Rock music is NOT 'black' music.

Now, I will agree that African influences have blessed western music in almost all genres for decades, but I do have a huge issue with people making statements like 'rock music is a style of music that black people created', etc. These statements are usually said as if to take something away from white people and attribute the acomplishment of 'rock music' to blacks alone. My opinion is that music as we know it has come about because of a mix of the two (and possibly other) cultures. Not one or the other, but BOTH. And at the end of the day, shouldn't music be free for anyone to listen to, no matter what race, gender, culture, dress sense, or sexuality? The creed of the artist seems irrelevant to me. Music is music, and those who love it are those who love it. End of.

This is my opinion, but I want to hear what other people think. Is rock music 'black music'?

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Permalink Reply by NikkTemplar on August 12, 2010 at 7:30pm

Yes.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...and I wish I could have been around during the Golden Age, kicking it at Chess Records.

*sighs*

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Permalink Reply by Krystal on August 12, 2010 at 9:12pm

Rock music is everybody's music.

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Permalink Reply by Ghettopunkrocker on August 12, 2010 at 9:31pm

Yes, rock is black music. But, everyone has contributed to it. The main problem was getting recognition for our contributions though. Any musician worth their fucking salt unless they're totally in denial of their past knows what music their performing and writing comes from. End of story.

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Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on August 13, 2010 at 12:19am

Krystal said:

Rock music is everybody's music.

*nods*

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Permalink Reply by Golem_3 on August 13, 2010 at 12:07pm

I think you're looking at it as if folks are making it a possessive thing, like people are saying rock music is exclusively only for Black people.
The majority of us who have read up on history are not taking anything away from White people or any others who have contributed to rock music.

Its just the fundemental understanding of who were the first writers & artists that were instrumental in solidifying the most marketable esssence of Rock music.
I don't say "Rock music is Black music". So, that argument is moot (in my case).
BTW, I've had White friends who've said to me "yeah, Black Americans were there during the birth of it, but us White folks took it and made it BETTER."
lol

but anyway, I'm well aware that White people had a hand in it (as well). The important distinction to keep in mind, though, is that the swagger of the blues & jazz *and gospel* (from Blacks in the South) is what gave Rock'n'Roll its wide-spread popularity.

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Permalink Reply by Dwayne on August 13, 2010 at 2:10pm

Dude .... I HAVE ONLY THIS TO SAY ..... ELMORE JAMES.... MUDDY WATERS .... LITTLE RICHARD .... BO DIDDLY ...THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS ..... LOVE ..... THE ISLEY BROTHERS .... EDWIN BIRDSONG ......ROBERT JOHNSON ..
JUST TO NAME A FEW .... KEEP THIS IN MIND MY YOUNG BROTHER .... "THE BLUES ARE THE ROOTS ... EVERYTHING ELSE IS THE FRUIT ...... BLACKS STARTED THIS ROCK THING .... THEN IT WAS TAKEN AWAY .....

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR MORE OF THE MUSIC THAT STARTED IT ALL LOG ON TO ......
monkeygrip music cafe ... internet radio ..... THE BLACK ROCK HOUR EVERY DAY 2: 00 PM TO 3:PM
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR .....
www.monkeygrip.org PEACE

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Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on August 13, 2010 at 2:55pm

taken away?
culture just gets dispersed. no need for any of this ownership bish...

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Permalink Reply by kifaru on August 13, 2010 at 5:41pm

I'll say this. There is perception and then there is reality. A lot of times perception effects reality. Rock is percieved as a white art form because when rock was being distributed worldwide many times there were no pictures sent along with the the music so it was percieved as "American" i.e. white or there were actually pictures of white people on black records. Secondly, Rock, at it's inception when it was marketed to white people in the U.S. people and outside America was often "whitewashed". You had artists like Pat Boone who built entire careers off of doing remakes of black songs because white radio stations wouldn't play the original black "version" so it follows that the records that were being exported a lot of times had a white dude singing with a white band playing. When the tours went overseas it was the white groups who went out first. That doesn't mean people didn't have access to black records but they had to first know and then had to work to get them. That's the reason why the big rock groups from england in the 60's and 70's all cite black musicians as their inspiration. The thing is white people are the major beneficiaries of the black art form because it provides them careers and entertainment. In that respect white people have taken rock away I agree with you.

