In the 80's when i heard "my posse" by C.I.A. i thought ice cube was white...
...Vanilla Ice ???
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
I thought Teena Marie was black, but really light-skinned.
I thought the same about Pink when she first came out on the R&B singles.
So did I. If you recall the video for "There You Go", it's difficult not to conclude that she was lit in a way that might lead the casual viewer/listener to think she was light-skinned.
Also, cosign on thinking that, on first hearing, Lewis Taylor was a black guy, rather than a Jewish dude from North London with an impressive prog-rock/psych pedigree whose first album was more or less written about his struggle with heroin.
I thought Teena Marie was black, but really light-skinned.
I thought the same about Pink when she first came out on the R&B singles.
So did I. If you recall the video for "There You Go", it's difficult not to conclude that she was lit in a way that might lead the casual viewer/listener to think she was light-skinned.
Also, cosign on thinking that, on first hearing, Lewis Taylor was a black guy, rather than a Jewish dude from North London with an impressive prog-rock/psych pedigree whose first album was more or less written about his struggle with heroin.
Hey Doc, I've never tracked down any of Taylor's pre Island releases as Sheriff Jack - is it worth picking up as I preferred the sound on Lewis I to the more polished stuff that followed and, if so, how the hell do you go about finding it?
I thought Big Chan was black, just from the way he posts/sounds. Jonny looks like he has something different about him. Vin Disel must be mixed. He looks kind of like Rootless. I guess him & Jonny both have that swarthy, Jewish thing happening, which can be confusing to some. White people often say that I must have some Black ancestry becuase I like rap music & big butts, but I'm extremely white. I get the worst sunburns.
Me too! My friend played me a joint from the first album in high school and I would have sworn that Jay's white self was black and female. I thought I was the only one.
I also thought Alice Russell was black. She had me straight fooled for a minute.
I don't know why, but, before I met her, I thought Miss Bassie was West Indian.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
I thought Teena Marie was black, but really light-skinned.
I thought the same about Pink when she first came out on the R&B singles.
So did I. If you recall the video for "There You Go", it's difficult not to conclude that she was lit in a way that might lead the casual viewer/listener to think she was light-skinned.
Also, cosign on thinking that, on first hearing, Lewis Taylor was a black guy, rather than a Jewish dude from North London with an impressive prog-rock/psych pedigree whose first album was more or less written about his struggle with heroin.
Hey Doc, I've never tracked down any of Taylor's pre Island releases as Sheriff Jack - is it worth picking up as I preferred the sound on Lewis I to the more polished stuff that followed and, if so, how the hell do you go about finding it?
/
To be perfectly honest, I've never heard any of it. I understand that it's very highly-regarded and sought-after by psych heads, though. I was thinking more of his stint as a guitarist in The Edgar Broughton Band and his frankly mindblowing, but subsequently abandoned cover of Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica". That's the whole album, by the way. I'll try and up it at some point if you haven't heard it - it's very good.
Did you ever hear Bob Jones' show on Kiss back when he had LT in as a guest, just before his first album came out? I used to be quite chummy with the good Doctor, and he once described Lewis as "the most boring cunt I've ever interviewed". He was expecting Lewis to talk about his influences on the soul side, and was completely bamboozled when he came to the studio with a bunch of records by the likes of Tim Buckley, Yes and Tangerine Dream, and gave monosyllabic answers to all of Bob's questions.
I can't believe no one has mentioned Dr John. When I was younger there was no doubt in my mind that he wasn't black. (Based on listening experience alone.) Then I saw one of his records.
I can't believe no one has mentioned Dr John. When I was younger there was no doubt in my mind that he wasn't black. (Based on listening experience alone.) Then I saw one of his records.
the first time i heard of him is when i saw him on TV, so i never had the interracial confusion with him (although the black influence is unmistakably there)
I heard record company made sure you can only see his silouette on the What You Won't Do For Love album cover so that people wouldn't know he was white.
TK Records had the market cornered on non-black soul singers there for a while, didn't they? (Caldwell, Foxy, KC, Peter Brown...)
[color:red]"When KC came out people thought he was black. Then when Peter Brown came out, everybody thought he was black too. When we came out with 'Get Off,' people thought we were a black band. And then TK came out with T-Connection - but they were right that time!"
