2freaky4church1 said:

February 26, 1983 issue of Billboard

Billboard- February 19, 1983

bboy87 said:

I can remember when MTV was first in our area. My daughter was about 13 at the time, so MTV was on at our house like 24/7, after she got home from school, just as my age group used to come home and watch American Bandstand, lol! Anyway, a lot of these videos were like WoW!! When a Michael Jackson video came out , it was a big event, coud not wait to see them! Thiller was promoted a couple weeks in advance, and everyone was dying to see it!!! One of the books I have about MJ says that MTV didn't want to play his videos at first, but his record company said, ..if you don't play his videos, we are going to pull all our other white arists videos. And the rest is history, supposedly. Anyway, I will never forget the first Prince video I saw on there, I believe it was "Controvery", and he is in a raincoat, bikini underwear,etc. I was like, "What?" Loved it!!! Been a fan ever since. Then we had Madonna in her half naked wedding gown with garter belt on top of wedding cake at MTV awards show singing " Like a Virgin. The good old days.

MotownSubdivision said:

bboy87 said:

February 26, 1983 issue of Billboard

And a week later, "Billie Jean" would begin its 7 week run at #1. So Tina actually was on MTV before Private Dancer. I never would have guessed that.

Yeah "Ball Of Confusion" she recorded with British Electronic Foundation, but she is exactly the kind of black crossover artist whose breakthrough legacy gets rinsed away by Michael's.

Cinny said:

Cinny said:

I see Billy Squire on that list. It has been said that MTV killed his career, or at least the Rock Me Tonite video did.

MotownSubdivision said:

Cinny said:

Yeah "Ball Of Confusion" she recorded with British Electronic Foundation, but she is exactly the kind of black crossover artist whose breakthrough legacy gets rinsed away by Michael's.

So now I can add Tina to the list of Eddy Grant, Joan Armatrading, Musical Youth and Prince who had some presence on MTV before Michael. Tina was at her most irrelevant then so it kinda surprises me how she was even on MTV versus the other aforementioned names. I think originally, Michael was (rightfully) credited for being the artist to truly break down barriers at MTV and somewhere along the way, people were led to believe or assumed that he was the first black artist to be featured on the channel. However, I can't remember if it was him or someone else who was the first black artist to have their video in heavy rotation.

It was Michael who was the first to be in regular and heavy rotation. Prince was the second

Cinny said:

kitbradley said:

but black crossover artists were getting air time on MTV before hip-hop went into rotation. Micheal, Prince, Chaka, Tina, The Pointers and Lionel were all in regular MTV rotation in 1984. I can't remember the rapper's name but on a hip hop documentary, he mentioned pop/rock audiences didn't feel comfortable with hip-hop until Chaka's "I Feel For You" became a huge Pop hit.

You're absolutely right. Your post rings true even though I was in Canada watching Much Music.

Nope ...not Chaka and the Regulars where Lionel Richie, Prince, Herbie Hancock, Donna, Tina and The Pointer Sisters..

000000 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGiVzIr8Qg

no rick james, cameo, parliament/ funkadelic, etc... Black Entertainment Television was created . because black artist were not getting airplay. The few exceptions were Prince & Micheal Jackson. Both Prince & MJ benefitted greatly by being the first & only non white artist to air on MTV

MJ was first in Heavy Rotation with Billie Jean (end of March 1983), Beat It was next April, then Prince Red Corvette mid April, Eddy Grant Elecrtic Avenue in June, Donna Summer SWHFTM end of August, Herbie Hancock Rock It end of October, Lionel Richie All Night Long begining of November. Donna Summer Unconditional Love end of November. That was 1983... Summer had a video for Romeo (from Flashdance) played in medium rotation in the month of May 83.

000000 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGiVzIr8Qg

no rick james, cameo, parliament/ funkadelic, etc... Black Entertainment Television was created . because black artist were not getting airplay. The few exceptions were Prince & Micheal Jackson. Both Prince & MJ benefitted greatly by being the first & only non white artist to air on MTV

Lionel Richie - All Night Long

Lionel Richie - Running With The Night

Herbie Hancock - Auto Drive

Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me

Prince - When Doves Cry

Ray Parker Jr - GhostBusters

Eddy Grant - Romancing the Stone

Prince - Lets Go Crazy

The Jacksons - Torture

Billy Ocean - Carribean Queen

Stevie Wonder - I Just Called to Say I Love You

__________________________________________________________________________

Deneice Williams - Lets Hear it for the Boy

The Pointer Sisters- Jump

Tina Turner - What's Love Got to Do With It

Tina Turner - Better Be Good to Me

Shelia E - Glamorous Life

Donna Summer - There Goes My Baby

The Pointer Sisters - I'm So Excited

______________________________________________________________________________________

These are black artist played in heavy rotation in 1984

although I suspect that I Feel for You Chaka Khan may have be played in heavy rotation at the end of 1984 or beginning of 1985, there were no charts available, for January 1985, to confirm this; when a chart was reported (printed in Billboard) it was usually about 10 day previous to the reporting date.

