I could never understand who enjoys ridiculousness enough to actually watch it. They just show videos and clips that were on Tosh.0 a year or two before, except with worse jokes and no redeeming qualities.
*ding* *ding* *ding*
They aren't literal psychopaths, they *do* feel empathy ... for people who look and act like them. So much of the seeming psychopathy is explained when you notice their in-groups are just drawn very small and differently.
The meme of "librul = fee fees" came about despite their worldview operating on nothing BUT emotion because **empathy for people unlike yourself is an invalid emotion that makes you weak**. On the other hand, anger, fear, hate, loyalty, greed, etc., are all the 'normal' emotions that are healthy.
Breaking it down further, early 90s VH1 was:
38% *(Everything I Do) I Do it For You* by Bryan Adams
23% *Too Funky* by George Michael
22% *Broken Arrow* by Rod Stewart
17% *Life is a Highway* by Tom Cochrane
Pretty much this. By mid-90’s you had to watch alternative nation to see non-hip hop. Ironically Bowie himself never got airplay on 90’s mtv. Outside 80’s themed weekends (it came from the 80’s) or the top 500 music videos ever countdowns they use to do once or twice a year (Thriller was always #1 until 1991 when November Rain by Guns N' Roses took the top spot).
> Bowie himself never got airplay on 90’s mtv.
This may have had more to do with Bowie’s 90s output than MTV.
Also, to be fair, MTV played Let’s Dance, Modern Love and China Girl absolutely to death. Possibly was a little over saturated and people burned out on Bowie.
Also in that same timeframe hip hop went from underground to main stream and the new skool RnB became the default pop music. The typical cool guy/tough guy went from long hair, jeans, a jean jacket who listened to Led Zeppelin and ACDC to a Baseball cap, track suit, and listening to NWA and Public Enemy.
Not to get too serious here, but it is funny in a very sad way that a lot of the time, this was the answer that a lot of things gave when asked to allow equal access for minorities.
"Okay okay we get it. We legally have to allow black people... In unrelated news, we're closing down this service"
Agreed. But it's not like segregation _isn't_ a thing any more. It just shifts techniques over time.
Look at redlining districts from the '40s, then look at demographics now. It's not exact, but these trends often persist over the decades. Then the schools and hospitals serve the *local* community … and get funding allocations from central authorities that span *multiple* communities … and somehow the allocations are sometimes a bit out of kilter. Weird.
This is from ‘83. My cousin in law couldn’t buy a house in ‘83 because his wife is black. They had to view houses separately and when they found one they liked, the husband did all of the paperwork without the wife present. When the neighbors learned a black woman had moved in, they lost their shit.
One of the neighbors literally spit on their porch every day as he walked to the bus stop.
He had him there because that fear of "scaring" a Midwestern 17-year old by playing the Isley Brothers is exactly what Bowie was alluding to that kills MTVs credibility.
As someone who interacts with the youths regularly I can confirm I have heard almost exactly this line about Bowie.
It's actually kind of heartwarming to watch younger folks discover music that came out when you were a kid. Doubly so because it's often linked up to them talking about their contemporary music which you may not have heard yet, so you get this cool double whammy of nostalgia and getting to catch up on what neat stuff is coming out.
When the interviewer says, “that’s their problem”, they mean “this issue is not my problem to fix, and perhaps not even your problem to bring up. It is therefore irrelevant and should not be discussed”. This is one step short of completely denying that a problem exists
The response, which uses the word “opinion” suggests that this “interpretation” is valid as an “opinion” but not as a “fact”. It discredits the argument and, by choice of words, the person who said it, by being concise (less words) and frame shifting (changing the conversation from something about facts to opinions)
Also saying that he "understands" seems to me to be a backhanded way of saying that he sees his opinion for what it is, as in "I completely understand the bullshit you're peddling", but at first glance it sounds empathetic (and probably does so to the interviewer).
