On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Velanche Stewart wrote:
> . . . What struck me as I've viewed the program was the
> insidiousness of which music was so "whitewashed" for mass consumption.
> By this, I mean in particular tunes that were recorded originally by
> blacks, and then remade by white artists (it made me shake my head
> watching Pat Boone get away with some of the stuff)--who ended up with
> the claim to fame at the expense of the original artists.
I used to agree with Velanche on this point. However, of late, I have
changed my mind. I do not see why the fame of people like Pat Boone was
'at the expense of the original artists'. On the contrary, I see them
playing an important role in openning the ears of white listeners to black
music. Besides, not all white performers of the early rock era whitewahsed
their music for massive consumption. Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis and
(early) Elvis himself played rock and rould as full of soul and rage as
the rest of them. Besides, rock and roll was never a 100 percent black
music, since Country music was as strong an influence on early rock and
roll as blues and rhythm and blues, which, as been said before on this
thread, were never completely black themselves. Today, we still have
pretty boys and pretty girls delivering otherwise underground music (if
maybe in a whitewashed fashion) to the masses, and they are still openning
ears than in more than a few cases remain open and hungry for more and
better things.
. . . also just my two cents . . .
Dr. Axel Arturo Barcelo Aspeitia
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