Michael Jackson was not the first black person on MTV!
.
.
.
Stop I’ve
Had Enough–
Michael Jackson
Didn’t Invent MTV
.
Ok,
nobody has gone that far yet.
But can we please drop this
ridiculous fiction that
Michael Jackson was the
first Black artist on MTV.
Somehow in all of these
tributes and hastily produced
retrospectives,
The King of Pop is being hailed
as the Jackie Robinson of the
music video era.
WRONG.
Its bad enough that the
media is doing it
(MSNBC, Wolf Blitzer, etc).
But to have artists like
WIll.i.am repeating
this drivel is insane.
This is what USA Today
printed in its Jackson obituary:
Will.i.am, who this year
produced three remixes on
the celebratory reissue
Thriller 25, explained:
“It was the first time a
black dude was on MTV.
It was the first time you saw
things that were happening
in the ghettos and kids in the
suburbs were copying it.
It was like Broadway
fused with street performance
and his wardrobe was fly.
He made it possible to be
yourself and be free and
just do you.
Was Michael Jackson
a huge crossover artist?
YES.
Did he practically reinvent
the music video and give us
linear storytelling as opposed
to rehashed concert footage
and avant garde film
YES.
But stop repeating the lie…
Jackson was not the first
Black person on MTV.
.
.
Jet magazine pointed out before
the landmark Billie Jean
video hit MTV’s airwaves
in March 2003:
Eddy Grant,
Musical Youth
and Joan Armatrading
were some of the Black
artists from that country
(United Kingdom) whose
videos were shown during
MTV’s inception.
Tina Turner,
Jon Butcher Axis,
The Bus Boys
and Donna Summer were
some of the other Black artists
whose videos were shown
because their music fit the format.
And then there was that guy
Comment submitted
to 22MOON July 7th.-
By King – Of – Stop
I commend Liz and other
true friends of MJ and
the family who had enough
dignity to avoid attending
the service today.
I felt disgust after seeing it,
as the family (led by Poppa Joe)
will continue to milk MJ’s
passing and his kids’ “plight”
for as much $$$ as they can,
now.
I may be in the minority here,
but I thought the coverage of
MJ’s death was excessive to
begin with.
Having his death coincide
with Farrah Fawcett’s passing,
and then Billy Mays’ a few days
later was bad timing,
and while they weren’t
even close to MJ’s league,
I thought he should have
been given the same amount
of coverage that theirs did.
At least the tributes given
to KIA soldiers at the end
of newscasts are dignified.
Nothing needs to be said.
I’m not trivializing MJ’s ability
to entertain or impact as
an artist,
but the memorial performances
were simply awful and
hammy–
especially Usher’s and Mariah’s.
The whole event could have
summed up with a 5-second
sound byte from his daughter Paris.
To paraphrase her,
“MJ will be deeply missed.”
It would have made more
sense for the family and
a number of close friends
to have a more private
(i.e non-televised) service.
A benefit concert should have
been held a few weeks later,
in which all of his
“professional acquaintances,
friends and collaborators could
pay tribute to him in an
upbeat fashion.
Given the nature of
the business, however,
I’m sure we’ll see more
“tribute” specials and
concerts,
whose proceeds go to feed
the egos of record producers
and self-proclaimed “friends.”
THANK YOU
for saying that,
King – Of – Stop,
I agree %100 percent.
Rash
i wish that you would leave him alone the man is dead .
thank god for the fact that michael left behind some wonderful and talented childreni believe that he made it better for blacks and whites to come together as a family if you had enough of michael jackson well you must understand that i was his no#1 fan and nothing can change that
celestegadsen - July 8, 2009 at 7:13 pm |
Are you black?
then why are you, in a typical hatred having fashion, trying to enlighten the world.
what does it matter if michael was the first black to you,
It seems to me that it really doesn’t matter who was first as long as it wasn’t mj. you don’t want to really bring clarity to the situation you only want to try and detract from someone who you obviously have a bias towards anyway.
now all the preceding artist of african descent were all good but they were more embraced by the white culture, much more than the african american culture. the busboys please, the point was not the skin color but the musical genre. mj was the first african american artist who was known for traditional african american musical roots to be played on mtv. now if you can’t say that there is a distinctive difference in musical styles of say tracy chapmon and jill scott.
if you were a predominantly white station if you were looking to crosss over who would you play first. you think rap is on mtv and because the executives like it.. i think not..
hassan - July 9, 2009 at 2:53 am |
Please refrain from using the word white.
We are European American’s.
Thanks
Jon - July 10, 2009 at 6:38 pm |
Well…. I don’t like being called Hispanic American!
I am just American, if you need to classify me then try brown American =)
In other words you’re a (white) American
Michael Jackson was a (black) American
Classifying race just leads to problems..
Kazi - February 27, 2012 at 6:08 am
you fool!!
mtv said it themselves that he was the first black artist to be play.
rick james tried to be on mtv but was rejected because his music wasn’t rock enough.
if it really was prince then they would’ve said it was prince.
michael paved the way for blacks to be on television.
lil'vina - August 22, 2009 at 12:07 am |
It was Prince.
