# Do middle aged black people play the same songs at their parties as white people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768 "2006-12-12T01:46:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/21 "2006-12-13T20:42:02Z")
[QUOTE=Stuffy] How odd that this should come up now. My sister wants me to put the music together for my Moms birthday in December. My oldest borther is 41 the youngest is 33. In addtion to **you with the faces’** list I’m throwing in Cameo, Prince, Michael & Janet Jackson, The Time and Luther Vandross. [/QUOTE] Can I come? Any party that features Prince, MJ, and The Time is going to be on point. I defy anyone to disagree with me. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/22 "2006-12-13T20:57:18Z")
[QUOTE=you with the face] Can I come? Any party that features Prince, MJ, and The Time is going to be on point. I defy anyone to disagree with me. [/QUOTE] None here. You just gotta add: [ul] [li]SOS Band[/li][li]Lakeside[/li][li]Heatwave[/li][li]Ohio Players[/li][li]Kool & The Gang[/li][li]Jeffrey Osbourne/LTD[/li][li]Dazz Band[/li][li]Gap Band[/li][li]Atlantic Starr[/li][li]Klymaxx[/li][/ul] …to name a few. My old school collection is the envy of the young whippersnappers! ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/23 "2006-12-14T00:36:37Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] None here. You just gotta add: [ul] [li]SOS Band[/li][li]Lakeside[/li][li]Heatwave[/li][li]Ohio Players[/li][li]Kool & The Gang[/li][li]Jeffrey Osbourne/LTD[/li][li]Dazz Band[/li][li]Gap Band[/li][li]Atlantic Starr[/li][li]Klymaxx[/li][/ul] …to name a few. My old school collection is the envy of the young whippersnappers! [/QUOTE] Feh. Amateur. It ain’t truly 80s old school until you have [ul] [li]Al Jarreau[/li][li]Club Nouveau[/li][li]New Edition\*[/li][li]Bobby Brown\*\*[/li][li]Whitney Houston\*\*\*[/li][li]El DeBarge[/li][li]The Jets[/li][li]Ready For The World[/li][li]De La Soul[/li][li]Stacy Lattisaw[/li][li]General Kane’s single, _Crack Killed Apple Jack_[/li][/ul] \*and we’ll add singles by Bel Biv Devoe’s _Poison_ and Ralph Tresvant’s _Sensitivity._ \*\* first solo album only \*\*\* first two albums only Yes. I will take your props because I deserve your props. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/24 "2006-12-14T01:33:33Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] Feh. Amateur. It ain’t truly 80s old school until you have [ul] [li]Al Jarreau[/li][li]Club Nouveau[/li][li]New Edition\*[/li][li]Bobby Brown\*\*[/li][li]Whitney Houston\*\*\*[/li][li]El DeBarge[/li][li]The Jets[/li][li]Ready For The World[/li][li]De La Soul[/li][li]Stacy Lattisaw[/li][li]General Kane’s single, _Crack Killed Apple Jack_[/li][/ul] \*and we’ll add singles by Bel Biv Devoe’s _Poison_ and Ralph Tresvant’s _Sensitivity._ \*\* first solo album only \*\*\* first two albums only Yes. I will take your props because I deserve your props. [/QUOTE] Luckily for you I am not in a Ghetto Pass revocation mood. Because most of these artists are all quite mainstream, and a good number of them were _late_ 80s. To truly fit the OP you need mid/late 70s and 80s artists, and then you get points for mentioning those artists that were on urban Black radio… and not much else. If I heard the artists you mentioned at a party, I’d just think, “hey, these people were alive in the 80s!” Nothing particularly Black about that. Hell, when I went to see BBD and Johnny Gill in concert around '89 or so, the crowd was easily half non-Black: White and Latino kids were all into it. I will allow you to keep your pass, though, because General Kane, Stacy Lattisaw, and RFTW\* are pretty much the domain of Black urban radio. But it’s bronze now, not gold. - Except “Oh Sheila.” That was a crossover hit. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/25 "2006-12-14T02:05:59Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > General Kane’s single, Crack Killed Apple Jack Sometimes I’ll find myself rapping this song (especially when the convo turns to crack) and people will look at me like I’m crazy. I was starting to think I’d imagined the whole thing! I like your list, **Askia**. Very 80s and early 90s. > [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > To truly fit the OP you need mid/late 70s and 80s artists, and then you get points for mentioning those artists that were on urban Black radio… and not much else. I think in **Askia’s** list, there are the popular mainstream songs by an artist, and then there are the songs you would only hear on black radio. For instance, everyone knows “Rhythm of the Night” by El Debarge, but only black folk seem to know “A Dream”. You’d find the former at any 80s party, but the