Autumn has arrived. It has brought a new year of bare trees, Halloween, and more importantly, another black history month. The majority of schools teach a white washed curriculum which centres around traditional events and the achievements of white folks. Black History Month provides an opportunity to understand the sheer impact black heritage has had on culture. I will be talking about the racial issue in classic rock and the experiences black musicians in the industry. 

It is due to influential men such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard that rock 'n' roll exists in all its raucous and electric glory. However the genre has metamorphosed over the decades into a virtually entirely white genre of music. The history of Rock indisputably goes hand in hand with the origin of black musicianship, however, the genre has become one that has abandoned the same people that created it.

To accumulate mainstream media success, white musicians (such as Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones) appropriated the sounds of black men. This appropriated image became the standard that every upcoming rock artist/ band attempted to live up to and emulate. This created a state of affairs where young black children never saw people who looked like themselves in the limelight for earning success in rock, instead they saw faces such as Elvis or Mick Jagger, thus reinforcing rock's role in mainstream media as a position to be taken by white men. With little to no representation, less people of color became inspired to enter the music industry, which caused further disparity between the numbers of white to black rockstars. To put it simply, when white artists saturated the industry, the face of rock and roll became white.

After mimicking the style and personality of Little Richard, Elvis Presley created an act in which mainstream rock idolised for many years. The recalcitrant attitude Elvis adopted created envy from many boys, adoration, from young girls; he became the "king of rock" as we recognise him today.

Although many groups succeeding Presley e.g. The Rolling Stones vocalised the inspiration in their sound taken from black musicians, their groundbreaking fame further concreted the idea that rock is a white genre. In addition to this, their efforts to give credit to black musicians failed when they didn't acknowledge the sheer impact their female backing singers had on the music they produced.

For example, their song "Gimme Shelter" highlights issues such as rape, murder and war. The song largely relied on Merry Clayton to deliver the importance of the message that their lyrics offered. It was her essential role in the song that made it the hit that it was. However she never received the mainstream attention she deserved and she continued to be unknown. Unfortunately she followed the pattern that many female black singers were subjected to; as they are not men, nor are they white, they have no position in rock as individual artists. Their narratives were sanitised, which aided to disguise the fact they were exploited.

It was a different time, absolutely. You cannot argue that. It was not unusual for a Black artist to be offered some meagre payment to come and write a couple songs just so the record company could give the dong to a white man. That was how the system operated for many years. Companies utilised reductionist terms such as 'sampling' to make it sound equal or fair. However there well and truly was a power dynamic rooted in said 'sampling'.

And this is merely a small taste. In a just world, the original black songwriters would recieve credit for their creativity however, in many cases, these songs were altered to cater towards a white fan base. More disappointingly, it worked; an unimaginable quantity of songs composed by black musicians became number one hits and we're listened to by white folks.

During the initial stage of the creation of rock, black artists such as Chuck Berry, Otis Blackwell, Luther Dixon, Richard M. Jones, and Little Richard experienced much racism and prejudice; they were existing in a pre-civil rights era and they were viewed as womanising and dangerous. Unfortunately by relation, their music was also seen to represent such behaviours, their music was basically underscored with their race. However, when a young white Elvis entered the picture, the same behaviours that diminished the impact of black men helped to raise Presley up. He was dubbed seductive and reckless - but not too much to be uncommercial. All of the above mentioned attributes that make up rock 'n roll were originated by the sounds and personalities of black musicians. Whereas the predetermined concept of a rock 'n' roll lifestyle that degraded black musicians to the ranking of lower class people, raised white musicians to fame.

Why was this the case?

The negative stereotypes that afflicted black rockstars didn't reach white musicians because they were safe to do so. Whilst it may have been slightly controversial at the time, Elvis was still accepted in society and had millions of adoring fans because he was white. If Presley sexualised his performances, it was okay. If the Rolling Stones used drugs and destroyed hotel rooms, they were labelled as bad boys. When black rockstars did the very same, it compromised their careers. This allowed white men to gain dominance over the genre as they had the creative and financial freedom as well as the power of the institutional system to experiment with different and out of the ordinary concepts and sounds. It was an unfair 'competition'.

In spite of the major upper hand white folk recieved, a few black rockstars were able to make their way into mainstream media and accomplish their well deserved fame. A notable mention is Jimi Hendrix. Although he was met with a multitude of white fans, his musical expertise never rose above his race. Every move he made was infused with his blackness.

Hendrix's death came with a genre desolate of black artists. And despite those who have succeeded him have been eminent, Lenny Kravitz, Death, Prince, Gary Clark Jr. And the living Colour, the numbers are small. And they had to carry the legacy of the black musicians before them, those that weren't included in popular success as a direct result of their race, the musicians that constantly and continuously viewed their creativity being stolen and commercialised by white men who did not experience bigotry and prejudice in their career as a rockstar in a whitewashed genre.

History is an extremely selective thing. The stories we recognise and know tend to be the ones we wish to believe. The unfortunate truth is we have not been educated on any alternative reality that differs from the conventional schools of thought. Case in point is the history of classic rock music. It is a pity that people across the ages don't know or recognise these powerful artists and whilst we now cannot give them what they deserved on a monetary level, we sure can give them credit from a recognition standpoint. It is a major section of history that uncountable rock fans ignore. So as a tribute to black history month this year, stop ignoring.