I am telling you no.

MTV did not have any Black artists before Prince and MJ.

The issue is who was first MJ or Prince. I remember when MTV played them both in the same day and you thought the world was coming to an end. Thankfully the floodgates opened and music was changed forever.

Shango said:

It's funny you mentioned Stevie Wonder.He actually appeared on MTV before Michael and Prince.The duet with Paul McCartney "Ebony And Ivory" was placed in heavy rotation in the summer of 1982 (months before 'Thriller' and '1999' was released).Granted,it was Paul's song featuring Stevie Wonder,but still...

^ Good info, thanks ! ^

This subject was discussed not so long ago on the Soulful Detroit forum, and they mentioned another artist being on MTV around 1981. Might've been Garland Jeffries which they mentioned. Can't relocate that topic.

Shango said:

grandmaster flash came out 1st on a small indie label but then signed 2 sugarhill records after rapper's delight became big

L4OATheOriginal said:

interesting. I've read something like that happened to "Rapper's Delight" too, which was originally released on either Enjoy Records or Roulette Records. Is there a labelscan of that early pressing from "The Message" somewhere online ?

Shango said:

the message came out on sugarhill records but grandmaster flash had a earlier club hit prior 2 sugarhill ..LL used it 4 his hit song "4,3,2,1"

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 rapping like hell make u sound like heaven

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 come on melle mel come and get some

^ Superappin'


[Edited 7/1/09 8:35am]

muleFunk said:

Right..


the issue is why Billie Jean always gets the credit as the 1st "black" video on MTV... when 1999 was there already.

MJ paved the way for Prince...?

The facts tells that was/ is not true, not in the case of Billie Jean vs. 1999.


---
[Edited 7/1/09 8:41am]

L4OATheOriginal said:

NpgSoldier said:

Thank ya both ! Yeah, that was a jam ... "Sha-na-NAAA !", and then that solid bass right after it.

Aoother earlier track than Rappers Delight is a Fatback Band B-side,
King Tim III (Personality Jock)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...lity_Jock)

Waltervandenvogelwejde said:

thedance said:

please someone tweet this info. i am so tired of folks giving out misinformation.

This is what Wiki has to say on this subject.



I know Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue " was on ALL the time.

.
[Edited 7/1/09 15:16pm]

thedance said:

Those that said that Musical Youth's "Pass the Dutchie" was the first ever black act on MTV would be correct. Prince was actually the second ever black act played on MTV.

One of those trivia questions that I have heard asked on various TV shows, read in newspaper + magazines quizzes etc, etc.

violetblues said:

I can understand Rick James' frustration.MTV really should have shown his "Super Freak" video.The song is very pop-ish with a New Wave twist.I think it's great that he spoke out against the channel,which forced them to reconsider their policy.

I watched MTV from the beginning and I was angry at the way they ignored black artists in the early days.To make matters worse,they would often play R&B-sounding songs that were recorded by white artists.For example,in the spring/summer of 83,they always played Robert Palmer's "You Are In My System" video.It's a remake of a song by The System,an R&B duo.Palmer's version is very similiar the original song,yet MTV ignored The System completely.

Here are some other songs that should have been played on MTV:

"Alligator Woman" by Cameo (1982)---Like Rick's "Super Freak",this song has a New Wave flavor to it.If The Talking Heads or Devo had recorded it,it would have been all over MTV.
"Controversy" by Prince (1981)---Sure,they eventually came to their senses and started showing Prince videos in 1982/83.But this song,which has a rock/New Wave feel to it,should have been added to their playlist in 1981.
"The Other Woman" by Ray Parker Jr. (1982)

SoulAlive said:

Hmmmm, I wonder how much bigger that album would've been if that happened

tecstar said:

Yep, there is some great & rare live footage from it on Youtube, but currently they removed the audio ... imo they better then remove the whole video ... what's the fun in watching that without sound ?

jackson35 said:

Ialso remember Eddie Grant and Musical Youth too.There videos were played on MTV but sporadically. I also remember Grace Jones "My Jamaican Guy" video. That video was also played on MTV before Prince or Michael's.

