An announcement was made recently that MTV will be bringing back Total Request Live also known as TRL. A huge part of pop culture in the late 90’s and early 00’s was TRL. It helped propel careers of Britney Spears, N’SYNC, Backstreet Boys and many others. Then the backlash of the pop stars with Korn, Limp Bizkit and Eminem. Hell, it’s made Carson Daly a television host for the last decade or so. The question is will this be popular again or just a television network trying to bring back something from yesteryear?

We are obsessed with nostalgia in today’s day and age. Brands will bring back anything if they think it’s going to make them a dollar or two. MTV has their cornerstone content, but they haven’t really made any waves in the past few years with something new. This is why they’re trying to recapture audiences by bringing back things like ‘Fear Factor’ and now ‘TRL.’ I do think there are still rabid fans who will care about artists where it will be the packed Times Square to see whichever artist peak out a window.

Pop music is humming at a good rate, and there will be artists that should get a good bump from something like this yet does the anti-pop exist at this point? I’m not sure. Hip-hop is probably more mainstream than early 2000’s, but I do feel thtat still blends into the pop music. Tough to see a Korn-type emerge from this rejuvenation because there simply is not one.

Daly was a dweeb who thought he mattered more than he did yet he held the ship together just enough. MTV needs that again with whoever ends up hosting.

Charlie.