Okay, I'm just going to ask and take my beatings: race and music.

[Lamia]

@Agent_Foxtrot

Am I experiencing confirmation bias? I challenge that I would find it statistically highly unlikely that I would find a black 21-year-old male in Baltimore who listens to Béla Fleck or Deep Purple.
[/LIST]

As others have said, good luck finding a white 21 year old guy who listens to Bela Fleck or Deep Purple. Bela Fleck isn’t really mainstream, and Deep Purple broke up more than 30 years ago. But FWIW I have personally known African-Americans who liked music that wasn’t rap or hip hop.

Would I be told that all my music sounds the same by an African-American?

I think the odds are good that young people of any race who don’t listen to the type of music you like and aren’t that interested in different styles of music would think most of your music sounds the same.

I’ll also extend this observation to the large Latin population in my city. The cars and clubs frequented by Latinos/Latinas here generally only play a very specific type of music (forgive me for not knowing the name of it). Artists like U2, Elton John, and Metallica are recognized worldwide, but you’ll never hear it coming from the Rumba (a Spanish bar/club in Fell’s Point).

I’m not a Latino and know very little about Latin music, but I’d venture to guess that this range of music played at these clubs may be much broader than you think, it may just all sound the same to you because you’re not familiar with it. I doubt there are a lot of clubs these days that play U2, Elton John, or Metallica, all artists who were most popular 20+ years ago, but young Latinos who enjoy mainstream English-language rock and pop are allowed to go to the same bars and clubs as non-Hispanics.

[Farmer_Jane]

It’s a culture thing, not a race thing. And unfortunately, I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

[miss_elizabeth]

@Farmer_Jane

It’s a culture thing, not a race thing. And unfortunately, I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

Yes, so unfortunate the darkies won’t listen to superior white music. Sigh.

:rolleyes:

[Wesley_Clark]

In my experience young white people tend to listen to rock music, mostly alternative rock. So it goes both ways.

But when it comes to music you listen to loudly in public, most people aren’t going to listen to folk or classical. Only some music genres are designed for loud public displays.

[blondebear]

[Slight hijack] I was listening to a program on the Sirius POTUS channel where the host put forth the proposition that black people didn’t like or listen to Led Zeppelin. He got quite a few calls from people saying yes, they were black, and yes, they listened to and loved Led Zeppelin. [/Slight hijack]

[piepiepie]

Usually when I’m in the car with friends it goes something like (NSFW bad language, youtube) this. I’m kidding of course, unless they’re playing country, although I do love Jennifer Nettles and that Kelly Clarkson and Jason Aldean song. I was raised on two popular Baltimore stations, 92Q and 101.9, plus whatever disco/funk/motown those stations were sure to miss but my parents loved. However, you best believe when my windows are down I’m listening to 92.3 if I can. From CP to Cecil.

So it’s partially cultural I guess, but I just love driving to some bass. If I’m driving with my ipod there’s a big difference, lots Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, Stevie, Kanye, KoL, Juanes, Bieber, Queen, and whatever else, which I listen and sing to without a care, windows up or down. But, usually, it’s 92Q or the Heat on XM. Why? I like the sound, I like the bass, and sometimes I just like driving to new, popular R&B and rap. So do my friends, who are all non-black, but also listen to their own ethnic music, if you will, which means Bollywood hits, Reggaeton, and American pop country.

To recap, I’m black and I listen to R&B and rap, “black music.” My non-black friends listen to their respective non-black musics. We all listen to pop music, which includes most of our ethnic music preferences, as well.

[Farmer_Jane]

@miss_elizabeth

Yes, so unfortunate the darkies won’t listen to superior white music. Sigh.

:rolleyes:

My music will always be superior to 2 Chainz.

[miss_elizabeth]

@Farmer_Jane

My music will always be superior to 2 Chainz.

Oh, the belief you have about your superiority is evident in every post.

[Farmer_Jane]

I don’t think I’m the one with a complex here.

[TheBoltEater]

To take this discussion in a slightly different direction -

I once went to a pub in Cork, Ireland that had an entire wall dedicated to memorabilia from legendary Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott. I also saw Living Colour in concert in support of their album Vivid and was absolutely blown away - still one of my favorite albums and concerts of all time.

What’s the point? I’ve been thinking about this thread for several hours now, and those are the ONLY black rock musicians I can think of since Jimmy Hendrix. I expect I’m missing somebody here, but surely you see my point - where are all the black rock artists? In the last 40 or so years, I can think of exactly two. That’s actually kind of amazing.