The whole idea that MTV had an issue with
Black artists merely because they were Black
is a myth.
The reason MTv didn’t play most Black artists
was because most Black artsits were R &
B and MTV was a Rock station,
music was extremely divded
along genre lines at this time.
Since Prince conformed to the Rock motif he was played.
You have to keep in mind
when you have this debate that you
are also debating people that were
around at the time.
If you look very carefully at
THE RESPONSIBLE bios on jackson they
will tell you that jackson was not the
first Black artist on MTV period,
but the first Black artist to receive
“REGULAR ROTATION”, on MTV.
Perceiver - September 22, 2009 at 11:07 pm |
I also don’t like the use of the word black,
even though I’m not African American…
But I absolutely agree that all MJ was the first,
is false…
and that everyobody’s sayin it just because
he’s more famous than Prince.
Dear MJ fans,
Prince was the first,
live with that!
whocareswhatsmyname - September 3, 2009 at 5:38 am |
well im an mj fan
but i seriously doubt he was the first
i mean they started to play tina tuner,
donna summer and edie grant before mj
prince may have been the fist on
heavy rotation and its fine with me.
i think people just say that because it
was probably the most requested,
and the fact that he had the best selling album.
and maybe cause prince looks kinda white to me…
ddd - October 4, 2009 at 6:02 am |
Gotta love this post.
Can’t but help remind me of my
fave rapper Mickey Factz who’s lyrics
is always poppin off!
Sam Mickey Factz Eurean - December 31, 2009 at 9:55 pm |
I’m sick of people giving michael jackson credit
for stuff he did not do i.e. the moonwalk
(saw it on soul train and copied),
not first black on MTV,
not first Elisabeth Taylor
(we already had one),
what he was first at was the first pedophile
to have free rien to molest with the public
and legal system giving him the go ahead.
Carolyn - September 19, 2010 at 5:30 am |
After Michael died everyone
was his best friend suddenly –
what a bunch of phonies.
If someone without talent
did one tenth of what Michael
may have done with children
they would have been locked
up under the jail.
(Which would have saved
Michael’s life)
What excuse do the adults have
who were around Michael when
he was passing out ‘Jesus Juice”
to kids and having sleepovers?
Why did so many adults give
Michael a free pass for bad behavior?
Remember that Michael joke
that disappeared after
Michael died?
Why did Michael Jackson
start shopping at Wal-Mart?
He read in the paper
that little boy’s pants
were half off.
rashmanly - September 19, 2010 at 4:02 pm |
Get A Life!!!
Michael Jackson did break barrier
and was the first black person to
have the video THRILLER to be play on mtv.
Do your damn homework and grow up.
If you don’t like MJ that’s fine
but don’t go around bringing false claims
Michael Jackson is first not Prince not Musical Youth,
Not Rick James and not Tina Turner.
Deal and accept the fact the MJ made history
and for the love of God have some respect for the dead.
If you have nothing the positive
to say then shut the fuck up.
And keep your ignorance to yourself.
And don’t try to argue with me
because I’m going to win.
I know alot more about MJ
than your little so called lame
article you have wrote.
You,
Bill O’Reilly, Diane Dimond,
Tom Sneddon, Dr. Klein,
Joy Behar from the view,
those geeks from Fox News,
these so called MJ best friends
and the rest of you MJ haters
including the one been trashing him
by making these comments if you
have nothing positive to say you can
stick it and go to hell…
Same goes for Dr. Deepok &
Quincy Jones.
Same Difference!!!!!
Robin - October 11, 2010 at 10:56 pm |
Well said!
You do not mince words-
thank goodness.
Thank You for telling
the truth unabashed.
Rash
rashmanly - October 11, 2010 at 11:11 pm |
MJ was awesome, but I think even he would be a little ashamed of how people are giving him more credit than even HE knows he deserves. Besides, he wasn’t black-lol.
trish - February 27, 2011 at 5:00 pm |
LET THE MAN REST IN PEACE > HE IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE KING OF POP!!!!!
Jessica Yesenia Garcia - July 31, 2011 at 11:50 pm |
I do not recall MTV as being anti-black. I was about 10yr in 1984. I recall Donna Summers She works hard for the money. Irene Cara with her fame and flashdance stuff. Pointer Sisters. Kool And The Gang. New Edition. Lionel Richie. ETC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw6xesXLIAA Also, now way there was a black VJ in the pilot?
lucbod - January 2, 2012 at 4:00 am |
I love mike with all my heart, but he wasn’t the first black artist but he was the first to break barriers, set records and be in heavy rotation. once he came out with billie jean, ppl of all races loved it and he was even more requested than most of the rock videos. I was born in 1980, and in was 4 in 84, but then lots of black videos we going on, but none were so widely received, and had crossed over to all audiences like him. its nothing to get mad about, for those of us who are old enough. we know the real, so please stop arguing… it isn’t necessary!! 🙂
Ms Tt - April 12, 2012 at 8:54 pm |
i dont remember those other artist but michael jackson i remebered the 1st black where are the other artist you named if they only made 1 song no wonder every body thinks michael was the 1st
te - April 20, 2012 at 4:20 pm |