No Rock And Roll Fun

FIFTEEN SPIRIT: MTV have added up all the videos they've played in the fifteen years since they first launched in the UK, and are probably somewhat surprised to discover that Smells Like Teen Spirit is tops. The rest of the chart is kind of odd, too - Wonderwall rather than J-Lo? And what the hell is that Soundgarden track doing there? Third most played video of all time? The full line up is
1. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana.
2. Wonderwall - Oasis.
3. Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden.
4. Sabotage - Beastie Boys.
5. Loser - Beck.
6. Buddy Holly - Weezer
7. Ironic - Alanis Morissette.
8. Virtual Insanity - Jamiroquai.
9. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve.
10. Losing My Religion - REM.
11. No Scrubs - TLC.
12. Are You Gonna Go My Way? - Lenny Kravitz.
13. Don't Speak - No Doubt.
14. The Real Slim Shady - Eminem.
15. Frozen - Madonna.
- all of which goes to show that MTV is - far from being the taste of youth - the preserve entirely of middle-aged men who still think they're hip and people who buy their CDs from those adverts on late night telly. If I'd have been MTV, I'd either have fudged this chart and lied, or else abandoned it altogether. Next time anyone tries to talk about MTV to you, you should look at them and say "the station that played Frozen more often than Beautiful Stranger." Or maybe "the station that played Lenny Kravitz a lot."