ROCK VIDIOCY WHAT'S BLACK & WHITE & WATCHED ALL OVER?
If you've been listening, there's been a lot of people using the word "racism" lately that might not have been using it before. It's a touchy subject, no lie—but it's galling to hear it used so casually. Here's the scoop: You've probably read someone, somewhere, dismissing MTV's music programming as racist —this because black acts are very rarely featured and, when featured, are black "rock" bands like the Bus Boys, Gory "U.S." Bonds, or the English Beat.
ROCK VIDIOCY WHAT'S BLACK & WHITE & WATCHED ALL OVER?
DAVE DiMARTINO
If you've been listening, there's been a lot of people using the word "racism" lately that might not have been using it before. It's a touchy subject, no lie—but it's galling to hear it used so casually.
Here's the scoop: You've probably read someone, somewhere, dismissing MTV's music programming as racist —this because black acts are very rarely featured and, when featured, are black "rock" bands like the Bus
Boys, Gory "U.S." Bonds, or the English Beat. When I heard about the controversy and MTV's resulting defensive-ness, it seemed hilariously appropriate, typical of our Wocky America and obviously true. Where were these great Rick James videos I'd seen at clubs?
When I saw Prince's "1999" video on MTV soon after, it seemed no "victory" for black music; a black friend of my wife's, over watching while I wos, remarked "it figures they'd show him," somewhat disgustedly. As a white 29-year old who, let's
face it, has spent less-than-zip years overly familiar with black culture, I wasn't surpri-sed by her comment so much as the fact that it