"T.V. Eye" is not about television, of course.
T.V. has a particular private slang meaning in Stoogesworld and to be honest, I would advise you not to look it up, it might subtly impair your enjoyment of the song as it has ever-so-slightly with me, which is a shame as it is a Top 10 all time rock song for me.
Somehow I've only just got around to hearing Los Microwaves, despite Barney Hoskyns going on about them in the NME back in the day.
They are None New Wavier that's for sure.
"TV In My Eye" is yet another example of the very low status of television in the cultural hierarchy back then, compared to nowadays.
From punkers to highbrow literati, all agreed that it was nonstop garbage, rotting your brain.
cheeky monkeys, Rezillos, going on Top of the Pops and taking the mickey out of it!
Gil Scott Heron obviously...
What else?
(Talking Heads being clever semi-invert the idea and in "Found A Job" have the characters making their own television)
"Damn that television, what a bad picture"
"Don't get upset, it's not a major disaster"
"There's nothing on tonight, " he said, "I don't know what's the matter"
"Nothing's ever on, " she said, "so I don't know why you bother"
We've heard this little scene, we've heard it many times
People fighting over little things and wasting precious time
They might be better off, I think, the way it seems to me
Making up their own shows, which might be better than TV
Judy's in the bedroom, inventing situations
Bob is on the street today, scouting up locations
They've enlisted all their family
They've enlisted all their friends
It helped save their relationship
And made it work again
Their show gets real high ratings, they think they have a hit
There might even be a spin-off, but they're not sure 'bout that
If they ever watch TV again, it'd be too soon for them
Bob never yells about the picture now, he's having too much fun
Judy's in the bedroom, inventing situations
Bob is on the street today, scouting up locations
They've enlisted all their family
They've enlisted all their friends
It helped save their relationship
And made it work again
So think about this little scene, apply it to your life
If your work isn't what you love, then something isn't right
Just think of Bob and Judy, they're happy as can be
Inventing situations, putting them on TV
(No quite the total inversion of rock convention as with "Don't Worry About the Government" but different than railing against the braindeath)
Most rock songs, the attitude to television is on the level of Network and Being There, or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and his short stories like "The Pedestrian", or Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves To Death i.e. typical highbrow "admass" critique of the brainwashing machine in the living room
Ironic, in a way, given that your highbrow literati like J.B. Priestley would have lumped rock'n'roll and youth culture in with TV, supermarkets, advertising, etc as part of admass.
Now, are there any pro-TV songs?
I have never really inspected closely the lyrics to ZZ Top's "TV Dinners"
