Better than last year but really, is that saying much?

[jlh]

So I was watching the VMA's on a big tivo time delay because I hate ads, but I ff'd through so much shit that I ended up watching it live.

• Someone needs to tell John Norris that he is too old to try to look like the 5th member of Jordan Catelano's band. Wearing eyeliner once your eyes have done that post-40 sinking into your head thing is not a good look.
  
• I want to be at the Foo Fighter room party.
  
• Britney was really not good. I don't know how many Ativans she had to take to get herself up on that stage, but she had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look. She had a bad wig (and we all know it's a wig, so be like Cher and make it a good one), a sparkly bikini that her stomach wasn't ready for (talk about a bad side angle), and boots she didn't look comfortable in. She wasn't singing but she didn't really dance either—there was a great shot of 50 Cent in the crowd clearly watching one of the dancers on the poles. She just tottled around on her boots and had the male dancers lift her up.
  
• Sarah Silverman was awesome, though.
  
• I know that 50 Cent and Kanye were supposed to be all tough but I thought they just looked adorable, especially when Kanye went up on his tip toes to be 50 Cent's height.
  
• I don't really understand that dress Beyonce was wearing. She needs to thank the lord for tape, though, as that thing was barely covering her breasts.
  
• Chris Brown was beyond amazing. That MJ quote? I adore him as a performer. I just wish his songs were more interesting.
  
• Who is this Kelly Sweet person and why does she think it's interesting to sing "Dream On" sounding like Enya?
  
• JT's constant calls for MTV to play videos rules me. Especially when he's saying it after the girls from the Hills have just given him an award.
  
• I still want to be at the Foo Fighter's party.
  
• Whose bad idea is that Tila Tequila clusterfuck of a dating show? Those lesbians are going to kick those straight boys' asses. Please.
  
• JT and 50 Cent are my new favorite thing.
  
• What the hell, Tommy, with the cat calling your ex? "Tommy, stop it!" That was KLASSY.
  
• Anyone else think that song in the Pepsi ad—the one where the logo is a giant beach ball and the world is an outdoor concert bouncing it around—sounded like "Bohemian Like You" by the Dandy Warhols?
  
• Are we glad Linkin Park is back? I can't decide. I mean, they have like, taken notice of what's happened in music since they were around, but I was never into them in the first place, so.
  
• You know, I really love that Fall Out Boy isn't all about the lead singer, because then I get to sit here and think he's adorable in his little hats.
  
• What I want in a room party is to see the bed behind the singer. Also, Rhianna + FOB = awesomeness.
  
• I love that Alicia Keys is hot liek woah AND fully clothed. Also OMG that "Freedom" cover was fantastic!
  
• Did Tommy and Kid really get into a fight?
  
• Every day really IS Dre Day.
  
• How great was the whole Timbaland thing at the end? How great is it that Nelly Furtado and JT are all, sure, I'll do a medley for Tim!

I am so like, glued to mtv.com for those room party performances.

Comments

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Britney was really not good. I don't know how many Ativans she had to take to get herself up on that stage, but she had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look.

I didn't see it live but lightstarangel pointed me to it on dlisted.com. It was pretty pathetic.

[scrabble.livejournal.com]

I've only seen Britney's performance. My goodness. I don't understand why no one said something at all about the eighty things wrong with her ensemble and performance. Even had she accurately performed the dance moves rather than stumbled through them, it would have been a pretty lacklustre performance. Why did no one say anything about the wig/extensions? The outfit? The missing fingernail? The boob overflow? Yikes.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I saw some footage of her rehearsals and she looked better in those, a little more energetic, so I really do think that nerves got to her somehow, so she calmed herself down artificially.

I shudder to think what the extensions looked like in high definition. Ew. And apparently now Kanye is all pissy that he lost an opening slot to that, and while I understand MTV's decision I kind of don't blame him.

[tartpants.livejournal.com]

Your cut-tag says it all: I was going to do a post about how the VMAs used to be the big skip and how I remember staying up with my sisters to see if Pearl Jam would win for "Jeremy." The whole production seemed really lame to me now, and I can't tell if it's cos I'm older or if it's cos MTV has gone super downhill. Anyway, I don't know if I'll do the post now because I've kind of said what I was going to say here, in condensed form. :D

[jlh.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that it used to be packed with performances, and then later with both performances and really funny taped packages. Part of it is that the pop and hip hop artists want to do medleys rather than one song straight through because they look at it as a naked promotional opportunity. I'm not sure what that shift is about, but very little of any interest has happened since Snoop almost got arrested, or that guy from Rage climbed up onto the set, which ever was most recent. Part of that is that it used to be a sort of parody of an awards show, but as those shows are even less watched that parody doesn't work. But I think another part, as JT kept pointing out, is that no one thinks of MTV as being a music network. They used to be steeped in music but now they are more about teen culture, and teen culture is more about "everyone is a celebrity" or whatever, and those weird half-scripted reality shows. (I continue to love JT screaming about not wanting reality shows when the girls from The Hills had just given him an award.)

I would think it was me being too old if I was like, "Take off that dang Panic!At the Disco and play some real music!" but that isn't the problem. If they'd played some more music, no matter what it was, I would have cared more about the show than I did.

Also, I think it's a reflection, partly, of how fragmented the music industry is, that there were four room parties, one hip hop, one R&B/pop, one rock/pop, and one hard rock. With the artists flitting from one room to another, I think there's more crossover than the industry likes to think because radio and the labels are so silo'd. Certainly the whole ipod thing leads to people listening to music very much across genres, but no one knows how to sell it that way, because music is so personal. Too bad, really; I think there were much more interesting performances going on at the room parties than on the main stage. Maybe we're moving back into a time when artists would rather perform than put on a show?

[mmichelle.livejournal.com]

Britney Spears... ack. She needs to do about 5000000 more crunches before she will be ready to be strutting around in a bikini. She should have been going to the gym 6 days a week for months if she really wanted to do that.

I don't watch the VMAs.... the last one I watched was seriously probably 2003 or so. MTV is so depressing nowadays that the VMAs are depressing by association. It sort of sucks. Right now, music industry = sad

[scrabble.livejournal.com]

See, I watched those and I remember the ontd comments were all, "What? She looks like she's just marking it," and then it was, "Well, that's just rehearsal, she'll look fine tomorrow," but then it was like the same thing.

Kanye is being a little bitch about it. He does have a valid point in that she has not had any hits lately, but then he closes his complaint with "maybe my skin's not right."