Billie Jean video and the unspoken MTV race barrier — Beyonce summed it up best when she said that when Jackson walked on the lighted up sidewalks that he seemed “like our angel.” This is the video and song that started it all. MTV was seen, wrongly or rightly, as an upstart music channel (mostly rock) that refused to play black artists. But MJ detonated the perceived or real barrier with a video that stunned with its innovativeness, Jackson’s debut of high-water pants and adrogynous looks, of course, his intoxicating dance moves. Suddenly, top black artists such as Lionel Richie and Prince began appearing on the station. Jackson and MTV rode to glory together.
