Nov 10 2008
Rock, Roll and Race …
When Barack Obama became the first African-American president-elect, it spawned many race-related questions — and 99% of them were positive.
BUT …
I got one in the RelicMail this AM (among the 1200+ that were in there!) that not only was racist as hell … it was just downright dumb!
Y’see, after lambasting our new President-to-be, this jerk had the gall to say, “At least rock and roll was and still is a white man’s game.” He went on to brag about Elvis and how he “created” rock, and how he wasn’t “black”, and then blamed The Beatles for racism!
And that was just the printable parts!
So, to set the record straight (and please don’t tell me anyone else has those thoughts!), here’s the real deal:
1. ROCK AND ROLL was a named coined by African-American sailors in the 1890s. Not only did it describe the actual movement of their ship in a storm, but they took it back to their highly-spiritual churches, where they applied the name to the swaying, rocking and jumping of their church choirs.
2. THE “HOY-HOY” BLUES MOVEMENT started the transition to a more rockin’ beat. And it was led by African-American legends like Chuck Berry and Thaddeus “T-Bone” Walker, the master guitarist who could play the guitar over his head, do splits, prance all over the stage, and more!
3. ELVIS DEVELOPED HIS SINGING STYLE from crooner Dean Martin. But Dino developed his by watching the legendary African-American quartet, The Mills Brothers!
4. THE BEATLES WEREN’T EVEN CLOSE to being racists! Why, then, would they hire on Billy Preston as their “fifth Beatle” toward the end of their career? And why would McCartney sing duets with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson?
INCIDENTALLY, we’re seeing, here in 2008, the culmination of a dream held by Rev. Martin Luther King forty years ago! This man of peace was brutally gunned down by a white man, as was John Lennon 28 years ago!
Men of peace … and you wanna diss them just because you don’t like the color of their skin or the way they thought?
Nothing “belongs” to white, black, Hispanic, Martians of whatever … everything “belongs” to the people, en masse, no matter what color they are!
Remember that …
For the rest of you, see ya on the flip side!!
