Originally defined as "Madonna TV",  they were surprised when it became "Madonna with a bunch of Black men TV" ;-) - but they profited, which is all that matters in America.

Bowie knew from the early 70s gay scene and his 72 tour thru middle "real" America. 12 years later, it hadn't changed much - rust belt meltdown had taken us away from doing anything about black  marginalization - blacks became the problem with their drugs  instead of drugs being a problem for blacks with poverty and lost momentum. Panic in Detroit. Bravo Bowie. Exile on Main Street was the Stones' callout from Harlem. Then there was Iggy - Detroit kid and Iggy played guitar, kinda - he was just a suburban kid, but when Bowie smacked him and Lou Reed up with makeup, it was the star child incarnate, just a bit messy and grunge.

"Doo doo doo, jest wanna see his face" became the doo doo doos for "and all the colored girls sing" - Lou Reed and Bowie and next step to glam, borrowing and stealing what they could. I wonder if Bowie had run into Grace Jones who was building up her Avante style during this 70-74 time period.

(I'd always thought it was Grace Jones who wrapped herself around a lamppost with glam icon Marc Bolan, but it was Gloria Jones, an interesting black backup singer in her own right. Was easier to be accepted in mixed relationships and marriages in England.

Which reminds me that in The Man Who Sold The World, Nick Roeg showed me the first relaxed normal mixed homelife on film as the father came home and stripped down in their home pool - still amazing to me how natural it was then and hardly natural now. (also a nice bit of gunplay with Candy Clark, but I digress).

& while his 2nd wife Iman came later than his MTV condemnation, it's pretty obvious Bowie didn't have a lot of lines drawn on who he engaged professionally or socially.