Music Videos

Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Liberace. Not exactly names that spring to mind when you think of music videos. After all, these artists have never even been on MTV (well, except for Crosby, whose "Little Drummer Boy" duet with David Bowie is exhumed each Christmas). In fact, most of them did their best work without benefit of color TV. Nevertheless, they were an important part of television. In the '50s and early '60s, these veteran crooners, belters and musicians starred in variety series and specials - and from these, new music videos have been created.

Lacking the nostalgic charm of a Wurlitzer bubble jukebox, but delivering basically the same type of entertainment, a new cable television service called The Box debuted on Suburban Cable TV in Delaware County Wednesday. The Box makes available about 300 pay-per-view music videos on Channel 67, ranging from country to rock to rap. "What makes this different than, say, MTV, is that it's truly interactive," said Suburban Cable TV regional marketing manager John Murawski. "People are choosing what they want to see rather than reacting to what's being offered by someone in New York.

An increasing number of people are fed up with the airing of sexually explicit, violent, degrading, stereotypical music videos on TV, especially during hours when teenagers haven't turned in for bed. Citizens are fighting back by filing complaints with the Federal Communications Commission, demonstrating in front of the homes of network executives and, more recently, targeting television sponsors. Having edited Emerge magazine, a former publication owned by Black Entertainment Television (BET)

Ever since Robert L. Johnson launched Black Entertainment Television in 1980, BET has come to mean many things to the many African Americans the cable network targets. To its hundreds of thousands of viewers, BET means, as its snazzy slogan proclaims, Black Star Power. But to its many vocal critics, who decry its abundance of lecherous music videos and lack of quality programs, BET still stands for Bad Entertainment Television. Many detractors hoped that BET's sale last year to mega-media conglomerate Viacom for a staggering $3 billion would make things better.

The playing field began to tilt two years ago. The operators at MTV's popular countdown show TRL were being inundated with requests for Michelle Branch. Problem was, they didn't have any videos from the young Arizona singer. Her debut CD, The Spirit Room, wasn't in stores yet. So MTV called up Branch's record label, Maverick, wondering where in the world kids were seeing her clip. The answer was AOL Music. Along with Yahoo's similarly themed Web site, Launch, AOL Music has become a significant player in the music industry.

While sitting in a darkened movie theater here the other night watching the stars of Thelma and Louise going on their sadistic rampage through the American Southwest, I thought to myself, "What must the Swedes think of Americans? Are they able to place this pageant of violence in some larger context? Do they understand that the United States is not some continuously unfolding series of outrages, rapes, shootings, and car chases?" The answer to that question is that, among the most impressionable people in this very sophisticated country, that is precisely what they think.

What do Living Colour, Public Enemy, a Tribe Called Quest, Ziggy Marley and the Jungle Brothers have in common? All are happening young musicians with strong notions about changing the world, and with fresh urban sounds to spark the revolution. And all have put their trust, their ideas and - to a large degree - their future into the hands of an equally fresh young brother, filmmaker Charles Stone III. At the moment, Stone is helping light a fire under Public Enemy's new single "911 Is a Joke" with a caustic, darkly comic music video on the theme of police and emergency rescue team neglect.

Scenes showing brand-name beer and other alcoholic drinks should be taken out of movies, music videos and television programs aimed at youth, a coalition of health, religious and education groups told the government yesterday. In a petition to the Federal Trade Commission, the coalition said the alcohol industry should not be allowed to pitch its products to youth while sponsoring sports and musical events. It also objected to its advertisements or the use of brand names in scenes in movies, films and music videos.

The arrival of Bruce Springsteen's "Video Anthology/1978-88" in stores today is a landmark. Eighteen songs and 100 minutes long, this bounty of live performances and dramatic music videos will delight diehard Springsteen fans. For years, they've been hankering to own a piece of his electrifying visual persona. At another extreme, the $24.95 videotape may be knocked by those suffering from Bruce burnout as more proof that "the Boss" has succumbed to rock star- itis, that he's become just another packaged, exploitative pop product.

THEY WANT TO BE YOUR MUSIC DESTINATION SonicNet (http://www.sonicnet.com) is constantly reinventing itself in an attempt to become the ultimate Web site for music fans. Its mission: "Reinventing how music news, entertainment and information are communicated. " The site is divided into three areas: Music News, Music Guide and the Station, all of which make use of the latest audio and video technology for the most complete and sophisticated presentation of music on the Internet. SonicNet's Music News is the most popular, with daily music-related news and reports from correspondents and staff writers around the globe.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Davy Jones, 66, the leading heartthrob of the much-loved pre-fab 1960s rock band the Monkees, who sang many of the made-for-TV act's biggest hits, including "Daydream Believer," died Wednesday in Florida. Mr. Jones died of a massive heart attack in Indiantown, Fla., where he lived, his publicist Helen Kensick said. Detectives with the Martin County Sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division were conducting a death investigation, but said foul play was not suspected.