There is another factor that is at play that shows how perception effects reality. People like to see people who look like themselves. When given the choice of who to see in concert and who's record to buy white people chose white people as performers. White owned record companies therefore preferred to promote white groups and black labels preferred not to compete and black consumers tastes had to be satisfied with white groups or abstain. Blacks also like to see themselves so they are not wanting this thing that is perceived as white when they can have something of their own. If black people bough more rock records there would be more "black" rock.

Dwayne said:

Dude .... I HAVE ONLY THIS TO SAY ..... ELMORE JAMES.... MUDDY WATERS .... LITTLE RICHARD .... BO DIDDLY ...THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS ..... LOVE ..... THE ISLEY BROTHERS .... EDWIN BIRDSONG ......ROBERT JOHNSON ..
JUST TO NAME A FEW .... KEEP THIS IN MIND MY YOUNG BROTHER .... "THE BLUES ARE THE ROOTS ... EVERYTHING ELSE IS THE FRUIT ...... BLACKS STARTED THIS ROCK THING .... THEN IT WAS TAKEN AWAY .....

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR MORE OF THE MUSIC THAT STARTED IT ALL LOG ON TO ......
monkeygrip music cafe ... internet radio ..... THE BLACK ROCK HOUR EVERY DAY 2: 00 PM TO 3:PM
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR .....
www.monkeygrip.org PEACE

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Permalink Reply by Newsoul on August 13, 2010 at 7:18pm

Rock n- Roll is a mix of 1940- 1950's Rhythm and Blues, Boogie Woogie, Jazz with some country/rockabilly thrown in, which is Black American 'race music' what I think you are referring to is what became in 1964 known as "Rock" which is most of the same above musical influences but came from British Bands otherwise known as the "British Invasion" but those bands always acknowleged the black influence of their musical inspirations. That's when the music attracted young white American Teens and corporate America saw that there was "MONEY IN THERE HILLS" they promoted the music as the creation of bands like The Beatles, Stones, Who and others it became big business but it really didn't take off into the creation of FM radio in the 70's that's when the barriers of "white music" and "black music" came about by the same corporate America which determined who got played on these musical formats. an example of that....

Santana - Afro/Spanish Hard Rock Latin Jazz/Funk influence - FM radio
Mandrill - Afro/Spanish Hard Rock Latin/Jazz influence Funk - Black Music format

Steve Miller Band - Rock, Funk, Folk, Blues, Soul - FM radio
Isley Brothers - Rock, Funk, Folk, Blues, Soul - Black Music format

No Doubt - Ska, Rock, Nu Wave, Funk, Soul Punk - FM radio college radio
Fishbone - Ska, Rock, Nu Wave, Funk Rock, Soul Punk - no FM radio very little college radio

"The creed of the artist seems irrelevant to me. Music is music, and those who love it are those who love it. End of."

Your assertion that the race and creed of an artist is irrelevant falls flat on its face due to the contrary of what record execs and radio programmers (mostly white) did/do due to the race of the performers. Both the Isley Brothers and Mandrill play the same style of music that Santana and the Steve Miller band plays but because those bands members are majority black it gets relegated to a 'black music" format while the others get on classic rock radio play. Blacks like you and other whites who are always carping about "music is music" rhetoric don't seem to get that people do make racial assumptions about music and it gets great bands thrown into the wind while others become staples of radio playlists and have long careers while bands like Fishbone and Mandrill struggle for respect. Your Utopian vision may be nice in Rock Music but people have thrown racial categories into the mix and ignored the contributions of Black musicans from Rock-n-Roll's birth to the present day.

