Ok Go and Music Television

I think it's pretty much impossible to analyze 21st century pop music without talking about MTV. Their broadcasts of music videos gave artists a new opportunity to reach audiences with their creativity. The music video gave rise to a new level of artistic expression that goes beyond the music and lyrics of a song. With visual aid, artists are able to tell the story of a song exactly how they want it to be told. Many people are familiar with the first videos to be played on MTV in the 80s (Video Killed the Radio Star, etc) and how they set the expectations for consumerist pop culture addicts. But since the beginning of this visual phenomenon, artists have been expanding the repertoire of music videos to go beyond simply supporting a song. A great example of a band who has essentially created their success using music videos is Ok Go, whose videos feature single take shots of intricate choreography acted out by the band members themselves. While the songs that correspond to the videos are obviously what people buy on the album and download on the internet, the action of the videos really takes the spotlight over the music itself. (Here are some links if you want to check them out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKythlXAIY , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12zJw9varYE&feature=related ) Lady Gaga also has taken the idea of music video to a new level with the 9 minute long video for her hit single "Telephone," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBsypHzF3U ).

While MTV definitely is not all about music these days (in fact, they seem to have more reality shows than music programming), the station did help to revolutionize American popular music and give artists an outlet for greater creative expression.