David Bowie has some questions and criticisms about MTV’s lack of videos featuring black artists in this 1983 interview with Mark Goodman.Subscribe to MTV Ne...
People have trouble criticizing things they like. Fact of the matter, America is racist and if you don’t cater to racist you run the risk of “outrage” and “scandal”. Listen to the Vanilla Ice interview where he’s asked if he thinks it’s weird that he’s the face of rap…
Woke is an insult somehow, but listen to how cringe these unaware people sound.
Or in 1981-83 when this conversation happened hip-hop really was underground and limited to a handful of cities. There really wasn’t a ton of interest there at he time so the for profit business known as MTV chased down profitability.
Why do you think MTV should have aired the videos Bowie was finding interesting compared to the ones the larger audience was interested in?
Part of the reason that New Wave became big in the early 80’s is because New Wave bands came from more affluent beginnings, so those bands could afford to make music videos at a time when they were relatively rare.
It’s true that groups like Duran Duran and the like were mostly comprised of public school brats whose affluent parents bought them the DX7s and Fairlights they wrote their hits on. However, music videos were funded by labels. They were basically commercials for the record.
I’d gamble a larger percentage of artists (whether music, acting, or painting) have affluent beginnings than the general population. It’s easier to rise through the struggle of a high risk profession if you have a safety net.
That’s a poor excuse that doesn’t justify anything.
People have trouble criticizing things they like. Fact of the matter, America is racist and if you don’t cater to racist you run the risk of “outrage” and “scandal”. Listen to the Vanilla Ice interview where he’s asked if he thinks it’s weird that he’s the face of rap…
Woke is an insult somehow, but listen to how cringe these unaware people sound.
Or in 1981-83 when this conversation happened hip-hop really was underground and limited to a handful of cities. There really wasn’t a ton of interest there at he time so the for profit business known as MTV chased down profitability.
Why do you think MTV should have aired the videos Bowie was finding interesting compared to the ones the larger audience was interested in?
Have you ever run a business before? You need to make money which at the time meant stadium rock and “Top 40” pop radio.
MTV was not started to provide access for smaller acts to break into the mainstream especially at a time when hiphop was very localized.
Part of the reason that New Wave became big in the early 80’s is because New Wave bands came from more affluent beginnings, so those bands could afford to make music videos at a time when they were relatively rare.
It’s true that groups like Duran Duran and the like were mostly comprised of public school brats whose affluent parents bought them the DX7s and Fairlights they wrote their hits on. However, music videos were funded by labels. They were basically commercials for the record.
They became commercials for the record over time, but there was a few years in the early 80’s where labels didn’t understand a music video’s value.
I’d gamble a larger percentage of artists (whether music, acting, or painting) have affluent beginnings than the general population. It’s easier to rise through the struggle of a high risk profession if you have a safety net.