# We weren't allowed to listen to Buddy Holly on account of him being a negro. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664 "2004-02-23T13:51:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/21 "2004-02-24T02:46:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’ve heard that there was a time in the 50’s when radio stations wouldn’t play any music by black singers. White singers would record the songs black singers originally recorded (i.e., Elvis and Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog”) and get the radio play and make the money. Black singers referred to this as “covering a black record with white.” That’s where the expression “covering a song” comes from. > > I don’t know if that’s true or an urban legend. Snops didn’t have anything on it. The radio stations didn’t have any problem playing music by black singers. Fats Domino, The Platters, Little Richard, on and on were played frequently. White artists did cover black songs. Black artists covered white songs. Pop artists covered country songs. Country artists covered pop and rock songs. Pat Boone and Little Richard both had versions of “Tutti Frutti” in the top 10 at the same time, and the same radio stations were playing both. Many songs had two versions by different bands, one on the east coast and one on the west coast. An example would be, The Slades (Texas) and The Shields (California) both had hit releases of “You Cheated” in 1958. I don’t know anything about the music business, but this practice of covering that was so common in the 1950’s no longer exists. Copyright laws probably have been perfected since then. To answer the OP, I never knew anybody that thought Buddy Holly was black, and I never heard of anybody’s parents refusing to let them listen to black music. The most common parental reaction was: “I wish this crazy rock ‘n’ roll fad would hurry up and go away.” It didn’t! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/22 "2004-02-24T03:29:53Z")
Gotta go with the Martian. These “horror” stories about the early days of rock and roll are really exaggerations. I wonder where they come from. Racism was indeed much more blatant in the 1950s, but as John Carter says, we got to hear both Pat Boone and Little Richard sing the songs. And thinking that Buddy Holly was black–??? Criminy. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/23 "2004-02-24T03:33:59Z")
> [@Wumpus](#): > > I reaaallly have a hard time believing the Queen story, as Queen had been all over the charts for years before “Another One Bites the Dust”–and in fact had hit #1 (pop) in the US just a few months before with a rockabilly number (“Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”) You’d have to have been living under a rock not to know that they were white British rockers. > > It is true that “Another One Bites the Dust” hit #2 on the US R&B charts (#1 pop), though. A quick Google search came up with a synopsis of Queen career in 1980: > [@](#): > > “Another One Bites The Dust” is released. It is picked up by black radio stations in America, who think that the song is recorded by a black act. The song reaches number 1 and becomes the biggest hit of the year in America. Queen are the only ‘foreign’ act to achieve this accept the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Interestingly, I can’t find any reliable corroboration. John Deacon is quoted saying they were surprised to find out that “black radio stations” were playing it, but I see nothing to suggest that they thought Queen was a black band. Hmm. I’ll have to hunt for my old cassettes. I’m fairly certain that I read it in liner notes. I must concede, that perhaps it is indeed an urban legend based on an embellishment of Deacon’s remarks. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/24 "2004-02-24T04:36:05Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > I don’t know anything about the music business, but this practice of covering that was so common in the 1950’s no longer exists. Copyright laws probably have been perfected since then. It wasn’t about copyright. The songwriters and publishing houses of course _wanted_ as many artists as possible to record their songs. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/25 "2004-02-24T06:07:23Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > A quick Google search came up with a synopsis of Queen career in 1980: > > > [@](#): > > > > “Another One Bites The Dust” is released. It is picked up by black radio stations in America, who think that the song is recorded by a black act. The song reaches number 1 and becomes the biggest hit of the year in America. Queen are the only ‘foreign’ act to achieve this accept the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. > > Interestingly, I can’t find any reliable corroboration… I wouldn’t put too much faith in the researching skills of someone who doesn’t know the difference between “accept” and “except.” ---
