The encore this time went to Ryan, who had pretty much killed and skinned it last night during the performance show with "Losing my Religion". I've been calling that song "Losing my Lunch" for years now but Ryan made it go down smooth. During this stripped down performance you could finally hear the quality of his voice, which has been largely covered up by the band so far. I'm not so sure he's going to be able to parley this performance into future elite-ness because I think the next time the house band cranks up they're going to yet again swallow Ryan whole and spit him out. But at least he got this one brief moment in the spotlight before becoming a lunchable again.
The bottom 3 this time weren't surprising. I didn't expect to see Zayra perform this time, her fanbase has grown too strong, even if she did release a petulant "of course" when she briefly had to stand while they listed those people who were briefly among the b3 during the night. For once she was actually wearing an appropriate outfit - no dayglow, no spandex superhero uniform, no bikini wax needed - this time she was sporting black gloves and black eyeshadow.
But no, were didn't get to see her sing and shimmy for survival again - no crazy dancing, and no hiccup vocals this time out.
The main limitation Zayra has, which I really haven't really seen anyone bring up, is the fact that her accent is so strong it actually affects her vocals. It causes her to clip of her words and phrases abruptly and akwardly. It's a real bad habit and I doubt she'll be able to fix it. We've already had the vocal clinic.
Anyway, on to people who actually were in the b3 - first up was Jill who did a fanstastic job on the Heart song "Alone". This is a song that needs a certain amount of vulnerability in the performance, and that's something that Jill hasn't shown yet. It's been all bombast, but she hasn't been able to show the proper amount of taste and sensitivity to the needs of the songs. She's been ALL JILL - ALL THE TIME, or else she's been channeling and emulating someone else - either Tina Turner on Mescaline or Courtney Love on - well, whatever it is that Courtney takes - and for once she wasn't. She was sweet. There are moment in this song where you have to basically bellow - but they're fairly restrained. Jill has proven that she has great pipes, and now she's shown that she actually has some control. Good job. She still has a long - long way to go with her constant excuse making and whining and simply not getting it - but this was a vast improvement.
Patrice did well too, but not as well as she has in her last couple performances. She's still learned how to bring it, but this time her performance of just seemed listless. Maybe she was intimidated by Jill's turnaround, maybe it was just nerves or fatigue - but she backslide a bit back into Boring!Patrice. That's not a good sign girlfriend, and hopefully won't continue - but we're well past the point where individual performances will make or break someone. It's the totatality that matters now - and although Patrice has certainly stepped up since "My Iron Long" she has to maintain it each and everytime to work off the deficit of her first few performances. This one didn't do her much credit.
Speaking of the totality of performances I have to address the Lukas issue. Yes, he probably should have been in the B3 based on how badly he fubar'd "Celebrity Skin", but that simply wasn't going to happen. At least to his credit, he knew it and was willing to admit it. But just like last year - certain people aren't going into the b3 even when they desperately deserve it (like Jordis' version of "Dream on") after a really bad performance. Oh well.
We said goodbye to her and it was very bittersweet.
This year there have been both Jill's exit and this one which have shown a ton of class and maturity. Even Tommy pointed it out.
Both of these stand in stark contrast to Ty's exit last year, and his glaring return. Even though I found both Jill and Dana's departure inspiring in their depth and graciousness - I can't neccesarily find any contempt for Ty's tearful and bitter exit last season.
And before anyone gives me any shit about that apparent contradiction - I've already got a ready Rant on Deck!
The truth is that their situations are not the same. Ty went from being a major front-runner and contender with a stage presence that was probably too big for that group (they would have become the TY TAYLOR Band featuring INXS) to be shunned by the audience for speaking the truth. He was absolutely correct to state that there are fewer successful black artists in rock than you can count on one hand. I've checked. Twice.
The reason that it's important is because black people invented Rock N Roll. Everything that people call ROCK originally came from Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker, Fat Domino and Ike Turners original band who recorded the first "Rock N Roll" song Rocket 88 in the early 50's. From All Music.com
In 1951, the Kings of Rhythm traveled to Memphis to record at Sam Phillips' Sun studio. Their original tune "Rocket 88" (actual authorship is still disputed) was recorded with a lead vocal by sax player Jackie Brenston, and as a result was released under the name Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, not Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm. "Rocket 88" zoomed to the top of the R&B charts and is today regarded by many critics as being quite possibly the first true rock & roll record.
Yes, there were also people right there at the beginning like Buddy Holly and Richie Valens(uela). But the influence of black artists on rock was undeniable. They called it "Race Music". When Elvis dared to perform it it caused riots - not simply because of his turbo charged hips (which he picked up from people like Chuck Berry) but because everybody knew where the music came from. Black people.
Black artist completely dominated Rock until the British artists like the Beatles, the Animals and the Rolling Stones showed up and began to mine the roots of black rock and blues without watering it down the way the White-bread American artists such as Elvis, Ricky Nelson or Pat Boone had. "Tootie Fruitie" is not a Pat Boone song - it's Little Richard. "Twist and Shout" wasn't written by the Beatles - it was written and first recorded by the Isley Brothers.
