Disco Sucks!
This cultural divide represented itself in the market research conducted by MTV. This research was far from thorough, relying on phone-in surveys, and was conducted in a haphazard manner. Jordan Rost, who was vice president of research at WASEC at the time, explained that “the original research study for MTV showed that playing a few specific urban artists would turn off a lot of the core audience” (Tannenbaum and Marks 138). But this was enough to motivate the network to implement its AOR format. Don Letts, a black music video director known for his collaboration with the Clash, recounts that a few exceptions were made:
However, these cases were few and far between and substantial representation of African-American and diaspora acts wouldn’t happen in earnest until after Michael Jackson’s explosive trilogy of videos broke the so-called color barrier.Once MTV came onto the scene, a corporate mentality came into play: “We don’t want any radical ideas, nothing political.” For directors like me, who were smart enough, you learned to be subtle. I did a video for Musical Youth, “Pass the Dutchie,” five little black guys playing a reggae track. I placed them in front of the House of Parliament, which is a postcard shot of what England is supposed to be. Instead, I replaced it with my vision of London. It was a subtle way of acknowledging the importance of black culture in the UK.
People often say “Billie Jean” was the first black music video on MTV. “Pass the Dutchie” was first. Because they were little and spoke in funny British accents, Musical Youth were deemed as nonthreatening, and therefore non-black. (Tannenbaum and Marks 140)