[twickster]

Farmer Jane, miss elizabeth, if you have a problem with each other, take it to the Pit, don’t derail this discussion with personal remarks.

twickster, Cafe Society moderator

[grude]

@monstro

I would say there’s some confirmation bias going on in the OP, but not TOO much. I wager that many urban black kids are pretty insular–attending predominately black schools and not socializing very frequently with white people. So their exposure to other genres tends to be limited, and their definition of cool is structured around their specific cultural elements.

.

We’re dealing with two different things, of course “black” people have just as varied musical taste as other races. If you could secretly examine mp3 players or hard drives you’d probably notice this.

Now what kind of music teenage / twentysomethings will be seen listening to in public is a whole other story. They are going to take the safe choice with their peers and not take a risk on being mocked, and if it has the bonus of annoying squares well all the bonus. This doesn’t tell you much about someone’s taste, just what is the hot and cool thing at the moment.

[Farmer_Jane]

@grude

We’re dealing with two different things, of course “black” people have just as varied musical taste as other races. If you could secretly examine mp3 players or hard drives you’d probably notice this.

I get this is all speculation in this thread but…really?

Why do you think so? As far as urban black culture goes, I’d think it’s pretty narrow on the music scene. I think the OP was talking mostly urban black music, not Ben Harper. He also lives in Baltimore. Sure, you’re going to have all kinds of anti-stereotypes in Dope thread, but it would seem that the answer to the OP’s question is ‘culture’.

I don’t know if the OP knows this, but it’s African-American Appreciation Music Month. (June used to be Black Music Month, but Obama changed it.)

[Electric_Warrior]

You guys realize the OP’s question is actually “what is culture?” right? It’s really hard to explain why it exists, but having a type of musical style that people share helps build communities.

[aceplace57]

Historically the black population was famous for it’s wonderful music. The Spirituals, shape note singing, The Cotton Club in Harlem, the New Orleans Jazz scene. A lot of the Jazz greats were black, then R&B and Motown. Such a rich, rich culture of great artists they could be so proud of. These were people of color that worked hard and made themselves huge successes in a segregated world.

A lot of the early white guys like Elvis & Pat Boone were imitating the black singers. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Suddenly the music stopped. We’ve been stuck with Rap and Hip Hop since the mid 80’s. By any traditional definition of music (starting with the Gregorian chant, and the great Choirs in the Middle Ages) it’s not real music in terms of harmony or rhythm.

<shrug> It’s their culture and they can produce whatever “music” they want. But, it has in many ways separated them from the other mainstream music. You rearely see a hip hop artist cross over on Billboards charts.

[Typo_Negative]

@Lamia

As others have said, good luck finding a white 21 year old guy who listens to Bela Fleck or Deep Purple. Bela Fleck isn’t really mainstream, and Deep Purple broke up more than 30 years ago.

Oddly enough, finding a 21yr old that listens to Deep Purple would not be that difficult. Purple has been together, in different incantations, for the entire stretch and just released another live album last year. They ended one leg of the latest tour this past February and will back on the road in October. Granted, the majority of their fans are fogies like me, but there are still kids at the shows. Some kids will always appreciate fine Rock and Roll played by the greats.

[Chicagojeff]

@blondebear

[Slight hijack] I was listening to a program on the Sirius POTUS channel where the host put forth the proposition that black people didn’t like or listen to Led Zeppelin. He got quite a few calls from people saying yes, they were black, and yes, they listened to and loved Led Zeppelin. [/Slight hijack]

Seriously? Love Zeppelin..and had 250 albums ranging from Hendrix to zeppelin..to cream..John Magellan..early fleetwood Mac…and Traffic..growing up on the southside some blk kids liked rock too..goodvway to find out was to wear my echo and the bunnymen tshirt when I was hooping…like any group people expect you to follow the masses…funniest thing was driving with my boys..Steven said we’re three blk dudes in a car listening to Jethro tull..lol

[President_Johnny_Gentle]

@TheBoltEater

What’s the point? I’ve been thinking about this thread for several hours now, and those are the ONLY black rock musicians I can think of since Jimmy Hendrix. I expect I’m missing somebody here, but surely you see my point - where are all the black rock artists? In the last 40 or so years, I can think of exactly two. That’s actually kind of amazing.

