I am not talking about the 25
+ different lawsuits filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws
against Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan.
I am thinking more along the lines of Swedish singer-songwriter JoseGonzalez who has a voice that does not match his name or Seattle-based Allen
Stone as an artist you need to see to believe that the voice is coming from
that body.
According to the documentary,
“Muscle Shoals”, Paul Simon, who recorded several tracks on “There Goes Rhymin’
Simon” (1973) at Muscle Shoals Sound, called songwriter and Stax Records
producer Al Bell, asking him about the “same black players that played on ‘I’ll
Take You There.’ ” Bell, who wrote the 1972 Staple Singers hit, replied, “That
can happen, except these guys are mighty pale.” Living Colour, the first
mainstream all-African-American rock/heavy metal band no longer turns heads but
there was a time in the 1990s in which they did. Then there is Sam Smith.
A name that I would typically associate with a Nut Brown Ale, but in reality is
a British musician who is making truly original music.
The categorization of music
has been happening since long before I was stocking CDs and making music
recommendations at the Tower Records in Washington DC. In
fact, I found researching the phrase “music genre” as vague as the phrase
itself. One definition read that it is a “conventional category that
identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition”. But
I think that music can be divided into different genres in several ways.
Yes - these classifications are often arbitrary and controversial, potentially
even overlapping, but then again I sometimes need something to debate over a
drink other than what’s better – N.W.A’s genre defining “Straight OuttaCompton” (arguably the pioneering record of gangsta rap) or Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” which is often referred to as the most well-produced hip hop album of all
time. And who would have thought that both of the records that I
mentioned involved a young man who formed the 1980s World Class Wreckin’ Cru who are now referenced as “electro-hop”.
I believe we need to start to
de-genre music and start classifying it for ourselves. Continue to listen
to the music that stirs the emotions we need to feel in ourselves and amongst
friends. Let the passing of time and the music speak for itself, not some
fancy label. In fact, if I listened to labels, I would have never started
listening to the experimental metal/progressive Armenian rock of System of a Down.
Thanks for reading!
