTV and VH-1 showed the exact same feed, even though, with so many different concerts going on simultaneously, it would've been so much better to have each showing different artists. There was so much focus on the god-awful Philadelphia line-up, not nearly enough attention to London, and virtually no attempt to incorporate Paris, Rome, Berlin...even Canada was mostly ignored! I had to go online to see Brian Wilson, a-ha, Travis, Scissor Sisters...and I hear that Geldof sang something, but I never saw it. Nor did I catch any of the performances by the Cure, Muse, Duran Duran,
Robbie Williams, or God knows how many others. I heard part of the Pet Shop Boys doing "Domino Dancing" live from Moscow, but I didn't actually see it. And anyone who caught Annie Lennox's version of "Sweet Dreams" saw an incredibly kick-*ss performance. If there's not some sort of DVD release of these concerts, I won't lie to you, I might weep openly. MTV couldn't even be bothered to show the full performances of Pink Floyd, the Who, or even Paul f*cking McCartney!!!!!!! They were more interested in chatting with the slack-jawed yokels in the audience or having their own talking heads get face time. WHO CARES?!?!?!? What happened to it being about the music...??????
17. Okay, MTV & VH1 SUCK. I didn't expect them to do a good job they are a corporate comglomate that controls the music video industry (MTV, VH1, & BET). I tried to watch but couldn't watch because it was so choppy. The promotion for Live8 did more to move than the concert because of the way MTV ruined the coverage.
Posted at 8:32AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by Tonia
18. don't bother trying to comment to mtv
they are censoring all comments which trash their coverage
only the comments that rave about the cause are being allowed
how typical
Posted at 8:41AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by E
19. I'll never watch MTV again. Cutting off Pink Floyd!!!!! BASTARDS! And I WON'T buy any DVD to see the full songs they cut off by most other artists also. Whoever planned the coverage of these shows really fucked up.
Posted at 10:08AM on Jul 3rd 2005 by Walt
20. mt and vh1 was garbage. i watched a live feed off of aol. when floyd came on, i ran over to the tv and started my dvr but watched it live online. when i went to see what my dvr record, i was surprised they didn'o easy tot really interrupt floyd....UNTIL the middle of Comfortable Numb. sweet god all mighty, do not interrupt Comfortable Numb. good job mtv and vh1 for screwing up something that was so easy to cover. just set your damn camera up and hit record. we don't need interviews, we don't need to talk to random people in the crowd, and we don't need VJ's acting like they even know who Pink Floyd is...
sounds likes the BBC got it right.
1. They will still claim a ratings (money) victory. They did dedicate (sort of) eight full hours of coverage. Not everyone has the luxory of a broadband connection to enjoy the aol feed, etc. And they jammed War of the Worlds down our collective throat so far, me ass has been invaded. All hail the mighty advertising dollar.
Posted at 9:15PM on Jul 2nd 2005 by Donny