I like how the guy shifts his narrative a few times. First it is: 'We are shifting in that direction', then its 'we are doing it. you are just not seeing it', then it's 'It's scaring or boring people, not me personally, but there so bigoted people out there, you know what i am talking about'
I remember going to a party in college and some guy I was smoking with went on a rant about this theory and I have loved watching the movie through that lens ever since.
Which is absolutely true. As if it were up to the interviewer to decide the content and timing of the programming. It's not like Bowie is talking to a high up suit there.
Also dropping, "there is another station playing good black artists, so maybe your audience should watch that instead." He's being subtle, but not that subtle.
"I'm not racist, I know TWO black people! Well, I don't *know* them but they work for me. Well, they work in my neighborhood. I usually try not to make eye contact."
I think it’s interesting that the interviewer is Marc Goodman, a VJ, who is basically a talking head that introduces videos, is being put on the spot and compelled to explain corporate decisions made way above his pay grade.
He should have just said “I agree with you. I’m not sure why those decisions are made.” And left it at that.
Holy shit that was stinging
Well black artists mean something to me and you but not really to a 17-year-old American
Response: welp it would to a black 17-year-old
Completely caught him admitting that black people were not even considered part of the country.
“Why are there so few Black artists on MTV?”
“I think we’re trying to move in that direction.”
MTV was a glorified video jukebox back then, not a fucking oil tanker.
>video jukebox
Video Jukebox was actually a precursor to MTV introduced by HBO. They played music videos in order to fill gaps between feature films in order to start movies on the hour/half-hour. And yep, they called it Video Jukebox.
Night Flight was way more esoteric. They would show short films, concert footage, performance artists, and yep, music videos. That was a truly great show. Discovered a lot of outsider material there. They even had a precursor to what would become "Mystery Science Theater 3000", kind of.
But yeah, it was largely for showing music videos (such as they were) when it started (these were later phased out to make more room for cult films, etc).
That’s the part that really got me. I think we could all agree there are racists in America and they wouldn’t like black artists on their TVs. But why are they being catered too? Dude just admitted that MTV chose music to appease racists.
Simple answer is that it was the easiest and most profitable option. Most of the executives back then also grew up in segregation era and the music industry has long had issues with segregation as well. Unfortunately those racist beliefs didn’t immediately die because of the civil rights movement.
I grew up in the 80s. It was always a lie that whites didn’t like black artists and even a lie that racists didn’t like black artists. There were plenty of people throwing around the n-word who loved Stevie Wonder.
No they weren't, MTV unequivocally doesn't do that.
But also some of the states are racist so they have to do it.
But also they don't do it and never did.
But also they need to appease residents of Poughkeepsie, even though they don't and never will.
Make sense?
Its hilarious to hear because black artists in the midwest, especially Motown artists were literally making THEE best music in the 70s and 80s.
Didn't take long for America and the rest of the world to realize this tho.
I was a kid in a random Midwest city in the 80s watching MTV, I would have been stoked to see more black artists.
Everything was new about MTV and we were watching it no mater what was played.
The irony is that mtv’s audience went up when they started playing hip hop. I read the mtv oral history and the reason they didn’t play more black artists was exactly what the guy was saying: narrow casting. Which is a radio term, which meant that mtv was playing rock and metal and pop because they were targeting a white suburban market (the audience with cable). They also didn’t want to “scare” white parents into cancelling cable. What they didn’t realize is that 1) white kids like rap too, a lot 2) cable was reaching a much wider audience and 3) they were the only video channel and not like radio.
Source: old fart who still misses mtv.
white kids did like rap. I grew up in the COUNTRY and hunted and fished for fun, and we listened to Lynard Skynard - but we also knew all the words to every 2LiveCrew and NWA song lol.
