Did MTV get the message in the aftermath of their abominable show-day coverage of the VJs attending Live 8? I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. But right now they’re playing McCartney’s set, which was preceded by the entirety of the Floyd set, which was preceded by what I think was the entirety of the Who set (I tuned in after it started, so I can’t be certain). And so far, no VJs. No voiceovers. No commercials. Not even between sets. No fucking anything except the bands.

While it’s hard to quantify these things, this seems somehow better than the ubervapidity of last Saturday’s idiotfest, where extended displays of inanity were interspersed with brief snippets of music from people with actual talent.

How remarkable it all is, really. In today’s Lefsetz Letter, Bob Lefsetz passes on this revealing e-mail from Marc Gentilella of CelebrityAccess / EventWire:

This one sentence alone sums up how out of touch Van Toffler (MTV’s president) has become with his viewers, and the public at large.

“Many of MTV’s viewers weren’t even alive when Pink Floyd broke up, so Toffler said he was surprised at how many wanted to see the band’s reunion performance in full.”

Wow. What do you say to that? Were you surprised? I mean, I don’t run a network that’s allegedly somehow about music, and I damned sure knew it. My wife doesn’t consider herself an expert, but she couldn’t believe the head of MTV actually said it.

If there’s a rock & roll Heaven, you know they got a hell of a band, yes. But how anything gets produced there is anybody’s guess, because all the industry guys are in Hell….