there’s no alternative to high definition

does anybody remember this mtv show?

it’s done some time on mtv2 i just found out, and only got cancelled from there in 2013. who knew? what i DID know was that they started showing it before that on vh1 classic, originally as one two hour block and later as two one hour blocks – but while the mtv2 version focused on more modern alternative music, and the infinite genres now therein like indie hip hop and turntablism and edm and such the vh1 classic version focuses on shit from the original run of the show, the “golden age” as i’d call it, from 1986 to 2000. i remember it running on sundays for two hours, and then there as “post modern” on weeknights, but that was only a half hour or so and only ran into the early nineties. these shows helped break alternative acts like depeche mode, the cure, new order, siouxsie & the banshees and such into the mainstream. soon what was “alternative rock” would be labeled “grunge”, go into heavy rotation, and lines would begin to eternally blur between popular and alternative rock genres, but never mind that now…

…back to the 120.

i used to record 120 minutes and let it run in the background while i cleaned and such, but then i discovered mtv’s clubland (modern edm with only occasional classics) and started using that in that regard, so 120… fell by the wayside. i recently rediscovered it and decided it would be fun, plus it will, every now and again, remind me of some 1980’s alternative gem i’d forgotten about and don’t actually own…

…yes, believe it or not, that can happen.

but i tried to do something today after fixing mr. gray’s door that i just couldn’t sit through – actually WATCH some of the videos. sure, they’re campy and the effects can be lame, but you expect that given the era. the thing i CAN’T get past is the fact they’re not high-definition. this should be the MOST forgivable offense seeing as how high-definition didn’t even fucking EXIST back then…but i’m not used to it any more, so it seems “off” to me and i just couldn’t do it…i actually just turned up the volume so i could hear it clearly (brian ferry’s “slave for love” is on as we speak) and i came in here to type this bit…

…them some white folk problems right there.