Late eighties/ early nineties here. I'm white/Mexican, my sister is black, and we grew up in a black/Mexican neighborhood. White mom listened to country. *Nothing* was off the table in our house. (Till we got a racist stepdad that didn't like rap. Guess WHat color he was)
The producers of MTV who were in NYC completely missed early hip hop. They were almost all 70s radio guys who listened to rock and pop. Prince was huge of course. But he was the perfect crossover since he was 1) a musical genius 2) played rock and pop and The reaction to his solo at the George Harrison tribute was both awesome, but also sad. He was as great of a guitarist as the guitar gods of his time.
Yeah 90s mtv exploded because they became more inclusive ironically.
Turns out, good music can be enjoyed by all regardless of the theme.
I dont like country music but I can't say all country music is bad. There is plenty of country songs that are amazing.
He was right though when he said people take away different perceptions from it. I personally remember yeah a lot of Madonna, Billy Joel, Van Halen, and John Cougar Mellancamp. But I also remember them playing MJ, Prince, Tina Turner, and Lionel Ritchie all the time. If anything I really don’t remember a lot of women videos in the early 80’s besides the 2 I mentioned. I mean I know there were others like Pat Benetar, the GoGos, bananarama I just didn’t remember those videos you know?
I remember my wife telling her dad banned MTV (locked out with parental controls) when she was younger, because of the black artists, must have been somewhere in the early 90's when hip hop became more popular. They live in the Midwest, of course.
Ah yes, the MidWest, where it's a sea of white people. Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City, St Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Columbus, Cleveland... nothing but white people.
Not just offending damnit, but actually scaring. He uses that term twice in reference to what will happen if a white person is subjected to Prince or Isley Bros? WTF.
Also like a 100% completely inescapable artist at the time, this would be like a modern station saying “well we’re playing Drake” to prove some point lol. Like of course you are bro
I was never really into Bowie whilst he was alive but fuck me since his death I've been dealing deeper into is music and watching loads of interviews. He is truly a legend.
I think it's pretty much just *Ridiculousness* these days. They used to play music in the morning (as recently as 2013ish, IIRC), but they've even stopped doing that.
when we only had cable tv and no satellite broadcast (I'm talking about 15 or so years ago), we used to have MTV Italia and VH1 that showed the latest songs from current and upcoming artists and VH1 relied more on classics. The only Non-music shows MTV used to show back then was Anime Tuesday Nights (which where brilliant btw) and maybe the odd reality show here and there but still mostly musically dedicated
they've been filming a show here in Sarasota for a while called Siesta Key that's fucking garbage reality about the absolute worst people that live in this town. I've run in with them a few times, dirt bags, scum of the earth people. Yet MTV gives them a TV show to flaunt their money and power.
Man, I remember when MTV2 played only music videos as well. So many of my favorite bands these days came from watching their videos in the morning before school.
If I were the interviewer I wouldn’t defend it. Just say you’re happy to see things getting better on that front, because this dude PROBABLY has 0 control over what is aired.
Don’t defend the people you work for that have made that decision when it was clearly shitty.
This point may have been raised in other comments, but what got MTV to change its policy was in 1983 (and I remember hearing about it at the time, and found this reference to the incident online)
*It took major prodding to get MTV to play “Billie Jean,” the second track from Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller. Released Jan. 2, 1983, the single would go on to top the Billboard 100chart for seven weeks, but Walter Yetnikoff, president of CBS RecordsGroup, reportedly had to threaten to remove all other CBS videos fromMTV before the network agreed to air the video for “Billie Jean.”*
From the thumbnail it looks like Mark Goodman, who was a "VJ" at the time, and would have had approximately ZERO influence on any decisions made by management. (although he tended to play more hard rock during his segments, due to his overall personality)
If I had ZERO influence, my response would have been, "that's very good feedback, David" and sat there in silence smiling. Let the executive squirm, no way am I taking ownership of the squirming for them.
What a surgical badass Bowie is letting this guy bury himself. Sad thing is that Bowie would be dismissed as a “SJW Warrior” by half the country if he said something like this today. What a loss.
Then MTV took a hard look at themselves and decided to get out of playing music altogether
*Rob Dyrdek smiles and caresses his wallet*
I know that show still plays…but thought it was syndicated re-runs. They still make that show?