**Author:** ![mercitron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@mercitron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mercitron)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/26 "2004-02-24T06:50:42Z")
Well, according to my History of Rock and Roll textbook it is. Page 119 of Rockin’ Out by Reebee Garofalo states: > [@](#): > > “In retrospect, it seems difficult to imagine that anyone could mistake Buddy Holly and the Crickets for a black r&b act. In the 1950s, however, rock ‘n’ roll was an expression of cultural upheaval that was rife with racial ambiguities. As “country” as “That’ll Be the Day” may sound today, it was an r&b hit in 1957. In fact, Holly was the only major rockabilly act who never had a country hit. As incredible as it may seem, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were booked, sight unseen, into the Apollo Theater. Even if owner Frank Schiffman knew who they were, most of the audience did not. “I knew his records,” recalled singer Leslie Uggams who saw Holly’s Apollo performance. “You thought, ‘Hey another brother out there doing his number.’ Then this white guy comes out and everybody says ‘Oh, that’s Buddy Holly!’ …You know, here comes this guy with these glasses, and funny-looking suit and stuff. I said, ‘He’s white, isn’t he?’ But he was terrific.” ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/27 "2004-02-24T07:52:34Z")
Can I just point out that Freddie Mercury was an Indian. Although not a negro he was black, at least by the Alf Garnett usage of ‘black’. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/28 "2004-02-24T08:49:11Z")
I was in my teens when Buddy Holly was popular. We lived in a small town one hundred miles from the nearest city, but we knew that Buddy Holly was white. Until the early to mid-fifties, I heard a lot of music recorded by white singers – Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Kay Starr, Teresa Brewer, Perry Como and the country music singers. Then there was Bill Haley and then after Elvis and Carl Perkins, we began to hear more black musicians and rock and roll. We didn’t know who was black and who was white and we didn’t care. We just kept listening to a very young Wink Martindale spinning those platters at WHBQ in Memphis. When I was 12, I remember a friend making a reference to Elvis. I asked who Elvis was. “That guy that was dating Betty Sue C. He’s made a record.” Oh god, I’m old… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/29 "2004-02-24T08:53:04Z")
[Specifically:](http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/freddiemercury.html) > [@](#): > > His family were Zoroastrian Parsees who were essentially Indian, although they were of Persian extraction if their ethnic origin were taken back to the ninth century. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/30 "2004-02-24T11:28:26Z")
I still remember the look on my father’s face when he first saw UB40 on telly and found out the lead singer wasn’t black. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/31 "2004-02-24T13:29:15Z")
> [@Hey you!](#): > > I wouldn’t put too much faith in the researching skills of someone who doesn’t know the difference between “accept” and “except.” Yes, but aside from the spelling error, I’ve seen that same paragraph elsewhere – it seems to be copied almost verbatim from the source I remember reading (about ten years ago). I still think it’s an exaggeration of Deacon’s comments. If I feel motivated enough, I’ll see if I can find my old cassette. I’m 90% sure that’s where I read it. On some “Classic Queen” liner notes or something. It’s just bugging me that I can’t find the original source. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/32 "2004-02-24T14:43:36Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I find it hard to believe anyone thought Dave Matthews was anything but a whiny white guy I’m still confused on this one. I always assumed he was a whiny white South African guy but I was talking to a friend whose son does events with the DMB and my friend was mentioning the mixed race nature of the band: the black violin player, “and of course, Dave…” 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/33 "2004-02-24T15:00:15Z")
That quote about Queen is factually incorrect, so I’d take it with a grain of salt–there have been other foreign artists apart from the Stones, the Beatles and Queen who have had the #1 hit of the year in the US, including Lulu and Andy Gibb. (Maybe it means foreign _group_… even so, there’s the Bee Gees and Wings … but in any case, it’s not accurate.) The faulty assumption behind a lot of this is that you had to be black, or thought to be black, to appear on the R&B charts. That’s just not so: R&B stations back in the day would play anything their audiences wanted to hear if it was popular enough. For example, Elton John had hits on the R&B charts with “Bennie and the Jets” and “Philadelphia Freedom” and certainly no one at the time was under the impression he was black. On another front, the first cite I can find for a white artist appearing at the Apollo (since it became a predominantly black theatre in 1914) is bandleader Charlie Barnet in 1933. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/34 "2004-02-24T15:28:03Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > The radio stations didn’t have any problem playing music by black singers. Fats Domino, The Platters, Little Richard, on and on were played frequently. White artists did cover black songs. Black artists covered white songs. Pop artists covered country songs. Country artists covered pop and rock songs. Pat Boone and Little Richard both had versions of “Tutti Frutti” in the top 10 at the same time, and the same radio stations were playing both. I have a book on popular music from 1955 to 1959 which might shed some light on this. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/35 "2004-02-26T13:55:00Z")