COMCAST'S TAKEOVER of pre-"Smash" NBC/Universal came with a price steeper than owning some of network television's crappiest shows. As part of its agreement with the FCC and the Department of Justice, the media giant will launch four minority-owned networks on its cable-TV systems in the next two years. The networks announced yesterday include: * Revolt, a channel conceived by "P. Diddy" Combs and MTV veteran Andy Schuon , and surprisingly, not about an uprising of people who get their Comcast bill.

THE ARAB cultural organization Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture presents a free performance tonight that celebrates poetry and music. First up is the Philadelphia Arab Music Ensemble, a community group that performs traditional folk and classical music from Arabic cultures. Melodies from lutelike instruments such as the oud inspire the urge to dance. Arabic vocalists are subdued and highly controlled. The program includes compositions by "Oud King" Farid Alatrash and Mohammad Abdel Wahab, whose music is delicate and passionate.

First you see terrified eyes peering from inside a shipping crate. Then the camera zooms in on the half-dozen people trapped inside it. A forklift is carrying this human six-pack toward a truck, which is likely headed for a factory, a farm, or a brothel. The new MTV public-service ad dramatizes a hidden horror: slavery in the 21st century. Millions of women, men, and children - including many thousands in the United States - are slaves. Their forced labor includes picking crops, weaving carpets, cleaning buildings, and being raped.

Sunday Chamber music In a recital in memory of the late harpist Karin Fuller Capanna, an all-star lineup - pianist Linda Reichert , violinists Diane Monroe and Guillaume Combet , violist Sidney Curtiss , and cellist Rajli Bicolli - will play works by Bach, Jacques Ibert, Richard Festinger, Michael Djupstrom, and Roberto Pace at 3 p.m. at Settlement Music School's Willow Grove branch, 318 Davisville Rd.,...

HARRY POTTER is being replaced by a Warbler. In a harmonic convergence of two pop-culture phenomena, Darren Criss of "Glee" is going to take over for Daniel Radcliffe in the Broadway revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. " Darren will play the lead role of J. Pierrepont Finch in the Frank Loesser musical. Radcliffe doesn't leave until Jan. 1 and Darren's run will last only from Jan. 3-22 due to his "Glee" shooting schedule, but Gleeks should probably order tickets ASAP.

JILL SCOTT'S former students - creatively awakened to "Macbeth" by her notion of singing Willie the Shake to doo-wop tunes - might not agree. But the rest of the world owes a big thanks to the grumpy principal at Dobbins High School who so dispirited Scott as an English-teacher trainee, telling her she'd soon "get over" her idealism, that the young woman quit the gig to start working full time at even more creative endeavors. Clearly, things have turned out well for the singer/poet/actress and community philanthropist (see sidebar)

These past months have been a roller-coaster ride for Soulja Boy. Months after his third album, "The DeAndre Way," failed to make a big impact on the Billboard 200, his 14-year-old half-brother passed away. But the 20-year-old Internet imp has channeled the negative and turned it into positive, birthing a new mixtape "Juice," out yesterday. Soulja Boy recently talked to Billboard.com about his upcoming projects, teaming up with some of the original cast from "Juice" (the 1992 film starring Omar Epps and Tupac Shakur)

RONNIE NEWSOME finished up his day job at SEPTA, packed up his gear and headed out to interview rapper Redman. Assigning buses to operators, then interviewing hip-hop stars - that's nothing exceptional for Newsome: By day, he's a vehicle readiness coordinator, but by night he hosts "Franchise Live," a cable access show that is a mixture of music video and interviews with hip-hop personalities ranging from Redman to Lil' Mama to Notorious B.I.G.'s...

GUSTAFER Yellowgold is a saffron-colored, cone-headed alien who comes from the sun. He relocated to Earth to escape the drudgery of working in his father's raisin carvery, ditching the family business for a shot at a more-inspiring journey. Gustafer started out as a doodle by Morgan Taylor, a New York-based indie rocker who, like many musicians, was struggling to connect with an audience. Until, that is, Taylor animated his recent immigrant from the sun. "The music I'm making is the music I've always been making.