No more world to conquer

Press, 19 April 1989, Page 19

No more world to conquer

Ruth Ranker

on television

“The World Music Video Awards” were irresistible viewing for me even though I didn’t find them particularly good entertainment. The pretensions were monumental! This programme was definitely not into the educative process. It was designed for hardened aficionados who could bring the weight of memory and rock mythology to the 20second clips we were given. Nevertheless, I got a buzz out of settling down in my electronic cottage with what the hype told me were 750 million other earthlings, and skipping from inter-continental link-up to link-up.

It was touching to see the human fraility of the link-people who had to struggle with stop-watches and live performance. They wouldn’t have been out of place in a local pub. Even Buster Poindexter spoke gauchely of his “intense thrill” at “being here.”

What a contrast to the electronic grooming of the video-clips themselves! If any modern art form is universal it’s the music video. It’s a sort of visual and aural virus that manages to thrive in all postindustrial cultures. Makers of such programmes argue that there is now a world pop culture shared by 12-to-35-year-olds, and that 25-

year-olds in Australia, Germany, Britain, Canada, and now Russia have more in common with each other than they do with their parents. They say that recent advances in video, communications and marketing have created similar global attitudes and consumer habits. As I watched the haloed hagiography of the Bee Gees, it occurred to me that the various stations of our lives can be conjured up with increasing accuracy by the deft choice of appropriate pop songs. Some people go so far as to suggest that music videos are only another

demonstration of how America has always invaded us through entertainment

Others.argue that the music video is a new form of entertainment. Toss away story-lines, powerful music and stunning images will cross all cultural barriers.

Certainly the MTV cable-music channel believes so. It has staked out deals in 24 countries on five continents.

What intrigued me in this Philips and Pepsisponsored version, however, were the differences between national styles. Midnight Oil follows a different track on big issues from the German group that Nina Hagen introduced, which crossfertilised yodelling with a form of Bavaro-Austrian rap. The unity consisted of the way both groups took delight in blowing up cultural shrines. This reminds me of the energy of the dadaists in Paris in the twenties more than anything. Bunuel would have loved it all. There was lots of selfconscious “this is a historical moment” talk. New York thanked Russia for joining the world of rock and roll. But we should really thank Mr Nixon for introducing the Russians to the Pepsi empire in the 19605. It was the beginning of the end for collective soft drink.

The first words we heard from the Moscow stage were “Planet Earth welcome.” "Everywhere I go the kids want to rock,” ran the first number. Kidsglasnost? The songs may have had Russian concerns, but the video clips showed other things. There was the young man on top of a steam train rushing through birch forest sounding for all the world like a Tolstoyesque Dylan. He was followed by a Muscovite Johnny Rotten, and Ana Pugacheva singing a ballad to what appeared to be frankly revanchist images of social and sexual inequality-

So what has 70 years of collective comradeship really achieved under the new shadow of the satellite footprint?

Michael Jackson is the greatest star in Pepsi’s stable. Was that the connection with the five million Russians who voted for his video "Dirty Diana?” Or is it that nothing can beat the electronic Busby Berkeley wizardy of his combination of music, movement and lighting?

How does one comment on someone who has won a global lifetime achievement award at 27 — from one of his employers? There’s no more world to conquer.