latter is more likely to be playing at a black party. Everyone’s heard of Club Nouveau’s cover of “Lean on Me”, but only a few folks know all the words to “Rumors”. > [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > Atlantic Starr Don’t nothing bring back the 80s like “Girl you are to me-ee! Alllll that a woman should be!” “Always” is another song I sing all the time that no one around me seems to remember. > [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > Klymaxx Last year (or maybe it was the year before?), SNL did a skit involving Klymaxx, poking fun at the group’s penchant for having lots of breathy dialogue in their songs. I can’t imagine a whole lot of SNL viewers getting the joke, but it made me laugh. (Klymaxx was also in that VH-1 show where they resurrect old bands for one special performance. Talk about drama! Rowrrr!) I would have to add Teena Marie to any list of black party music. You can’t have a middle-aged black party without some “Square Biz” thrown up in the mix! Also some Phyllis Hyman and some Stephanie Mills. And some Luther. Fat Luther, back when he was with Change. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/26 "2006-12-14T02:36:17Z")
Sure you can come **you with the face** , get around Stockton much? **Hip** (can I call you that nd **Askia** don’t start making me brag, there’s a reason I own three turn tables. Think I’ll put on Knee Deep. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/27 "2006-12-14T14:29:13Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] None here. You just gotta add: [ul] [li]SOS Band[/li][li]Lakeside[/li][li]Heatwave[/li][li]Ohio Players[/li][li]Kool & The Gang[/li][li]Jeffrey Osbourne/LTD[/li][li]Dazz Band[/li][li]Gap Band[/li][li]Atlantic Starr[/li][li]Klymaxx[/li][/ul] …to name a few. My old school collection is the envy of the young whippersnappers! [/QUOTE] But you have to add Jesse Johnson’s Shockadelica! His solo work outside The Time is amazing. No one has mentioned the **Isleys**? Livin’ in the Life/Go for Your Guns, with the most amazing grungy synth-funk keyboard tones outside Parliament and Ernie wailing on the Hendrix-inspired guitar?! Please! and no \*\*Whodini \*\* - Freaks Come out at Night?! And \*\*Baby Got Back \*\* and \*\*Wild Thing \*\* get a ton of old school play - oh, and **Bust a Move**. As a white guy who was the _only_ white guy at many, many black college and grad school parties and clubs back in the 80’s and early 90’s, the music choices are very different. Now, as a middle-aged white guy, who plays in a mid-life crisis rock band - we don’t play any Motown. We love it, but it is not what the crowd wants to hear - right now, it is 80’s stuff, with some classic rock - All Right Now for instance - and some modern stuff like Foo Fighters and Jet’s Are you Gonna Be My Girl. Big Chill Motown is the generation or so before mine - Boomers, not X’ers… ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/28 "2006-12-14T14:56:52Z")
White guy here. Every wedding reception I have attended has played Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll”. It is the one song guaranteed to get all the oldster’s up and dancing. I usually just refer to this as “the wedding song” now. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/29 "2006-12-14T15:02:40Z")
[QUOTE=you with the face] Hit songs by Stevie Wonder, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Earth Wind and Fire, and Parliment come to mind when I think of middle-aged black folk house parties. [/QUOTE] [Tim Kazarinski] Ooh! Ooh! Can I be a middle-aged black folk? [/Tim K] ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/30 "2006-12-15T00:39:15Z")
I think I’ll move this from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/31 "2006-12-15T01:47:50Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] 30s is “middle aged”? [/QUOTE] As a thirtysomething Doper, let me add that I was horrified to see the earlier posts in this Thread define 30s as “middle aged”. If we insist on defining “middle aged” as “half-way through the average human life-span”, maybe we could call 40 “middle aged”, but 30s!?!?!? Fact is, 40 is much _much_ younger than it used to be. 60 is much younger than it used to be too. Although people aren’t generally living to 100 years old, and I don’t know of any reaching 120, I would say that my “emotional response” when asked to imagine “middle aged” is to think 50 to 60 years old. This may, chronologically, be far past the middle of the average lifespan, but we don’t exactly face a steady decline from our peak, healthwise and physically speaking. I’d say in the 10 years from 70 to 80 we deteriorate much more than we do in the 30 years from 40 to 70. So, yeah. Put my vote for “middle aged” at 50 to 60. Oh, and to answer to OP: **Al Green** (for my definition of “middle aged”) **Luther Vandross** (for the OP’s definition of “middle aged”) ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/32 "2007-01-30T06:06:04Z")
