I watched MTV Thursday night.

Now that Newlyweds is canceled (in more ways than one, sadly), I have no interest in watching MTV except that one Thursday Night a year known as the VMAs (Video Music Awards).
I do this to try to get a brief overview of what's currently "cool" in teenage pop culture.
Years past have had their share of shocking moments (Brittany Spears/ Madonna kiss), groundbreaking performances (P-Diddy honors Notorious B.I.G.), and laugh out loud bits (Will Farell climbing the tower).

Here's some impressions from the 2006 VMAs:

• I'm out of touch. Of the groups and people that actually won the awards, I had heard the music of Kelly Clarkson, All American Rejects, Pink, and the "You're Beautiful" guy (don't even know his name). I'm sure in my Rock n' Roll hay day I would've been very into many of these groups.
• The Broad Scope of "Cool". The reality seems to be that with the induction of I-tunes, You Tube, myspace, and other music promotion outlets, many, many artists are able to get their names out there. The 90s really seemed to bring in a bigger variety of genres into popular music. The current i-music age is bringing variety of "big names" inside those genres.
• Artists are the "Freaks". As I observed the fashion and look of the artists, I pictured them in the halls of High Schools. As they walk along, phrases like "He's trying too hard," or "What a freak" came to mind. In this case, I cheer for the artist, as I think, "Who's the Freak now?"
• Rock Bands are back. A lot of bands won awards. The Big "Solo Pop" artists (Madonna, Christina, Shakira) did not. Lou Reed pushed (with positive response) for MTV to return to more Rock Videos. From a simple taste of style point, this makes me happy.
• Hips Don't Lie. Sex sells. I know, big shocker. Clearly our world in general is still buying into and selling a distorted view of sex as all about body, physical pleasure, and treating individuals as object. Reference both Beyonce and Shakira (who are both very talented), or "Promiscous Girl's" deep and profound lyrics.
• Is Johnny Knoxville's gang still Funny? I hate to admit it, but those guys from that one show named after a donkey made me laugh a couple times. Why do I find it funny?
• God is "in" again. "The big guy" was thanked several times for his blessings, provision, and protection. All true. He deserves to be thanked. No problems there. Wouldn't it be cool if someone came up once and thaked God for being righteous, holy, sovereign, just, wrathful?
• OK Go. By far, the cooles (and most fascinating) part of the night was OK Go's live performance of their video that has exploded on YouTube (over 4 million views). I want some of our students to get this whole thing down so we can do it on a Wednesday Night. Check it out here.
• Idols. My biggest takeaway as I watched was the reminder of Commandments 1 and 2. "No other Gods" and "No Idols." In my journey, I've began to grasp the deeper heart of these commandments in that they are warnings against us trying to find answers, peace, and completion in people, places, or items other than God. This is my beef with MTV, and my struggle with Popular Music (be it CCM, Country, the Gaithers, Hip hop, whatever) is the appearance that the intent is to lift up the artist as a god. Unfair to the artist. Lies to the consumer. Defaming to the Almighty.

Overall, a fairly boring and unimpressive VMAs for 2006. Sorry Jack Black. You weren't very funny. Sorry screaming fans. There wasn't much to scream about. The hype is killing you MTV... which isn't that terrible in the end.