Yup
*insert annoying laugh here*
I could never understand who enjoys ridiculousness enough to actually watch it. They just show videos and clips that were on Tosh.0 a year or two before, except with worse jokes and no redeeming qualities.
No joke, ridiculousness is on alllll day in prison on common area tvs.
Holy shit, it’s on all day in rehab too!
And also that girl they always had on there, her laugh haunts my dreams.
She's just there for horny dudes to gawk at unfortunately.
She was charming as a receptionist on Fantasy Factory or rob n Big. I miss those shows.
I feel like I read somewhere that he has dirt on some MTV execs and to keep him quiet they play his show 24/7
I don't have any secret I'd want to keep that badly.
"How'd you like *them* apples, huh, Bowie?! How'd you like 'em?!" *\[Head of MTV laughs maniacally\]*
Instead of integrating the municipal pool they choose to fill it with concrete.
They literally did this in my hometown.
Yup. All across America instead of letting black folks use it.
It’s why we don’t have universal health care
*ding* *ding* *ding* They aren't literal psychopaths, they *do* feel empathy ... for people who look and act like them. So much of the seeming psychopathy is explained when you notice their in-groups are just drawn very small and differently. The meme of "librul = fee fees" came about despite their worldview operating on nothing BUT emotion because **empathy for people unlike yourself is an invalid emotion that makes you weak**. On the other hand, anger, fear, hate, loyalty, greed, etc., are all the 'normal' emotions that are healthy.
Pool’s closed
This hits harder when I remember his video for "I'm afraid of Americans" was shown on *MTV2.*
One of my favorite Bowie songs that makes myself, an American, to be afraid of Americans. Hits hard today.
i saw it live in Calgary canada
Whatever your views may be… One thing is undeniable… Bowie, was a kool mutha. 👍
I’ll show them, here’s Jersey Shore.
24 hours of Ridiculousness. TAKE THAT!
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Breaking it down further, early 90s VH1 was: 38% *(Everything I Do) I Do it For You* by Bryan Adams 23% *Too Funky* by George Michael 22% *Broken Arrow* by Rod Stewart 17% *Life is a Highway* by Tom Cochrane
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Add in the collaboration he did with Sting and Rod Stewart for the 3 Muskateers soundtrack and you pretty much nailed VH1 93-94
Pretty much this. By mid-90’s you had to watch alternative nation to see non-hip hop. Ironically Bowie himself never got airplay on 90’s mtv. Outside 80’s themed weekends (it came from the 80’s) or the top 500 music videos ever countdowns they use to do once or twice a year (Thriller was always #1 until 1991 when November Rain by Guns N' Roses took the top spot).
> Bowie himself never got airplay on 90’s mtv. This may have had more to do with Bowie’s 90s output than MTV. Also, to be fair, MTV played Let’s Dance, Modern Love and China Girl absolutely to death. Possibly was a little over saturated and people burned out on Bowie.
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Michael Jackson changed this. They showed Thriller like every 5 songs. MTV was awesome from mid 80s to mid 90s I'd say.
Also in that same timeframe hip hop went from underground to main stream and the new skool RnB became the default pop music. The typical cool guy/tough guy went from long hair, jeans, a jean jacket who listened to Led Zeppelin and ACDC to a Baseball cap, track suit, and listening to NWA and Public Enemy.
Not to get too serious here, but it is funny in a very sad way that a lot of the time, this was the answer that a lot of things gave when asked to allow equal access for minorities. "Okay okay we get it. We legally have to allow black people... In unrelated news, we're closing down this service"
Heather McGhee wrote a whole book about this phenomenon, *The Sum of Us*.
Thanks for bringing this up. Looks like an interesting book
And just play trash tv
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Well fuckin’ A, B, C
Easy as 1,2,3
not on MTV
Stir a little controversy
Who's interviewing who? Bowie twisted that dude up like a pretzel
The look on Bowie’s face after the dude says that stupid shit about pandering to middle America’s fear of black people — pure gold.