Hippy Hollow sez: > [@](#): > > I can’t accurately answer this, because my middle-aged Black people parties are typically populated by Jamaican, Belizian, Trinidadian, and other West Indians. So lots of soca, calypso, “jump up” type music. I is goin to yu house nex fete! ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/33 "2007-01-30T15:29:54Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] I thought you meant a party at your home at first; typically we play classic blues songs, which is probably not the typical “white middle-aged” selection but goes over well. [/QUOTE] Actually, classic blues is marketed to middle-aged white people. Blues clubs and outdoor shows are usually a sea of middle-aged white people. The digitally remastered CDs taht came out all through the 90s made it possible buy the music without pursuing it with the energy and determination of a 20-year-old. ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/34 "2007-01-30T18:00:23Z")
Allow me to throw off the curve. I’m a middle-aged, white, redneck and my favorite party playlist (I’ve actually made a CD of these) is: Aretha (always at the top of my list), Big Mama Thorton, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, Early Tina Turner, … Does that mean, that in a balanced universe, there is a middle-aged black person out there that likes to listen to Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn at parties? Reminds me of the black guy in _Boogie Nights_. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/35 "2007-01-30T18:14:52Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] For instance, everyone knows “Rhythm of the Night” by El Debarge, but only black folk seem to know “A Dream”. You’d find the former at any 80s party, but the latter is more likely to be playing at a black party. Everyone’s heard of Club Nouveau’s cover of “Lean on Me”, but only a few folks know all the words to “Rumors”. [/QUOTE] My information is quite dated, but: one artist you’d hear a lot more of at black parties than white parties is Clarence Carter. It’s similar to what **monstro** wrote: at white parties, you’d hear “Strokin’”. At black parties, you’d hear damn near Carter’s entire catalog. Another “raunchy” artist you’d never hear at a white party was Clarence Seese (sp?) … he might have been regional, however. IMHO, these guys were, thematically, the predecessors of acts like Blowfly (who really should have been mentioned in this thread by now). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/36 "2007-01-30T19:45:23Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] Actually, classic blues is marketed to middle-aged white people. Blues clubs and outdoor shows are usually a sea of middle-aged white people. [/QUOTE] That’s because we kept the blues alive and its artists employed back when black people our age wouldn’t be caught dead listening to anything that old and country. If it weren’t for middle-aged white folk BB King would be a greeter at Walmart. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/37 "2007-01-30T20:29:57Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] That’s because we kept the blues alive and its artists employed back when black people our age wouldn’t be caught dead listening to anything that old and country. If it weren’t for middle-aged white folk BB King would be a greeter at Walmart. [/QUOTE] I was actually including myself in that, so you don’t have to be defensive. Although it does bug me a little that all the platters I spent my adolescence pursuing are available on CD to anyone with a debit card who can type five words and click a mouse three times. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768/38 "2007-01-30T20:54:37Z")
What, no love for **The Brothers Johnson**? **Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes**? **The Staple Singers**? I’m a middle-aged white guy. When I was younger and in Canada, people would play a lot of white guys playing the blues. Now, in the place where it originated, people play the originators. I like that much better. And it’s correct, blues clubs are attended mainly by middle-aged white folks like me. I’ve started to collect vintage blues, starting with Robert Johnson. It’s a whole other level of **better** than just about anything I’ve ever heard! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-middle-aged-black-people-play-the-same-songs-at-their-parties-as-white-people/383768.md?page=1)