It was 25 years ago today, on Aug. 31, 1984, that MuchMusic went on the air. In the United States, MTV had already caused a sensation. In those pre-Internet, pre-500-channel universe days, the arrival of an all-music video channel was a seismic shift in the media universe.
Much was not MTV, to the relief of everyone who cared in Canada. While MTV was bland and predictable, Much was raw, on-the-fly TV. The VJs weren't so slick and they often improvised a bit of comedy. They laughed when things went awry. Sometimes they cursed. They sought out interesting, unknown Canadian bands and gave them oodles of attention. And it was never just about music.
They're not doing much to mark the anniversary at Much. That's their choice. Maybe Much doesn't want to look old, to mark milestones and remind today's viewers that the channel existed long before they were born. Fair enough. But it's worth noting that there was time when MuchMusic was glorious TV and it mattered.
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In the annals of Canadian politics, for instance, MuchMusic matters. It was June of 1993 and Much was taking Canadian politics seriously. It paid considerable attention to the Progressive Conservative Party's leadership convention to elect a successor to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. One of the Much VJs covering the convention was Master T. While reporting from outside the building where the event unfolded, Master T spotted Mulroney arriving. He was just a few feet away. "Yo, Brian, whassup?" Master T said by way of greeting and introduction. Mulroney ignored him, and walked past, a look of disgust on his face. On one of his last days as PM, Mulroney had finally encountered a question that left him speechless, and no amount of experience or advice from the backrooms had prepared him for it. As low as his popularity was, it sank even lower at that moment.
Anyone who watched the Much coverage of the convention and the federal election that fall, saw many politicians squirm as a gang of VJs went on a quixotic quest to explain the political process to young viewers more familiar with Metallica than Mulroney. MuchMusic was engaged in its first, full-scale election coverage, and it was like nothing seen before on Canadian TV. The party leaders were profiled in short, snappy clips designed to resemble baseball cards. Musicians such as Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies were in the studio interviewing candidates on Much's newsmagazine show. Two VJs named Mike and Mike, who usually traipsed around the country looking for a party, explained the platform of political parties in segments called Politics 101. No one in politics was quite sure if MuchMusic should be taken seriously, but MuchMusic was dead serious about politics.
At the time, I interviewed Master T and found him unfazed by the onerous job of untangling politics for viewers who knew him as the epitome of streetwise, rap culture. "I'm not out there to make a fool of myself," he told me. "I read the papers and I know about the issues. I'm not interested in just hearing political jargon from these people - I want answers about youth unemployment and education. Some people say it was in poor taste when I said, 'Yo, Brian, whassup?' to the prime minister. I can only say that's how I get someone's attention."
With brazen cheek, the nation's music station called its first foray into election reporting "Vote With a Vengeance."
But it wasn't only the occasional political coverage that made Much a vital element in Canadian broadcasting. The on-air personalities had an emphatic charisma but didn't look created for TV. Remember the oddness of Erica Ehm, and the ditziness that could morph into a fine sense of humour? Remember the haughtiness of Monika Deol and the exuberance of Electric Circus? Much's free-form style and wing-it enthusiasm could lead to amazing moments that captured something indefinable in the air.
A few years ago, I was in the CHUM building in Toronto that housed Much and other specialty channels. While waiting, I noticed a billboard over the entrance to the MuchMusic area. The text referred to a Much event that had aired on the same day that Stockwell Day was elected leader of the Canadian Alliance Party.
The billboard had this written on it: "... a magnificent moment of Canadian TV was happening at the same time on MuchMusic. The Tragically Hip were doing an Intimate & Interactive that went on gloriously for hours. In the pouring rain, hundreds stood outside on Queen Street. Gord Downie, a man with more charisma in his little finger than any political leader and a greater understanding of Canada than all the Alliance candidates, was asked about misconceptions of Canada that he's encountered on the road. 'That Canadians aren't patriotic,' he said dryly. Then, in one of those spontaneous moments that only happen on TV, and happen cogently in the electronic Much arena, the crowd started singing O Canada. In salute to a rock 'n' roll band! It was a ragged rendition, but it cut to the heart of this country's culture, a culture alive and well at the corner of Queen and John in downtown Toronto - ahead by a century - and absent at that Alliance convention in Calgary. It was political and profound and made me thankful for television and the multi-channel universe, and the ironies it reveals." I was taken aback, because I wrote that for this newspaper. And it was true.
These days, Much is a different channel in a very different era. It is significant but in a less profound way. The media world has changed, as it must. The onus to cut to the heart of the country's culture is on other TV channels and other media. But some lessons can be learned from those days when MuchMusic was glorious TV and it mattered.
And with that I leave you for two weeks. Dublin, Vienna, Bratislava. For the soccer. Andrew Ryan and Kate (not a cat person) Taylor will be your guides.
****
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Food Jammers (Food Network, 8 p.m.) is new. Now in its third season, the show features "Food Jammers" Micah Donovan, Chris Martin and Nobu Adilman who have an eccentric, rock 'n' roll approach to food, cooking and food science. That means wacky but educational. In the first program tonight, they'll turn a ton of apples into hard apple cider using a DIY apple crusher/juice extractor. In the second show at 8:30 p.m., the quest is to create an ATM - "Automated Taco Machine," and it's one if those 'you have to see it to believe it' shows. No joke.
The Closer (SuperChannel, 10 p.m.) is new and into its fifth season. An offbeat crime drama aimed more at grown-ups, it remains a marvellous vehicle for Kyra Sedgwick, who dominates. She plays Brenda, an expert interviewer, famous for closing cases by extracting confessions. In this season, she leaves Atlanta to join an elite L.A. homicide squad. But her new colleagues don't trust the wacky Southern-belle type. The crime stories in The Closer are mundane but Brenda is one hell of a mesmerizing character and Sedgwick is wonderfully loose and lovely as a mature, assured manipulator. J.D.
Check local listings.
