European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 04, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                . Considine the Baltimore Sun usic May possess Many qualities but color is nol one of them at least nol in the red Blue Green sense of the word yet an alarming number of americans still tend to see popular music As being either Black or while Rock whether it is heavy Metal new wave or Basic. Rolling stones style Rock n Roll is generally assumed to be White music while re. Rap Funk and soul Are soon As Black billboard Maga Ine specifically charts re and its relations under the Rubric Black music As a result. It is not unusual to find record stores segregating their cassettes and cd into Liny musical Ghol Loes Asil anyone who listened to Whitney Houston filed with the Black artists would have no interest in the music of Madonna filed with the Whites should it matter that the american music awards declares that the country s most popular re Singer is George Michael a while englishman should it be an Issue that the members of living Colour one of the in music it s not color that counts most successful new bands on the hard Rock Iron happen to be black7 and Why should a style that can encompass everything irom the to diddle beat to the electric extrapolations of Jimi Hendnix be considered while music anyway it was not always this Way. Thuly Odd years Tajo. Rock n Roll belonged As much to Chuck Berry and i Itlen Rich ird Aslo Elvis Presley and buddy Holly Rock n Roll was a strongly  Lorca in the into 50s. Not nil Bra Vinci  the barriers Between Whito and Black Urban and Rural elements on i hot cultural lion. But actually Hanqi Brj while and Black kids together in social Sellins unfortunately not every american liked seeing that a to dance Sho a hosted by disc Ocky Allan freed who coined the term Rock n Roll As a catch All for the blues. Re and hillbilly records he played was forced off the air in Newark. N j. Alter viewers complained about seeing a mixed race couple dancing to the music likewise the music itself was slowly segregated Clarence Clemons. Saxophonist Wilh Bruce Springsteen s e Streel band argues that though there was a lie Between White and Black music Back then the record companies separated it " this time though the rationale was nol Bald prejudice but marketing considerations. After All. No Mailer How much America s youth wanted to dance to tunes like Tutti for ult or so Boom there were still Quito a Lew radio stations and record stores that did not want 16 Deal with Black music at first the Industry s solution was simply to remake those Black hits using clean Cut White kids like pal Boone and the Crow cuts this of course had the additional advantage of being More profitable Lor the while owned record companies than licensing the originals. But by establishing two markets one White the other Black Lor inc same record he music was split into separate and unequal categories Rock n Roll meaning music for White listeners and re. Meaning music Lor Blacks in each Case in was nol the sound of the records Hal mattered so much As the social profile of its potential Black in a White world living Colour with Lead Singer Corey Glover is one of the most successful new bands in the White dominated hard Rock genre. Sis Anlu of ill audience radio remember has always seen music simply As a Means of keeping people tuned in Long enough to hear the ads and has never had any qualms about targeting its listeners on the basis of race sex. Age or class . Such a system will always work against the minority taste with the result that Black audiences know generally More about while music than vice Vorsa in Laci. It is far easier to hear i to likes of album Rock favourites Van Halen steely Dan and Queen on rap records tone Loc s wild thing. Do la souls we Mysell a and Public enemy s fight inc Power. Respectively than it is to hear rap records on album Rock radio stations. Moreover mainstream pop radio will still ignore a record if it seems Loo Black last february Tor instance when tone Loc s wild Flung had sold More copies than any single since we arc the world it somehow never made if Pas Paula Abdul s straight up to lop the billboard singles Chart How could Iho country s top Selling single gel stuck at no 2 because billboard uses radio play As Well As sales to determine its Chart rankings and a Little less than 200 of Iho 737 stations polled wore playing wild thing the main thing the dissenters like Kegl pm in Houston had in common was that they simply do not play Black singles no wonder politicized Black musicians like rapper Chuck d irom Iho group Public enemy believe that Black music and As a result Black culture is systematically being shut out of Iho american mainstream Why Are there pockets of differences Between Black people in new Yolk and Black people in Philly he asked during a panel discussion at the new music seminars in new York july because to Don t know inc same things at Iho same Lime you could ind while people in Indianapolis at Iho same level As while people in Hoboken Bui i ust got Back irom Dallas and Houston and it s a Diller ont thing there than Here you know Why because there s no  rap he said does provide Basic information Lor Young Blacks acting As Iho can network thai Black people never had " but. He added network happens through Media and Media control is something we Don l have " Media control is not the Only answer though education helps and one of the most important lessons any pop Ian could learn is How fraudulent it is to suggest that american music can be understood As while or Black at All for an anyone who has studied american culture ought to know pop music in this country has been a mix Luro of european and african influences from the Start As musicologist Charles Hamm pointed out in his Book music in inc now world much of Iho cultural uniqueness of the new world in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres resulted from the introduction of africans " thai influence was As singular As the evolution of the blues scale an attempt to reconcile african pentatonic Harmony Wilh the european tempered scale and As ubiquitous As the Back Cal which was not Only african derived but absolutely is Sonilal to the sound of jazz country and Rock Blacks and whiles exchanged musical culture almost irom the Start. Nol Only were Slavo musicians trained to play european instruments and compositions but while colonists would occasionally adapt Black modes of musical expression. Hamm offers several citations in which 18th-Century White americans Are described As dancing an african Jig much to the horror of less acculturated White observers Hamm quotes one As sniffing it looks More like a bacchanalian dance than one in a polite Assembly. Obviously certain styles jazz blues and gospel among them have a much More obvious basis in Black culture but the influence of Africa stretches Anlo every Nook and cranny of american music. Even country music Lor All its debt to the Anglo Irish Ballad tradition derives much of its musical vocabulary from african roots whether in old Limey Banjo picking the Banjo itself is a modernized african instrument or the Bluesy whine of a hillbilly fiddle that is How it should be though America has Long prided itself on being a great melting pot one that draws strength from the merging of disparate Peoples and there is no reason to expect its musical Lile to be any different. If anything its Rich roots Are what makes this music popular elsewhere in the world where it is seen not As Black or White but As  just imagine How amazing our music would be if we could hear it that Way too. Wednesday october 4, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 17