12 March 2008

A Backward Glance.

I've been combing through the detritus of a decade and wondering where some of the flotsam and jetsam come from. I puzzled over the bizarre longevity of Lenny Kravitz's career...I mean, has any other cover band outside Dread Zeppelin had so long a time in the limelight?

Today, I turn my attention to Pauly Shore. Is there any explaining this cretin's run as a VJ for the once-music oriented MTV channel? Or better yet, his ability to cash in on that improbable tenure with starring roles in several forgettable and regrettable films of the mid-1990's: Encino Man (1992), Son in Law (1993), In the Army Now (1994), Jury Duty (1995), and the execrable Bio-Dome (1996).

Pauly Shore's tenure at MTV coincides with the network's turn from a music-oriented format to a gimmick-laden, boob-heavy purveyor of "youth culture," a formatting change that saw the network go from popular to mega-popular. Having seized upon the formula of showing scantily clad young bodies during spring break, MTV execs could not look back and here we are today...

But enough of the large picture. Pauly's moment in the sun ended long ago, but the real question is not why it ended, but how it began in the first place at all (even knowing that he is the son of the founder of LA's "The Comedy Store")....

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