Rock and Roll - the other Black music

Have you ever been up late at night and seen the extended commercials that hawk this good or that? You know the shows for instant fat reduction without requiring you to get off your ass, or the endless promises to make you rich over night without a stitch of effort or knowledge. These infomercials are rampant on the late-nite airwaves. But I saw one tonight that got me thinking.

While watching Tron (a great movie) I flipped channels during the commercial and found an infomecial about the Oldies but Goodies. This Time Life infomecial was about Rock ‘n Roll. Particularly about the original artists and entertainers that created this music genre. These artists are before the Beatles, or Elvis, or the Rolling Stones. We are talking about the people that got the whole ball of wax started.

That would include Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chubby Checker, The Platters, The Drifters, Johnny Mathis, Sam Cooke, The Cleftones, The Dells and so many more. You may not know all these artists if you are my age or younger, but you have likely heard their songs in movies and on the radio.

Some of these songs include:

Johnny B. Goode
Rock Around The Clock
What'd I Say
Long Tall Sally
Maybellene
Shake, Rattle And Roll
Blueberry Hill
Please, Please, Please
The Great Pretender
Ain't It A Shame
You Send Me
Wake Up Little Susie
La Bamba
I'm Walkin'
Lonely Teardrops
Shake, Rattle And Roll
Who Do You Love
Dedicated To The One I Love

I’m only barely touching the artists that influenced the decade. There are far more artists and songs I could name. But there is something that is inherently the same in each of these and the entire birth of Rock and Roll. Black musicians.

Today, and for a couple of decades, Rock music has been dominated by White musicians. In fact it’s so common that most people associate rock music with White audiences. I’ve never ceased to be amazed by the people that wonder why I enjoy rock and roll since it’s “not my music”.

Yet there would be no rock and roll without Black musicians. In fact many of the popular artists of the 1950’s and 60’s started off as cover artists. White performers would sing the exact same song as a Black artist and record companies would sell it. The highly racist and segregated nation preferred to buy the White version of the song and propelled those artists to fame and fortune; perhaps the best known of these cover artists was Elvis Presley.

But my point is this. Why is rock and roll associated with Whites only? Why is it a dirty word among African Americans, the little secret that you listen to without your friends knowing? Why is it that millions of baby boomers are buying compilation records by the thousands, or tens of thousands, yet year after year the names of the African American music pioneers that they listen to each night get spoken less and less.

I wrote a post about Chubby Checker recently. I doubt anyone under 45 really knows his music. But he helped found rock and roll. As did Chuck Berry. But when was the last time you heard their names connected to the genre they helped to create?

Today the music industry would like Americans to believe that Rock is a White music. That is a lie. They want to make it seem like African Americans have no place in the genre. That is another lie. We created it, and helped to make it what it was and is.

Without Fats Domino, or Chubby Checker, or B.B. King, or Ray Charles, and on there would be no Beatles, or The Who, or Led Zepllin. There would be no Lynrd Skynrd, or ZZ Top, or Stone Temple Pilots. It’s just the reality of the history.

So knowing this and watching that infomercial featuring Bowzer of Sha-na-na (an older TV show) and seeing 4 out of 5 video clips in that infomercial featuring a Black musician I could not help but wonder what happened. How did the African America creation suddenly become devoid of color? Why did Elvis become a mega-star for singing covers of Black artist’s songs? Why is it that today most people can name Prince, Lenny Kravitz and maybe Living Color or Jimi Hendrix as the only Black rock and roll entertainers?

Perhaps it’s me but I find it troubling that Time Life is making a boatload of money on the backs of entertainers that were paid pennies and created a genre of music that now brings in millions if not billions each year. And while tens of millions of Americans know the songs (not including fans across the world) the recognition and association for their music goes to copycats and runner-ups.

Today some say that racism has been defeated because 1 Black man has the chance to become President. But how can anyone say that when something as basic and universal as music denies the existence of African Americans that created a legacy that thrives today?

Maybe I am up too late without sleep. Or maybe, just maybe, America continues to have a schizophrenic attitude to the contributions and existence of people of color. And if the latter is true, the success of any 1 person will never be enough to heal the nation and move us all to the future together.

Or do you think I’m wrong?