I have no idea why Michael Jackson's Billie Jean always gets the credit as the first Black artist's video on MTV ?

Prince's 1999 video had premiere on MTV in december 1982, according The Vault book.

MJ's first music video off Thriller, Billie Jean had premiere on MTV march 1983. Same month, march 1983: Prince's second video Little Red Corvette had premiere on MTV.

So in fact Prince was the first major black artist. Not the other way around,

Imo. Thriller wasn't paving the way for Purple Rain, cuz Prince was there already with the 1999 album, (those 2 videos).

Note: we are talking about airing on MTV, Off The Wall did not get any premiere play in 1979, because of the fact that MTV wasn't launched until august 1981,

not that it matters a big deal, both artists are / were great,

I just like the facts....


Prince was first on MTV....



MTV Yearbook 1982 & 1983:

these 2 links to MTV:


Prince - headline pic to 1982.
http://www.mtv.com/music/...Id=1535819



Michael - the headline pic to 1983.
http://www.mtv.com/music/...Id=1535996



MTV confirms that 1999 was shown on MTV in 1982,

- before Billie Jean, Beat It & Thriller in 1983.

Both were phenomenal artists, Thriller was a record breaking album in many ways,

but the first major black artist who had a breakthrough on MTV was: Prince.


---
[Edited 6/30/09 23:09pm]
[Edited 7/1/09 11:59am]

Cool

What about Tina Turner, Donna Summer and Eddie Grant? They have been played on MTV before Prince and MJ.

The truth is that MTV didn't play a LOT of black artists. They billed themselves as a rock station. "1999" might have been on there, but it wasn't an hour rotation or anything. "Billie Jean", because of its popularity, broke down more walls with race on the channel. "Little Red Corvette" certainly helped broaden the mainstream appeal of MTV, because it was more of a crossover rock song. The same has been said of Prince's audience throughout the 1999 tour, and how LRC had more white folks coming to a Prince show. "Billie Jean" had more black people tuning into MTV, and appearing on it.

moussemaker said:

Tina's Private Dancer didn't come out until 84, not sure about the other two.

ernestsewell said:

you are maybe right, but here's what The Vault book writes.


16. December 1982:
The all-music television channel adds the "1999" video to it's playlist, a seemingly minor event which dramatically changes Prince's career. The MTV exposure suddenly made Prince's music accessible to a whole new audience and very quickly Prince went from being a cult artist to becoming a mainstream star. It didn't take long before 1999 started to take off in a big way. The album was certified gold in january 1983. The MTV exposure provided the boost Prince's career needed; he was finally gaining the mass acceptance that had been denied him so long.

(The Vault: page 39).
[Edited 6/28/09 16:22pm]

MTV was very white in the early days. I remember 1999 on MTV but can't place the time. Seems like it wasn't played regularly until after Purple Rain made P huge? Anyone recall that was around to see the early days of MTV? I do recall they started by playing a lot of rock type white bands, and in mid to later 80's got into the synthesized sounds of the 80's as well, playing all the popular groups of the day.
I seem to recall the early djs playing their style of music- rock, metal, pop... Geez!, I am getting old, can't recall the details of P first or Michael? I can't even remember if they were playing early videos of Jackson 5?... What the ....?

There were probably a few other major black artists on MTV before 1999, but the point is that Prince was one of the first. That's cool and that's importnant.
[Edited 6/28/09 17:20pm]

MJ was just more popular because he was white.

thedance said:

Nothing like someone who knows what the hell they are talking about and gets to the turth

peter430044 said:

What black artist was before PRince?

Brofie said:

moussemaker mentioned Tina Turner & Donna Summer higher up in the thread. I haven't verified it myself.

Thank u for puting that out for the world to here

micknme said:

What VANITY 6 HE SO DUAL

smoothd40 said:

What is that song?

ernestsewell said:

IT WAS ON VANITY 6 FIRST ALBUM

smoothd40 said:

Not on any album I've seen.

smoothd40 said:

Dull..

lezama said:

What about him?

peter430044 said:

Tina Turner would not have been played before Prince. Private Dancer (which launched Tina into the MTV realm) didn't come out until 1984.

Oh - and to whomever indicated that 1999 wasn't in heavy rotation on MTV? Wrong - it most certainly was. I was working in television back then and the production guys at the station I worked at always turned the monitors to MTV when the studio wasn't in use. I saw 1999 (and, later, Little Red Corvette) a lot.

You know the saying that when you repeat a lie long enough people begin to believe it. This is very similar to the elvis started rock and roll thing. Thanks, for the post but its useless trying to argue to folks this fact because its been to deepley ingrained in peole from the media.

Genesia said:

Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money" didn't come out until a couple years after 1999 as well so her name has been strucken from the record as well. This leaves Prince as the true first.

P.S. MTV always gets their shit wrong. They claimed that Run D.M.C.'s "Walk This Way" was the first time that rap and rock & roll merged. They happened to forget about the same groups "Rock Box" from their first album, then "King Of Rock" which preceded the Aerosmith remake by two years.

I have some pretty vivid memories of early MTV and have always wondered about the reports of Michael Jackson being played first because of my memories of videos from the 1999 album playing first. However, I believe there was an early program on MTV that focused on older videos and I believe Jimi was on MTV before Prince or Michael. It was a very long time ago so I may well be wrong.

Peace!

Thx, "thedance", for bringin this up,
cause I heard on a report from BBC or CNN earlier today that Michael was the first black artist to have a video on MTV...
and I was thinkin..."are they sure?...wat about Prince?"
Now that u've let me kno, I feel like emailin or callin they asses up and tell them to get their facts straight!

I thought it was widely known that the suits at Epic strong-armed MTV management into putting Michael Jackson's videos into regular rotation.

I used to watch MTV.

When MuchMusic and MoreMuchMusic came on the scene I dropped MTV

The 1999 video was first even though you will catch Hell if you say that now.

The summer of 83 had MJ and Prince battling for supremacy of the radio. Billie Jean and Little Red Corvette. The music in 1983 was like summer after the ice age ended. Fresh new beats and sound were pouring out from all over. MJ set the stage for the new era but Prince was right there nipping at his heels. Madonna was being heard ON BLACK RADIO peeps in constant rotation. People now think that is a lie but Lucky Star was considered a "R&B" song.

That's what MJ and Prince both did that they really don't get credit for now is ending the seperations that existed in music that should have been ended with Elvis.

This could be the first video by a black artist on mtv lol



Also, Eddie Grant and the Bus Boys were both played during the first year of MTV. And they were before Prince and MJ.