Electric Purgatory

[JAUQO III-X]

For those who are willing to be educated.

 

[derrellvis69]

Thanks for the education!!!! It brought to mind, how excited I was to hear "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour and see that they were a "Black Rock Band" when I was kid!!

 

[CharlieDog]

Is Electric Purgatory what happens after an Electric Funeral?

 

[dee rob]

Watched it for the first time tonight.....very well put together, and I couldn't agree more with the message.

dee

 

[James Hart]

First off:

I'm a white guy who grew up in a white community, I listened to music without prejudices. No one thought for a minute that the white stars of the 50s didn't steal their stuff from earlier black blues artists and from the black guys that invented Rock&Roll... nor did anyone think Led Zep, The Who, Stones etc weren't doing the same thing as well. If nothing else, we all knew that the Music labels were ripping any musician they could off!

Second... wow did I feel a LOT of race hate aimed right at me

 

[Joe Gress]

Interesting documentary. Very thought provoking.


Except the problem I have with music docs is that I end up mostly listening to the music vs what the interview is about.

 

[bassrique]

First off:

I'm a white guy who grew up in a white community, I listened to music without prejudices. No one thought for a minute that the white stars of the 50s didn't steal their stuff from earlier black blues artists and from the black guys that invented Rock&Roll... nor did anyone think Led Zep, The Who, Stones etc weren't doing the same thing as well. If nothing else, we all knew that the Music labels were ripping any musician they could off!

Second... wow did I feel a LOT of race hate aimed right at me

I think I saw it chopped up on YouTube some time ago. Wasn't there a big complaint that the black community doesn't support black artists that play rock? It seems to me that rap and R&B are supported by the black community, but not so much jazz and definitely not rock.

 

[cassanova]

I thought this topic was common knowledge. I saw something about this on VH-1 or one of those type channels sometime last year.

Wasn't there a big complaint that the black community doesn't support black artists that play rock? It seems to me that rap and R&B are supported by the black community, but not so much jazz and definitely not rock.

I heard something along those lines too. I've never bothered to research it to find out if it's fact or fiction though.

I think age demographics might play a role within the black community as to who supports what. Ask an older man or woman and they might be inclined to support R&B, Motown, and Jazz. Ask those that grew up in the 80's when rap first started being introduced into mainstream music and they might be more inclined to support rap. I will agree though that I haven't met too many people of color that support rock no matter what their age is.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

I will agree though that I haven't met too many people of color that support rock no matter what their age is.

In the documentary Electric Purgatory, some of those reasons are discussed.

 

[Alan Vorse]

Thanks for posting this JAUQO. I first heard about this back in 2005, but it never got released (wide release any way). I hope its a slow work day because I'll try to watch it.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

You guys are welcome.

 

[cassanova]

In the documentary Electric Purgatory, some of those reasons are discussed.

I'm watching it now.

 

[LilRay]

Jauqo, Spent the last 1:10 minutes watching the documentary. I was glad to see folks like Angelo Moore, and Greg Tate bring the true point to light. All the isms that are associated with the music industry ie; racism sexism etc, are not reflections on the audiences nor the fault of musicians they influence actually achieving their goals. They are merely the industry giants thoughts on what people will like. In an essence to be widely accepted or succesful you have to be a part of the machine.

Overall it is very thought provoking. So many times you see an artist say "that artist/group made it because of their race,or sex etc, and I'm different racially or sexually so I can't achieve those same measures of sucess" Which for the most part is true however a lot of the time artist will get angry at another artist because they are different and yet presenting a music in a similar fashion. Angelo Moore is one of the few people I've heard say that it's not the other artists fault and that they are only chess pieces in the game.

Once people listen with their ears and not their eyes, these issues will lessen. I applaud individuals willing to challenge the status quo. Kids need examples of acceptance of difference rather than the old follow what/who's popular.

Thanks for the post.

God Bless, Ray

 

[Passinwind]

Thanks for posting this JAUQO. I first heard about this back in 2005, but it never got released (wide release any way). I hope its a slow work day because I'll try to watch it.

It was on one of my DISH channels last night, actually. I only caught a little of it, but I'll make it a point to watch the rest when I can. I refuse to do YouTube if I can possibly avoid it.

 

[Marcus]

Thanks for posting that video. I'm not done watching it yet, but it's been really interesting stuff.

 

[cassanova]

Once people listen with their ears and not their eyes, these issues will lessen. I applaud individuals willing to challenge the status quo. Kids need examples of acceptance of difference rather than the old follow what/who's popular.

I wasn't around in the early days or rock and roll or music in general. But one thing I think is fairly accurate to say about people listening with their ears rather than eyes is that it was more common prior to the MTV era.

Before MTV there lots of people without sex appeal that were popular & making hits. MTV gets introduced and suddenly these types of artists begin to drop like flies.

 

[LilRay]

I wasn't around in the early days or rock and roll or music in general. But one thing I think is fairly accurate to say about people listening with their ears rather than eyes is that it was more common prior to the MTV era.

Before MTV there lots of people without sex appeal that were popular & making hits. MTV gets introduced and suddenly these types of artists begin to drop like flies.

I agree. I'd like to know who of the pre MTV era would make it in today's market.

There are still those less attractive folks around (myself included), but they'll never receive the accolades that a good looking person can nowadays.
The formula to me is as follows;

Fantastic Talent-Not so good Looks=Studio Musician
Mediocre Talent-Good Looks= Star

On rare occasion;
Fantastic Talent-Good Looks= Superstar

That doesn't even venture into rather you're connected or not. You can have poor talent and mediocre looks and "make it".
That's a great point that the documentary makes is that there is always someone making the judgement call on what's sellable, that neccessarily doesn't have a clue on what audiences are into.
That furthers my point that if music could be just music, and a kid didn't have to worry about what everyone else thought was cool, we'd have a much more fun environment as musicians.

God Bless, Ray

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I would like to get TV on the Radio's take on this.
Great documentary.
Thanks for the post.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Just finished watching it. Nice documentary. Only thing I disliked about it was that I hate hearing "black music" or "white music," which were often mentioned. Music doesn't care what the color of the person playing it is, nor the color of the people who created it. I don't use white electricity or eat black peanut butter

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Only thing I disliked about it was that I hate hearing "black music" or "white music," which were often mentioned.

Well the reality is that that is how it is divided. Especially by the executives that usually know nothing about truth,roots or culture.

Music doesn't care what the color of the person playing it is, nor the color of the people who created it.

I think it does. That's why some music is soulless or has no feeling at all.

Music does have a life of it's own. No different than the fact that electricity is a life form itself.