[Edited 4/17/18 15:00pm]

000000 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGiVzIr8Qg

no rick james, cameo, parliament/ funkadelic, etc... Black Entertainment Television was created . because black artist were not getting airplay. The few exceptions were Prince & Micheal Jackson. Both Prince & MJ benefitted greatly by being the first & only non white artist to air on MTV

BET was created in 1980, it became a 24 hr channel in 1983, but was not a deciated (specifically/only) music video channel.

Tontoman22 said:

000000 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGiVzIr8Qg

no rick james, cameo, parliament/ funkadelic, etc... Black Entertainment Television was created . because black artist were not getting airplay. The few exceptions were Prince & Micheal Jackson. Both Prince & MJ benefitted greatly by being the first & only non white artist to air on MTV

BET was created in 1980, it became a 24 hr channel in 1983, but was not a deciated (specifically/only) music video channel.

Most of its early entertainment consisted of music videos.

bboy87 said:

In 1982, the only R&B album that went platinum was the Gap Band's IV album and Thriller going #1 in February '83 was a big deal as it was the first album by a black artist to go #1 in 3 years.

That also tells you how segregated things had gotten after the disco backlash

Prince and Lionel pushed things further in late '83 and '84 with 1999, Purple Rain, and Can't Slow Down

[Edited 4/6/18 15:33pm]

Donna Summer GH - On the Radio was #1 in January 1980 and was double platinum. Thriller definitely benefited from the rockers (dj's), declaring disco dead. They basically stopped playing anyone associated with the genre. Thriller was the first good dance album or album with danceable music in years.

[Edited 4/17/18 20:26pm]

bboy87 said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Cinny said: So now I can add Tina to the list of Eddy Grant, Joan Armatrading, Musical Youth and Prince who had some presence on MTV before Michael. Tina was at her most irrelevant then so it kinda surprises me how she was even on MTV versus the other aforementioned names. I think originally, Michael was (rightfully) credited for being the artist to truly break down barriers at MTV and somewhere along the way, people were led to believe or assumed that he was the first black artist to be featured on the channel. However, I can't remember if it was him or someone else who was the first black artist to have their video in heavy rotation.

It was Michael who was the first to be in regular and heavy rotation. Prince was the second

Prince was in Medium rotation in January 83, with 1999. Both Billie Jean and Red Corvette entered Medium rotation the week of 3/23/83. Billie Jean was in Heavy Rotation the next week 3/30/83. Then Beat It first week of April...then Red Corvette after...

Tontoman22 said:

bboy87 said:

In 1982, the only R&B album that went platinum was the Gap Band's IV album and Thriller going #1 in February '83 was a big deal as it was the first album by a black artist to go #1 in 3 years.

That also tells you how segregated things had gotten after the disco backlash

Prince and Lionel pushed things further in late '83 and '84 with 1999, Purple Rain, and Can't Slow Down

[Edited 4/6/18 15:33pm]

Donna Summer GH - On the Radio was #1 in January 1980 and was double platinum. Thriller definitely benefited from the rockers (dj's), declaring disco dead. They basically stopped playing anyone associated with the genre. Thriller was the first good dance album or album with danceable music in years.

[Edited 4/17/18 20:26pm]

Right

MotownSubdivision said:

^How MTV counted what tier of rotation a video was in made no sense. A video that played twice a day could be considered either to be in light or medium rotation while a video that got spun 3 times daily could be in medium or heavy rotation. And here I thought heavy rotation was like 12-24 spins a day

It was a music video station, not a radio station. It ran on 3, 8 hour cycles; or 4, 6 hour cycles. The video would be played once in a cycle (maybe twice if there was a countdown on the day). At the end of 1984, MTV had a year-end countdown, it had 20 vidoes. In 1985 it was 100 vidoes. I think many people assume it was more. Also on the rotation list, it does say 1 or 2, 2 or 3 etc...;heavy meaning it would be played in each airing cycle.

purple05 said:

Cinny said:

Yeah "Ball Of Confusion" she recorded with British Electronic Foundation, but she is exactly the kind of black crossover artist whose breakthrough legacy gets rinsed away by Michael's.

