Fair warning for folks who aren't "speed readers":
If you are going to read this post plus the content at the links I've included, you'll need a good 20 minutes of free time.
Public service announcement:
There's some eye candy in this post as well....
I'm not 100% sure that the answer to my title question is "yes" or "no." I can certainly see a strong case for the answer being "yes," and I don't see an equally strong case for it being "no." It's a bit dismaying for me to write that for though I'm aware that we have terms like "black music" and "white music" in the U.S. vernacular, I don't think of or buy music that way. I think of music as being things like fast, slow or something in between, a love song, a spiritual, a party song, or any number of other things all of which have to do with timbres, chords, beats, harmonies, melodies, synchopations, key changes, and, of course, how those things sound to my ear/brain and how they make me feel when I hear them.
What made this even cross my mind? Well, certainly this recent thread -- http://ift.tt/1DPFeVo -- on B-post played a role. In composing my "wall of thoughts" (http://ift.tt/1Isnd56) in response to having read John Metta's essay titled "I, Racist" (http://ift.tt/1NXBNS9) played a role in making me somewhat more presently aware of the topic in general. Next thing you know, I came across this: http://ift.tt/1Isnd5a .
Now I don't listen to U.S. Top 40 broadcast music (cable, satellite or radio), so I don't personally know what they do or don't play. I am willing to take Tyrese's word for it that Top 40 (aka "mainstream") broadcasters don't/haven't play/-ed songs from his latest album. I had to actually look to see what are the top Top 40 radio stations in U.S. (http://ift.tt/1DPFdkk)
When I found that list, it didn't escape me for one second that the Top 40 station in D.C. has WHIT as its call letters. Seeing that after encountering the NBC story about Tyrese, I thought, "well, maybe Tyrese has a point." One thing I knew is that radio station owners can request their call letters and if they are available, they get what they request.
That said, I suspect (hope as it pertains to this thread topic) the call letters are merely an unfortunate coincidence, even though I know that little in the world of business is coincidence. Even as some (hopefully very few) whites are "full on" racists, these days, unlike 60+ years ago, they aren't above earning revenue (directly or indirectly) from non-whites.
Sidebar:
Back to the thread topic...
So the question in my mind is the very one Tyrese posed. What about his latest song makes it unsuitable for Top 40, yet Robin Thicke, Sam Smith and others can get their music played on the largest stations in the country, the mainstream stations? Style-wise, there's no question that they all perform similar sounding/themed music, regardless of what label you want to put on it. (Is "R&B" code for "black" perhaps? God, I hope not.)
I think that there's "something" to why Tyrese isn't getting airplay on Top 40 stations yet has the top selling album on the planet right now. Isn't popularity the thing that makes a song be Top 40? When used without qualification, "Top 40" refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. I know damn well that his album didn't go from zero to top-selling overnight; that it was headed that way had to have been apparent before it actually got to that position.
I've been using the word "Top 40" as a synonym for "mainstream music." "Mainstream" refers to a current of thought that is presently widespread. It includes all popular culture and media culture, typically disseminated by mass media. It is to be distinguished from subcultures and countercultures, and at the opposite extreme are cult followings and fringe theories. By Tyrese's music not making it onto "mainstream" radio, does that mean then that it's subcultural, countercultural, fringe or cultist music? If so, who decides that it is?
Shame by Tyrese
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke
Stay with Me by Sam Smith
I didn't include a Justin Timberlake song because he made a point of asserting that he's a "pop" artist. Perhaps he figured the Top 40 stations might not realize he's a white guy if he didn't say that? Or perhaps as a white guy he knows he's gotta have a "label" of some sort, so better that the define what it is than let others put one on him that hurts his record sales?
All the best.
If you are going to read this post plus the content at the links I've included, you'll need a good 20 minutes of free time.
Public service announcement:
There's some eye candy in this post as well....
