Kendra Brea Cooper
Thirty years ago, in the middle of terrible shoulder pads, retina-burning neon, and hair far too high, a music station was born. Thirty is the new twenty in Much Music's "Forever Young" celebration. The station is like an archaeological dig, where the finds are pop culture treasures that tie together the history of music on Television.
Much Music's 30 year existence on television has made it a visual pop culture time capsule. Of course, while we're in it, we don't experience it as part of music history, it's only until we see the re-play that we do. The Forever Young Much Music specials give us a warm and fuzzy look back.
Some of Much Music's performances have a ground floor intimacy that shave all the excess show, leaving only the artist and their music. Watching the performance of young, pre-cooked artists is like stumbling upon a footage goldmine of almost famous nerves and excitement.
From Tupac's quotes about coasts to Kevin Federline being dumped over a cell, Much Music has served well as a spontaneous documentarian. It was pure reality television before the creation dominated every channel.
The VJs were the ones creating the conversations we wanted to hear. They interviewed in studio (and still do), they travelled to the homes of artists for more candid shots and stories, and had brilliant personalities themselves ( and still do). Some have moved on to other things, like George Strombo and Rick Campanelli. We rely on them to ask the questions we cannot, because they are the voice in between.
The 1980s, when music was crossing into the visual and the scene became available in our living rooms, was an exciting time for a new channel. Image and music started to extend beyond album booklets and music posters. The illusion of being closer to your favourite artist was amplified by Much Music and the story was no longer told just from the song. It changed the way music is consumed forever.
One great thing about any kind of music television is that it's always capturing and documenting. Much Music is keeping a blog of it's history that reads like the greatest pop culture diary ever written. It's a great opportunity to step back and see it all in one.
For the 30 year celebration, artists Tara Paquette and Ameesha Earnshaw have created posters that use what we remember most by our eyes. These are the images that stick out, the ones that couldn't be created in full without the emergence of music television. They glue generations together because of familiarity and their ability to nail history down with a few simple images.
The main draw to the channel is music, and that's because songs attach themselves to our memories, define our stories, and follow us through our many lives. Music has the power to revive buried feelings and time periods, because it's the ultimate time machine, re-creating long lost moments through sound.
Much Music offers us the chance to step back and really get a deep look into how our favourite artists have evolved throughout their careers. Everything from a change in sound to a change in hairstyle can be witnessed as the years go by. It's a telling script for how culture changes us and vise versa.
Just like we can watch the evolution of an artist, we can also witness the changes in pop culture through Much Music. We get see when some subcultures became mainstream, when popularity shifted from boy bands to rock bands and then back, and many other interesting sways in culture. While digging through old interviews, we get to see grunge in it's pure plaid covered form, Britney Spears at all stages of her famous life, and Napster's polarizing but revolutionary effect on music.
Pop culture and all that ideology sitting in the blind spot. Also crafts.
