'Rock & roll' ad campaign omits Black artists
By Donatien Bukuba and
Monica Moorehead
This past August, Miller Brewing Company and Rolling Stone
magazine announced a special ad campaign to commemorate the
50th anniversary of the founding of rock and roll music by
selecting eight artists to put on Miller Lite's beer
labels.
These artists are suppose to represent the cream of the crop
of rock and roll performers.
Which artists did Miller and Rolling Stone decide to
nominate? According to blackvoicenews.com, they were Elvis
Presley, Willie Nelson, Blondie, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Alice
Cooper, Eric Clapton and Joe Walsh.
These nominations have rightfully created great anger and
furor within the Black community. No African American artists
were selected.
There is general consensus that rock and roll--like gospel,
jazz and blues--has its roots predominantly within the African
American experience. So why wasn't even one Black artist
included in this campaign?
If you asked former Beatle Ringo Starr, or Jerry Lee Lewis,
or, if he were alive, Elvis Presley, which artists most
influenced their style of music, they would more than likely
mention one or more of the legendary Black artists such as
Chuck Berry, Little Richard or Fats Domino.
Famous and not-so-famous Black artists were known to teach
white artists how to perform rock and roll. While many of these
white artists went on to gain fame and fortune, many more Black
musicians either faded away into obscurity and/or passed away
penniless.
This lack of recognition of Black rock and roll artists
emanates from the fact that during Jim Crow segregation, many
white-owned radio stations, South and North, refused to play
the music of Black artists.
When Black musicians played rock and roll, it was negatively
branded as "race music." When white musicians played the same
music, it was praised by music critics, resulting in millions
of records sold and lucrative contracts signed.
Miller Lite and Rolling Stone are promoting cultural
genocide that has helped to enrich the profits of the
white-dominated music industry. This includes attempting to put
a white face on music that creatively expresses the struggle
for survival of a nationally oppressed people living under
capitalism.
On Sept. 18, a news conference was held in front of Rolling
Stone's building in New York to protest this injustice.
Participants who spoke included representatives of Black
singers Dionne Warwicke and Chuck Jackson and acti vists with
the Brooklyn-based December 12 Movement and the Harlem-based
Artists and Activists United for Peace. The main theme of the
news conference was "No to racism and exploitation of Black
music."
The participants at the news conference also called for a
boycott of Miller Lite and of Roseland Ballroom, where the rock
and roll selections were announced.
It bears mentioning that the new owners of the Miller
Brewing Co. include white South Africans.
Nana Soul of Black Waxx Recordings told WW: "Even today most
progressive musicians have to struggle to sell, produce and
market their work. ... African-American musicians need to be
more independent and control their talent creations, from the
blues to hip-hop and rhythm and blues."
Reprinted from the Oct. 14, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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