AFRAM Blogpost #2

Here is a quote from Daphne Brooks "The Right to Rock" that stands out to me:

   "What this kind of writing did, however, was to both inscribe a particular  kind of historical narrative of past musical innovations that were suffocatingly narrow and establish a lexicon of taste that would  perpetuate that narrowness for years to come" (Brooks 43).

From this quote, I can feel how intentional is for the white group to forge a narrow story of musical innovation and put all the credits to themselves. It's almost like how a political party consolidate its power by telling the evil story of another party. With limited fact conveyed by the group in power, the general public will never have the opportunity to uncover the truth and give the credit to those who deserve. For me, it's kind of scary to see how the narrative can change how the public perceives certain things. And it reminds me to be careful of telling a story since I could influence how another view certain thing depends on my narrative when telling a story. I could unintentionally tell a story with limited facts & narrow narrative that shape the narrative of my audience to the subject. And as the story goes from one to another, the same bias narrative may be popularized in society. I believe this is the way of how the narrative of white superiority in rock music formed. The most detrimental effect of such way of storytelling is that the marginalized group may not be incentivized to create musical innovation without the recognition from public and history.

Given how the society is still full of biased stories and narrative, I grew strong appreciation to people who devote themselves helping the marginalized group to reclaim their lost glory and document their history for the future generation. A quote from  A Spy in the House of Love  By Ann Powers described the tasks of reclaiming the lost history.

   "For both feminists and pop critics certain tasks are fundamental:  reclaiming lost history and unacknowledged pioneers; championing contemporary figures otherwise overlooked by the mainstream; noticing patterns that reinforce negative perceptions; and speaking truth to the powers-that-be who've trivialized, repressed, or otherwise wronged the parties we champion" (Powers, 40). 

From this quote, I feel a sense of heroicness of helping the trivialized community regain their voice in history. In a broad sense, I believe it's every single individual's wish to leave a trace of existence in history. People would naturally like the world to recognise what they have done, especially for things that are ground-breaking and revolutionary. Unfortunately, some group of people have their traced being removed as a result of repression. Thus, I really look up to people who spend their lives documenting history, revealing the true past, and inspire the future generation to join their effort of correcting historically wronged narrative.


Below are songs I found relevant to this week's topic:

Who Did It Better? - Little Richard vs. Pat Boone
This video clearly shows how Pat Bonne's style is heavily influenced by Littel Richard. Yet Pat did not show even the slightest degree of appreciation and instead claim the influence on his innovation.

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines ft. T.I., Pharrell (Official Music Video)
GOT TO GIVE IT UP - MARVIN GAYE

Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines heavily lends the influence to Marvin Gaye's Got to give it up yet thick had publically defend himself saying he did not steal anything in his song. I think this song just shows how the phenomenon of narrow narrative and half-story are still prevent in our society.