Hey there kids. Why don’t you guys come on over and have a seat? Maybe grab a snack and a blanket? Let’s all take our imaginations out, hop in the wayback machine and turn our attention back to a magical era called the mid-90’s.
Back before MTV and VH1 eroded into showcases for spoiled rich kids and dating shows filled with people responsible for spreading more disease than the monkey from Outbreak, they used to show videos. And I used to watch them.
There was a time when you could count on me committing $2.60 of my hard earned allowance every week on a blank VHS cassette so that I could tape 120 Minutes. It was a show that helped shape my musical tastes to this very day. It was important. And it mattered.
Yet, in a crazy world where the major music channels no longer carry any type musical content (and yes Chris Rock, the best rapper is white and the best golfer is black), there are still a couple of stations out there doing there very best to educated the masses and turn people on to new artists and music.
And I figured you guys just might be interested in hearing a little bit about them.
The best channel of all of them, far and away, is Palladia. They show a ton of live shows (ranging from the Foo Fighters at Wembley to outdoor festivals like Glastonbury or V Fest), artist showcases like Unplugged, Storytellers and Soundstage and have original programs like Crossroads, where two artists collaborate and play switched up versions of each other’s songs (I will totally cop to watching Def Leppard and Taylor Swift play Photograph together on their episode). In addition, for all you late nighters, they have a few hours of HD videos they show early mornings although the content usually ranges somewhere between country and hip-hop.
You can also catch some pretty rad live performances on HDNet (I DVR-ed both The Hives and Tenacious D last week) but the majority of their schedule is usually taken up by episodes of Arrested Development and Smallville. VH1 Classic plays music video re-treads from the 80’s and 90’s but every once in awhile they will throw you a ridiculous vintage concert like Queen or Thin Lizzy. And you can always count on PBS and Austin City Limits to give you a wide variety of both established musicians and up and coming bands to enjoy (with Explosions In The Sky and Ryan Adams being some of my favorite performers from the last couple of years).
And lastly, for all of you teenage babysitters and people who just can’t get enough Top 40, there is Fuse. I had big hopes for the station when it first came out but over the last couple of years they seem to be far more concerned with what has quickly become the mainstream and just which American Apparel hoodie is being worn by exactly which member of Gym Class Heroes (Or, just like The Warped Tour, maybe I just need to Murtaugh List it and admit that I am, in fact, getting too old for this shit?).
So there you go. There are still some places out there that think music deserves to have an important place on your television. Now go forth and enjoy them.
RSS
Archive
