Riverpoet31 said:

That certainly explains it, but it says nothing to justify it.

Why wouldn't it be interesting? It's an achievement isn't it? People don't get bent out of shape when someone asks what the first video played in general was ("Video Killed The Radio Star") and that was an achievement. So achievements don't matter unless they are made by heterosexual white males?
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[Edited 2/11/10 12:45pm]

How is asking who the first black artist on MTV was "whining about racism"? It has been widely believed for years that it was Michael Jackson and scriptgirl has heard that he wasn't so she asked a question. Maybe the question pisses you off because you can't stand to see someone of a minority curious about the accomplishments of their race?

Riverpoet31 said:

Gary US Bonds.

You are confusing whining with pride. Minorities of any kind are curious to know about achievements or accomplishments from their particular group whether it's leap taking large achievements or meanlingless small achievements out of a sense of curiosity and pride. And considering that the world is not an equal place, an accomplishment that any minority makes is reason for them to be proud. Does it threaten you when a minority feels pride?
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[Edited 2/11/10 13:02pm]

therat said:

People often said it was because of Bruce Springsteen producing his album at the time but who knows but yeah I've heard stories that he was on MTV.

Riverpoet, you need to SIT DOWN.

Firstly, I was not asking about who the first black musician was in order to whine, beat my chest or play the race card. I was asking out of curiousity and also because I have learned that I when I have a question about music this board is the best place to come to. There are so many wonderful "old heads" and "new heads" here who have more than generous in sharing their knowledge with me and have done so graciously and I appreciate it. This was not a question to dredge up painful memories or insert race. YOU are the one who has injected a fun thread with your negativity and insecurity. YOU are the one who seems to have an issue with this. If you don't care about this subject you didn't have to come in here.
Obviously this is not a thread that suits you. So be a gracious person and leave.

scriptgirl said:

scriptgirl said:

Thank you for the kudos. I just felt something needed to be said here. Glad you think I got it right (for once).

Timmy84 said:

Yeah he was on there a fair amount when I first got MTV, summer of 1982. What was that song, "Don't Take My Girl" or "Step Back Asshole" or something about beating up some guy that was hitting on his girlfriend.

That first few months I remember seeing Musical Youth, Tina (Ball of Confusion), Prince (1999 and Little Red Corvette both in heavy rotation), the Gap Band and yes, the Specials (Ghost Town). Maybe MJ's Rock With You a couple times. But it was very focused on rock, particularly new wave - that was the summer of Men At Work, Adam Ant and Duran Duran.

By 1984 after MJ's huge success it had become a lot more racially diverse in terms of the kind of music you were likely to hear. Definitely took more of a pop approach, which also helped people like Madonna, who probably wouldn't have made it onto MTV either if her debut had come out in 1981... too disco/pop.

But the other side is, they also completely eliminated all the weirder clips (Flash And The Pan, Hayzi Fantayzi and Altered Images for example if anyone remembers them.) In the early years they didn't have that many videos or that much viewership, so a lot of weird, non-mainstream stuff would slip through. I kind of missed that part of it.

Then again - the reason they had so much time and so few clips was because they so rarely showed black artists! There's only so many hours in the day. So it's good that the focus expanded. I just missed seeing all the weirdos. Maybe if they'd had a show like 120 Minutes in the early 80s, I could have got my Hayzi Fantayzi jones fed without killing off peoples' careers.

I gotta finish reading this later but can folks please do me a damn favor and stop answering the question wrongly when the correct answer is posted so quickly. Seriously folks, you ain't gotta be that lazy. Read the first ten comments at least.

sosgemini said:

lowkey said:

I don't know where you are from, but in Chicago Prince "clicked" with black radio from the beginning. I remember hearing singles from all his albums in regular rotation on Chicago's black stations. It was the white stations that jumped on board later with Prince. However, the blacks stations were playing singles and album cuts, uptempo and ballads. The black adult stations still play Prince here - old and new.