Why it took MTV so long to play black music videos

Jet, Oct 9, 2006

After Billie Jean, Jackson's Beat It followed the same year. Next came Thriller, a 14-minute short film, the first o fits kind.

"For the first time in the history of MTV, we spotted big time rating spikes," says Garland. "We were averaging back in those days like a 24 hour rating of 1.2, but every time we would play Thriller, we'd jump up to an 8 or 10. We learned a lot about programming."

Jackson's videos helped break the color barrier at MTV. More videos by Black artists, most notably Prince, were then aired.

"Fortunately, Michael Jackson helped us to redefine the musical parameters of MTV," says Brindle, "and to help its audience become accepting of a more diverse group of artists and genres."

Davey D, host of San Francisco's KPFA 94.1 Hard Knock Radio and hip hop/political columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, says that Jackson saved the entire music industry.

"At that time the music industry was suffering," Davey D says. "He came along and pretty much saved it and took the level of video production to a whole other height and changed the game. So MTV owes a lot to Black artists and the type of attention that they drew to the channel."

The network hit the jackpot in 1988 with the creation of "Yo! MTV Raps." Created by late filmmaker Ted Demme and Peter Dougherty, the show helped break rap music on a national level.

Host Fab 5 Freddy, who shot on location, made history in August 1988 as TV's first hip-hop VJ. Ed Lover and Doctor Dre, who shot in the studio, co-hosted as a team and came aboard in March 1989.

"It was television apartheid over there until I arrived," says Fab 5 Freddy, who is currently producing the film American Gangster, to star Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. "MTV made a deep dive into the Black culture by doing the show and taking it to the street corners."

Ed Lover says that since MTV executives didn't know anything about rap music, they had free range.

"We had the power of showing whatever we felt like we wanted to show," remembers Ed Lover. "That wasn't their area of expertise. But once it became a worldwide phenomenon, then they wanted to take the power away from us ... Videos started being censored and we had to fight them on everything. They didn't want the backlash on corporate sponsorships. It was old stupid stuff."

Despite the show's high ratings, it was axed in August 1995.

"The show ran its course as far as I was concerned," says Fab 5 Freddy. "Some of its impact was waning. MTV started wanting videos edited. It became policy that videos had to conform to a certain standard. You couldn't showcase products because it was looked upon as advertising. We had to blur and take things out. It was just little things."

Reflecting on MTV's 25th anniversary, Ed Lover says: "I have nothing but love for MTV to a certain degree ... I still think they have a long way to go. I still think they need some more forward-thinking people of color within their organization, but I think they've come a long way also."

MAKING THE CUT

* A few Black artists whose music fit the early rock-dominated format of MTV in 1981 included: Eddy Grant, Joan Arma-trading, Musical Youth, Tina Turner, Donna Summer, The Bus Boys and Jon Butcher Axis.