The FIRST MTV generation should remember when music videos were a work of artistic output. Now that Viacom has taken over, MTV is all about commercialism. They've come a long way ... down ... since masterpieces such as Guns & Roses' fascinating and enigmatic video for "Don't You Cry Tonight" got regular, uninterrupted airplay. Today, music videos are now simply a background mechanism for the marketing. It is annoying to watch. While the videos play on TRL, badly written comments from viewers scroll across the bottom or an inset video of some kid yakking aimlessly about how great the band is gets in the way. If parents let their kids watch this stupid, brain-jarring, simpleton of a show, then they should also have them watch the Frontline episodes "The Way the Music Died" and "The Merchants of Cool". These two programs should give them a solid understanding of what kind of manipulation they are under while viewing the 21st century MTV, what their favorite stars went through to get there, and may even save them from the level of commercial ignorance that has infected a good number of their peers.