Comments on: Beyonce, Etta, and rock’s generation gap

By: Rob Fields

Rob Fields — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:44:12 +0000

To quote Barack, Yvahn: Don’t get mad, vote. In this case, it’s up to each of us to evangelize in our own way the things that we feel passionate about. Because you’re not the only person who feels that way. You’ve just got to make enough noise and for long enough so that others of likemind can find you and you find them. The good thing is that technology has, in some important ways, leveled the playing field. So now it’s about finding the niche that your product, service, art, etc., speaks to and making sure you engage them to the fullest extent possible. Mass is cool, but not necessary, if you can keep your cost in line.

But you bring up a good point: First, the “product” has to be excellent. Then, it’s got to matter in the marketplace. Without those two conditions, we don’t change the conversation about how challenging art can have a place in this culture. Some further thoughts here: http://www.boldaslove.us/2007/12/on-excellence-1.html

By: yvahn martin

yvahn martin — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:43:47 +0000

so often when artists try to branch out and develop new styles or ideas, they are dismissed and receive a terrible lack of support not just from fans who are not willing or loyal enough to the artist to support their evolution, or from the businesspeople who don’t stand behind them when it’s time to expose audiences to the new work. (granted it has to be good, but so many times it’s not given a chance either way.) or maybe it’s just too far from home base and people really don’t get it. either way, it stays out of the limelight.

take for example the movie Shadowboxer, directed by Lee Daniels, a black man who was a producer on Monster’s Ball. critically acclaimed, but they released it in the summer, when everyone is doing action films, not arthouse. and it shortly went straight to dvd.

likewise with Idlewild, which I think was absolutely brilliant, but that even some self-proclaimed hip-hop “heads” had never even heard of. much less the white community. was it the absence of actual white people in the film – i only counted 3 – that caused it to get shelved so quickly? (it only did $5 Mil at the box office first weekend, $12 Mil to date, lifetime of the film and a grand total of $70,000 internationally, although that’s not surprising as “urban” films generally do horribly overseas.) okay, it wasn’t oscar-worthy but certainly better than anything tyler perry can cook up. but those silly stereotypes sell!

*sigh* this is why I can’t get on messageboards. i get too heated! lol.

By: Rob Fields

Rob Fields — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:45:27 +0000

As ever, I really appreciate your comments, Laina. As someone who’s past 40, I find her lack of knowledge of rock disturbing. I mean, I’m not surprised. But, I think it says a lot about our educational system. More importantly, I think it says a lot about those people around her. Her parents must be in their 40s or 50s, right? What did they listen to around the house when Beyonce and Solange were growing up? On the other hand, let’s not judge. After all, the story within our community is very familiar: Folks focused on survival and getting to somewhere better often leave a lot of things behind as they move forward. In many cases, it’s a matter of practicality. You only take what you can fit in the car.

On the other hand, this is the downside that’s inherent in many examples of Black creativity, as Nelson George once noted: We’re so busy innovating, but we’re much less focused on preserving the things we’ve created. As a result, forms get lost, or are picked up by others with a more curatorial bent. Some of us then look back at these “artifacts” and don’t recognize them as ours.

That’s the work to be done: Reforging those cultural connections because, clearly, Beyonce will be in a position to be a better artist–and maybe a better person–because of it.

By: Lainad

Lainad — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:10:00 +0000

Thanks for this, Rob.

As a person way closer to 40 than 30, it still surprises me when I hear someone say that they grew up not really knowing about a certain genre of music.

“I find the ‘off-limits’ thing amusing. Recently, I had a friend tell me that even though she respected me, she thought that my passion for extreme metal a bit disturbing. “I’m sorry, I just think of racist white people when I hear that stuff.” I think that perhaps that is what Beyonce was touching upon. There are a number of people who see rock and all of it’s sub-genres as being ‘white’ ‘negative’ and /or ‘angry’ music.

Because of Beyonce’s age, I guess I can understand why she might have been not aware of the historical legacy of blacks in rock music, which, if translated to how ‘urban’ or black oriented publications and media outlets completely ignore black rock – until some band, like TV on the Radio is validated by white….er, mainstream media first.

Funny, last night I watched this awesome Doc on thrash metal, and was surprised at how many bands I knew and how many albums I owned from the 80 hardcore / punk / metal scene. None of these bands were in the mainstream – even Metallica, back then – but if you didn’t want to conform and were looking for something different, that’s what you were into. BTW, it still amazes me how many Black, Latino and Asian metalheads were in the scene back then.

Rob, I’ll probably be hitting you up via email soon. Thanks again for the great post.