History of MTV and Racial Exclusion

Music Television (MTV) began on August 1st, 1981 as a 24-hour channel displaying music videos, a new format to showcase and promote songs that had been previously produced. The first video ever shown on the channel was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles.

However, MTV struggled in the beginning, as cable television was a luxury that not many people could afford. Their struggle was compounded by the fact that they did not have enough videos to show on a 24-hour loop, since music videos were relatively new at the time. Most of the music videos that they had to choose from came from England, where music videos were a much more popular format than in the US at the time.^[1]Christian, Margena A. “Why MTV Took So Long To Play Black Music Videos.” Jet. 10/9/2006, Vol. 110 Issue 14, 16. Furthermore, MTV refused to play artists who did not fit into their predefined “rock” genre. By 1982, Rick James and MTV were becoming a household name in the US. However, as Rick James noted in a Rolling Stones interview that year, MTV was not featuring acclaimed black musicians like himself despite their fame. He stated he had “watch[ed] all these fluffed up groups who don’t even sell four records on a program [he was] being excluded from,” because of his and others’ claim that MTV was “catering to a white audience.”^[2]Fong-Torres, Ben. “Why MTV Is Shaking the Music Industry.” San Francisco Chronicle. May 1, 1983.  Spokespeople for MTV retorted by stating that they “turned down Rick James because the consumer didn’t define him as rock,” the genre which their station was focused on at that time.^[3]Pegley, Karen. 2002. “Multiculturalism, Diversity and Containment on MuchMusic (Canada) and MTV (US).” Canadian University Music Review. James also claimed that he was one of the only black artists to be speaking out about this issue. He said that “‘All these Black artists claim they’re behind me, but when it’s time to make a public statement, you can’t find them…They’re going to let me do all the rapping and get into trouble and then they’ll reap the benefits.”^[4]Christian, Margena A. “Why MTV Took So Long To Play Black Music Videos.” Jet. 10/9/2006, Vol. 110 Issue 14, 17. Les Garland, one of the creators of MTV, then went on to claim that “Super Freak” was not chosen to be aired because of its extravagant and flamboyant visuals. They said the song and video were “a little over the top for us, and our standards and practices wouldn’t go for it because of the content of the visuals. It had nothing to do with the song. It had nothing to do with him. It was a little over the top for us back then,” while also claiming that there were not enough black artists creating music videos. Another MTV music director defended Garland’s opinion by saying that MTV was a rock channel and there were no black music artists who were fitting into the rock definition.^[5]Christian, Margena A. “Why MTV Took So Long To Play Black Music Videos.” Jet. 10/9/2006, Vol. 110 Issue 14, 18. Though it is true that “Super Freak” did not conform to MTV’s ‘rock’ standards as much as artists like Styx, The Who, and Rod Stewart, it was influenced heavily by rock as a genre and Rick James himself was nominated for Best Rock Male Vocalist in the 1982 Grammy awards because of his work with “Super Freak.”^[6]Christian, Margena A. “Why MTV Took So Long To Play Black Music Videos.” Jet. 10/9/2006, Vol. 110 Issue 14, 53. “Super Freak,” and Streets Songs as a whole, portray a multi-faceted musician who came from an extensive musical background and combined elements from multiple genres, to create a unique area of his own – “punk-funk.” As such, Rick James felt he deserved to be included in the video halls of MTV. While Rick James was eventually shown on MTV, Michael Jackson became known as the first black artist to be included. MTV realized they could use the success of Jackson to propel their business forward and chose to loosen up their strict standards of “rock” in order to survive in a world that was demanding more from its videos. As MTV’s music director Buzz Brindle said, “Fortunately, Michael Jackson helped us to redefine the musical parameters of MTV and to help its audience become accepting of a more diverse group of artists and genres.”^[7]Christian, Margena A. “Why MTV Took So Long To Play Black Music Videos.” Jet. 10/9/2006, Vol. 110 Issue 14, 53. Without the criticism from Rick James, MTV might have never had a conversation about inclusivity and diversity. James opened up the doors for artists to publicly talk about their grievances and demand a more equal musical industry.