In The Fascist Bathroom: An Analysis

First created and aired in the early 1980s, MTV was viewed as a technological revolution, and as an innovative new way to distribute music to mass audiences worldwide. It had tremendous success; however, some critics suggest that it became increasingly superficial and more scripted as time went on. Greil Marcus, one such critic of MTV’s effect on pop music culture, articulates his idea that ultimately, MTV became a platform that had more to do with giving global audiences what they expected or wanted to see, and less about spreading new music. In his book “In the Fascist Bathroom: Punk in Pop Music”, Greil Marcus, while discussing MTV’s evolution, suggests that eventually, “Everything you see is second-hand, third-hand – received and reified”