It seems to me that MTV was first playing videos by Black British and Caribbean artists very sporadically and then Prince and Michael videos were played on MTV and those two videos opened up doors for American Black artists to have their videos played continually.

Just my thoughts.

Another thing ...

Thriller(the album) did not start selling until late Winter/early Spring of 1983 when Billie Jean became a hit and MJ appeared on Motown 25 which was broadcast on NBC in Spring 1983.

When MJ and Prince both hit MTV they both took off and set the stage for the Summer of 83 battles on the chart between the two. By late 83 Prince had started getting ready for Purple Rain but MJ was creating the greatest music video ever that hit in December 1983 Thriller.

The creative energy that Prince and MJ set off was one of the greatest 2 year spans post 1960s music history.

If you are under 35 then you really don't remember the music. Incredible sounds in all genres of music were everywhere. Rock,R&B,Funk you name it it was hot.

Genesia said:

Yep, those two videos were played constantly throughout 1983 and into 1984 -- and since "1999" was released before (1982) AND after (1983) "Little Red Corvette" we got to see BOTH videos in constant rotation for quite some time. I don't remember hardly ever seeing videos on MTV by The Time or Vanity/Apollonia 6 until the summer/fall of '84. You had to catch these on the other channels (usually a one or two-hour video show late on Friday or Saturday evening).

About Tina Turner... she had a moderate hit in 1983 with "Let's Stay Together" (the Al Green tune) which MTV played quite a bit that year. The single wasn't part of an album at the time, and was added to Private Dancer in 1984 (perhaps originally meant to help sell this unexpectedly HUGE comeback album).

muleFunk said:

Well, most of us were just kids then and really didn't see anything strange about MTV playing videos by black artists. Yeah, it was rare at the time, but MTV didn't play A LOT of other stuff back then either. Growing up in a home that played a lot of classic soul and r&b, I wouldn't have expected anything less, really. Plus, we were still getting most of our new music from the radio which wasn't as "shy" about playing certain artists or genres. 1983 was really the first year that the music industry started viewing videos as another marketing tool outside of radio. As far as I can remember anyway.

SoulAlive said:

Just so everyone knows, acts like Tina Turner and Eddie Grant had other songs and videos released prior to "Private Dancer" and "Electric Avenue" that could have been played on MTV in 1982...so it's a mistake to only go by those releases.


...
[Edited 7/3/09 21:27pm]

I love this thread, because I think that time period was one of the most exciting in music.

Question: What do you think made "1999" the first video to break Prince through to MTV? Do you think it was just a question of timing? If "Sexuality" or "Controversy" had been released in December 1982, do you think they would've gotten as much airplay as 1999? OR was there something different about 1999 from Prince's previous work, as a song or video, that made mtv play it more?

Musical Youth's "Pass the Dutchie" was a real BIG hit in 1982 so I can see how they'll be the first black act on there for sure. Tina, Eddy & Donna's videos were played in '83 after MJ and Prince came through.

Prince's videos DID come before MJ though with "1999" and "Little Red Corvette". There's also contradictory reports about how people perceived Michael when "Billie Jean" was presented to MTV staff. According to Walter Yetnikoff, he threatened to "expose" MTV as a "racist channel" if they didn't play "Billie Jean" but MTV officials back then said they got the video and decided to play it instantly. The video clip for "Billie Jean" was done in January of 1983 and the song was released that month at the end of it. They were presented the video around that February or March and it was played on March 10.

By then Prince's videos were already played, maybe not to the degree of Michael's. In a way, because Michael wasn't a "rock artist", his video broke the barrier for pop artists to come on the channel.

I actually think Stevie Wonder (with Paul McCartney) and Gary U.S. Bonds (with Bruce Springsteen) were on the channel even longer before Musical Youth, Prince or MJ.

But Prince was among the first black solo artists to get heavy rotation on MTV, we shouldn't lose sight of that. Michael broke barriers in the way how music videos were produced, something even some MJ obituaries have missed the point of.

duggalolly said:

Probably had to do with how "1999" was being perceived. It was already recieving more critical acclaim than "Controversy" and guess "1999" was among the first Prince albums to show a more diverse approach to pop/rock than previous albums I guess.