They were worth loads because the owners knew they could use them to manipulate the public.  When readership went down, their ability to do that diminished as well, and they found better ways.

Scary how easy cultural erasure has become. I agree this is a necessary point to make, even if the last time I paid attention to MTV News it was a TV show hosted by Kurt Loder and Tabitha Soren.

Before transitioning into my current state of musical arrested development, I went to MTV News.com for the obvious music news, but also to be turned on to new bands/artists. Post-college, it was my last bastion of discovering new music, before algorithms thoroughly turned me off to the experience, as their…

“Basically, until society accepts that journalism isn’t much of a moneymaker and stops trying to milk it for cheap clicks”

Yeah, that’d be my disconnect with the fandom. Like...you cannot be a walking Fortune 500 company *and* be the underdog.

Seeing musicians I like do it really well live is basically the biggest hit of positive emotion I get as an adult, I don’t cry but I don’t blame her for crying.

I was confused during this scene because 1) Rhaenyra had previously given an official order to attack the greens, and 2) Daemon should have been everyone’s first guess. 

My wife loves her and has a (lengthy) playlist she’ll run while we’re doing stuff around the house, and when you listen to her history of hits all stacked up it really does get repetitive. It can be funny in smaller doses, her takedown songs are entertaining, but at this point in her career I can’t see her relying on…

Agreed. I can see how an aggressive fan could take it as a dig towards Swift, but I read it as Grohl using the massive cultural phenomenon that is the Eras Tour as a jumping off point for his own musings. I’d take the “we actually play live” as being in comparison to pop in general (or other older rock bands?) before…

I am sure I am going to get attacked by the Swifties around here but a lot of her popular music and persona is about how she is the “wronged woman” in many relationships.    So her fanbase takes the lead from that and defends her like they are pit bulls.  

I think what they mean is that this is the sort of article that they used to run when they were owned by trashy site Gawker (which was what, two ownerships ago?). It’s a bit weird tying this to Kinja, which is a commenting system which the site still obviously uses.

It’s amazing that the fandom of Swift, one of the most popular, rich, and powerful people in pop-culture, relies almost entirely on seeing her as a victim or at least constantly in danger of being victimized. 

a bit of a stretch. but good clicks

It’s surprising for Grohl to be throwing such obvious shade Swift’s way, first because he’s clearly aware of the consequences of “the wrath of Taylor Swift,” and second because the pair have always been friendly in the past.

So we’ve reached the Taylor Swift is the Anita Sarkeesian of music era, where being criticized somehow makes her right. The Swifties are quickly becoming one of the most toxic fanbases, approach Sonic levels and threatening to eclipse Snyder fans at this pace. Yes, she uses backing vocal tracks live. It is well known,…

I had no idea it was ever in question or a potential source of fake outrage. It’s how things are done, especially for products like Swift.

Articles like this are how I know the A.V. Club hasn’t been fully de-Kinjafied yet.

According to his fans, it all started when his daughter, Violet Grohl, criticized Taylor for using her private jet, which led to backlash from the Swifties. Let’s dive into this interesting discussion.

Less understandable, it sounds like you missed Helena’s big panic attack funeral procession scene.

Also from Tywin regarding that opening scene: “Anyone who needs to say ‘I am the king’ is no king.”