I heard Eric Burdon and War for the first time in third year dental school, and their song 'They Can't Take Away' really kept me going as the great beatdown of professional education took its toll.
eric burdon helps validate my rather controversial theory that, for some reason, perhaps relating to outsider status, cultural distance, etc, british people and american jews have always been vastly better (and more respectful) interpreters of black american music than white americans have.
start with early jazz-- who was it? louis armstrong, freddy keppard, artie shaw, benny goodman, etc.
so, right off the bat, perhaps due to their outsider (and almost non-white) status, american jews were at the forefront of jazz.
and then, along come the 60's, and this whole huge host of white british bands are re-interpreting--some would say stealing--blues and soul music (the stones and the beatles, the animals, the yardbirds, clapton, etc).
for some reason, the majority of white american re-interpretations of these styles leave me cold.
the black crowes? meh. stevie ray vaughn? talented, but...
george thoroughgood? please. though his "one bourbon" is kind of fun, i guess.
janis joplin? okay, i'll give you her. and maybe, maybe elvis too, and maybe the white stripes. but that's it.
and interestingly, who is the best-selling rap group of all time? three rich jewish kids from suburban new york-- the beastie boys.
and who is second? eminem.
am i allowed to say these things?
does race/ethnicity matter in discussing music?
anyway, clearly the dudes from WAR thought eric burdon was the real deal.
hmmm.... you don't like SRV? I do find some of his studio stuff to be too polished, but his live playing was pretty amazing stuff. Old ZZ Top is pretty damn good, too. Don't discount Mr. Thorogood, either - a lot of his older stuff is very good, though admittedly he always had that tongue-in-cheek kind of thing going on.
Dr. John, Canned Heat (John Lee Hooker must have thought they were ok, he recorded a classic album with them), Johnny Winter, the Allman Bros...
I'm just not real sure I buy the whole race or outsider thing as an argument. Anyone from anywhere can have the right temperament to connect with a certain style of music... and anyone from anywhere can just as easily NOT have it, too.
hmmmm... fair enough. that's a good list/defence of american "white" music.
i think, though, still, that historically, or at least in the modern "western" tradition of art, there's been a certain resonance in "outsider" art that the mainstream has always sought to co-opt, borrow from, or interpret.
i was talking about this with my friend today, that artists like Bob Dylan or the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, (to name two of a zillion) seem to have produced less good stuff as they age.
and part of the reason for that, it's been argued (not just by me) is that the more wealthy and comfy artists become, the less resonance their art has, for whatever reason.
of course you could find a million exceptions to this, but there's still something in "outsider" status that many artists seek so much to cultivate-- something about the outsider status seems, for whatever reason, to provide an impetus or inspiration for art.
ok, well... this is getting a bit farther than your original argument, which I read as "outsiders are better at doing black american music than white americans are".
Actually, I think you have a point that artists/musicians often borrow from "outside" their own background and tradition - except that this certainly goes both ways. Witness the growth of pop, rock, modern r&b, hip-hop, etc. in countries all over the world since at least the 1950s and continuing to this day...
But, I definitely don't think this has ANYthing to do with race, sorry. Cultural and family background, yes. Race, no - it just happens to coincide with those other factors quite a bit.
oh, I forgot your point about money - you're probably right about that. It's probably hard to find things to really get enthusiastic about when all your material needs are utterly satisfied.
WHOOOOOAH wolfboy! Dylan put out some of his best work on his last few albums. Johnny Cash, McCartney, Ray Davies, Tom Waits. Just because they are not as POPULAR as they once were does not equate to "producing less good stuff". Let's face it, the music industry is and has been geared for youth. Bands today have an expiry date regardless of what they are putting out in terms of exposure. Even media darlings U2 are showing signs of struggle trying to remain in the limelight. Now go buy "Time Out of Mind" by Dylan (yikes, it's almost 10 years old already! nevermind everything I said!)
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12 comments:
nice
I heard Eric Burdon and War for the first time in third year dental school, and their song 'They Can't Take Away' really kept me going as the great beatdown of professional education took its toll.
man, what a voice.
and what a great band, too.
