《I Want My MTV》作者：邁克爾•傑克遜拯救了MTV

來源：MJJCN.com / usatoday.com   編譯：Badthriller



2012年9月28日 - 《我要我的MTV》（I Want My MTV）的作者最近說起邁克爾•傑克遜（Michael Jackson）對MTV的影響。
問：有沒有這樣一個藝人能讓你說沒有他就沒有MTV？
答：當然：邁克爾•傑克遜拯救了MTV。諷刺的是在沒有網路的年代裏，他們幾乎不放黑人音樂人。MTV台的高管說他們不是歧視黑人，他們只做搖滾節目。
問：像電臺一樣。
答：聽起來很有說服力，但你會發現他們放的很多東西都不是搖滾，他們也會放一隻叫ABC的白人R&B組合的歌。所以如果你能放白人R&B組合的歌，為什麼不能放黑人R&B歌曲？我認為那是讓人們對MTV生氣的地方。邁克爾•傑克遜1982年為《顫慄》（Thriller）拍音樂錄影，當時MTV台離被關只剩3個月了。
從中也能看出MTV台是多麼唯利是圖，這是一句恭維，從1983年1月不太放都市錄影到83年11月不僅放了，還會說“10分鐘後回來，我們會再放《顫慄》。”總之奏效了。他們很高興吞下自尊。

Authors of 'I Want My MTV' discuss the impact of the channel + how Michael saved it

 

Q. Is there any one artist you can point to and say without that artist MTV may not have made it?

 

 

RT: Absolutely: Michael Jackson is the man who saved MTV. The irony is that for the first couple of years the network was on the air, they hardly ever played black musicians. MTV executives would say they weren't discriminating against black people; they were just programming rock.

 

 

Q. Like a radio station.

 

RT: Which is kind of a persuasive argument until you understand that a lot of what they were playing wasn't just rock 'n' roll. They were also playing ABC, which was a white R&B act. So, if you can play a white R&B act, why can't you play a black R&B act? I think that's part of what made people angry about MTV. So Michael Jackson starts making videos for Thriller in 1982 and at that point MTV is probably three bad months away from being shut down.

 

 

CM: It also showed how mercenary MTV was, and I mean that as a compliment, by going from in January 1983 not really playing urban videos to November '83 not only playing it but saying "come back in 10 minutes, we're going to play Thriller again." Whatever worked, worked. They were happy to swallow their pride.