VH1 and MTV Remember 9/11

[thewho rocks <leb905@xxxxxxxxx>]

The VH1 show opened with The Who, included excerpts from all four
songs, and new interviews with Roger and Pete.  There are numerous
shots of DT during the rest of the show, including very heavily, the
finale.  Retrospect seems to show that Macca's set was weak, and he's
hardly featured.  There's great slo-mo footage of Pete with blue suede
shoes in the air (with Mick singing) before each ad.  They made a point
to mention that The Robin Hood Foundation has distributed about $15M. 
The promotion savvy Aerosmith got the follow up time slot.

The interviews are both excellent.  (Too much make up, Pete!)  VH1 has
caught DT in NYC for the current tour, as they've got on their tour
clothes, and both struck excellent chords.  Roger says he almost lost
it during "Behind Blue Eyes" because of a kid wearing his dad's helmet
in the audience.  

Interestingly, the following MTV show on pop culture changed (not) by
9/11 failed to mention the CFNYC completely--just like it never
happened.  They mentioned that the Heroes concert cd tanked and showed
numerous shots of semi-naked Britney before and after (not much
difference).  There's an excerpt from Melissa Etheridge's performance
but no mention of what she's doing.  Interview with a great-looking
Cheryl Crow.  The oldest entertainers featured are the articulate Moby
(who doesn't look anywhere near his age) and Bruce, who got quite a lot
of coverage for his new album THE RISING as an example of art dealing
with the disaster.  

I'm really scratching my head over this one.  How can CFNYC be such an
emotional turning point for thirty-somethings and up, and totally
invisible to the MTV generation?  More to the point--what will it take
for The Who to crack MTV?  Assuming that's desirable, of course.  Will
The Who ever find much of an audience in 13-year-old boys?

Whatever, there were a couple of interesting clues in this show.  John
Lennon and Bob Dylan were both mentioned as socially conscious
songwriters, and pictured as young men.  Does that make them more
relevant?  Presumably so.  

I suspect that the Seventies Roger might not fly too well on MTV, but
Pete should.  It wouldn't hurt to appear in a couple of shows the way
Lennon and Dylan just did, just to establish a little name recognition.


LB     

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God bless the thunder.  Love to The Who.
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