This Documentary from 2006 details the difficulties trials and
tribulations faced by Black Rock Musicians in an industry that is far
more interested in exploiting the current body image biases of the Rock
Audience, than promoting the best and brightest artists.
As
a personal confession, I actually know quite a few people in the
documentary - including Reggie McFadden, Mike (Maggot) McGinnes of
Bozaque (The Original Rap Metal Band), Bernie K. (Sound Barrier/Total
Eclipse) and Oscar Jordan who I was very briefly in a band with. In
the lat 80's and early 90's I joined the Los Angeles Chapter of the
Black Rock Coalition, an organization dedicated to addressing this very
issue which had originally been formed in New York by Vernon Reid
(Living Colour), Greg Tate (Writer for the Village Voice) and Artists
Manager Konda Mason.
Quite a few different people were supportive
and involved in the early days including members of the Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Fishbone, Tom Morello just before he formed Rage Against the
Machine and some members of Body Count. Although it should seem quite
obvious if you simply ask yourself "Where did all the black people in
Rock n' Roll go?" there are still those who want to deny it's any kind
of issue and instead basically blame the victims.
this
is not a race issue as this is portayed (along with many other issues).
these guys have talent, but black rock bands are not money makers. why
are the majority of rap artists black? same reason. people just need to
accept the cold hard facts. if you have a good band, people will listen
no matter your race. its not uncommon for a great band to be unsigned.
Or this...
They
portray this as a race issue, but it is not. Most people have never
heard of my favorite band, they have been around since the mid 90's,
but they are not black, so they can't use the race excuse. The music
industry is here to make money. Who makes money? Whoever 13 year olds
like. Apparently, it is not black people making shitty rock music. The
people in this movie want to be rich and famous. They are not content
with making music that they love.
They contend that the music
industry is somehow racist, but they overlook the impetus of greed on
the situational dynamic. Doing so allows them to absolve their greed
and blame someone else for their lack of success, on an unrelated basis.
The music business is a business. The only color that matters is green.
There is no racism involved. If a group of 4 black guys came out with a
record on par with "Master of Puppets", they would be unbelievably
fucking famous.
Let me tell ya, if it wasn't about race - why was it that the very first BRC Shows in Hollywood received Bomb Threats? Who threatens to BOMB a Rock Show? Country/Western Fans?
And this wasn't in the 60's, or the 70's - it was 1989!
But here's the thing Greed
is exactly the point and exactly the problem. It's not about what is
the better art, or who is the greater artist, with the challenges that
the music industry has been facing, particularly with free downloading,
they have no desire or courage to challenge any existing status quo no
matter how biased and/or bigotted it may be. They just give in to it. If there's an easy pathway, a simply image that they can further dumb down and make more and more bland, palatable and digestable - that's the ONLY PATH the music industry will take. They don't have any honor or courage, or dollars and nonsense, that's the problem.
And this is certainly not an issue that only affects these artists, far from it. It affects anyone who doesn't fit a very molded, easy to market Body Image.
An artist that is too old, or not slim enough, or has the wrong kind
of hair, not puffy enough lips, not wide enough eyes - these artists face all the
exact same issues. Sure, a lot of these people can GO ON A DIET,
but then in far too many rather extreme cases, this has led to Anorexia,
Bulimia or even plastic surgery to change their appearance.
We
all know that we've seen the affect of Body Image on many Hollywood and
Music SuperStars, some like the Late Michael Jackson have even clearly
come down with Body Dismorphic Disorder,
where they've become literally addicted to having procedure after
procedure to satisfy their desire for acceptance and visual
"perfection." That's not an option for artists who are either unwilling
or financially unable to transform themselves into Skeletor the way Micheal did, or be willing to Shuck and Jive with Rap-style "Bling Bling" as ?uestlove of The Roots points out during his interview just to be able to have their music heard. There has to be a better way.
Being
expected to give in to someone elses bigotry by descending into
self-parody, self-loathing and self-destruction is not exactly my idea
of a solution. Some prices are just too high to pay.
I think it's going to far to expect everyone to cowtow
to stereotypes rather than challenge the basis for those stereotypes.
America is supposed to be land of the "Free", not land of the
"Wannabe's!" This issue has affected all of Rock, particularly Women
Rockers from Pat Benatar to Heart who were basically forced out of the
business because Nancy didn't fit the "Image" they thought she should
project. Or to put it another way - She Got FAT. It had nothing to do
with her ability to write or sing, they just didn't think she looked
cute girl in the videos anymore - y'know like Madonna or Miley Cyrus or
the Jonas Brothers? And please, it's not like any of those Miley (Spawn
of the Original Billy Ray Vyrus) or one of those Jonas chicks are the
greatest musicians in the world or have ever released an album as
AWESOME as "Master of Fucking Puppets" dude. WOOO!