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Permalink Reply by kifaru on August 13, 2010 at 8:25pm

I'm not up on Mandrill. Post some of their rock titles.

Newsoul said:

Rock n- Roll is a mix of 1940- 1950's Rhythm and Blues, Boogie Woogie, Jazz with some country/rockabilly thrown in, which is Black American 'race music' what I think you are referring to is what became in 1964 known as "Rock" which is most of the same above musical influences but came from British Bands otherwise known as the "British Invasion" but those bands always acknowleged the black influence of their musical inspirations. That's when the music attracted young white American Teens and corporate America saw that there was "MONEY IN THERE HILLS" they promoted the music as the creation of bands like The Beatles, Stones, Who and others it became big business but it really didn't take off into the creation of FM radio in the 70's that's when the barriers of "white music" and "black music" came about by the same corporate America which determined who got played on these musical formats. an example of that....
Santana - Afro/Spanish Hard Rock Latin Jazz/Funk influence - FM radio Mandrill - Afro/Spanish Hard Rock Latin/Jazz influence Funk - Black Music format

Steve Miller Band - Rock, Funk, Folk, Blues, Soul - FM radio
Isley Brothers - Rock, Funk, Folk, Blues, Soul - Black Music format

No Doubt - Ska, Rock, Nu Wave, Funk, Soul Punk - FM radio college radio
Fishbone - Ska, Rock, Nu Wave, Funk Rock, Soul Punk - no FM radio very little college radio

"The creed of the artist seems irrelevant to me. Music is music, and those who love it are those who love it. End of."

Your assertion that the race and creed of an artist is irrelevant falls flat on its face due to the contrary of what record execs and radio programmers (mostly white) did/do due to the race of the performers. Both the Isley Brothers and Mandrill play the same style of music that Santana and the Steve Miller band plays but because those bands members are majority black it gets relegated to a 'black music" format while the others get on classic rock radio play. Blacks like you and other whites who are always carping about "music is music" rhetoric don't seem to get that people do make racial assumptions about music and it gets great bands thrown into the wind while others become staples of radio playlists and have long careers while bands like Fishbone and Mandrill struggle for respect. Your Utopian vision may be nice in Rock Music but people have thrown racial categories into the mix and ignored the contributions of Black musicans from Rock-n-Roll's birth to the present day.

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Permalink Reply by Darkness Unlimited* on August 13, 2010 at 8:29pm

Funny b/c, i didn't think Rock music was "White" music either.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Sylvester on August 14, 2010 at 9:26am

Oo! Some good opinions here!

Dwayne: That's a great list, but I'm speaking of music more current. None of those artists sound like Linkin Park, or Foo Fighters for instance. This is obviously because things have evolved and changed since then. And that's kind of my point. Things have moved on so far from the birth of rock that I question whether rock can specifically be called 'black' music. Yes it's roots are in rock n roll and blues and soul and RnB, which was (and is) generally created by black people, but as a very generic example, the influences of rockers today are likely to be Metallica or Iron Maiden (again... a VERY blanket generalisation).

NewSoul: "The creed of the artist seems irrelevant >TO ME<. Music is music, and those who love it are those who love it. End of." I am not a music exec or anything like it. So, should it matter to me? I don't think so. But, the facts are the facts and to some, it DOES matter. Why though? If it didn't matter to the listeners, execs wouldn't care either because then race wouldn't play any part in marketing. (Please let me know if this needs explaining) And like Kifaru almost implied, we would see more blacks in the rock music scene.
"Blacks like you and other whites who are always carping about "music is music" rhetoric don't seem to get that people do make racial assumptions about music and it gets great bands thrown into the wind while others become staples of radio playlists and have long careers while bands like Fishbone and Mandrill struggle for respect." Blacks like me, are trying to get at EXACTLY that point you have just made. It is the upholdment of views like 'rock music is black/white music' which promotes and sustains these racial assumprions that you are talking about. Until people realise that race is irrelevant, we will continue to see the prejudices in music that we see today.