I'm not 100% sure that the answer to my title question is "yes" or "no." I can certainly see a strong case for the answer being "yes," and I don't see an equally strong case for it being "no." It's a bit dismaying for me to write that for though I'm aware that we have terms like "black music" and "white music" in the U.S. vernacular, I don't think of or buy music that way. I think of music as being things like fast, slow or something in between, a love song, a spiritual, a party song, or any number of other things all of which have to do with timbres, chords, beats, harmonies, melodies, synchopations, key changes, and, of course, how those things sound to my ear/brain and how they make me feel when I hear them.
What made this even cross my mind? Well, certainly this recent thread -- http://ift.tt/1DPFeVo -- on B-post played a role. In composing my "wall of thoughts" (http://ift.tt/1Isnd56) in response to having read John Metta's essay titled "I, Racist" (http://ift.tt/1NXBNS9) played a role in making me somewhat more presently aware of the topic in general. Next thing you know, I came across this: http://ift.tt/1Isnd5a .
Now I don't listen to U.S. Top 40 broadcast music (cable, satellite or radio), so I don't personally know what they do or don't play. I am willing to take Tyrese's word for it that Top 40 (aka "mainstream") broadcasters don't/haven't play/-ed songs from his latest album. I had to actually look to see what are the top Top 40 radio stations in U.S. (http://ift.tt/1DPFdkk)
When I found that list, it didn't escape me for one second that the Top 40 station in D.C. has WHIT as its call letters. Seeing that after encountering the NBC story about Tyrese, I thought, "well, maybe Tyrese has a point." One thing I knew is that radio station owners can request their call letters and if they are available, they get what they request.
That said, I suspect (hope as it pertains to this thread topic) the call letters are merely an unfortunate coincidence, even though I know that little in the world of business is coincidence. Even as some (hopefully very few) whites are "full on" racists, these days, unlike 60+ years ago, they aren't above earning revenue (directly or indirectly) from non-whites.
Sidebar:
I for one happen to find the "undercover" racism and bias of today more disconcerting than I do the overt and unabashed racism of years gone by. You know me. I'm an "own your sh*t" kind of person. I most respect "you" when "you" do "you," not when "you" do the "you" that "you" think others want "you" to be. For me, regardless of whether I like "you," it's all about integrity first.End of sidebar.
Back to the thread topic...
So the question in my mind is the very one Tyrese posed. What about his latest song makes it unsuitable for Top 40, yet Robin Thicke, Sam Smith and others can get their music played on the largest stations in the country, the mainstream stations? Style-wise, there's no question that they all perform similar sounding/themed music, regardless of what label you want to put on it. (Is "R&B" code for "black" perhaps? God, I hope not.)
I think that there's "something" to why Tyrese isn't getting airplay on Top 40 stations yet has the top selling album on the planet right now. Isn't popularity the thing that makes a song be Top 40? When used without qualification, "Top 40" refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. I know damn well that his album didn't go from zero to top-selling overnight; that it was headed that way had to have been apparent before it actually got to that position.
I've been using the word "Top 40" as a synonym for "mainstream music." "Mainstream" refers to a current of thought that is presently widespread. It includes all popular culture and media culture, typically disseminated by mass media. It is to be distinguished from subcultures and countercultures, and at the opposite extreme are cult followings and fringe theories. By Tyrese's music not making it onto "mainstream" radio, does that mean then that it's subcultural, countercultural, fringe or cultist music? If so, who decides that it is?
Shame by Tyrese
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke
Stay with Me by Sam Smith
I didn't include a Justin Timberlake song because he made a point of asserting that he's a "pop" artist. Perhaps he figured the Top 40 stations might not realize he's a white guy if he didn't say that? Or perhaps as a white guy he knows he's gotta have a "label" of some sort, so better that the define what it is than let others put one on him that hurts his record sales?
All the best.
Are "mainstream" and "pop" code words for "white" when it comes to music?
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