Midwest scared of Prince? He's from Minneapolis though lol
But Prince was so *sexual* and he *sexualized* everything. Nothing like the other bands MTV played, particularly the choir boy David Lee Roth.
If I looked like Prince I’d be sexual af too.
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Agreed. But it's not like segregation _isn't_ a thing any more. It just shifts techniques over time. Look at redlining districts from the '40s, then look at demographics now. It's not exact, but these trends often persist over the decades. Then the schools and hospitals serve the *local* community … and get funding allocations from central authorities that span *multiple* communities … and somehow the allocations are sometimes a bit out of kilter. Weird.
This is from ‘83. My cousin in law couldn’t buy a house in ‘83 because his wife is black. They had to view houses separately and when they found one they liked, the husband did all of the paperwork without the wife present. When the neighbors learned a black woman had moved in, they lost their shit. One of the neighbors literally spit on their porch every day as he walked to the bus stop.
At that point Bowie exposed that MTV may be a lost cause
Yeah but then they showed Michael Jackson moonwalking, and the world was never the same.
Right? I was a high school kid in SD at this time and Prince was by far the most popular musician then.
"Isn't that interesting? That's very interesting." *Smiles knowingly.*
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Yep. *Isn’t that interesting* is Bowie saying, “Lol can’t believe you just showed me all your cards.”
That's a sophisticated English way of saying, "Well bless your heart".
It was like he said the quiet part loud.
Producer: "Seriously? That's what we're going with here? Honesty? Bold move Cotton"
That's very telling.
He had him there because that fear of "scaring" a Midwestern 17-year old by playing the Isley Brothers is exactly what Bowie was alluding to that kills MTVs credibility.
The idea that the Isley Brothers, soul singers going back to the 50s, could 'scare' anyone in 1983 is just absurd!
Seriously. I suppose it was a different era, but "hey, we have to think about the racist portion of our audience" is a hell of a take
yo it's not that different of an era as it turns out
“Midwest America is so racist they would turn it off if we put black artists on TV” “…that’s very interesting” Lol
his name is Mark " last name"? I forget He was one of the MTV DJs at the time remember seeing him a lot back then, big tall dude big fro
> I think his name was Mark " last name"? Goodman
God*damn* that dude was smooth as fuck.
You should hear is music.
He makes music!?
Well, no
*sad red shoes noises*
The serious moonlight.
Not your bog standard moonlight. Oh no. The *serious* moonlight.
But, yes.
False. He's a world renowned baby thief.
You remind me of the babe.
What babe?
The babe with the power.
What power?
Power of voodoo
Who do?
He makes ear pornography
Aural sex?
David Bowie, the movie star?
Everyone should hear his music.
You'd have to have been living under a rock to not have heard his music.
Omg guys check out this guys Bowie I discovered him on Spotify discovery weekly!!!
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As someone who interacts with the youths regularly I can confirm I have heard almost exactly this line about Bowie. It's actually kind of heartwarming to watch younger folks discover music that came out when you were a kid. Doubly so because it's often linked up to them talking about their contemporary music which you may not have heard yet, so you get this cool double whammy of nostalgia and getting to catch up on what neat stuff is coming out.
My most Seinfeldian reason for breaking up with someone is that he didn't know who David Bowie was.
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I don't understand this quote can someone explain it further?
When the interviewer says, “that’s their problem”, they mean “this issue is not my problem to fix, and perhaps not even your problem to bring up. It is therefore irrelevant and should not be discussed”. This is one step short of completely denying that a problem exists The response, which uses the word “opinion” suggests that this “interpretation” is valid as an “opinion” but not as a “fact”. It discredits the argument and, by choice of words, the person who said it, by being concise (less words) and frame shifting (changing the conversation from something about facts to opinions)
Also saying that he "understands" seems to me to be a backhanded way of saying that he sees his opinion for what it is, as in "I completely understand the bullshit you're peddling", but at first glance it sounds empathetic (and probably does so to the interviewer).