---one of the members of Foxy, interviewed in Blues & Soul magazine, ca. 1978 (rough paraphrase)[/color]
I heard that Virgin Records[/b] made sure you can only see Nikka Costa's[/b] silouette on the cover of her first album[/b] so that people wouldn't know s[/b]he was white.
I heard that Virgin Records[/b] made sure you can only see Nikka Costa's[/b] silouette on the cover of her first album[/b] so that people wouldn't know s[/b]he was white.
that's hilarious. because NOW, only a few years later, they would play up the whole "white woman doing black music" thing super hard ala Winehouse & Joss Stone.
I heard record company made sure you can only see his silouette on the What You Won't Do For Love album cover so that people wouldn't know he was white.
Same thing happened to Bob James. He mentioned this in an NPR interview a couple years back.
I heard that Virgin Records[/b] made sure you can only see Nikka Costa's[/b] silouette on the cover of her first album[/b] so that people wouldn't know s[/b]he was white.
that's hilarious. because NOW, only a few years later, they would play up the whole "white woman doing black music" thing super hard ala Winehouse & Joss Stone.
Yeah, but Winehouse and Joss Stone were different - they were gonna get that white audience anyway, since black stations don't normally play acts as blatantly retro as those two are (or were, in Stone's case). Nikka Costa, on the other hand, was a bit more up to date and marketed towards the black demographic (she was opening up for India.Arie at one point).
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look! i see grafwrita!
I thought Joe Beck was black...
...Vanilla Ice ???
So did I. If you recall the video for "There You Go", it's difficult not to conclude that she was lit in a way that might lead the casual viewer/listener to think she was light-skinned.
Also, cosign on thinking that, on first hearing, Lewis Taylor was a black guy, rather than a Jewish dude from North London with an impressive prog-rock/psych pedigree whose first album was more or less written about his struggle with heroin.
Hey Doc, I've never tracked down any of Taylor's pre Island releases as Sheriff Jack - is it worth picking up as I preferred the sound on Lewis I to the more polished stuff that followed and, if so, how the hell do you go about finding it?
/
Me too! My friend played me a joint from the first album in high school and I would have sworn that Jay's white self was black and female. I thought I was the only one.
I also thought Alice Russell was black. She had me straight fooled for a minute.
To be perfectly honest, I've never heard any of it. I understand that it's very highly-regarded and sought-after by psych heads, though. I was thinking more of his stint as a guitarist in The Edgar Broughton Band and his frankly mindblowing, but subsequently abandoned cover of Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica". That's the whole album, by the way. I'll try and up it at some point if you haven't heard it - it's very good.
Did you ever hear Bob Jones' show on Kiss back when he had LT in as a guest, just before his first album came out? I used to be quite chummy with the good Doctor, and he once described Lewis as "the most boring cunt I've ever interviewed". He was expecting Lewis to talk about his influences on the soul side, and was completely bamboozled when he came to the studio with a bunch of records by the likes of Tim Buckley, Yes and Tangerine Dream, and gave monosyllabic answers to all of Bob's questions.
I can't believe no one has mentioned Dr John. When I was younger there was no doubt in my mind that he wasn't black. (Based on listening experience alone.) Then I saw one of his records.
He's THAT old??
Or is Broughton still playing?
the first time i heard of him is when i saw him on TV, so i never had the interracial confusion with him (although the black influence is unmistakably there)
My dad is half-Portuguese. Does that make me half-Teena Marie?
or a dude.
TK Records had the market cornered on non-black soul singers there for a while, didn't they? (Caldwell, Foxy, KC, Peter Brown...)
[color:red]"When KC came out people thought he was black. Then when Peter Brown came out, everybody thought he was black too. When we came out with 'Get Off,' people thought we were a black band. And then TK came out with T-Connection - but they were right that time!"
---one of the members of Foxy, interviewed in Blues & Soul magazine, ca. 1978 (rough paraphrase)[/color]
that's hilarious. because NOW, only a few years later, they would play up the whole "white woman doing black music" thing super hard ala Winehouse & Joss Stone.
After hearing In My Life the first time - coulda sworn dude was black. Nope.
Same thing happened to Bob James. He mentioned this in an NPR interview a couple years back.
Yeah, but Winehouse and Joss Stone were different - they were gonna get that white audience anyway, since black stations don't normally play acts as blatantly retro as those two are (or were, in Stone's case). Nikka Costa, on the other hand, was a bit more up to date and marketed towards the black demographic (she was opening up for India.Arie at one point).