David Bowie Criticizes MTV for Not Playing Videos by Black Artists

I miss David so much. such a intelligent and thoughtful human being.

There was a documentary series on MAX, I think. It was amazing

I love how he wouldn't drop it, was polite but firm in his stance and 100% right at the time MTV ignored black music.

MTV ignored black music because most radio stations did. MTV was a big risk and the financiers weren't looking to take risks on pushing a new genre of music that wasn't mainstream with most audiences at that time.
- That's a poor excuse that doesn't justify anything.

No-one needs anyone, they don't even just pretend

I'm afraid of Americans
I'm afraid of the world
I'm afraid I can't help it
I'm afraid I can't

Scared to death by Prince?

Isn't it just a genre-related situation? Blacks don't make much rock/metal/whatever. And rap/hip-hop have a limited amount of fans.

My dude. Please learn a little bit about the history of music. It's ok to be ignorant of it. You grew up in a country that has appropriated and stolen the art forms of black artist since before jazz music even existed.

But some of us use this massive source of information called "The Internet" to actually learn. Seriously, there is so much interesting shit out there. You don't even need to be "woke". You can literally just be interested in where music genres came from and their influence. If you do even a little bit of listening you'll learn about how heavily every form of "pop" culture is heavily heavily influenced by black culture and in turn monetized by capitalist for profit.

Today the "face" of which is exploited black artist. But in the past was often a "white face" that was used to monetize black culture or artist that could never become "mainstream".

This is exactly what a dude from the 80s knew. And he didn't even have the Internet. He just knew the music industry and called it out for its failures. You have no excuse in 2025 to judge a white dude in the 80s pointing to well documented exploitations of black culture.

Black Americans did not only influence rap. They influenced every part of pop music for a century. They were only able to be successfully monetized around the time that rap music became popular. Seriously, you can open yourself up to a whole new world of music and history. You just have to be curious. You have the Internet. Good luck mate.
- You don't know where I grew up.
  
  History means nothing here. Influence means nothing here. "appropriated and stolen the art forms" -- this doesn't even make sense.
  
  There is a channel that plays a set of genres in some proportions.
  There are bands that play different genres in some proportions.
  Channel select bands according to its set of preferred genres.
  
  Now do a "Venn diagram" or whatever might help you to think.
"blacks"

I'm judging you now. It's been decades since this has been ok to say. C'mon, catch up.

"Don't make much rock"

I think you mean to say they literally invented rock.
Bro acting like Jim Hendrix, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard don't exist.

As of 2023, Rap/hip-hop is the most popular genre in the US.

https://www.billboard.com/pro/top-music-genres-2023-rankings-analysis/

David Bowie Criticizes MTV for Not Playing Videos by Black Artists | MTV News