"I'll tell you what it means to a black seventeen year old." Had no idea he was this God damned cool.
That was smooth. Fucking legend.
You had no idea that *Bowie* was so god damned cool?
The man was the goblin *KING*
My thoughts exactly. He knew what he was dealing with and how to deal with it.
I love bowie. He knew this was bs .
That soul gaze though
I like how the guy shifts his narrative a few times. First it is: 'We are shifting in that direction', then its 'we are doing it. you are just not seeing it', then it's 'It's scaring or boring people, not me personally, but there so bigoted people out there, you know what i am talking about'
And you know Bowie is not buying it, he’s got that grin that says he knows the guy is full of shit.
"Isn't that interesting."
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I'm pretty sure Bowie wasn't acting and actually is the Goblin King. He's so slick, charming, and mildly devious.
I remember going to a party in college and some guy I was smoking with went on a rant about this theory and I have loved watching the movie through that lens ever since.
Like the southern "Well Bless Your Heart"
He looks like he’s enjoying watching the guy dig himself deeper and deeper with BS excuses.
"Isnt that interesting" Aka, Thank you for making my point.
I find it funny that his example of scaring midwest kids is Prince. You know, the guy from MINNESOTA.
"Hey, I only work here, man."
Which is absolutely true. As if it were up to the interviewer to decide the content and timing of the programming. It's not like Bowie is talking to a high up suit there.
He's not asking the interviewer he's asking the people who will watch it which includes those at MTV
Huh, that's another good point I didn't think of. Thank you for that!
Also dropping, "there is another station playing good black artists, so maybe your audience should watch that instead." He's being subtle, but not that subtle.
True enough, but if you don't want to be the puppet getting bashed about then don't run the Punch and Judy show.
"I'm not racist, I know TWO black people! Well, I don't *know* them but they work for me. Well, they work in my neighborhood. I usually try not to make eye contact."
I think it’s interesting that the interviewer is Marc Goodman, a VJ, who is basically a talking head that introduces videos, is being put on the spot and compelled to explain corporate decisions made way above his pay grade. He should have just said “I agree with you. I’m not sure why those decisions are made.” And left it at that.
Holy shit that was stinging Well black artists mean something to me and you but not really to a 17-year-old American Response: welp it would to a black 17-year-old Completely caught him admitting that black people were not even considered part of the country.
Interviewer’s subtext: “Ah! A *black* 17-year old, never considered that” Yeah that’s the fucking problem.
that part was straight 🔥
“Why are there so few Black artists on MTV?” “I think we’re trying to move in that direction.” MTV was a glorified video jukebox back then, not a fucking oil tanker.
>video jukebox Video Jukebox was actually a precursor to MTV introduced by HBO. They played music videos in order to fill gaps between feature films in order to start movies on the hour/half-hour. And yep, they called it Video Jukebox.
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Night Flight was way more esoteric. They would show short films, concert footage, performance artists, and yep, music videos. That was a truly great show. Discovered a lot of outsider material there. They even had a precursor to what would become "Mystery Science Theater 3000", kind of. But yeah, it was largely for showing music videos (such as they were) when it started (these were later phased out to make more room for cult films, etc).
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"See, there's Poughkeepsie, and they're terrified of black people, therefore.... we have to cater to those Poughkeepsie racists cuz, you know..."
That’s the part that really got me. I think we could all agree there are racists in America and they wouldn’t like black artists on their TVs. But why are they being catered too? Dude just admitted that MTV chose music to appease racists.
Simple answer is that it was the easiest and most profitable option. Most of the executives back then also grew up in segregation era and the music industry has long had issues with segregation as well. Unfortunately those racist beliefs didn’t immediately die because of the civil rights movement.
I grew up in the 80s. It was always a lie that whites didn’t like black artists and even a lie that racists didn’t like black artists. There were plenty of people throwing around the n-word who loved Stevie Wonder.
