# “Whitest” music you can think of that’s still cool? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666 "2017-10-24T00:12:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/21 "2017-10-24T01:38:44Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > So for the past ten minutes I’ve had on Marlene Dietrich singing cabaret songs…”Lili Marlene,” “Falling in Love Again,” “Miss Otis Regrets” in German. Edith Piaf would have worked, too. How about [Lotte Lenya singing Mackie Messer/Mack the Knife](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpMh5auMaVQ). ([She was cool enough to do it later as a duet with Louis Armstrong.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5362wt7-dEM) ) ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/22 "2017-10-24T01:40:07Z")
Johnny Cash. Dick Dale is a maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/23 "2017-10-24T01:42:32Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Johnny Cash is the correct answer. He’s the answer to many questions, but the author of “Folsom Prison Blues” is not the answer to “what 20th-21st century music lacks tinges of jazz or blues.” ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/24 "2017-10-24T01:45:52Z")
Carpenters is cool with me, but I draw the line at some of the later singles. Joni Mitchell: She didn’t have any black influences until the third or 4th LP and it was only indirect until the fifth. That means Chelsea Morning, I had a king, Tin Angel, song about the midway, (“Like a diamond in a black man’s ear…”) BOTH SIDES NOW, Night in the city … the great moments are uncountable, unexcelled and very caucasian. And she just got cooler from there of course. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/25 "2017-10-24T01:48:33Z")
I remind people that black influences can exist in european sources. The operative word is Jazz. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/26 "2017-10-24T01:50:21Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I consider Irish Trad to be marvelously cool, but most of my non-Irish and non-white pals tend to roll their eyes. [Varttina’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eq1GNPgFcI) Finnish punk-folk is exceedingly white but so weird it verges into cool. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/27 "2017-10-24T01:54:53Z")
Warren Zevon. Frank Zappa. About a dozen great bluegrass players. John Prine. Beck. The Band. CCR. Leonard Cohen. Merle Travis. Roy Clark. Neil Young. Chet Atkins. All very cool, and very white. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/28 "2017-10-24T02:01:50Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Kraftwerk? Neu? Devo? Synth pop? Death metal? Afrika Bambaataa loved him some Kraftwerk, so they’re out. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/29 "2017-10-24T02:18:52Z")
Radiohead ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/30 "2017-10-24T02:20:31Z")
“Come on Eileen” “Safety Dance” “Video Killed The Radio Star” ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/31 "2017-10-24T02:24:35Z")
[The bagpipes, laddie!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT5TbQ655xE) Still pretty popular today. And I’d also go with chanson for a lighter touch. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/32 "2017-10-24T02:25:54Z")
The William Tell Overture? Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/33 "2017-10-24T02:30:50Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > The William Tell Overture? > Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? NOTHING PRE 20TH CENTURY. I love “Come on Eileen” and “Video Killed the Radio Star,” and even “Blinded Me With Science,” but I assumed it was because I am a nerd. Do cool people like these songs? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/34 "2017-10-24T02:34:36Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Warren Zevon. Frank Zappa. About a dozen great bluegrass players. John Prine. Beck. The Band. CCR. Leonard Cohen. Merle Travis. Roy Clark. Neil Young. Chet Atkins. All very cool, and very white. I think virtually every one of these would respond violently to that statement. You might have Leonard. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/35 "2017-10-24T02:40:57Z")
> [@eunoia](#): > > Kraftwerk. > > Bambaataa knew almost right away, over 40 years later some _still_ haven’t realized. True, but part of the broader agenda of Krautrock was to explore forms of music that were not based on ripping off other people’s’ music, which was how they critiqued mainstream rock as essentially white theft of Black music. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/36 "2017-10-24T02:46:54Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Afrika Bambaataa loved him some Kraftwerk, so they’re out. It’s not so much Afrika liking them (the OP isn’t about what is “white” in the sense of whitebread, or only white people like it or anything, but rather songs that lack non-white influence), but after thinking about it, a lot of Kraftwerk tracks do have a roboticized version of pop R&B types of rhythm tracks, so there’s definitely some non-white influence in there, and the type of syncopation you get in jazz/blues/ragtime. I mean, it depends on how deeply you want to drill down to find non-Western influence. Like I said before, pretty much anything with a backbeat can be said to have some foundation in non-white influenced music. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/37 "2017-10-24T03:03:00Z")
ABBA. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/38 "2017-10-24T03:16:25Z")
All White Music is cool. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/39 "2017-10-24T03:35:27Z")
Well, if you’ve got [a tank to drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzerlied)… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/40 "2017-10-24T03:38:35Z")
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