BLACKSTAR ENTRY 2020

DAVID BOWIE ARCHIVE FILE-BLACK STAR FUX#05071976 MTV

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"WHY ARE THERE PRACTICALLY NO BLACK ARTISTS ON THE NETWORK?"

"It occurred to me that, having watched MTV over the last few months, that it's a solid enterprise and it's got a lot going for it," "I'm just floored by the fact that there are … so few black artists featured on it. Why is that?"

-David Bowie; '83

Rob Tannenbaum"perpetuated the segregated playlists they worked with at radio..."

"On the occasions that MTV was playing black artists, it was only because they had sort of run out of videos..."

Rob Tannenbaum"Among the many other significant accomplishments in his life, Bowie was a great advocate for black music and black musicians..."

"This confrontation with Mark Goodman isn't an outlier in Bowie's career. It's something he did pretty often."

Nile Rodgers

David listened to me.

I remember once explaining to him how, for me, as a black artist, it was very difficult for me to get hits, because we had fewer radio stations to expose our music. So to get attention, a technique of mine was I always started my songs with the chorus: "Ahhh, freak out!" and "We are family!" And then, of course, there's "Let's Dance." So when David gave me this award – for the ARChive of Contemporary Music – he said: "To my friend, Nile Rodgers: the only man who could make me start a song with a chorus."