Yeah, that's taking its toll on me now I think.
nice.
blow your horn baby!
word verif: sorow.
eric burdon helps validate my rather controversial theory that, for some reason, perhaps relating to outsider status, cultural distance, etc, british people and american jews have always been vastly better (and more respectful) interpreters of black american music than white americans have.
start with early jazz-- who was it? louis armstrong, freddy keppard, artie shaw, benny goodman, etc.
so, right off the bat, perhaps due to their outsider (and almost non-white) status, american jews were at the forefront of jazz.
and then, along come the 60's, and this whole huge host of white british bands are re-interpreting--some would say stealing--blues and soul music (the stones and the beatles, the animals, the yardbirds, clapton, etc).
for some reason, the majority of white american re-interpretations of these styles leave me cold.
the black crowes? meh. stevie ray vaughn? talented, but...
george thoroughgood? please. though his "one bourbon" is kind of fun, i guess.
janis joplin? okay, i'll give you her. and maybe, maybe elvis too, and maybe the white stripes. but that's it.
and interestingly, who is the best-selling rap group of all time?
three rich jewish kids from suburban new york-- the beastie boys.
and who is second? eminem.
am i allowed to say these things?
does race/ethnicity matter in discussing music?
anyway, clearly the dudes from WAR thought eric burdon was the real deal.
hmmm.... you don't like SRV? I do find some of his studio stuff to be too polished, but his live playing was pretty amazing stuff. Old ZZ Top is pretty damn good, too. Don't discount Mr. Thorogood, either - a lot of his older stuff is very good, though admittedly he always had that tongue-in-cheek kind of thing going on.
Dr. John, Canned Heat (John Lee Hooker must have thought they were ok, he recorded a classic album with them), Johnny Winter, the Allman Bros...
I'm just not real sure I buy the whole race or outsider thing as an argument. Anyone from anywhere can have the right temperament to connect with a certain style of music... and anyone from anywhere can just as easily NOT have it, too.
hmmmm... fair enough. that's a good list/defence of american "white" music.
i think, though, still, that historically, or at least in the modern "western" tradition of art, there's been a certain resonance in "outsider" art that the mainstream has always sought to co-opt, borrow from, or interpret.
i was talking about this with my friend today, that artists like Bob Dylan or the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, (to name two of a zillion) seem to have produced less good stuff as they age.
and part of the reason for that, it's been argued (not just by me) is that the more wealthy and comfy artists become, the less resonance their art has, for whatever reason.
of course you could find a million exceptions to this, but there's still something in "outsider" status that many artists seek so much to cultivate-- something about the outsider status seems, for whatever reason, to provide an impetus or inspiration for art.
ok, well... this is getting a bit farther than your original argument, which I read as "outsiders are better at doing black american music than white americans are".
Actually, I think you have a point that artists/musicians often borrow from "outside" their own background and tradition - except that this certainly goes both ways. Witness the growth of pop, rock, modern r&b, hip-hop, etc. in countries all over the world since at least the 1950s and continuing to this day...
But, I definitely don't think this has ANYthing to do with race, sorry. Cultural and family background, yes. Race, no - it just happens to coincide with those other factors quite a bit.
oh, I forgot your point about money - you're probably right about that. It's probably hard to find things to really get enthusiastic about when all your material needs are utterly satisfied.
WHOOOOOAH wolfboy! Dylan put out some of his best work on his last few albums. Johnny Cash, McCartney, Ray Davies, Tom Waits. Just because they are not as POPULAR as they once were does not equate to "producing less good stuff". Let's face it, the music industry is and has been geared for youth. Bands today have an expiry date regardless of what they are putting out in terms of exposure. Even media darlings U2 are showing signs of struggle trying to remain in the limelight.
Now go buy "Time Out of Mind" by Dylan (yikes, it's almost 10 years old already! nevermind everything I said!)
yeah Time Out Of Mind is always on heavy rotation with me!
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