Various Artists
MTV Road Rules: Don't Make Me Pull this Thing Over, Volume 1
(2002)
Reviewed by Michele Perry
There are always soundtracks popping up to popular TV shows. And while reality based TV shows are now the trend, this is one genre where MTV was ahead of the trend, with both The Real World and Road Rules on the network for over ten years. And as MTV's TRL is the equivalent to the stock exchange for today's pop music, it seems they are trying to further their pull, trying to expose audiences to a style that does not often appear on the trendy channel. Thus, they have decided to create a soundtrack to Road Rules, and compile songs by mostly good bands. But it just lacks something...like creativity.
The MTV Road Rules: Don't Make Me Pull this Thing Over, Volume 1 compilation disk is nothing to get excited about. While we all know MTV does not play music, with the release of this disc, they make an attempt to show that they still know about rock music.
On the actual series Road Rules, music seems to be almost an afterthought; with songs added to help move the slow moving series along. It would not surprise me if only half of the people cast on this show can name five of the songs appearing on this compilation correctly, so the appearance of a few of these bands seems really odd.
The good thing about this CD is that the bands that appear on this disk are not the pre-manufactured boy bands and pop idols that appear in almost every movie soundtrack. They are actual musicians who happened to find an audience as a result of the rebellion against the aforementioned pop bands. They are hard working musicians who had a following before their videos began to show on cable music channels internationally.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this disc. It just seems to lack a sense of creativity when compiling the music. At least five of the twenty-one song album are comprised of the band's single/video for MTV, including Thursday's "Understanding In a Car Crash" and Dashboard Confessional's "Saints and Sinners." Both of these videos get a fair amount of airplay on MTV and MTV2. In addition, there are at least five bands appearing on the disk that get constant airplay with other videos, including Hoobastank and New Found Glory.
MTV did seem to make a small effort to introduce new bands to viewers whose entire music education is based on what MTV tells them. With appearances by Coheed and Cambria, Taking Back Sunday, and The Juliana Theory, MTV is trying to keep up with the rock music scene, in all of its genres. But that alone is not enough to keep this CD in my rotation.
My advice on this comp... If your musical preferences are not dictated by MTV, you probably have CD's by at least half of the bands appearing on this release. If not, and you are interested in exploring music that cannot be found on commercial radio or television, there are a ton of compilations that will do a much better job. But if you are an MTV junkie, and need a quick fix of what is "cool and trendy," then pick it up. You will get to hear many of your favorite songs and bands. Maybe you can find something new.
C
