They’re Raging Against the Machine and More on MTV

Gun control . . . Native American rights . . . runaway teens.

MTV is starting to look more like CNN than a music channel, and we’re not just talking about the news segments.

The reason: Bands are increasingly using their videos as forums for political and social causes.

Guns, Native Americans and runaways are the subjects of recent music videos by Megadeth, Rage Against the Machine and Soul Asylum, respectively. And if three makes a trend, MTV is welcoming it with open arms.

“The young part of our audience looks up to (those bands) and listens to what they say,” says Rick Krim, the channel’s vice president of music and talent.

And the bands are speaking in no uncertain terms. Megadeth’s clip for the song “99 Ways to Die” features such printed lines on screen as “Every day 14 children are killed by handguns” to make its point.

Similarly, Rage’s “Freedom” video uses scenes from the film documentary “Incident at Oglala” and printed quotes to argue that American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier was wrongly convicted of the 1975 murder of two FBI agents.

“The Rage video is an important social issue and they’re providing their side of the story and laying out the facts in an educational way,” says Krim.

But with the gates now open for pop musicians to use MTV as a platform for their views, will MTV have to draw the line? The channel has already refused to air the end of the Rage video, which gives the address for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.

That angered the band.

“MTV wouldn’t air it because . . . they wanted to remain neutral on political issues,” say Rage guitarist Tom Morello. “I would argue that MTV’s spring break bikini contest makes a political statement of a different kind. . . . And if you look at the corporate advertising, the right is well represented.”

And at least one rocker--veteran Ted Nugent--is eager to test MTV’s limits from the right.

Nugent describes MTV as being “so liberal” it makes him “want to gag.” A longtime National Rifle Assn. supporter, Nugent is making plans for a video for the song “Love Jacker” from his upcoming solo album, in defense of gun ownership.

“We’re gonna find out real soon if MTV’s willing to put out an un-PC message,” Nugent says. “(In the song) I talk about how it’s not only my constitutional right to keep and bear arms, but it’s my moral obligation to defend my family--and it can’t be done with 911. It’s an overtly pro-gun song.”