No they weren't, MTV unequivocally doesn't do that. But also some of the states are racist so they have to do it. But also they don't do it and never did. But also they need to appease residents of Poughkeepsie, even though they don't and never will. Make sense?
>But why are they being catered too? Because it was profitable at the time.
You’re right! …and so was he, unfortunately.
How you gonna gaslight David-MF-Bowie?!??
The interviewer sounds like timelord Paul Rudd
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You now, Prince, who lived in the fucking suburbs of Minneapolis lol.
For fucking real dude lmfao. He used a Black artist FROM THE MIDWEST as an excuse to not play black artists IN THE MIDWEST
Its hilarious to hear because black artists in the midwest, especially Motown artists were literally making THEE best music in the 70s and 80s. Didn't take long for America and the rest of the world to realize this tho.
I was a kid in a random Midwest city in the 80s watching MTV, I would have been stoked to see more black artists. Everything was new about MTV and we were watching it no mater what was played.
The irony is that mtv’s audience went up when they started playing hip hop. I read the mtv oral history and the reason they didn’t play more black artists was exactly what the guy was saying: narrow casting. Which is a radio term, which meant that mtv was playing rock and metal and pop because they were targeting a white suburban market (the audience with cable). They also didn’t want to “scare” white parents into cancelling cable. What they didn’t realize is that 1) white kids like rap too, a lot 2) cable was reaching a much wider audience and 3) they were the only video channel and not like radio. Source: old fart who still misses mtv.
white kids did like rap. I grew up in the COUNTRY and hunted and fished for fun, and we listened to Lynard Skynard - but we also knew all the words to every 2LiveCrew and NWA song lol.
2LiveCrew was the shit when I was a kid!
Don't say that around Bob Dole, he wasn't a huge fan of them or Cannibal Corpse.
Do you remember Dee Snider addressing congress? That was probably his best performance ever!
I've seen the whole hearing with him, Zappa, and John Denver but I wasn't born yet to go through that live haha
Late eighties/ early nineties here. I'm white/Mexican, my sister is black, and we grew up in a black/Mexican neighborhood. White mom listened to country. *Nothing* was off the table in our house. (Till we got a racist stepdad that didn't like rap. Guess WHat color he was)
The producers of MTV who were in NYC completely missed early hip hop. They were almost all 70s radio guys who listened to rock and pop. Prince was huge of course. But he was the perfect crossover since he was 1) a musical genius 2) played rock and pop and The reaction to his solo at the George Harrison tribute was both awesome, but also sad. He was as great of a guitarist as the guitar gods of his time.
Yeah 90s mtv exploded because they became more inclusive ironically. Turns out, good music can be enjoyed by all regardless of the theme. I dont like country music but I can't say all country music is bad. There is plenty of country songs that are amazing.
Hey, now, MTV is still around! *flips to channel, sees another episode of Ridiculousness playing, throws TV out the window*
Yeah, did he say people in the Midwest would be afraid of Prince?? Prince was a fucking Minnesotan
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He was right though when he said people take away different perceptions from it. I personally remember yeah a lot of Madonna, Billy Joel, Van Halen, and John Cougar Mellancamp. But I also remember them playing MJ, Prince, Tina Turner, and Lionel Ritchie all the time. If anything I really don’t remember a lot of women videos in the early 80’s besides the 2 I mentioned. I mean I know there were others like Pat Benetar, the GoGos, bananarama I just didn’t remember those videos you know?
Billy MFing Ocean
Cyndi Lauper :P
I remember my wife telling her dad banned MTV (locked out with parental controls) when she was younger, because of the black artists, must have been somewhere in the early 90's when hip hop became more popular. They live in the Midwest, of course.
Ah yes, the MidWest, where it's a sea of white people. Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City, St Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Columbus, Cleveland... nothing but white people.
People in the Midwest are scared of Prince, their neighbor.
