Fun Fun Fun in the fluffy chair
Flame up the herb
Woof down the beer

Hi
I'm your video DJ
I always talk like I'm wigged out on quaaludes
I wear a satin baseball jacket everywhere I go

My job is to help destroy
What's left of your imagination
By feeding you endless doses
Of sugar-coated mindless garbage

So don't create
Be sedate
Be a vegetable at home
And thwack on that dial
If we have our way even you will believe
This is the future of rock and roll

How far will you go
How low will you stoop
To tranquilize our minds with your sugar-coated swill

You've turned rock and roll rebellion
Into Pat Boone sedation
Making sure nothing's left to the imagination

M.T.V. Get off the
M.T.V. Get off the
M.T.V. Get off the air
Get off the air

See the latest rejects from the muppet show
Wag their tits and their dicks
As they lip-synch on screen
There's something I don't like
About a band who always smiles
Another tax write-off
For some schmuck who doesn't care

M.T.V. Get off the air
And so it was
Our beloved corporate gods
Claimed they created rock video

Allowing it to sink as low in one year
As commercial TV has in 25
"It's the new frontier," they say
It's wide open, anything can happen

But you've got a lot of nerve
To call yourself a pioneer
When you're too god-damn conservative
To take real chances.

Tin-eared
Graph-paper brained accountants
Instead of music fans
Call all the shots at giant record companies now

The lowest common denominator rules
Forget honesty
Forget creativity
The dumbest buy the mostest
That's the name of the game

But sales are slumping
And no one will say why
Could it be they put out one too many lousy records?!?

M.T.V.-Get off the air!
NOW


Lyrics submitted by Ice

MTV-Get off the Air Lyrics as written by Eric Reed Boucher Darren Henley

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

MTV - Get Off The Air song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

93 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +3
    General Comment

    Obviously not that obvious. It's not just about MTV... it's about how the media ruins every subculture/musical movement through commercialising something and then selling it back at us, think postmodernism. MTV is used as an example of that, like an ebodyment. Look at the punk movement, and where it has ended up now; all these stupid half-assed pop-punk bands that are about as political as a cabbage.

    MercyKilleron June 03, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    @wearesuperhero:

    I have to disagree with your comment that things become popular by being good at what they do. I think that's not specific enough. Things become popular by being sold and marketed well. Look at McDonald's. They sell the most burgers in the world. Does that mean that they have the best burgers in the world? Hell no, their burgers taste like masking tape. Musically, look at Nickelback. They're really popular, but whenever I hear one of their songs, I fall asleep. All of their songs sound the same as well as sounding like a bunch of other bands (Creed, Seether, Hinder, Shinedown) at the same time. And yes, most of the time when a band becomes popular they start to suck. It's not because of the popularity itself, but most of the time the band changes their sound. Look at Green Day, does Kerplunk sound the same as whatever their shitty new album is called? Or The Clash, their debut album sounds nothing like Combat Rock. I have listened to a lot of mainstream music to decide for myself whether I like it or not and 99% of the time I don't. I'm not making a conscious decision to not like the music, it just doesn't do anything for me.

    almaniac27on August 01, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    lol mtv doesn't ruin songs its just that the music that they put on mtv is already terrible. even back in the beginning when there were some good bands on mtv and less reality shows, it still sucked

    yutsion September 01, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    That's just ignorant saying MTV turned punk rock into pop rock... Your giving MTV more credit then it's are due. It's just corporate fat cats and a new generation of kids who were never exposed to decent music(Hint as to why it's called "New generation Punk" like sum 41, blink 182, etc). If you can shout profanities into a microphone and blame "society" or "the system" for all your problems, disregarding the complete vagueness of those words(but remember these kiddos have no idea what it's like to put faces on their problems so that they may confront them, so instead they commit blind acts of violence such as shooting up their schools or kill themselves.) Then you just happen to be a "punk" band, my friends. But hey guys, whats it matter if it's terrible music with a generic message, it's still punk, right? I'm not really even a fan of the word "punk", it is honestly just an insult these days when you look at what it has become. Now it has been reduced to just a fad. I see these ridiculous advertisements such as "Buy awesome punk clothes online" or "Meet awesome punk girls/guys online!" and it is just like what the fuck, really? When are a certain pair of blue jeans considered "punk"? because they have holes in them? yeah, that makes you a real fucking rebel when you buy your clothes to look just like the kid standing infront of you in line at the HOT TOPIC cash register.

    PsychoSocialskon May 15, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    its obvious...........mtv get off the air

    Audiovent Kittenon June 02, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Heh heh... political cabbage! Anyway, fuck mtv. Fuck the media. fuck the shallow music in the media today....

    myownprison333on June 05, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    MTV ruins rock. Turns punk rock into pop rock.

    Aerionon June 06, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    mtv fucking sucks, this song fucking rules.

    teenagefuckupon June 09, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I don't know how else to put it...mtv just sucks. it really really sucks. It's the worst peace of pretentious redundant crap..I just hate it.

    Luminaireon June 09, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    yeah, MTV does suck. TRL is the worst show on MTV though, u know a song is ruined right when it gets on TRL.

    SeXyMiSsYon June 09, 2002   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.