Gradually rock was stolen from black people - song by song. The executives at the record labels realized they could only sell so many copies of this music with a black face on the cover - but have somebody like Elvis do it and things would go through the roof. Elvis in fact, never wrote a song - ever. He may be the "King of Rock and Roll" but he never would have got there without the help of others - mostly black people.
I can't say that black people didn't help this take place - they capitulated. They could see the direction of the industry, the incredible invasion not just coming from England, but also from American/White artists who previously would have been drawn and quartered (as Elvis nearly was) for doing that Nigger music. (Yes, they called it that - calm down) But once the Beatles did it - it was safe. It was cool. The floodgates were open and black artists were about to be drowned (just like in New Orleans). So they swam for higher ground - they run to the hills - to R&B, to Funk and eventually to Hip-Hop. So the story isn't all bad, that's true, but they left behind part of themselves, part of their heritage - part of their culture. It's something that they'll always be a part of and in many ways - still belongs to them. Rock is about freedom, and nobody was screaming for freedom louder than black people during the '50s and '60s. Rock was their tool, and it's one they could - and should use again.
But now in 2005-2006 you honestly can NOT count more than five successful black artists in rock. There's basicaly Lenny Kravits and um... Lenny Kravitz. According to the RIAA database you have to go back five years and include not just Platinum albums but Gold (500,000 copies) to be able to include a band like Sevendust. You have to go back more than ten years to get to Terrence Trent D'arby who hasn't had a hit record since 1995 (and that one only hit #178 on the Bilboard Top 200). The fifth black rock band - isn't even considered black rock because hardly anyone knows that Tom Morello is black and that's a two-fer with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. If you go back almost 20 years you can pick up number six with Living Colour whose first record Vivid was released in 1987, and number seven with Guns N Roses featuring Slash (whose half black like Lenny).
And it's not like there aren't black people out their trying hard to get into Rock. Tom and I were both members of the Black Rock Coalition in the early 90's - before he formed RATM. At the time he was in a band called Lock Up, who were originally signed to Geffen for a multi-album deal. When the first record didn't take off like a rocket and they were accused of being a "Chili Peppers rip off" - which they weren't - Geffen voided the contract and told them - "Sue us - if you can find the money to do it".
During the 90's I saw that story played out repeatedly. It happened to Cree Summer when her original band Subject to Change released their first album and were abruptly dropped due to a "Management change". It happened to former Arrested Development vocalist Dionne Farris who practically had to go to war with her own label over some of the tracks on her debut album which had a more "rock" sound. Eventually she scored a top ten hit with the rock tinged song "I Know" in 1994. They wanted her to be more like Mariah, more like Whitney - more bland, more POP - more "black". She refused and her career has basically gone nowhere since that time.
People forget that Ty has clearly been through the exact same experience as Tom, Cree and Dionne. He was a member of signed band - Dakota Moon - that managed to score a Top 10 hit on the Adult Contemporary Charts and tour with Tina Turner in 1997. But Dakota Moon wasn't just another R&B band - they had Rock Songs too. But somehow only two or three of those songs over the course of several records were ever released, almost like there was a quota or something. It was just like Dionne Farris, and just like Cree Summer who had to essentially abandon rock to make the labels happy and start doing R&B - cuz that's what black folk do now. Hendrix is dead - where's the hit single? Can we play it on Black Radio? What's with this guitar shit?
So when Ty had his eventually melt down - I knew exactly where he was coming from, that was ten years of frustration with record label bullshit erupting all at once, and although he may have shown a lack of class and composure - he said something that needed to be said particuarly on national tv.
This country (and several others really are racist, in many ways and on many levels. It's not always deliberate, it's not always malevolent - but it's there in the way people perceive and preconcieve each other. It's in how they can or can't "See" someone fronting this band or that band. It's in how labels fail to take a chance on a "different" artist, how they fail to take the risk and ultimately fail to see the benefits of that courage - meanwhile the status quo remains.
Dana and Jill have the luxury of being young, attractive, female and yes - white. But it's not going to be easy for them, they'll still have to crawl over broken glass to create real careers for themselves - and no I don't consider singing backup for Pink to be a real career - BEING PINK is a real career.
However neither of them is going to have to fight through the last 40 years of bullshit that someone like Ty has to deal with. Then again, he could always just cave-in and be a good little black boy and "go back to R&B" - or Vegas. He could capitulate like many other black people have had to.
Somehow I doubt he's going to do that. So good luck to him, and good luck to them - they all need it.
Vyan
(P.S. Many of the artists I mention in this rant are included on the T2P radio station, as well as other black rock groups such as RA, King's X, Fishbone, Skindred, Kilswitch Engage, Mother's Finest, 24-7 Spyz, Bad Brains, Skunk Anansie and Urban Dance Squad -- it's not like they aren't out there, if you know where to look for them)
1 comment:
Yes, jazz, Blues and Doo-Wop were to some extent "stolen" but there are still black people *DOING* Jazz (Winton Marsalis), Blues (Buddy Guy) and even tight harmony Doo-Wop (Boyz II Men) - and doing very well with it. Those musical forms have become shared by people all over globe. You can have Marcus Miller and you can have Kenny G and it all works. It's not considered odd for black people to be involved in these musical forms - almost everyone does them.. But Black people doing Rock is still weird, because it's very - very rare for them to succeed at it. And plenty have tried, including me.
Vyan
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