On February 2, 2008, Bad Brains were MTV’s artist of the week. This isn’t so shocking, in the sense that MTV had the good taste and sense to play Bad Brains the first time around, when Bad Brains were new to us and MTV was just a little baby channel that played music videos and nothing but. It also makes sense to promote Bad Brains now, since Build a Nation was released in 2007–of course the band has an interest in promoting their newest record.
What was strange was the sensation of hearing one of the most influential, innovative, and perfectly abrasive hardcore bands playing on MTV now, sandwiched between “The Hills” or “The Gauntlet III: Real World/Road Rules Challenge”. Needless to say, I don’t think anyone watches MTV for the music videos anymore. Yet for one solid week, Bad Brains were used in every teaser for upcoming shows, over the credits as shows ended, over every single PSA, and of course, heavily promoted on MTV.com.
So, what would the impact of all this be? How would the almost subliminal promotion of possibly the greatest underground band of this modern age trickle down to their fans, or MTV watchers who had never heard of Bad Brains prior to this exposure, or most importantly, to the band?
What about blogs that host Bad Brains files available for free download? Did their traffic increase? Was there a jump in sales? What would Jack Rabid over at The Big Takeover say? Rabid took the name for his music magazine from a Bad Brains song. What about critic Mark Prindle, who has conducted many interviews with the band over the years (and has a ton of searchable content)–did he get significantly more hits?
While the band is holed up in the studio working on new songs and planning a tour in South America, I tracked down Bad Brains’ longtime manager, Anthony Countey. I asked him to quantify what, exactly, was the effect of Bad Brains being on MTV. He said, “Everything was affected. It nearly doubled our sales. We saw a 175% increase for the greatest hits record.”
Digital information is still pending–it could very much be triple the usual amount.
So, how did it come to be that Bad Brains were MTV’s artist of the week in February 2008? Countey explains, “When MTV approached us, I’d been expecting them. It makes sense. The band has remained an icon for kids coming up in every generation, just because of what the band did. I expected them to get the respect they were given. Lyndsay [Siegel] from “Headbangers” is originally the person who made it happen. The people on that show put Bad Brains on their list as one of the 52 bands, and they came to us.”
Every piece of MTV promotion had Bad Brains music on it, and every teaser contained footage of the band–from today, from the Bad Brains Live at CBGB 1982 DVD (from MVD Video–do yourself a favor and buy it), to interviews with HR and Dr. Know. Incongruous, surprising, and ultimately wonderful.
“The people that run MTV love music,” said Countey. “They do what we do. They do it because they have no choice. They do it because they pay attention and care about music. Their influence is really positive. It isn’t that Bad Brains are being played all the time, but all the influence is good.” Did you ever think anyone would say this about MTV, today?
Countey says he hopes to work with MTV again. “I’m definitely pleased to have made new friends. The intention and what’s in the music itself is very positive and it’s fine to have a friend that will make it be heard by more people. The music won’t be commercialized because of this exposure, it will be recognized because of it.”
“One of the segments I saw was a PSA for condoms, and the music was perfect. Hearing the music made you pay attention, and that’s what a commercial needs. At the same time, you can’t actually commercialize Bad Brains’ music. It still is that new.”