Some of you might know that the radio stations in the 50's loved to play Elvis' music because it allowed them to play rock and roll without having to beam those scary black people into the living rooms of decent, white Americans. Chuck Berry for one, was particularly bitter about what he saw as "that white boy ripping off my act." Here in Colorado, and in Arizona where I used to live, the music stations don't mind playing blues music except...only when a white artist is performing it. Oh, we get the occasional BB King track, but the rest of the time it's ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan and approximately once an hour, Eric Clapton (used to be a fan - these days I can't bear to listen to him). Now while those artists are all skilled blues musicians, it would be so great if just once, we could hear the music by the original, black performers rather than waiting until some white singer covers it. I swear we have DJs who think white people invented blues music. Anyone else notice this?
Yes. Where I live, if you catch the right station at the right time, you might get an hour's worth of true down and dirty blues.
I completely agree with you, and the original blues musician's are the ones that influenced rock and roll music the most! and they def. don't get the recognition they deserve.
All radio sucks. They only play what the majority of people want to listen to so they play the hits over and over and over again. Those British Blues musicians are what the majority of the people, who happen to be white and I'm assuming most of the population in Colorado is white, want to listen to.
