Slash Shreds MTV Over What It’s Become

Some of our readers may be too young to remember, but there once was a time when MTV played music videos almost non-stop. From 120 Minutes to Total Request Live to Headbanger’s Ball, music and the artists behind said music were front and center. But then something changed and MTV stopped becoming the land of the music video and instead gave quarter to the likes of Snooki and reality shows.

One person that’s taken particular note is Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who took to Instagram to not only mark the cable channel’s 42nd birthday, but also call it out for becoming less and less about music over time.

“We just celebrated 42 years of MTV. But honestly, the MTV we grew up with, died in the ‘90s. Mtv should have always been about music videos. They should have used Mtv2 as the channel to air only shows. So if you wanted your shows, jump over to Mtv2 cuz Mtv only has music videos! Hell it’s in the name, Music Television….”

Guns N’ Roses rose to prominence in part due to their music videos, with “November Rain” being one of the more instantly recognizable clips on the channel back in the 90s.

I mean, the dude’s not wrong. Sadly, corporate money talks and that’s why we have the MTV that exists today. I remember the very tail end of MTV’s music video era and it was glorious getting to wake up in the morning before school and jam out. It gave me a feeling of what was making the rounds at the time and really helped piqued my interest in music as a whole. I know I’m not alone in that sentiment.