MJ and MTV

Question

I, also, was perplexed over the adulation given Michael Jackson. To me, he was just a creepy child molester who made some great music.

In all fairness, he did something else which must be acknoweldged he broke the color barrier at MTV. It seems hard to believe these days, that there was even a time when MTV didn't play black artists. It's almost incomprehensble.
But when MJ came along, MTV had to cave.
Then, years later he became white himself, which, to me, was a slap in the face to all people of color the same people who helped make him a star.
So, go figure.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]In all fairness, he did something else which must be acknoweldged he broke the color barrier at MTV. It seems hard to believe these days, that there was even a time when MTV didn't play black artists. It's almost incomprehensble. But when MJ came along, MTV had to cave.[/nq]
I don't have cable, but people have reported MTV actually showing music videos again. If true, he did it again.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]In all fairness, he did something else which must be acknoweldged he broke the color barrier at MTV. It seems hard to believe these days, that there was even a time when MTV didn't play black artists. It's almost incomprehensble. But when MJ came along, MTV had to cave.[/nq]
Thats ***. They played videos by Eddie Grant, and Prince, and the Pass The Dutchie kids but the videos were way more random at the begining, and MJ was kinda the first artist that they developed a rotation format around. Kids tuned in to see the Bille Jean video cause it was gonna be on within the hour. The Thriller Premier was a major event.
I cant believe I still get a few calls a month to work on Music Videos. I turn em down cause its *** work, usually 20hrs billed as a single day of work with overtime, and its like pulling teeth to get paid. But I wonder who the **** are they making the music videos for? Oh yeah thats right, the artists don't really know that they pay for their own music videos until they are broke and someone looks at the books.
BD

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]In all fairness, he did something else which must be ... time when MTV didn't play black artists. It's almost incomprehensble.[/nq]
[nq:1]Thats ***. They played videos by Eddie Grant, and Prince[/nq]
I read an article about Prince back in the 80s in Rolling Stone, and the article said that Prince's popularity forced the MTV execs to play his video despite their policy to only play white acts. Hard to believe. Hard to believe the calculated prejudice, but also hard to believe the execs thought white kids didn't want to watch black artists. When I visit my relatives in Maine, lots of the white kids (and boy do I mean white, they're paler than vampires) try to come off like inner-city hoodlums.
I saw two different tv series about the history of rock and roll. Both had a brief interview with the guy who produced The Clash during their heydey. MTV flew him over to appear on their channel. When he walked into the offices, faces fell. He was a British guy all right, cockney accent and all that, but he was black.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I read an article about Prince back in the 80s in Rolling Stone, and the article said that Prince's popularity forced the MTV execs to play his video despite their policy to only play white acts.[/nq]
I worked for an FM radio station in the 80s that did a weekly 1-hr special on the words and music of a genre or an artist. They did a whole show on reggae without playing a single black artist, and an hour on Eric Clapton without playing Layla. They also hired a Japanese news reporter and gave her an anglo name... which I thought was so absurd I used her real name when she worked on the show I produced. So "Lee Taylor" became Mutsumi Takahashi a couple of times a week. She hated the stupidity but was deternined to make it in the busioness and bit that bullet. Revenge was hers, however. She went on to become a highly successful TV news anchor... under her own name.

"Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything." - Ivana Trump

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Thats ***. They played videos by Eddie Grant, and Prince[/nq]
[nq:1]I read an article about Prince back in the 80s in Rolling Stone, and the article said that Prince's popularity ... believe the calculated prejudice, but also hard to believe the execs thought white kids didn't want to watch black artists.[/nq]
Seriously? I'm trying to recall what was being played on MTV in the 80s and I remember Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Lionel Ritchie, Kool and the Gang, Prince, Tina Turner, Salt n Peppa, Bobby McFerrin, Sade, Donna Summer, The Pointer Sisters... Was Barry White still on video then?

The '80s is a bit of a blur, but was there really that much calculated racism in television programming then?
Alan Brooks

A with an Underwood
A rully rully
big decade.
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Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I, also, was perplexed over the adulation given Michael Jackson. To me, he was just a creepy child molester who made some great music.[/nq]
He was a great artist long before any allegations of creepy child molester...
that's *if* he ever was a creepy child molester, which no one really knows for certain.
[nq:1]In all fairness, he did something else which must be acknoweldged he broke the color barrier at MTV. It seems hard to believe these days, that there was even a time when MTV didn't play black artists. It's almost incomprehensble.[/nq]
It's incomprehensible because it never happened.
I remember the day MTV first aired, it promised to be great because now instead of
waiting once a week to see Don Kirshners Rock Concert or the Midnight Special,
we could watch anytime and look for our favorite artists.
I also remember as a young teenager walking with my grandmother and sister-in-law

2 miles away to a diner to have breakfast in very rural Arkansas.Along the way my sister-in-law and I were singing songs, and one of them was a current
MJ song.
My grandmother, I think kind pleased with our efforts, asked "who is that" and I said
"Michael Jackson"...to which she responded; "I don't know who he is". But what a fun time we had.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I, also, was perplexed over the adulation given Michael Jackson. To me, he was just a creepy child molester who made some great music. In all fairness, he did something else which must be acknoweldged he broke the color barrier at MTV. It seems hard to believe these days, that there was even a time when MTV didn't play black artists. It's almost incomprehensble. But when MJ came along, MTV had to cave. Then, years later he became white himself, which, to me, was a slap in the face to all people of color the same people who helped make him a star. So, go figure.[/nq]
He cut off his nose to spite his soul.
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MJ and MTV

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