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Heard an interesting remark about the blues

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Posted on April 15, 2015 at 19:03:13
jefe
Audiophile

Posts: 1869
Location: rocky montains
Joined: December 29, 2000
 My wife was watching The Voice last night when I walked into her office. Pherrel was talking about an upcoming singer who had the first three Blues IPOD downloads, thought hmmmmmm.

Watched it all and was surprised at how unbluesy it was. Stormy Monday sang by a 16 year old who's only talent (to me and only me)was hitting notes canines would find hurtful.

Lots of reasons I think
1. Popularity via reality show
2. IPOD downloaders may not understand the blues
3. Me as a blues lover doesn't turn enough people onto THE greatest form of music (IMO and only my opinion)

 

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"Blues" is a key ingredient, posted on April 15, 2015 at 23:59:09
kavakidd
Audiophile

Posts: 20316
Location: Upstate NY
Joined: April 15, 2004
 to almost all music I enjoy - including lots of classical and rock/folk. You either know it when you hear it or you don't. Tons of music claining to be blues ain't". imho
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain

 

RE: "Blues" is a key ingredient, posted on April 16, 2015 at 09:32:54
rbolaw
 IMHO, that is largely because the American music industry was racially segregated for decades. Not until the late 60s did it become widely acceptable to present popular music in an undiluted, unsterilized African-American tradition to the white, middle class mainstream audience. Elvis had almost singlehandedly established blues and gospel in pop music for the white American audience in the 50s, but even he significantly whitened his act.

By the late 60s, the blues tradition was an old one. Eric Clapton acknowledged his debt to Robert Johnson, who was born in 1911 and killed by a jealous husband in 1938. Lightnin' Hopkins, born in 1912, went back to the same era.

Even Johnson and Hopkins were later generation bluesmen carrying on an already old tradition that went back at least to the turn of the century and probably much earlier. But the first blues record was not made until 1920 by an actress and vaudevillian from Cincinnati (not the Mississippi delta) named Mamie Smith. The band backing her sounds to me more like Dixieland jazz than authentic blues. And that record was made mainly for black consumers. True, it's huge popularity encouraged record companies in the 1920s to search for blues musicians to record. But the Depression apparently caused that trend to fade away.

As late as the early 60s, Duane and Greg Allman were literally crossing the tracks in their hometown of Daytona Beach to buy blues records in the black neighborhood. So given all that history, it's surprising that the authentic blues tradition has had as much as an influence on American music as it has.

 

The possible silver lining..., posted on April 16, 2015 at 10:28:48
musetap
Audiophile

Posts: 31879
Location: San Francisco
Joined: July 8, 2003
Contributor
  Since: January 28, 2004
 is that the more people exposed to the blues (in its varied and myriad interpretations) the better.
Those who have the calling, intelligence or talent to REALLY appreciate it and recognize what's
involved will pursue it and discover its rich, priceless history and use that to be inspired to further
develop the great art form.

And so it grows.



"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

RE: Heard an interesting remark about the blues, posted on April 16, 2015 at 11:12:48
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15524
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Laughing...
one has to LIVE the blues...

 

You just might find this of interest, posted on April 17, 2015 at 13:28:08
kavakidd
Audiophile

Posts: 20316
Location: Upstate NY
Joined: April 15, 2004
 I was there!
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain

 

Thanks!, posted on April 17, 2015 at 13:48:17
rbolaw
 What a great and legendary place. But its demise fits with my thesis: the segregation of popular music of the mainstream white middle class from music of the counterculture, hippies, blacks and latinos broke down in the late 1960s.

 

From what I saw, posted on April 17, 2015 at 15:18:29
kavakidd
Audiophile

Posts: 20316
Location: Upstate NY
Joined: April 15, 2004
 the barrier was already breaking down in the 50s - albeit not as dramatically. Dad had Jazz radio programs from 1955 until his (early) death in 1966. Sure it was gradual but it had already begun.
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain

 

PS: I hope you looked through the, posted on April 17, 2015 at 15:31:43
kavakidd
Audiophile

Posts: 20316
Location: Upstate NY
Joined: April 15, 2004
 links provided. It was a very, very special time in my life and in the lives of so many others.
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain

 

Yes, I agree., posted on April 17, 2015 at 18:40:25
rbolaw
 The shift didn't instantly happen at Woodstock in 1969. In fact, I think Woodstock was close to the end of the process. As you say, it began in the 50s, and your father was part of it.

 

Thanks, posted on April 17, 2015 at 23:58:24
kavakidd
Audiophile

Posts: 20316
Location: Upstate NY
Joined: April 15, 2004
 for that!
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain

 

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