VMA Wrapups Reveal That This Year’s Ceremony Didn’t Really Have A Big Watercooler Moment

noah | September 8, 2008 10:00 am
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From time to time, we like to round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. After the jump, we look at other publications’ reactions to last night’s Video Music Awards, the “meh”-ness of which we are still trying to process.

• “Britney bombs a year ago (although that opening was infinitely more entertaining than the one she did this time) and gets rewarded for it. Hooray for her. But you know what? MTV is just as far up its own ass as any pop star if it thinks that giving out three meaningless statues to Britney Spears constitutes a comeback for her. You all deserve each other.” [fourfour]

• “Looking in the past is something MTV never did well. Even when the present doesn’t look so good.” [Hartford Courant]

• “Of course not everyone who doesn’t wear a promise ring is slutty. And that’s the problem with the current culture wars: When it comes to rhetoric, there’s no middle ground. Either you’re a slut or a hopeless prude, and I’d venture to say that most people fall healthily in between. But choice of wording aside, I’m still mightily impressed with Jordin for standing up to the sex-sells music establishment. She’s not your typical pop starlet, and I love her for it.” [Boston Globe]

• “I’m pretty curious to see how this all translates to television, but from where I’m sitting it was…something. Thanks for hanging out with me, and sorry for the unexpected interruption. Now I’m gonna go drink myself into a stupor and try to take The Jonas Brothers’ virginity. Good night!” [Best Week Ever]

• [Something I didn’t get to because the VMA wrapup was a 20-page gallery. Guys, I know the importance of maximizing your clickthroughs–and your “turn everything into a gallery” strategy is sort of working right now–but sooner or later, your piss-poor information design is going to bite you in the ass.] [LAT]