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As some of you know, I've been a metalhead for a long time. As some of you know, I'm black (and always have been).
I remember going to see bands like Bad Brains, Living Colour or Bodycount and noticing that there was typically only one other black person in the audience. When I was in San Antonio, 90% of the time, it was the same black girl (whom, sadly, I never met, though we often nodded at each other in recognition across the club).
Tonight, I went to the Whitesnake/Judas Priest show at Nokia in Grand Prarie, Tx. Whitesnake was a no-show- illness had struck the band- and they were replaced by up-and-comers Pop Evil (who sound a little like a fusion of L.A. Guns and early Cult).
Judas Priest was phenomenal. They did all of British Steel, plus a selection of other tunes from all over their catalog. The show was so loud even Ozzy heard it. (My ears are ringing a bit and I was using rifleman earplugs.)
And all these years since Bad Brains, Living Colour and Bodycount proved an all-black band could rock hard, we were still almost non-existent in the audience- besides myself, I counted 1 other black dude and 4 black women in the audience (who weren't part of Nokia's event staff).
Dude, do some recruiting then...please! I've tried to get my black friends interested in Rock n Roll, but they always say the same thing and call it "noise". If people would just listen to Rock instead of Hip Hop and give it an honest chance, they'd hear how great it is.
I think the biggest turnoff for people is the "look" of rock bands. The guys aren't all pretty and that scares people away. But they get better looking the more you like their music
One thing that I have seen that has strangely gotten a lot of new people into rock music, and especially older rock music, is Rock Band and Guitar Hero. I think that's pretty cool.
I'll always remember a conversation that I had with a black co-worker years ago. It went like this...
Him: "What rock bands do you listen to?"
Me: "Well right now I'm listening to Limp Bizkit" (this was before they went main stream and before the fame turned Fred Durst into a moron)
Him: "Limp Bizkit....hahahahaha....what kinda name is that?!? They must be a bunch of *****!"
Me: "Well who do you listen to?"
Him: "I listen to Puff Daddy."
Me: "Wtf, Puff Daddy? Who the hell is Puff Daddy? And you're making fun of the name Limp Bizkit? You gotta be kidding me."
I'm 1/8 black (formerly known in another age as "octoroon" by those who felt the need to label everyone and everything - that name's just wack!), but if I dress entirely in black and go to a metal show would that count?
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It may sound silly, but I think it's because there aren't many mainstream or well known black musicians who play metal.
Yeah, that is a big reason, no doubt. The thing is, many of the better black musicians in rock/metal are in some of the hottest bands!
Of course, there are also problems with bad press about satanism and racism in the lyrics of some bands in the genre.
OTOH, the pro-crime, misogynistic, antisemitic/racist lyrics in certain subsets of rap/hip-hop doesn't seem to bother my fellow black people...
To each their own.
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Dude, do some recruiting then...please! I've tried to get my black friends interested in Rock n Roll, but they always say the same thing and call it "noise".
I try to do my best as a metal ambassador.
I did get a couple of my cousins to listen to a little rock/metal by introducing them to crossover bands- RATM in particular was a hit. And I know it took, to a certain extent...they turned me on to Linkin Park.
Still, the best ambassador I ever knew for this was Perry Farrell. His Lollapalooza tours exposed more black kids to industrial, rock & metal and more white kids to hip-hop than any other thing I can point to.
*sigh*
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I'm 1/8 black (formerly known in another age as "octoroon" by those who felt the need to label everyone and everything - that name's just wack!), but if I dress entirely in black and go to a metal show would that count?
I'm multiracial myself- terms applied to me that I'll accept include "black," "mulatto," "human gumbo" or "crayola." (I'm soooo wanting a yellow football jersey with forest green trim, numbered "64" with "CRAYOLA" as the name on the back...)
So as long as you're relatively identifiable as ethnic...yeah, Octo-J!
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Do ninjas in their proper attire wailing on electric guitars and popping 8 ft boners count as "black people?"
Actually, I'm not surprised- IME, my fellow blacks are more likely to be fans of musical genres featuring really good bass grooves than those in which such grooves are absent.
And a good goth band can definitely find that low-end.
1) Two of them looked lost... but then when they began slam dancing while industrial music began playing.
2) No white make up. Several of the black girls were dressed in corsets and dressed Victorian, but mostly the black people there were dressed industrial/punk/misc. alternative.
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