dyer@vaxuum.DEC (WE decided? MY best interest?) (12/13/84)
MTV Censorship of Bronski Beat_________________________________________________ The Bronski Beat is my pick for this year's Best New Band. Two songs, "Small Town Boy" and "Tell Me Why", sound like sure hits. The video for "Small Town Boy" is supposed to be excellent. There's only one thing that could get in the way of this group's success: homophobia. The group, you see, is gay. Some, if not most, of their songs are about being gay - including the two I just mentioned. The video for "Small Town Boy" is supposed to be the same story as the lyrics of the song: a gay man living in a small town with nobody to cry to but his soul. The video is not being shown on MTV. Well, let's do something about it! Anybody out there have any ideas? I have a few, for starters: o Write to MTV and complain. Anybody out there have their address? o Get the ACLU involved. Anybody out there know how to do this? o Get gay groups involved. This band makes great music and (I hear) great videos. They should not be censored. <_Jym_> :::::::::::::::: Jym Dyer ::::' :: `:::: Dracut, Massachusetts ::' :: `:: :: :: :: DYER%VAXUUM.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA :: .::::. :: {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer ::..:' :: `:..:: ::::. :: .:::: Statements made in this article are my own; they might not :::::::::::::::: reflect the views of |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| Equipment Corporation.
jr@bbncca.ARPA (John Robinson) (12/14/84)
[If you don't get this line, let me know] Worse yet, I heard a news story on WBCN that their visas for an upcoming US tour are being held up. Definitely ACLU material; I think you can just look them up in the phone book. /jr decvax!bbncca!jr
dmmartindale@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Martindale) (12/17/84)
Interesting to stumble across this discussion now. My exposure to Bronski Beat has been: 1) Hearing "Small Town Boy" on the radio. 2) Seeing the video for it on MuchMusic (the Canadian pay-TV music video channel, which also is broadcast unscrambled by a Toronto TV station late at night). The video is indeed better than most - just simple images that fit the story in the song, not silly images of a band playing the song. 3) Buying the record ("The Age of Consent") 4) Reading the lyrics. Only at this point did I realize that at least the songwriter is gay. I haven't had another chance to see the video since figuring this out, so I don't know how obvious it would be in retrospect. There certainly wasn't anything in the video that I could see offending anyone. And there isn't anything specifically gay about the lyrics of "Small Town Boy" at all.
betsy@dartvax.UUCP (12/19/84)
> > I haven't had another chance to see the video since figuring this out, > so I don't know how obvious it would be in retrospect. There certainly > wasn't anything in the video that I could see offending anyone. > And there isn't anything specifically gay about the lyrics of "Small Town Boy" > at all. Oddly enough, just as I was reading this article I heard familiar lyrics coming from the TV set "run away, turn away, run away..." Sure enough, it was "Small Town Boy" by the Bronskii Beat on MTV. As usual, MTV will censor anything (remember Eurythmics and Michael Jackson?) until it's too saleable to ignore. -- Elizabeth Hanes Perry UUCP: {decvax|linus|cornell}!dartvax!betsy CSNET: betsy@dartmouth ARPA: betsy%dartmouth@csnet-relay