Soul star Wilson Pickett, best known for "Mustang Sally" and "In The Midnight Hour," died Thursday, CNN confirms. -------------------------
One of things I used to love about soul/R&B back when I was a kid was the feeling of superiority it gave me over the white guys.
They had acid-rock, KISS and bands who worshipped Satan. We had the blended sounds of the Temptations of love, the rousing voice of Aretha Franklin and earthy blues from guys like Wilson Pickett.
Then rap came along and it proved, without a doubt, that when given the opportunity black teenage boys could be just as vile, foul and disrespectful as the white guys.
Don’tcha just love progress?
I remember when the Sugar Hill Gang came out with “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979, sort of a musical rap. It was light, funny and full of the pointless self-aggrandizement we now know and love so much in rap. “This is cute”, I thought, “it’s a nice fad for the next couple of months.” I was only off by a generation.
I hate rap. I hate yelling. I lost one of my first low end jobs as a young man when I slugged a boss who yelled at me. People usually ask, “What did he yell at you about?” My answer, didn’t care. Yelling is yelling, a punchable offense. So all the HOLLERING in rap just gets on my nerves. They could be reading the phone book at that decibel level and I’d reach for the shotgun.
Some say rap reflects urban anger. Not impressed. There’s nothing wrong with anger. Most great social movements come out of anger. The Rev. Dr. MLK Jr. was angry. Gandhi was angry. Cesar Chavez was angry. The difference between them and today’s posing rapper is that they did something constructive with their anger besides convince kids to waste money on team sports apparel and jewelry.
Yeah, I sounds like a grumpy old guy here. But I’m true to myself in that I’m not saying anything know that I didn’t say twenty years ago. I was just a grumpy old man in training.
Fortunately, with today’s media “Old School” lives on. Whole stations are devoted to the time when black folks actually had to sing to make money. And since folks who like “Old School” are probably more willing and able to find and hold decent employment than rap fans, the audience is surely attractive enough to enough advertisers to stay around for awhile.
So good-bye Wilson. The music is gone but not the memories. Now if I could just find that “Sly and the Family Stone” Greatest Hits CD somewhere, anywhere …
1 comment:
When my son was in Jr. High, I took him out, on a WEEK NIGHT, to see Wilson Pickett. It made a lasting impression on the boy. He developed his own love for the music. While his freinds were listening to Offspring, he was bringing home Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, P-Funk, and WattStax.
I had to learn relatively late in life. My son turned me on to Marvin Gaye... not the other way around.
Its one of those things. I listen to 1960's-70's Soul all the time now...(didn't listen to it High School)...and the music is ageless: there is so much emotion, and sheer musicality (if thats a word).
KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, and all of the other big-hair rock bands, as fun as they were, do not age well. If I ever want to truly embarrass myself, I'll read Yes lyrics out loud. But I can still relate to Wilson Pickett.
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