MTV was like radio was for decades before it came along. Black artists with great music and no hits would get covered by white artists like Pat Boone who got big hits. Baked into the system. Of course Bowie grew up in a place where the BBC handled alla that.
David Bowie Criticizes MTV for Not Playing Videos by Black Artists | MTV News
Submitted 3 days ago by lobut@lemmy.ca to videos@lemmy.world
Comments
kalkulat@lemmy.world 3 days ago
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
When/where did MTV not play Black artists? I saw a bunch of rap and R&B. I would have liked to see more Black artists in rock, like Lenny Kravitz, and the guy from Sevendust, or country, like Darius Rucker (of Hootie and the Blowfish fame), or pop that wasn’t R&B. I felt like, growing up in the 80s and early 90s, that some music was predominantly white and some was predominantly Black, with ample evidence it worked both ways (like Eminem in rap).
Overall it was plenty diverse. But within genre, it seemed racially scripted. As a white kid, I felt like rap wasn’t a space I was meant to be in, though I liked to listen to it. And still do. Though I listen to a bit of everything — just finished listening to an Enya album, haven’t decided what to play next yet.
Venator@lemmy.nz 2 days ago
When/where did MTV not play Black artists?
The interview is from 1983.
lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 2 days ago
The first couple of years MTV was more like “New Wave Rock Music” Television. So there really wouldn’t be rap, R&B, heavy metal, country, soft rock, jazz etc. It tended to be more artsy.
fiendishplan@lemmy.world 3 days ago
In your time MTV might have played black artist but in the early days of MTV they did not.
just_another_person@lemmy.world 3 days ago
He was too good for the world we are currently living in, and he only died a few years back.
bert_brause@lemmy.world 3 days ago
He died in 2016. That is already a decade ago 😱
ghost9@piefed.social 3 days ago
No that was only a year ago. Maybe two at max.
BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
I was really confused thinking this was a new comment from Bowie for a minute.