If you’ve got cable TV then I’m sure you’ve seen the Fuse channel at least once or twice in your channel flipping, maybe you’ve even watched a program or two. Fuse is a 24-hour music television network, dedicated to music all the time with videos, concerts and programming that is influenced by the viewers for the viewers. When Fuse first aired it played nonstop music videos, back to back all day, it was pretty much heaven since MTV had more shows on than actually music.
Previously Much Music USA, Fuse was created in 2003 after Rainbow Media pulled MMUSA’s license to air. In an effort to stay afloat they had to change everything about the company, thus Fuse was born.
The channel launched on May 19, 2003, at six am, with the video “Somewhere I Belong,” by Linkin Park. They were known for their all music, all the time attitude and for frequently bashing MTV and MTV2. In late 2005 they had an entire 7 day week ran end to end with music videos which was paid for by Snapple.
In the beginning Fuse played many genre’s of music such as alternative, punk, emo, indie, and heavy metal. Since their beginning Fuse has become more “standardized” and has added weekly and daily TV shows much like its competitior, MTV. Many say that Fuse has “sold out” because of it’s change in attitude against their before “all music all the time” outlook.
Fuse is generally an alternative to the more mainstream MTV, which mostly airs hip-hop. The channel is losing popularity however, to it’s more ‘emo’ feel. The channel now endorses Victory Records, and sports more ‘emo’ videos than any other genre. The station is more of a trend/fad based station following which ever scene is the most popular at the time. For example, it’s moved it’s heavy metal shows to the early morning hours.
Personally, I used to watch Fuse a lot, Dedicate Live was my favorite show. The channel lost it’s individuality, and honestly with all the Paramore MTV is now airing, you might as well just watch that.