5M views · Jan 11, 2016 · 4:40 · 2 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2021–2025
A 1983 interview clip in which David Bowie questions MTV VJ Mark Goodman about why the channel played so few videos by black artists.
Why Hacker News points people here: Cited as a famous, pointed example of Bowie challenging MTV's exclusion of black music, in threads on media gatekeeping.
“There's a famous 1983 interview bit of David Bowie where he asked the MTV VJ why they play no black music”HN comment, 2022
“It blew me away. He is so on point!”
Bowie questions MTV about excluding black artists.
You wrote: <<<MTV hardly played black artists.>>> I saw this interview recently: <<<David Bowie Criticizes MTV for Not Playing Videos by Black Artists | MTV News>> this video It blew me away. He is so on point!
“Worth watching”
Bowie interview on MTV's lack of black artists.
No black singers or bands you'll notice... Worth watching: "David Bowie Criticizes MTV for Not Playing Videos by Black Artists | MTV News" this video
“There's a famous 1983 interview bit of David Bowie where he asked the MTV VJ why they play no black music”
1983 Bowie interview excerpt about MTV avoiding black music.
>Be very wary of survivor bias when looking back in time, especially when there is a risk of nostalgia. Case in point: MTV of the 80s would play little to no black music. There's a famous 1983 interview bit of David Bowie where he asked the MTV VJ why they play no black music, and the VJ waffles a bit on the white suburban market. That does not sound very subversive to me. Here's the excerpt: this video
“You can see MTV’s “string of black faces” rationalizing in the Bowie interview”
Shows MTV rationalizing its lack of black artists.
You can see MTV’s “string of black faces” rationalizing in the Bowie interview: this video Wikipedia’s article whitewashes the actual history. We were watching MTV and smoking weed in those Reagan’s America days. — In fairness the US music industry had the race music chart which became the R&B chart to keep black musicians off the pop chart and Elvis’s controversy was singing black music…and consequently being played on white radio stations to white kids.
