MTV 20 Collection

Well, what can you say about a 20th anniversary collection of music videos celebrating MTV that omits The Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star," the very first music video the network ever played when it launched at midnight on August 1, 1981? While the CD MTV Compilation: 20 Years of Pop Music features tunes by Madonna, R.E.M., Beastie Boys, Alanis Morissette, Janet Jackson, Matchbox 20, etc., the Pop DVD in this 4-disc set (the other three discs are Rock, Jams and a bonus Beats disc featuring a measly six entries) serves up a decidedly less stellar set, including Big Country ("In a Big Country"), Lisa Stanfield ("All Around the World"), Aqua ("Barbie Girl"), and K-ci & JoJo ("All My Life"). It's not that the songs are bad (I love A Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran" and The Fixx's "One Thing Leads to Another"), it's just that the selections here seem to be a) totally arbitrary, and b) totally bland visually. In fact, it wasn't until Aerosmith's "Livin' On the Edge" (with its opening shot of a cadre of quasi-Catholic schoolgirls on roller skates sauntering down a residential street applying the business end of hockey sticks to the windows of parked cars) that I thought, finally, some genuine rock 'n roll imagery. Yes, there are highlights (some even subversive): the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Higher Ground," Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" (with its disquieting shot of Barbie on the barbie), Godsmack's "Voodoo," Usher's "My Way," Primus' "Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver" and Moby's "Bodyrock," but there are also visual duds aplenty in this relatively tame set (Monster Magnet's "Space Lord", Naked Eyes' "Promises, Promises," Monica's "Angel of Mine"). And with each of the main discs clocking in at just over 70 minutes, the collection feels more than a little stingy. Aside from the toss-off extra disc, the only real "extra" here is the "pop-up" factoid option, which is almost entirely limited to banal chart position tidbits (except for K-ci & JoJo's "All My Life," which--amidst fuzzy, warm nuclear family visuals that could have been the basis for an AT&T or Prudential commercial--reminded viewers that K-ci had been charged for exposing his genitals at a 2000 concert). A real hit and miss affair, this boxed set is still a strong optional purchase. considering the overwhelming popularity of the ubiquitous MTV brand. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)