Black Or White by Michael Jackson

        As the world entered the Reagan era old guard bands like the Rolling Stones, Queen, & the Who were still at the top of their game but things were about to change.   A cable TV station called MTV started broadcasting on August 1, 1981 and it quickly became very popular with the young adult crowd.  Record companies and the artists started designing their music around the short film.  Frequently these films were a way for young testosterone driven male bands to preen and pose with scantily clad models and dancers with big hair & breasts.  

       The power of a well made video could turn one hit wonder's into international sensations and sometimes a short film could even break ground on social issues.   Cindy Lauper's True Colors changed the way the world viewed the AIDS epidemic and was the impetus behind the rainbow becoming the national LBGT symbol.  Madonna's raw and frank sexuality portrayed in Like A Virgin was liberating to an entire generation of young woman.  But the undisputed heavy weight champion of MTV was also was the undisputed King of Pop.
       Michael Jackson turned the music world upside down.  The video's he created and starred in from the Thriller and Bad albums were as ground breaking as the music itself.  Jackson's dancing and singing plus his writing and arranging abilities defined popular music the way Elvis and the Beatles did in their generations.
       In 1991 Jackson gave us the song Black Or White which was his statement about racism and hatred vs. multiculturalism, & inclusion.  Jackson declares emphatically "I'm not gonna spend my life being a color".  Yet he also recognized the insidiousness of racism and the anguish of it's victims with the lyric "Don't tell me you agree with me when I saw you kicking dirt in my eye"  
      Ironically, despite the song being about acceptance and inclusion, many radio stations refused to play it because it didn't fit comfortably within the increasingly tight formatting of corporate controlled FM radio.  The Bill Botrell guitar riff was to hard for easy listening, but didn't fit with the popular grunge or alt rock formats.  The LTB rap section was edited out completely in many markets and the rock and roll sensibilities of the song didn't fit well in others.  In spite these difficulties Black Or White found it's audience on MTV.  It went on to become a quadruple platinum selling record and one of the most successful songs of the decade.