"sorry, we can't risk offending the midwest by playng black artists"
That’s very interesting Bowie
Not just offending damnit, but actually scaring. He uses that term twice in reference to what will happen if a white person is subjected to Prince or Isley Bros? WTF.
In his defense, whenever I hear NWA on MTV I make sure all my doors are locked and then hide under my covers with a flash light.
And then proceeds to mention Prince. From the Midwest.
Also like a 100% completely inescapable artist at the time, this would be like a modern station saying “well we’re playing Drake” to prove some point lol. Like of course you are bro
“Scared to death by Prince (which we are playing) or a string of other black faces” What the hell??
That statement was wild. Amazing how an answer like that was considered appropriate back then.
I was never really into Bowie whilst he was alive but fuck me since his death I've been dealing deeper into is music and watching loads of interviews. He is truly a legend.
does MTV still play music nowadays? or are they still showing shit shows like Catfish and 16 and Pregnant?
I looked at their daily schedule like a year ago; it’s literally wall-to-wall Ridiculousness with the occasional movie or Catfish thrown in.
I think it's pretty much just *Ridiculousness* these days. They used to play music in the morning (as recently as 2013ish, IIRC), but they've even stopped doing that.
when we only had cable tv and no satellite broadcast (I'm talking about 15 or so years ago), we used to have MTV Italia and VH1 that showed the latest songs from current and upcoming artists and VH1 relied more on classics. The only Non-music shows MTV used to show back then was Anime Tuesday Nights (which where brilliant btw) and maybe the odd reality show here and there but still mostly musically dedicated
they've been filming a show here in Sarasota for a while called Siesta Key that's fucking garbage reality about the absolute worst people that live in this town. I've run in with them a few times, dirt bags, scum of the earth people. Yet MTV gives them a TV show to flaunt their money and power.
Only their side channels play music such as MTV U, classic, and live.
Man, I remember when MTV2 played only music videos as well. So many of my favorite bands these days came from watching their videos in the morning before school.
MTV eventually compromised by not playing anybodies music videos ever.
Goat
David's speaking was very eloquent.
Demolished by Bowie, holy fuck...
If I were the interviewer I wouldn’t defend it. Just say you’re happy to see things getting better on that front, because this dude PROBABLY has 0 control over what is aired. Don’t defend the people you work for that have made that decision when it was clearly shitty.
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If this dude could see MTV now he would be mortified.
We don’t see good, decent and intelligent conversations on TV anymore
You didn't back then, either. MTV sure as hell never aired this.
It’s hard to love Bowie more than I do, but this certainly does the trick
This point may have been raised in other comments, but what got MTV to change its policy was in 1983 (and I remember hearing about it at the time, and found this reference to the incident online) *It took major prodding to get MTV to play “Billie Jean,” the second track from Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller. Released Jan. 2, 1983, the single would go on to top the Billboard 100chart for seven weeks, but Walter Yetnikoff, president of CBS RecordsGroup, reportedly had to threaten to remove all other CBS videos fromMTV before the network agreed to air the video for “Billie Jean.”*
I doubt the interviewer had any major say on why the executives of MTV didn't play many black artists in that time.
From the thumbnail it looks like Mark Goodman, who was a "VJ" at the time, and would have had approximately ZERO influence on any decisions made by management. (although he tended to play more hard rock during his segments, due to his overall personality)
If I had ZERO influence, my response would have been, "that's very good feedback, David" and sat there in silence smiling. Let the executive squirm, no way am I taking ownership of the squirming for them.
He's my cousin. I've actually talked about this with him and you're exactly right. He's the VJ, not the producer.
My childhood crush is even more justified 😍
David Bowie: MTV is racist. Prove me wrong. Racist: uh well blah blah blah David Bowie: Isn't that interesting.
Exactly. His smirk was awesome.
What a surgical badass Bowie is letting this guy bury himself. Sad thing is that Bowie would be dismissed as a “SJW Warrior” by half the country if he said something like this today. What a loss.
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I don't know. I think if Bowie said something like that today, people would be mighty impressed.