Extra, Extra, Read All About It: Internet Killed The Media Star

The first video ever played by MTV was for a song called “Video Killed the Radio Star” by a group called the Buggles. It was the only thing of note the band did, but with that one mindless bit of pop fluff, they became an icon; that song is now recognized as a pop culture benchmark. It signifies, in the ideology of multiple generations, the beginning of the age of MTV. Music became visual. It became fashion. It ushered in a new generation of entertainment, and in a culture that worships entertainment above all else, it granted this insignificant band a measure of immortality.

The Buggles themselves had nothing to do with the revolution they coined; ironically, they were essentially caught in the nova and banished into obscurity. And the revolution hasn’t slowed a bit. Every aspect of our lives has become bigger faster brighter flashier cheaper easier. Forums and meccas are tossed aside like old laundry. The record begat the 8 track begat the cassette begat the cd begat the mp3 begat the ipod. The beta spawned the vhs spawned the dvd spawned the blue ray. Radio wasn’t killed, precisely; it just lives in our phone with our camera/ video recorder/ calender/ arcade/ and the whole damned internet.

We don’t watch television, we TiVo it. Libraries will soon go the way of Fahrenheit 451, since i carry one in my laptop, great grandchild of my Apple IIe. And now, we…. yes we, as in you and I, are doing our part to kill a piece of heritage. One of the symbols of our heritage, our culture, and what we represent as a people is teetering on the precipice of extinction, and you and I are going to push it in.

The Newspaper, my friends, is in it’s death throes. And while this is a sad passing; from the paperboys screaming headlines in the 20’s to the Rockwellian images of the all American boy with the bell and basket full of the afternoon edition to the historic headlines… it isn’t one to mourn. It is simply another of the pubescent jackets we throw off as we evolve. Our headlines no longer come from the Times or the Tribune or the Gazette; we now stare over our reconstituted microwaved in 45 seconds eggs and sausage at our razor thin notepad.

So take a moment now; for we will certainly be far too busy gadgeting to notice when it does pass… to look back at a genuine piece of Americana. Remember how it affected you, and, like the Buggles, benchmarked so many moments in your life.

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