Jim O’Connor - What Is Rock and Roll?

In August 1981, a new and different TV channel appeared on screens across the United States. It was called MTV (Music Television). All it aired was rock music videos. A music video is a short film that promotes a musician or bands song. It was a powerful way for groups to reach a huge audience. Thats if their songs were played in heavy rotation. (Heavy rotation means the video was on a lot.)

The rock group KISS was played in heavy rotation on MTV. They looked different from any other band. The four members dressed in black leather and wore incredibly high platform shoes. But what really made them stand out was the thick white makeup and designs on their faces. Their signature song was Rock and Roll All Nite. The video of KISS performing it nearly always pops up on any list of the ten best videos.

Madonna

They were white.

The first few years of MTV programming featured almost no black musicians. Not even Michael Jackson. He was no longer in the Jackson 5 and was working as a solo performer. He had just produced a fantastic video to promote his song Billie Jean. MTV was not interested in it.

But that was about to change.

Why did MTV air so few videos starring African Americans? David Bowie asked this question while being interviewed on MTV. The answer was that MTV didnt want to scare viewers in small towns by showing a string of... black faces, black music.

This was the same sort of racism as in the 1950s when radio stations in white areas had kept rhythm-and-blues music off the air.

The president of CBS Records heard about MTVs refusal to show Michael Jackson videos. (CBS was Michael Jacksons record company.) He got very, very angry and threatened to pull all videos with CBS performers from MTV and go public with MTVs racism.

MTV quickly put the Billie Jean video into heavy rotation. They also began airing other African American performers, like Prince.

The Billie Jean video was a huge success. The song was on Michael Jacksons Thriller album, which has sold one hundred million copies. The Billie Jean video certainly helped sales.

A few months later, the thirteen-minute-long video for Michael Jacksons song Thriller came out. It was like a short movie. There has really never been anything to match it. Ever.

A horror-movie director named John Landis created it with Michael. In it, Michael and his date are chased by zombies into an old abandoned house. Michael becomes a zombie himself, and is just about to turn his girlfriend into a zombie, when she wakes up. Its all been a bad dream.

The high point of Thriller comes during an amazing dance number. Michael changes into a zombie and then back into a human.

The Thriller album also stands as the high point of Michael Jacksons career. He had now earned the title, the King of Pop. Twelve of his singles reached #1 in the United States. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During his career, he earned half a billion dollars.

Michael Jacksons private life, however, was strange and lonely. His reputation was scarred by scandals. He was also addicted to a powerful drug that he used to get to sleep. He was rehearsing for a new tour when, on June 25, 2009, he died of an overdose. It was a terrible blow to his millions of fans. Music has been my outlet, my gift to all the lovers of the world, he said in a 2007 interview. Then he added, Through it, my music, I know I will live forever. That is certainly true.