That’s right folks, this Friday I’m bringing you “Celebrity Deathmatch” with Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond. Tonight we’re going to take a look back all the violence this classic MTV product brought us. This violent little gem went hand in hand with 1998 when it debuted. The world was a very angry and aggressive place. Bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit were angry at food so they misspelled for their own gain. Professional wrestling was cheering for foul-mouthed and bloody violent action. Television was also in for a ride as “South Park” had already begun its run of dominance over popular culture. What did MTV have to offer at the time? They had cancelled the sort of edgy “Beavis and Butthead” and the songs of the day were sung by Brandy, Monica and Will Smith. The Barenaked Ladies had hope for a little raunchiness, but it turned out the name didn’t really fit.
What was MTV to do? How could they fool the kids into thinking they were cool for a little while longer before horrible….HORRIBLE reality shows flood their airwaves? Well, how does Claymation mixed with a ton of violence sound? “Like a winner” is the answer.
It seemed simple enough to please the rebellious and angry youth of the time. Take the celebrities they like or hate, make them fight, and kill a lot of them. Let’s look at the special that got the show picked up full time. It was run during the Super Bowl of 1998 at half time (an idea I might add that the WWE employed the next year, thought they had more fork lifts). The main event of the evening had The Spice Girls fighting Hanson. These two groups were beloved by kids all over the globe. “Celebrity Deathmatch” was not about pleasing the little kids though. Granted I loved it and I was 9 at the time, but I also hated those two groups and liked AC/DC, so I’m not the one these tests are designed for. So, the two musical acts square off and how does the fight end? Much to the delight of the screwed up youth, Marilyn Manson kills all of them by dropping the light rigging on their heads. The average American would have been horrified if they weren’t busy watching Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson and Queen Latifah do something or other. The teens though probably squealed with joy as the pop stars were maimed by the shock rocker. Manson’s hardcore fans probably disowned him for selling out. Oh well, his cameo in “Clone High” was the best song he’s ever done.
I"m giving no context. You look it up, and read what I wrote about it.
That act of violence launched a four season run of guts, and America’s two favorite bald men:
Mills and Steve not only will allow the action, they encourage it.
Perhaps it is wrong to sing the praises of a show with such senseless violence. I mean, it really didn’t offer anything of substance. Just famous people killing each other. I really can’t make a case for it being more. I’ll gladly throw the abomination that ran in 2006 under the bus as mindless crap. I mean, if you’re going to do something with bad taste, at least do it well. Bringing this show just didn’t make sense. Kids eight years later weren’t as angry. We had cell phones and IPods; we were good. Also, celebrities weren’t what they once were. Let’s compare the first episodes of the two different runs. Does that sound like fun to anyone but me?
In 1998 we open with Monica Lewinsky fighting Hillary Clinton. That was topical and pertinent. These two had a beef and mattered. The opening match in 2006 was Paris Hilton against Nicole Ritchie. They had a hit show, but Hill-Dawg would destroy both of them. Back in 1998, we have Jim Carrey vs. Mariah Carey and Jerry Seinfeld vs. Tim Allen. In 2006, we have Bam Margera fighting Tony Hawk and Don Vito.
You're better than this Birdman. The day you became friends with Bam was the day your video games began to suck. Makes sense you did this crap too.
One of these shows is clearly better. The first run seemed to actually want to poke some fun at the times. The second run seemed to just want to draw attention to the crap MTV was putting out. I mean, it was always about that, but the first run was much better at masking that. In 2006 we saw the Osbourne kids, Kevin Federline, Xzibit, William Hung, the midget from “Jackass” and Andy Milonakis. Maybe they forgot celebrities existed off of their network. Or maybe my critique should really be about who consider celebrities. We should have harsher taste. Only worship those who deserve celebrity.
Like this quality
This show was mindless fun. You want Michael Jordan slam dunking Dennis Rodman into a trash can? You’ve got it. You want to see Prince Charles smash Prince’s head with a croquet mallet? Look no further. You want to see that kid from “Dawson’s Creek” beat Saddam Hussein to death? What the hell, why not. Aside from this, the characters on the show that were regulars were always pretty top notch: The announcers, Little Nicky, all the female correspondents(mainly Stacy Cornbred), and even Marv Albert.
YES!