I’m back with what Billboard has to say about cover songs. > [@](#): > > It was not uncommon to have three or more artists record or “cover” the same song. This was the Tin Pan Alley formula. The age of frequent million-selling singles had not yet arrived. > > The appeal of rhythm & blues, commonly referred to at the time as “race” music, was extending beyond its racial barriers. Music publishers capitalized on the growing R&B trend by whitewashing its raw energy and “suggestive” lyrics. Championed by hit artists Pat Boone and Gale Storm, over a third of the number one pop hits were white cover versions of successful R&B tunes. > > The Charms were kings of the R&B charts for nine weeks with “Hearts of Stone.” Yet, the same tune climed only to position 15 on the pop charts. The Fontane Sisters made “Hearts of Stone” the biggest song of their career, as it was number one on the pop charts for three weeks in February of 1955. > > A Canadian vocal quartet, the Crew-Cuts, recorded an original by the Los Angeles R&B group The Penguins. “Earth Angel” peaked at position three on the pop charts. The Penguins’ version peaked at number one on the R&B charts for three weeks and reached position eight on the pop charts. > > The most notable cover version, “Dance With Me Henry”, was by a 1940s radio star, Georgia Gibbs. This white cover version was taken from the number one R&B tune by Etta James, “The Wallflower,” also known as “Roll WIth Me Henry.” James’ song was an answer to The Midnighters’ 1954 number one smash R&B hit “Work With Me Annie.” It’s [sic] original sexual innuendo removed, Gibbs’ version rested at the top of the pop charts for four weeks. > > Gibbs charted the second biggest hit of her career in April with “Tweedle Dee.” First recorded by R&B star LaVern Baker, Gibbs’ version peaked at number two on the pop charts. Baker’s version peaked aon the pop charts the same week at position 14, but climbed to number four on the R&B charts. > > By introducing elements of R&B, white cover versions gradually erased the color codes of popular music. Pop recordings of R&B hits whetted their audience’s appetite for the earthy, original R&B tunes. As 1955 rolled on, black artists with a definate R&B sound began crossing over to the pop charts. THe Platters’ number one R&B hit “Only You (And You Alone)” wasted no time in jumping to position five on the pop charts. Once unheard of, the black artists were meeting success on the predominately white pop charts, and the stage was being set for the debut of a new music. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/36 "2004-02-26T15:35:11Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Can I just point out that Freddie Mercury was an Indian. Although not a negro he was black, at least by the Alf Garnett usage of ‘black’. Yeah, but so would Italians and Spaniards. I’d like to thank cranky old English guys, and their impersonators, for so muddying the racial definition of “black” as to make it completely unusable. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664/37 "2004-02-28T11:13:28Z")
> [@RitzyRae](#): > > Oddly, I just watched this on HBO (I think) the other day. I’m not claim that it is completely accurate, but it shows Buddy as a young boy, and as an older youth, frequenting what appears to be early, backwoods (as in somewhat hidden) jazz clubs. Here he seems to simply absorb jazz and then works its rhythms into his own music. Are you sure you’re not thinking of **Great Balls of Fire** , the movie about Jerry Lee Lewis? That one started out the way you describe, but the opening scene of **The Buddy Holly Story** showed Holly in his late teens/early twenties, setting up with his band at a roller rink. And if you **are** thinking of the Buddy Holly movie, no, it was hardly accurate. He wasn’t condemned by his community or his record label; the scene where the preacher condemned him from the pulpit was a complete fabrication. For that matter, the Jerry Lee Lewis movie wasn’t accurate either. All that noise about his being more popular than Elvis, and Elvis seething with resentment—bull. If Jerry Lee was ever more popular than Elvis, it was for maybe two weeks, when Jerry Lee had a single on the charts and Elvis didn’t. And Elvis didn’t hate him; they even got along well enough to jam together once at Sun Studios with Carl Perkins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-werent-allowed-to-listen-to-buddy-holly-on-account-of-him-being-a-negro/230664.md?page=1)