Not really, since “Rapper’s Delight” was released in 1979, over 32 years ago. Since then, black musicians who weren’t interested in making pop largely went into rap, and white musicians who weren’t interested in making pop largely went into rock and country. White rap artists are rare too. As mentioned earlier, this pretty much [del]comes down to[/del] is culture.

As an aside, I was looking for musicians to add to your list (I had Bad Brains, Body Count, and Darius Rucker before I hit Wikipedia). I had no clue that Slash and Tom Morello both have one black parent. I was amused to see that Morello’s father is Kenyan and left his family when Tom was young. Anyone for an Obama/Morello ticket? In more seriousness, this does suggest that any attempt to list will likely undercount.

[Hippy_Hollow]

I’ve answered this question on this board before, but my thought is there is an element of truth to the OP’s statement. I spent most of my childhood and early adolescence in the UK in the late 1970s and 1980s. Musically it was an amazing time: punk, New Romantic, new wave, ska, reggae, hip hop, and the second wave of British Heavy Metal was all happening. More importantly, this was all easily accessible: all these genres were readily available on Top of the Pops, Radios 1 and 2, and Radio Luxembourg.

The other thing is that I was exposed to a great diversity of styles as a kid. My dad is a Black American and my mom is Jamaican. We had a massive collection of LPs and 45s growing up. Lots of Motown/Tamla and Stax but also Johnny Cash, Rolling Stones, and Andy Williams. My aunt worked for the Jamaican Broadcasting Company in the early 70s and brought records from a guy that she had met in Kingston years earlier who was getting some attention back there. That guy? Bob Marley. So we had lots of early reggae, not just Marley but also Burning Spear and Peter Tosh. Also lots of what we call “jump up music” - calypso and carnival music. We didn’t have any racial lines in our music per se, and my dad was big into bands like War and the Isley Brothers who were heavily rock influenced.

So I was happily into all of this stuff, digging Earth Wind and Fire and Duran Duran with no ill effects until around middle school. We didn’t have Walkmans but the cool bus drivers would play tapes if we asked. You could play Michael Jackson and pretty much everyone would be cool with it, even the metal heads who would comment on Van Halen’s solo on Beat It. Other than that, there was a racial tinge to music - white kids were wanting metal and pop and Black kids R&B. The really out there kids wanted Afrika Bambataa, Whodini, and Malcolm McClaren.

One time I had a mixtape with The Police and a kid asked me why I liked white music. Like it was weird or wrong. So I was a little less open about my non Black tastes. It got really bad when we moved to America with a bunch of Black kids talking shit about my sister because she had a U2 patch on her jacket. (Her retort? An impassioned speech in the cafeteria about how U2 had two songs about MLK and most Black artists didn’t even mention him.)

Music was a big barrier to friendships with Black kids. I just didn’t like a lot of the overproducted New Jack Swing that was popular at the time, so there wasn’t bonding over the boombox. I hung with Asian and Latino new wavers who were into The Smiths and The Cure.

As a teen and young adult I went to tons of shows where I was the only or one of a handful of Blacks: Morrissey, Oasis, Sting… though there were more Black folks at the latter. Then Living Colour got huge and I saw them several times with tons of Black kids, but still in the minority.

I think there tends to be an orthodoxy of taste in music and fashion among poor to working class Black youth. It’s probably true among all racial/ethnic groups, but I got called weird by more Black kids because of my music tastes than any other group. When I went to college and the SES level of the Black kids went up, there were more “weird” kids listening to The Cure or even country. Even more so when I was in grad school. But there is still an expected familiarity with urban music among most Black folks I know… better know your Al Green or Run-DMC or Karyn White or folks will talk about you.

[Nzinga_Seated]

As a child of the 80s, I grew up listening to Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, The Police, Boy George, Wham!, The Bangles, Dolly Pardon (not kidding at all) Kenny Rogers (nkaa) Fleetwood Mac, and everything else MTV played. All the black kids I knew listened to it too.

Hip hop was beginning to grow into a monster, though. And I think the new R&B is very rap influenced now, so it’s its own kind of monster. It is what dominates most urban black culture nowadays, but I really do think it is because we fell in love with a genre we watched and helped be born and grow, which is hip hop.

I never did like R&B, though.

ETA: I’m cracking up at Hippy Hollow bringing up Karyn White. Takes me back to my early teen years, out late at night, smoking and drinking with the boys in the neighborhood, secretly crushing on some boy while Superwoman blares from the boombox! Didn’t even understand those grown woman lyrics back then! Hahaa! Good times.