Fight The Power...If That's Okay With You?

Okay, outright admission of bias here - as said previously, I like Nine Inch Nails.

But I find MTV's actions here to be laughable and pitiful. "The Hand That Feeds" is not an offensive song - it reflects a general theme of the album; finding out who you really are. So Trent wants to perform in front of a unaltered backdrop of Bush - so? But that was too much for MTV, who requested for Trent not to do that. Trent said, "See ya!"

Now, MTV has every right to say what happens on their station. And if they pay, they decide. I don't say they don't have a right to do this.

I do say, though, that what they did smacks of cravenness for these reasons.

a.)they like to portray themselves as edgy, but disallow this? Isn't this pretty much what rock n' roll is supposed to be, questioning authority?

b.)many of their reality shows are some of the worst on TV for celebrating bad behavior and being something you don't want your kids to see - but a pic of Bush, now, THAT'S bad news!

They were scared of the response they would get - truly, the spirit of music has died over there. Of course, given the fact that MTV needs to drop the M anyway, we knew that already.