I need to write about how the racist history of pop/rock music formats for radio offends me not just as a person who opposes racism but as a person who likes pop/rock music. You, yes you, have heard a smaller amount of good music because of racism than you would have otherwise.
Feel like rock might be less multicultural than it was at its outset when Jim Crow was around. You had, in one key example, Jewish writers penning songs for (under-acknowledged) black singers and groups that would be covered or reinterpreted by white southerners. But this was intentionally obscured.
I remember taking interest in this stuff backwards after I took an interest in Latin freestyle, both of which I got into after I already knew every punk band in the universe because of yeah what you said (to my shame and regret of course)
This kind of thing happens for all kinds of non-racist reasons too, like post-punk taking off 20-odd years ago rather than first-wave goth, say. A critic buddy of mine was like "You're telling me kids today know The Pop Group better than Killing Joke? That can't happen. We gotta change that." 😆
the interesting thing is you never know what the zoomers and younger are going to be into. a few years ago some then-high school girls started a quirky artsy punk band here and I found out they were huge fans of Lizzy Mercier Descloux and I have no idea how that happens but hey, cool
I'm really upset about this! I like to think I'm well versed in music but I lived in Pennsyltucky for most of my life. Moving to Ann Arbor has opened my eyes to a LOT.