With Tina it’s kinda different. She made rock music she didn’t crossover with r&b like MJ

This whole crossover thing is sort B.S., Jackson came out of the Motown stable who specifically targeted a white audience and pop radio. So his beginning into the industry was pop, and he was an established pop star from the beginning of the 70s. Tina (with Ike), is R & B. Tina as a solo artist (like Donna Summer) isn't considered R & B, by the R & B community. Neither had great success on the R & B charts. Houston who was another Pop marketed star, who had a good manager (he negotiated with Clive Davis), to have her marketed in the R & B market as well as pop market; he wanted to make sure she had a career in the R & B market, if things didn't happen in the pop market. That is why the lead single was YGGL, and Arista poured more than 3 million into the promotion of the album (most going to marketing in the pop arena).

Tontoman22 said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

The first black artist I ever saw on MTV (when it hit our area) in 1982 was Jimi Hendrix ("Purple Haze")....

First one I saw was Eddy Grant ("Electric Avenue").

uPtoWnNY said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

The first black artist I ever saw on MTV (when it hit our area) in 1982 was Jimi Hendrix ("Purple Haze")....

First one I saw was Eddy Grant ("Electric Avenue").

I'm thinking that was the first one I saw... Of course, that was a loooooooooong time ago.

MotownSubdivision said:

Tontoman22 said:

It was a music video station, not a radio station. It ran on 3, 8 hour cycles; or 4, 6 hour cycles. The video would be played once in a cycle (maybe twice if there was a countdown on the day). At the end of 1984, MTV had a year-end countdown, it had 20 vidoes. In 1985 it was 100 vidoes. I think many people assume it was more. Also on the rotation list, it does say 1 or 2, 2 or 3 etc...;heavy meaning it would be played in each airing cycle.

True. It was just off-putting to hear and read the term "heavy rotation" so many times for so long, actually see how it was classified and then see such low numbers. I don't know how many different videos MTV aired on a daily basis but I didn't initially take into account that it was a large quantity. Also, being a television channel, MTV had commercials taking up airspace so that can be taken into consideration as well. Even knowing this now, heavy rotation being 3-4 airings still seems like such a small amount.

MTV wasn't available everywhere at first and it wasn't included in regular cable service, you had to pay extra for it. It was a pay channel (or a channel you paid for), so as far as commericals, I don't really remember even if there were any commericals or advertizing on the channel.

Tontoman22 said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Tontoman22 said: True. It was just off-putting to hear and read the term "heavy rotation" so many times for so long, actually see how it was classified and then see such low numbers. I don't know how many different videos MTV aired on a daily basis but I didn't initially take into account that it was a large quantity. Also, being a television channel, MTV had commercials taking up airspace so that can be taken into consideration as well. Even knowing this now, heavy rotation being 3-4 airings still seems like such a small amount.

MTV wasn't available everywhere at first and it wasn't included in regular cable service, you had to pay extra for it. It was a pay channel (or a channel you paid for), so as far as commericals, I don't really remember even if there were any commericals or advertizing on the channel.

Yeah, I remember my brother BEGGED to get cable when it first came to town just to see MTV... The introductory rate back then was $13 per month...

purple05 said:

Cinny said:

Yeah "Ball Of Confusion" she recorded with British Electronic Foundation, but she is exactly the kind of black crossover artist whose breakthrough legacy gets rinsed away by Michael's.

With Tina it’s kinda different. She made rock music she didn’t crossover with r&b like MJ

She actually did. I don't recall "Ball Of Confusion" even being released a single here in the states so I'm really surprised a video showed up on MTV. "Let's Stay Together" was Tina's comeback single here in the states. That was a straight up R&B song. It received some support on Pop stations but was in heavy rotation at black radio, which in turn, earned Tina her first Top 5 Billboard R&B song since the early 70's. It barely cracked the Top 30 on the Pop side. Same with "What's Love", another R&B song, which she was against recording for that very reason. But, this time she managed the huge pop-crossover witht that one. Tina wanted "Private Dancer" to be a Rock album. But, her management told her if she wanted to hit big in the states, she had to do some music that Americans associated her with - R&B.

[Edited 4/19/18 6:39am]

kitbradley said:

Remember when Eazy-E sampled "Ball of Confusion"? That was synthy.

"Heee once was a thug from around the wayyy. EAZY! But you should-"
"Bitch, shut the fuck up. Get the fuck outta here. Yo, Dre!"
"WHAT'S UP?"
"Gimme a funky-ass bassline."