by Abel Horwitz
Daily Lobo
For years MTV and its counterparts have been synonymous with popular culture. MTV decides, in a musical sense, who lives and who dies.
Since the early '80s, MTV has decided what people listen to. Within the last ten years, MTV has gone more from music videos into the depths of "Road Rules" marathons and cheesy game shows that last five episodes.
That's where MTV2 comes in. Once looked at as a savior of music videos - remember those confusing "24 More!" commercials? - MTV2 is now no more than a station created so MTV can say that it actually does play music.
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Right now, good music is actually popular. After the living joke of boy bands soured the palate of pop culture a "rock revival" occurred, and actual hard-working bands began to get their much-deserved spotlight again.
MTV chose a select number of groups to be their new thing - some of them have talent.
MTV2 has released an album, cleverly titled Handpicked, Volume 2 after, of course, Handpicked, Volume 1 which featured the likes of Cake, The Crystal Method, and the rock god Tenacious D. Now, in an effort to say what's cool, they've come up with 14 more songs to reflect the sounds of today.
The MTV2 Handpicked Compilation CD is pretty much what any self-respecting, media-whore of a college kid would already have burned off of the internet. There's no sustenance to this CD, it's all style, ranging in musical acts from The Hives to John Mayer.
The only bonding point on the CD is that all the bands they've compiled together were unknowns a year ago, and now live at the top of the charts as MTV's staple.
As far as compilations go, this one is done very well. Certainly the songs were carefully put together, taking the listener on a roller coaster ride starting with the hard rocking' wails of The Vines "Get Free" and rolling through OK GO's "Get Over It" into the annoyingly beautiful "In My Place" by Coldplay.
From there the album goes soft, settling into a string of piano or guitar-laced slow pop with songs by Norah Jones and the Doves. The CD delivers what it promises - a group of up and coming artists doing what they do best.
The album is a must have if you don't know of any new music that's good. For the rest, it's a chance to own an album that you've downloaded already, plus three pretty cool video clips. It's a sample platter of really great artists, and an interesting listen, especially if you don't have cable.
