For many years it’s been apparent that Much Music and MTV have been moving away from actual music videos towards a more lucrative focus on trashy reality TV. While music videos flourish on YouTube, but you don’t see too many of them on the boob tube anymore, which makes today’s announcement about new programming from MuchMusic quite surprising.
The cable station has resurrected both Rapcity and the Wedge, shows that had a big impact on Canadian hip-hop and indie rock back in the 90s. The really big news though is who they hired to host the Wedge: Damian Abraham, the lead shouter for Toronto punk heroes Fucked Up (whose name was censored in the press release).
After his band won the Polaris Music Prize in 2009, Abraham found himself being interviewed frequently, and has shown a real natural knack for the catchy sound bite, not to mention an amicably charming presence that wasn’t always obvious under his sometimes-menacing stage persona. Even when Fox News used him as the token leftwinger guest, he was so clearly comfortable and natural in front of the camera that it seemed like just a matter of time before a gig like this would come around.
Maybe it’s a response to new competition from Aux.TV‘s music programming, but considering that both Rapcity and the Wedge will be getting primetime slots, it looks like the station is serious about putting music back in the spotlight. Let’s just hope Abraham’s new job doesn’t interfere too much with the band.
“They’ve been actually pretty supportive about me taking time off to tour and record,” Abraham says.
“It’s working out perfectly for me anyways, because I’ve got a baby at home and don’t really want to do another endless tour of Germany.”
