I’d imagine most of us remember those fabulous ’80s, right? That’s when “classic rock” emerged as a radio format, often credited to the utterly loathsome Randy Michaels. By effectively shutting the door on new music, the genre became moribund, only occasionally spawning retro-new acts like the Black Crowes. For me, it’s when radio really started to suck.
But when hip-hop rose to dominate pop music — and when lots of classic-rock dudes had teenage sons who scorned dad’s records for the rap that their elders hated and feared, and did so beneath the private headphones of a Walkman — it got nasty. I vividly recall many station IDs where some male voice would snarl TODAY’S BEST CLASSIC ROCK…AND NO RAP. There was an action movie whose TV ads featured a black gangster snarling at Bruce Willis, “I’m wanna make you scream in pain!” and Willis replies, “Play some rap music.” Ha ha. A rock DJ in Fort Wayne told me that when he played Run-DMC’s cover of “Walk This Way,” the phone lines lit up immediately, and not in praise, if you know what I mean.
Racist? You bet. Hip-hop may not be your cup of tea, but you can’t say it hasn’t stood the test of time. Public Enemy comes up from time to time in my boxing classes, and it still sounds contemporary, which is not something you can say about the synth-heavy pop of the ’80s, which is so dated it makes you smell AquaNet. Even the scary-ass rappers every white person was afraid of have matured into cuddly pop-culture heroes (looking at you, Snoop Dogg) or even people we should respect and listen to; if you didn’t see Barack Obama paying tribute to Eminem last week, I certainly did, and reflected on when one of my editors in Fort Wayne, a true music appreciator across genres, was appalled by his Slim Shady debut to the point of alarm.
But some people, mostly old white GenX or Boomers, still hate it.
I thought of this a few years back, when I was browsing for a hairbrush at CVS and overheard a black woman, younger than me but not by much, singing along to Billy Joel on the store’s music system. She was doing it kind of absently, looking for something on the shelves too, but I was struck by how much feeling she managed to infuse in a lyric I’d already heard 187,000 times. She had every right to find it as lame as I did, but she didn’t.
This week we have a crew hanging drywall in the basement. They’re all black, and like all drywall crews, they pass the time playing music on a Bluetooth speaker. I’d expect a playlist, or a radio station, that draws from the deep wells of blackness in pop music, but no. At the moment, it’s the Eagles. Before that, U2. Before that, Hall & Oates. The only black artist I can recall hearing this morning is Tina Turner, and “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” a fine track, but not exactly a deep one for that artist. I texted the family about this, and Alan noted, “The first day I thought they were curating their playlist so as not to frighten the white folks upstairs. But no. (The crew leader) knew the lyrics and was singing along to a Foreigner song.”
When it dropped, I know I linked to Wesley Morris’ contribution to the 1619 Project, a podcast episode called “The Birth of American Music,” and I still think it’s one of the best explanations of how we got here that you can get in half an hour. It starts with a funny intro about yacht rock, and here’s the pivot point:
This is the sound not just of black America, but the sound of America. It is deeply American, almost especially when it’s sung by British people like David Bowie and Annie Lennox and Amy Winehouse. And it fills me with pride. Like, I know that there is something irresistible and ultimately inevitable about black music being a part of American popular music. But it also reminds me that there’s a history to this, a very painful history. And in the most perversely ironic way, it’s this historical pain that is responsible for this music.
It goes on from there, but I don’t want to spoil it.
There’s a whole YouTube subgenre of black people listening to white music. This is only a mild taste of it. And all of this is, I hasten to add, FINE. It is great that we can all enjoy all the music that’s out there, even Foreigner. I just think it’s funny, how that woman in the CVS could take a Billy Joel song and make it pretty great. I’d buy her record! “In the Aisles: A CVS Shopper Covers Billy Joel,” maybe. That would drive the rock DJs nuts. But these boneheads who run rock radio can’t find it in their cinder-like hearts to enjoy a little Kendrick Lamar.
OK, then. Just a few more days until widespread civil unrest breaks out in American cities! Let’s listen to music and take our minds off it.
Joe Kobiela said on October 30, 2024 at 10:53 am
That’s why I pay for Sirius, actually we started with Xm, got it the day it was available, along with pandora I can listen to what I want when I want, bb.king, Robert Johnson, throw in some Ray Whyle Hubbard, mix with some Kid Rock, Arti Shaw and Lynda Ronstat, haven’t listen to radio in forever.
Pilot Joe
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jcburns said on October 30, 2024 at 11:00 am
Linda Ronstadt, Joe.
