In a word...WOW! Great thread, sorry I got here late!
I call BS on this one. If MTV suddenly started only to play stuff like Slayer, the result wouldn't be platinum sales for Slayer but about zero viewers of MTV.
MTV is a business. They want to make money. Right now, the hottest musical genre out there besides country is rap, and country has its own channel.
When metal/hard rock was king, there was something called "The Headbanger's Ball" (pause to reminice), and rock, in general, was the only thing on their airwaves besides Madonna and Michael Jackson. The only other genre specific show on MTV at the time was "Yo! MTV Raps", and it had only 1/4th the airtime the "Ball" had.
When the public's tastes change, so will what MTV airs.
Back on point, since I'm virtually the only lover of rap/hip-hop in my game groups, I'd only play rap at the gaming table if appropriate to the campaign or a PC. Designed along the lines of the aformentioned "Wyrd is Bond" RPG characters, in a supers campaign, I ran a sonic-blasting PC, and an old Mage: The Ascencion PC I had was a young, black hip-hop mage who strongly resembled LL Cool J.
I also used some Public Enemy to set the scene when some supers PCs had to interject themselves in a riot a-la Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing."
Absent that kind of connection, I stick to your typical run of classical music, SF/Fantasy movie scores & soundtracks (along with some curveballs like Kodo or environmental effects CDs) for game nights...when I play music at all.
This is for 2 reasons: while my musical tastes are as broad as the horizon, most people's aren't, so I would probably be forcing my tastes on someone who doesn't share it, and that only diminishes their enjoyment.
The second reason is that I game with too many sports junkies. If the big game isn't on, they'll leave.