We all know damn well they haven't, but we keep smiling at the American Idol/Disney Assembly Line of SUCK anyway.. We all know it's not ultimately about talent - did Jennifer Hudson win American Idol? No. Did Daughtry? No - it's far too often about marketing and packaging.
This
"Image" issue (which he saw as inherently racist and sexist) was a
driving force behind much of Kurt Cobain's music, however the end result
of his efforts were that a skinny stringy hair drug addicted white-guy
in spandex was replaced by a skinny stringy haired drug addicted
white-guy in a flannel shirt and mohair sweater. Again, not much of an
improvement IMO. One restrictive body image is just as bad as another. The IMAGE presented by these artists whether they are are Warrant or Nirvana are often as powerful, if not more powerful than the music they were playing. it' shouldn't matter, but we all know good and God Damn well that it does.
One of the commentors, just like those people
who have attacked Judge Sotomayor for applying current judicial
precedent in the Ricci case, want to automatically assume that the White
Guys must be better, and the Black Guys who didn't get the promoted in
that case - MUST HAVE BEEN SHITTY - which is a typical defensive
response to people's passive inaction in the face of bigotry. They think that the Black (or Brown) guys and girls don't get ahead - or only get ahead in certain niches where it's "Safe" - because they simply aren't as good, or don't try as hard, as everyone else.
Yeah, ok. If you're a Rock/Metal fan Check these videos out. I don't any of these groups are not "Shitty", but chances are you've never heard of them.
If
you don't know, one of the Videos is this selection includes a song by
the band Wicked Wisdom which features Jada Pinkett Smith as lead singer -
yes - Will (Independence Day/Wild Wild West/MIB) Smith's Wife Jada who
just started a brand new TV series. Even with his and her considerable Fame her participation in this band is practically A Secret - even after they toured with Ozzfest.
Another featured video is Dionne Farris of the Rap group Arrested Development who basically had to quit the industry after she scored a #1 Hit on the Billboard Top 40 with the Medium Rock Song "I Know"
because they wouldn't let her do ROCK anymore, and insisted she only
sing R&B. Let me repeat: After she had a #1 HIT ROCK nd her label refused to let her sing ROCK!
Frankly, I hope to God that was Racism because if not it's just Frakin' Crazy!
Farris’
return comes after a nasty parting of ways with her former label,
Columbia, which wanted her to produce black-radio-friendly, neo-soul
tracks, even though her post-Arrested Development breakout single, “I
Know,” was a mainstream video pop hit. At a creative impasse, she
requested and gained a release from her contract.
That was more than a decade ago.
Some people assume that everything in America is a perfect Meritocracy
at the same time they admit that the situation, particularly with music
is inherently unfair - and that's supposed to be "Just fine."
Crazy Much?
If
one of these bands had made "Master of Puppets" or an album as good
they would be naturally be HUGE just because right!? Not exactly. A
lot of the hype around that album came from the fact that it was one of
the first American Band that reflected the New Wave of British
Heavy Metal. It was a bunch of guys that people could easily relate
too, and the fact that it was different from everything else around it
that helped propel that album forward as much as the music itself.
Living Colour is a Multi-platinum, Multi-Grammy Winning Band. "Shitty?" Fuck no!
It
would be easy to argue that Fishbone's "Reality of My Surroundings",
King's X "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska", Living Colour's "Time's Up",
Mother's Finest "Black Radio Won't Play this Record" and 24-7 Spyz
"Strength In Numbers" and the debut album by Sevendust if not match that
challenge, they surpass it.
But they weren't made by the right (looking) people at the right time.
Another
couple examples would be the arguement that Guns N Roses "Appetite for
Destruction" and Rage Against the Machine's debut CD are equally as good
as Masters - but the one big difference between those records and
the others is that practically no one at the time knew - and some still
don't know - that Gun's guitarist Slash and RATM guitarist Tom Morello Are Both BLACK.
Ok, technically half black, like Barack Obama, but still Black. Except both of them can and did
pass for White since they're both fairly light-skinned. See - Look
White Enough and the problem is solved. No biggie, just borrow MJ's old
Skin-cream, he's not gonna need it anymore.
The point seriously, is
that if it's not something that's obvious, and it's not in your FACE,
it doesn't become and issue. In order to duck and dodge the issue - you can sometimes escape it. For example the
first couple Living Colour singles and their originally album cover didn't include a picture or image of the band, just so the radio people wouldn't automatically assume they were an R&B or Reggae group. The record label was afraid rock stations would see black guys on the cover and automatically assume it was a R&B group and as a result wouldn't bother to actually listen to the record. So no pictures.
Not a problem?
Not hardly.
These
bands and these artists are going to keep fighting this injustice, and
eventually they're going to win. The funny thing is - it's going to help
every other artists whose fighting against being Prejudged based on their Image just as much as it will help themselves.
All the rest of you are already welcome. Just remember who did you the Solid. Again.
