Or in 1981-83 when this conversation happened hip-hop really was underground and limited to a handful of cities. There really wasn’t a ton of interest there at he time so the for profit business known as MTV chased down profitability.
Why do you think MTV should have aired the videos Bowie was finding interesting compared to the ones the larger audience was interested in?
This isn’t Bowie really saying “MTV”, he’s talking to America. Blues? Let’s let the racist Clapton represent that. Rock and Roll? Why Elvis Presley! Rap? Ice-Ice Baby!
It isn’t that MTV is the first to do this, it’s a consistent pattern of Americans taking from a culture and then sanitizing and whitewashing it for their own profit. Of course we can always blame profits. I’m sure setting up concentrations camps is profitable too.
Or in 1981-83 when this conversation happened hip-hop really was underground and limited to a handful of cities. There really wasn’t a ton of interest there at he time so the for profit business known as MTV chased down profitability.
Why do you think MTV should have aired the videos Bowie was finding interesting compared to the ones the larger audience was interested in?
This isn’t Bowie really saying “MTV”, he’s talking to America. Blues? Let’s let the racist Clapton represent that. Rock and Roll? Why Elvis Presley! Rap? Ice-Ice Baby!
It isn’t that MTV is the first to do this, it’s a consistent pattern of Americans taking from a culture and then sanitizing and whitewashing it for their own profit. Of course we can always blame profits. I’m sure setting up concentrations camps is profitable too.