ckoplien@todaystmj4.com

I remember when MTV debuted in 1981.

I thought it was pretty cool.  I was able to see what some of my favorite bands and artists looked like.  Plus, I found some brand new bands and artists to like. 

With the death of Michael Jackson last week, I was reminded of this about early MTV:

There were no black solo artists or groups.

None, nada, zip.

Not, that is, until MJ.

I suppose reasonable people could debate whether the exclusion of black artists was racism, or simply programming that targeted a particular demographic. 

Whatever the case, what MJ did on MTV was ground-breaking.  (Heck, everything he did was ground-breaking).

Here's a link to a good commentary written on cnn.com about MJ and early MTV...
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/26/vigilante.jackson/