as the story goes, cbs essentially said, we will pull every other artist we have on mtv if you don t play this. they had to be essentially blackmailed into doing it. it doesn t matter who s wrong or right just beat it he was the artist that mtv really needed. they didn t know they needed him, but boy, when we started to see those michael jackson videos, it was just unbelievable. then there was the domino effect. suddenly you see prince videos from warner bros. do the same thing. tonight we re going to party like it s 1999 prince wasn t just materializing out of nowhere. where was he before this video was done? prince was a huge star on black radio stations. i mean, people he had a real underground cult following him. he was a very sexy, hot performer. the sweat of your body covers me can you, my darling, can you picture this prince loved the idea that he
why is that? we have to try and do what we think, not only new york and los angeles will appreciate, but also some town in the midwest that will be scared to death by prince or a string of other black faces. interesting. okay. thank you very much. when are we going to see anybody of color on mtv, because you said music television. when are you going to start covering all genres of music? music has no color. and it shouldn t have color. i don t believe in that. what i do, i don t want it labeled black or white. i want it labeled as music. 1983, motown has this big tv special, motown s 25th anniversary. at that time thriller is out and thriller is doing well. but michael jackson couldn t get billie jean on mtv.
something new needs to happen here and it s got to be real-sounding, more garage, less produced. i need an easy friend this music that was bubbling out of places like portland and seattle, and bands like nirvana that weren t looking to fit in to what was being played on mtv or what was being played on radio. i can t see you every night eventually radio and mtv came to them. the seeds of what will happen in the next decade are already all there by the end of the 80s. college rock, like r.e.m., was something new entirely. follow me, yeah follow me got my spine i ve got my orange crush the way that peter buck played guitar and the way that stipe sang, where the voice was
impressionistic or even have a surreal quality to them. and on this album is the first time i ve really tried to adapt to a didactic kind of approach to songwriting. if you should fall into my arms and tremble like a flower artists in the 80s, david bowie for that matter, realized if you want to make it, you ve got to be on mtv. but there s one group that s not happy with mtv. many black artists who have been told their music doesn t fit the format. that s what s happening. we re being sat in the back of the bus television-style. and if pittman gets away with this and there are other cable shows that form, they re going to try it. mtv doesn t exclude black acts. what mtv does exclude is music that s not rock n roll. mtv came out with no consideration on how to infuse black music into their mix. i m just floored by the fact there are so few black artists featured on it.
but she s strong! she s an individual woman. madonna understood the mtv phenomenon. she understood the vibe and the look and the sound. it all came together with her. everyone underestimates you. you keep giving them little surprises. if they get you all in one glance, then what s going to make them look again? ooh, like a virgin feels so good inside when madonna sang like a virgin and started rolling around on the ground, people thought it was a career-ending moment for her. oh, oh oh, oh in this wedding dress, rolling around on the floor. it kind of stopped everybody in their tracks. they were thinking, what is she doing and why is she doing it? but literally by the next morning, she s the biggest star in the world. madonna had no doubt. she was like, this is happening. get out of the way.