Timmy, tell us the scoop

He was Cold Blooded enough to not care.

Good question

At that time, he had his hand full what with the MTV fiasco and all, but of course I'm only speculating about his absence.

Harlepolis said:

What fiasco happened in 1983?

Yeah, what MTV fiasco?

scriptgirl said:

He was pretty vocal in 83' about mtv's exclusion of black artists videos which ofcourse didnt make him popular.

That's a good question.I know he was busy working on the 'Cold Blooded' album but I suppose he still could have appeared.

Caramelpfe said:

He hit the rawest nerve, because it was true.

But I'm gonna leave it at that

Caramelpfe said:

But this isn't MTV, it's Motown 25, and it aired on NBC. Seems two totally different points.

Knowing Rick, he was probably high that night.

vainandy said:

That was my first thought.

I'm thinking Rick was too wild for that crowd. I didn't watch the entire show that evening but I think it was mainly their extremely huge selling 1960s and 1970s acts that performed that night....in other words "the legends" and those were pretty tame acts. I doubt The Dazz Band, who was doing very well with "Let It Whip" on Motown that year performed either.

ernestsewell said:

someone asked about the mtv fiasco & I chose to comment on that.

ernestsewell said:

Yes, but he probably kept alow profile appearances-wise due to his hot seat,,,,again, only speculations.

ernestsewell said:

Mines too

Debarge performed, so there was some 80s talent.
But Prince was on MTV by that point-so was MJ-Rick didn't have a Jheri curl to stand on.

But DeBarge was a lot tamer than Rick. There looked to be a lot of older and elite type people in that audience and they would have had a stroke if Rick came out there telling them to fire it up.

vainandy said:

Or freaking Lady T and some groupies.

Didn't they show footage of Rick during Motown 25?

he was probably in jail that night.

Bkeeper said:

Or opening for The Purple Rain tour

I know I know!!!

It wasn't out yet

ernestsewell said:

Mine too....Rick was fucked up.

Bkeeper said:

Another possibility/probability.

DesireeNevermind said:

He was probably promoting Cold Blooded. His legal troubles and jail began in the 90's.

He was busy somewhere giving a magazine interview raising hell about Vanity 6 and running his mouth about writing a movie called "Alice In Ghettoland"....all the while, giving Prince yet another idea.
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[Edited 2/8/10 17:46pm]

vainandy said:

That didn't seem to stop Marvin from appearing.

phunkdaddy said:

That was exactly my thought

scriptgirl said:

Rick was complaining about MTV back in'81-82. I have article about it in late 1982 where Rick was talking about it.

He was fighting Charlie Murphy that night, he couldn't make it.