Is Rock Music Increasingly Being Marketed to White Men?

[TypeO]

Thin Lizzy.

[Disco Duck]

On 4/2/2016 at 1:37 AM, Strider said:

Love. Sly & the Family Stone (multi-racial and multi-gender!). Allman Brothers Band. Santana. Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention. Stevie Wonder. Curtis Mayfield. James Brown. Mother's Finest. Ohio Players. Earth, Wind & Fire. David Bowie post-1973.

I don't consider the Ohio Players, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield or Stevie Wonder rock artists, nor were they marketed as such during the 1970's.  Brown and Mayfield were marketed as soul artists, The Ohio Players as a funk band and Stevie Wonder as a soul artist who crossed over into pop.  IMO, you can make the argument that Sly & The Family Stone played rock music but  they were not marketed as a rock band; not after Woodstock anyway.  They didn't get any play on the album-oriented rock music station in my hometown back during the 1970s.   Back then, you had to listen to either the Top 40 radio station or the urban AM (i.e. the "black music") radio station to hear Sly's music.  Ditto for Brown, Mayfield, the Ohio Players and Earth, Wind & Fire.

 

[Disco Duck]

Just now, TypeO said:

Thin Lizzy.

Phil Lynott was black, but he wasn't African-American; he was born and grew up in Ireland.  I didn't include Free's Andy Fraser on my list for the same reason.  He was born and grew up in England.  And to be honest, I don't know if either Lynott or Fraser self-identified as black.  

[Strider]

3 minutes ago, Disco Duck said:

I don't consider the Ohio Players, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield or Stevie Wonder rock artists, nor were they marketed as such during the 1970's.  Brown and Mayfield were marketed as soul artists, The Ohio Players as a funk band and Stevie Wonder as a soul artist who crossed over into pop.  IMO, you can make the argument that Sly & The Family Stone played rock music but  they were not marketed as a rock band; not after Woodstock anyway.  They didn't get any play on the album-oriented rock music station in my hometown back during the 1970s.   Back then, you had to listen to either the Top 40 radio station or the urban AM (i.e. the "black music") radio station to hear Sly's music.  Ditto for Brown, Mayfield, the Ohio Players and Earth, Wind & Fire.

 

I'm sorry it sucked where you lived but that's your problem. It doesn't change the fact that at other places you could hear black and white artists together on the radio.

Stevie Wonder opened for the Rolling Stones on their 1972 tour, ferchrissakes. If that isn't targeting and marketing to a rock audience, I don't know what is.

Oh...let me add one more: Parliament and later P-Funk. All the guitar players loved "Maggot Brain".

[Disco Duck]

Just now, Strider said:

I'm sorry it sucked where you lived but that's your problem. It doesn't change the fact that at other places you could hear black and white artists together on the radio.

 

Really?  So the album-oriented, rock stations where you grew up regularly played albums by Sly & The Family Stone, The Ohio Players, etc.?   Judging from the attached article, my hometown radio stations weren't unique in their programming choices.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-adler/earth-wind-and-fire_b_9239186.html

 

[Strider]

Dance to the Music, Love Rollercoaster, Superstition, Theme from Shaft, Freddie's Dead...yes.

Now, did they play them as often as the Beatles, Zeppelin or Hendrix? No.

I didn't notice heavy segregation on the radio until around 1976, when corporate weasels infiltrated radio and the arrivals of punk and disco and focus groups served to splinter the market into niches. But from 1967-1975 rock radio was a wonderland.

[Disco Duck]

Just now, Strider said:

Dance to the Music, Love Rollercoaster, Superstition, Theme from Shaft, Freddie's Dead...yes.

Now, did they play them as often as the Beatles, Zeppelin or Hendrix? No.

I didn't notice heavy segregation on the radio until around 1976, when corporate weasels infiltrated radio and the arrivals of punk and disco and focus groups served to splinter the market into niches. But from 1967-1975 rock radio was a wonderland.

You and fellow music fans in your home town were lucky.  Now the Top 40 radio station in my hometown did play hit songs from a wide range of artists.  In 1971 they might play Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town by Kenny Rogers & The Fifth Edition, Riders On the Storm by the Doors and What's Going On by Marvin Gaye one after another.   The album-oriented FM rock station, on the other hand, didn't give soul or funk artists any playing time.

[Strider]

I am curious if radio stations in the South were hampered by the remnants of Jim Crow laws and the legacy of slavery and segregation?

[Disco Duck]

Just now, Strider said:

I am curious if radio stations in the South were hampered by the remnants of Jim Crow laws and the legacy of slavery and segregation?

This is a good question.  However, I didn't grow up in the South.  I grew up in the Midwest though my hometown did have Jim Crow laws until the mid 1950's.  

[Strider]

On 4/5/2016 at 7:36 PM, Disco Duck said:

Really?  So the album-oriented, rock stations where you grew up regularly played albums by Sly & The Family Stone, The Ohio Players, etc.?   Judging from the attached article, my hometown radio stations weren't unique in their programming choices.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-adler/earth-wind-and-fire_b_9239186.html

 

Like I say, California was paradise. 42 years ago today I was at Cal Jam. Check out who was on the bill amongst the Black Sabbaths and Deep Purples of the world...

 

[TypeO]

On 4/5/2016 at 10:24 PM, Disco Duck said:

Phil Lynott was black, but he wasn't African-American; he was born and grew up in Ireland.  I didn't include Free's Andy Fraser on my list for the same reason.  He was born and grew up in England.  And to be honest, I don't know if either Lynott or Fraser self-identified as black.  

The topic mentions nothing regarding whether the artists originated in the U.S., so what does that matter?
And his Wikipedia page mentions this -

Quote

Towards the end of 1969, Lynott and Downey were introduced to guitarist Eric Bell via founding member of Them, keyboardist Eric Wrixon. (Bell had also played in a later line-up of Them). Deciding that Bell was a better guitarist, and with Lynott now confident enough to play bass himself in a band, the four of them formed Thin Lizzy The name came from the character "Tin Lizzie" in the comic The Dandy, which in turn was based on the nickname for the Ford Model T car. The "h" was deliberately added to mimic the way the word "thin" is pronounced in a Dublin accent. Lynott later discovered Henry Ford's slogan for the Model T, "Any colour you like as long as it's black", which he felt was appropriate for him.

 

Also, Mother's Finest.

 

 

[Disco Duck]

Just now, TypeO said:

The topic mentions nothing regarding whether the artists originated in the U.S., so what does that matter?
And his Wikipedia page mentions this -

 

Also, Mother's Finest.

 

 

Rock-and-roll music originated in the U.S. and the fact that its originators were African-American is one of the reasons mainstream American society considered it subversive during its earliest days.  Phil Lynott was a black man and he certainly rocked, but he did not grow up in the same culture as Bo Diddley or Chuck Berry.   

African-American rock groups like Love, Fishbone and Mother's Finest illustrate my point.  Talented musicians who could really rock but, never achieved big commercial success.  The music business is very competitive and only a tiny fraction of bands will make it big.  Still, I wonder how large a role the record labels not knowing how to promote them and the lack of air time they got on album oriented rock stations played in these bands failure to break out.

[ScarletMacaw]

Well this has turned out to be a fun thread! I enjoyed that Mother's Finest video with their swingin' 60s outfits.

On the other hand, the Botswana black black metal band was...slightly more enjoyable than indigestion...