THE POP LIFE -nytimes

THE POP LIFE

MTV Is Wary of Videos on War
By NEIL STRAUSS

hough images of war are dominating television screens, one channel is not
having it. The day after the war in Iraq started, a memo was distributed
through the offices of MTV Europe by its broadcast standards department.

In the memo, Mark Sunderland, one of the department's managers, recommends
that music videos depicting "war, soldiers, war planes, bombs, missiles,
riots and social unrest, executions" and "other obviously sensitive
material" not be shown on MTV in Britain and elsewhere in Europe until
further notice.

The memo cites explicit examples. These include videos that relate directly
to the war in Iraq, like "Boom!" by System of a Down; videos with bombs
exploding, like Billy Idol's "Hot in the City"; videos with war scenes, like
Radiohead's "Lucky"; and even Aerosmith's "Don't Want to Miss a Thing,"
which has scenes from the action movie "Armageddon."

Taking further cautionary measures, the memo goes on to advise against
showing videos in which lyrics, song titles or even band names allude to
war, bombs or other "sensitive words." It mentions the songs "B.O.B (Bombs
Over Baghdad)" by Outkast; "You, Me and World War Three" by Gavin Friday;
and anything by the B-52's.

"I guess MTV doesn't have a research department, because from Day 1 we've
said in interviews that our name is a slang term for the bouffant hairdo
Kate and Cindy used to wear