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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nAll music is black music.\n\nWhat? How can that be? What does that actually MEAN? It doesn\u2019t mean that all music has been created or performed by black artists. It doesn\u2019t even mean that all music was invented by black artists. And in fact, I\u2019m not even talking about ALL MUSIC EVER.\n\nBut \u2013 and this is a big one \u2013 I AM talking about ALL MUSIC FROM THE MODERN ERA. I\u2019m talking about any music created in the last, let\u2019s say, 140 years. A VERY inaccurate number, but close enough for argument\u2019s sake.\n\nLet me restate that: All music that anyone has ever written, performed, produced since the mid to late 1800s owes its existence to black music and black artists. No exceptions. No qualifications.\n\nLet\u2019s get the easy ones out of the way first. Every single song of every genre that has ever been streamed or downloaded or played on the radio since \u2026 well \u2026 the invention of the radio owes a debt to black music. Here\u2019s a pitifully short list of music styles that WOULD NOT EXIST without black music influence, if not outright involvement & invention: country, blues, jazz, rock, pop, dance/disco, techno, a cappella, heavy metal, funk, hip-hop.\n\nWhat about modern classical music? Instrumental & soundtrack music? Yes, yes & yes. What about the thing that just popped into your head that I neglected to mention? YES!\n\nNow, those easy ones are easy for two reasons: 1. There\u2019s documentation that proves how all of those styles were either invented by black artists, or were adopted (and yes often also coopted) by white artists directly influenced by earlier black music; and 2. You can frickin\u2019 HEAR IT.\n\nAs to that second point, I\u2019m going to flesh it out in the context of the second list above. We already know that lots of people inaccurately consider country & rock music to be \u201cwhite\u201d music. The more we listen & learn, the more we know that\u2019s about as far from the truth as you can get. What we also know is that lots of people consider \u201chigh art\u201d forms of music \u2013 a designation I think means nothing but I\u2019m using as an expedient \u2013 to be \u201cwhite\u201d music, and they don\u2019t think they\u2019re wrong about that.\n\nBut they are. If a modern musical work contains any of the following, it\u2019s has absolutely been influenced by black music: dissonance; syncopation; repetition; vocal inflections such as rubato or wailing; telling real stories with real emotion about real life. Yes, all of those things existed before the 20th century, in one way or another; but not in the way they\u2019ve been used in the last \u2026 what arbitrary number did I use? \u2026 140 years.\n\nThere\u2019s one more way to show all of the above is true. Go back in history and read criticisms of various singers/songs/musicians through that entire period. There were times when those critics called a certain music \u201ctoo black\u201d \u2013 or even worse, used any number of worse descriptions. When we listen to ALMOST ALL of that older music today, most of us would not consider what we hear to have a strictly \u201cblack\u201d sound. In fact, most of it sounds painfully stilted and \u201cwhite\u201d. Part of that is because we are again creating divisions that don\u2019t really exist \u2013 like GENRES. Part of that is because what\u2019s happened since has taken those ideas so much further that the older music pales in comparison. In other words, our perception of what something is or should be classified as is heavily influenced by our own experience & awareness, which in turn are heavily influenced by the times we live in and what came before.\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices