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johnny9fingers"Little Richard was always my main man. How hard must it have been for him: gay, black and singing in the South? But his records are a joyous good time from beginning to end."
Lemmy, Motörhead
Mr James Brown, John and Paul, Mick and Keef, Jimi, Otis, Lemmy, Prince...
The list of rock 'n' rollers who owed Little Richard dibs and who acknowledged it publicly is pretty damn stellar. A founder; from the Golden Age. And a decade and a half later Marc Bolan and David Bowie copped his ideas and sold them back to the world as dangerous young white bisexual artists.
More and more I begin to understand why Black and Gay folk feel marginalised. John and Yoko made us Western European types more aware of the position of women in society; but I was born in '61, when Gay folk were criminals, and Black folk... well, even now you can still get shot for being black while jogging.
When I heard the original lyrics to Tutti Frutti I realised that Rock 'n' Roll had a huge transgressive element well before Bowie got out the Max Factor; but when Black folk were doing it, it didn't matter. Things only got taken seriously when we repackaged it for our own consumption. Which isn't to knock Bowie, Bolan, Lou Reed, or even the Rocky Horror Picture show; but just to notice that a decade before Stonewall or Woodstock, Penniman carried a freak flag higher than anyone.
And, as Lemmy mentioned, it was all joyous.
Lemmy, Motörhead
Mr James Brown, John and Paul, Mick and Keef, Jimi, Otis, Lemmy, Prince...
The list of rock 'n' rollers who owed Little Richard dibs and who acknowledged it publicly is pretty damn stellar. A founder; from the Golden Age. And a decade and a half later Marc Bolan and David Bowie copped his ideas and sold them back to the world as dangerous young white bisexual artists.
More and more I begin to understand why Black and Gay folk feel marginalised. John and Yoko made us Western European types more aware of the position of women in society; but I was born in '61, when Gay folk were criminals, and Black folk... well, even now you can still get shot for being black while jogging.
When I heard the original lyrics to Tutti Frutti I realised that Rock 'n' Roll had a huge transgressive element well before Bowie got out the Max Factor; but when Black folk were doing it, it didn't matter. Things only got taken seriously when we repackaged it for our own consumption. Which isn't to knock Bowie, Bolan, Lou Reed, or even the Rocky Horror Picture show; but just to notice that a decade before Stonewall or Woodstock, Penniman carried a freak flag higher than anyone.
And, as Lemmy mentioned, it was all joyous.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-18 10:04 am (UTC)You have said exactly the right words.