Also: Ray Wylie Hubbard and Artie Shaw.
And I’m pretty sure B.B. King does not go for ee cummings’s capitalization.
But I’m glad your technology knows what you mean when you type those in.
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Heather said on October 30, 2024 at 11:10 am
There are some funny tiktoks by Black creators wearing earbuds and the caption will say “what white people think I’m listening to” and the soundtrack will be some pretty intense rap, and then “what I’m actually listening to” and it’s yacht rock or something like that.
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brian stouder said on October 30, 2024 at 11:26 am
My lovely wife’s vehicle has a radio which has a menu of selections, including one option I always exercise: Pearl Jam. (Gotta love Eddie, et. al.). Edit: when I say “always”, please note that Pammy frequently revokes and/or precludes this option)
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David C said on October 30, 2024 at 1:05 pm
Anti-rap rock radio cut its teeth on anti-disco rock radio. Both racist AF. I haven’t listen to terrestrial radio in ages unless you count streaming KEXP. Other than that, it’s satellite radio for me, too.
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Jeff Borden said on October 30, 2024 at 1:27 pm
I still have my vinyl of “Straight Outta Compton” by NWA. I loved the earlier stuff including Public Enemy, Run-DMC, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Ice-T, etc. My playlists for ’80s parties usually had some of them and never got pushback. My preference for the early stuff is largely related to the production values. The lyrics of some of my favorite songs (gangsta rap) are incredibly violent and sexist, but dear lord, the beats are just invigorating and irresistible. I sample current hip hop on SiriusXM, but it doesn’t hit me the same way. “The Message,” a melodic howl of anger at early ’80s Reagan America, remains a seminal political song. And Public Enemy’s “Fear of a Black Planet” can still take the paint off your walls.
I’m sitting here today absolutely dreading next week. Whatever happens, the MAGAt mobs of angry morons will be out in force and I fully expect the orange cancer to declare victory very early in the evening. And I was stupid enough to think Richard M. Nixon and George W. Bush would never be topped as horrible presidents in my lifetime.
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Sherri said on October 30, 2024 at 2:13 pm
In my experience, Lin Manuel Miranda and Hamilton taught a lot of white suburban moms to appreciate rap, and grudgingly dragged some white suburban dads along. My daughter and I loved the Hamilton soundtrack, so my husband reluctantly agreed to go see Hamilton when I told him the show had supertitles. (Plus, he owed me for my having gone with him to opera, which bores me to tears.) At intermission, he turned to me and said “this is amazing”, and after the show, had the soundtrack on his phone.
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FDChief said on October 30, 2024 at 2:30 pm
I’m Late Boomer (1957) so you’d think I’d be the Platonic Ideal of “Classic Rock” demographic, except…I grew up in a home that listened to the “classic rock” of my parents’ generation, so I was immersed in Glenn Miller, the Dorseys, Ella, Nat Cole…so the big hits of my own generation kinda bounced off my while I was rocking out to Gene Krupa and “Drum Boogie”.
Weird. I know.
But now my issue is more that I have zero tolerance for commercials, so commercial radio, classic or otherwise rock, is just annoying. On long drives if I forget CDs my resort is any local norteno station because the commercials are in Spanish; annoying, yes, but more fun annoying than annoying-annoying.
But outside the Hamilton-style rap lite? I’m too white and too old even for classics like Public Enemy. I can appreciate the artistry…but not the music itself…
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Joe Kobiela said on October 30, 2024 at 2:56 pm
Jc burns@2,
Sorry for the mistake I was typing while piloting home from Nebraska @ 25,000ft, may not be able to spell correctly, but I can handle an aircraft.
Pilot Joe
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ROGirl said on October 30, 2024 at 3:28 pm
Ray Wylie Hubbard, writer of that classic, “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother.”
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Dexter Friend said on October 30, 2024 at 4:26 pm
Today I have Jelly Roll’s tunes constantly in my head; my gawd is that guy special.
Fat Joe’s pitiful performance pregame of Game 3, World Series, would turn any human against rap. That man was put down in every press agency everywhere for that shit.
I just never understood the art of rappers like Li’l Wayne, but I dug some West Coast guys like Ice Cube, from Westmont , South LA.
And by chance you have not heard “Get By” by Jelly Roll, punch it up. Of course some of his tunes are about recovery from “stuff” and an awakening in prison, some are real rock and rollers.
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Cheez Whiz said on October 30, 2024 at 4:27 pm
There’s a forgettable movie titled Hollywood Homicide starring Harrison Ford as a detective investigating the murder of a sucessful rapper. A character note is he’s a huge Motown fan, and he’s start-struck meeting the rapper’s aunt, a Motown girl group singer played by Gladys Knight. Late in the movie, Ford confesses to her “I’ve tried to like rap, but I, I just don’t get it”. Knight replies, “honey, you’re not supposed to get it”.
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Dave said on October 30, 2024 at 5:13 pm
I can’t do it, I’ve tried listening to rap, I get the beat but I can’t do it.
One of Randy Michaels business partners has a condo in the same building that my BIL lives in. I’ve never met him but I told my BIL that those guys wrecked radio. OTOH, everything changes and with the internet and satellite radio and the fact that you can pull in stations all over the world with said internet, there was no stopping it. If not for him, then someone else, kind of like Bezos and figuring out how to get everybody everything they want in two days.
I’ve got a radio that plays streaming stations from WiFi and there is so much variety, stations, and podcasts available from all over the world that you’re never stumped for something to play.
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Julie Robinson said on October 30, 2024 at 6:55 pm
So, for white suburban moms, Lin-Manuel has a new one, based on the movie The Warriors. It’s a concept album right now but I’d be surprised if it doesn’t go to Broadway.
The last two cars we’ve rented have made it almost impossible to listen to actual, terrestrial radio. This last trip I figured it out on day 5/5; last fall we never did. According to the manual, you started by downloading an app on your phone and…they lost us there. For a rental? I ended up turning the volume up on my phone and holding it between us. Our car is 11 years old, and I found it refreshing today to use knobs for radio and AC. We also froze or roasted before we figured those out.
Someone who has half an hour for the podcast, tell me if it also talks about the Jewish roots of American music.
Joe, just wondering about your attention to detail when flying. Generally that’s a trait that carries from one activity to another.
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Little Bird said on October 30, 2024 at 7:32 pm
Gen X weighing in, I most like music in minor keys. Hip hop doesn’t usually fit into that. I like the songs that are all about empowering women. It does bother me that some steaming music platforms that play the music of my youth rarely play music from black artists. They were a big part of my listening experience. It’s frustrating.
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Brandon said on October 30, 2024 at 7:32 pm
There was an action movie whose TV ads featured a black gangster snarling at Bruce Willis, “I’m wanna make you scream in pain!” and Willis replies, “Play some rap music.”
He wasn’t black. (Scene at 1:22)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TvUwc-b0rI
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Deborah said on October 30, 2024 at 8:28 pm
I didn’t pay any attention to rap until the early 2000s I was listening to an interview show and Chuck D was the subject. He was terrific, early rap caught my attention much later after it started. I can’t say I stuck with it but that interview opened my eyes to some of the quality of it. I had a friend that I worked with, much younger than me (white) and he was enthralled with it, after I listened to that interview I kind of got it.
I have been taking a generic Xanax prescription for a few months. My Dr recommended it for my anxiety issues. She prescribed the lowest dose and I only get 30 pills at a time. I mostly only use them for travel, leading up to a trip, packing, coordinating, finishing chores etc. I got my last prescription in July and after my trips back and forth to NM and our recent trip to New England I’m out. I contacted my Dr for a refill which she approved but my Walgreens doesn’t have any record of it. Mainly I want to have it next week when I’m probably going to be a basket case. I will check back to Walgreens tomorrow but I wonder if it is in demand because a lot of people are freaking out like me?
I listened to a Pod Save America podcast today where Nancy Pelosi was interviewed, she said she wasn’t losing any sleep about the election because people are doing exactly what needs to be done and that politics are mostly successful on the ground level. It made me feel better for a bit.
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Joe Kobiela said on October 30, 2024 at 8:51 pm
Julie@ 14,
At 25,000 fr over Nebraska under radar control and the auto pilot on it’s kinda like driving with cruise control, listening to music in the back ground is kinda soothing, when you get into a busy airspace or below 10,000ft of course you turn it off.
Pilot Joe
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jcburns said on October 30, 2024 at 10:32 pm
“Puerto Rico is not a joke.
Women’s lives are not a joke.
Black lives are not a joke.
Guns are not a joke.
Haitian immigrants are not a joke.
Mexican immigrants are not a joke.
Central American immigrants are not a joke.
Muslim immigrants are not a joke.
Mass killers using AR-15’s are not a joke.
Murdered school children are not a joke.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is not a joke.”
~ Lucian K. Truscott
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