Best of Both Worlds

"Football is not a contact sport, it's a collision sport - dancing is a contact sport." - Duffy Daugherty

Jay-Z and his company Roc Nation recently announced a partnership with the NFL. Part of the collaboration specifies that Roc Nation will have significant input as to which artists will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. All I can say is, it's about time. The last time I enjoyed a halftime show, Bruno Mars performed "Locked Out of Heaven" decked out like Sly Stone in his heyday. That was 2014. They've had chart topping Pop artists such as Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and Beyoncé in the last few years, but Pop music commands a measly 13% market share. Rock is in second place with a 20% slice. Believe it or not, it's R&B/hip-hop that takes the lion's share of approximately 26%.

There's been a lot of controversy with Jay-Z and the about-face he took with the NFL high command (he protested in support of Colin Kaepernick during the past few years), but I'm not going to get into that. There's an avalanche of articles on the subject. This is about the music. Statistics don't lie. We're in an era of Big Data, Sabermetrics, and Artificial Intelligence. Give the people what they want. A twenty-six percent predominance is head and shoulders above Pop, and what's left of Rock and Roll.

If the majority of music consumed in this country is R&B/hip-hop, then that's what people want to hear. Unfortunately, you can't always get what you want. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but the Electoral College got in the way. Ninety percent of Americans are in favor of gun control, but the NRA lobby is too strong. R&B/hip-hop rule the music industry, but the NFL could get pressure other financial syndicates. Advertisers with 'Family Values' may prohibit some artists from the grand stage of the Super Bowl Halftime Show. If the powers that be had it their way, choreographed boy bands would dominate. The decline of Western Civilization.

I have nothing personal against Mark Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block, or, Justin Timberlake of NSYNC. They sold a lot of albums. They're excellent actors, decent golfers (I've seen them at the Lake Tahoe Pro/Am), and are getting busy with A-list celebrities, but their music blew chow as we used to say in the 70's. Although times change, and you've got to roll with it, you can count me out with the boy bands. Call me an old fogie, I don't care.

Things are too segmented today. Although we have more options, we tend to get set in our ways which can lead to myopia. Music calms the savage beast. Music can also be the elixir to placate social divide. Maybe it's just my imagination, and although there's always been racial tension in a country founded on genocide and slavery, the mainstream Caucasian culture of 30 years ago was much more inclusive of African American culture. I believe it's because FM Radio was more free form. Ohio Players, Sly and the Family Stone, and Rick James could all be heard in the same playlist as The Rolling Stones or Iggy Pop.

Besides Alternative and Indie bands, station WICB FM in Ithaca has a Funk and Soul program Looking Back every Friday from 10 to noon. It's hosted by Ricky Milton, son of Bernie Milton, a local music legend. James Brown, Heatwave, Stevie Wonder, and Earth, Wind and Fire are featured. Not just the hits, but album cuts, too. I listen to it whenever I have to opportunity. WICB has another show I tune into. The Blues Progression hosted by Pete Panek. Pete Panek and the Blue Cats are an entrenched local band in a thriving music scene. With most radio stations streaming now, you can find new things to listen to out of your comfort zone. It's just more difficult than it used to be.

Back in the late 80's, early 90's, I bought Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy. Also enjoyed Ice-T's O.G. Original Gangster, plus anything by De La Soul and Run-DMC. Some tracks by 2 Live Crew, too. I was living on the border of Center City and South Philly. Philadelphia has college radio with stations from both Drexel and Penn which were my primary forms of audio entertainment. I don't know if it was my location, or the era, but the music just seemed better. Maybe I'm just getting old. It happens.

If it wasn't for "race music" and the "Chitlin' Circuit", there'd be no Beatles or Rolling Stones. We'd still be listening to Ray Coniff and Ferrante & Teicher. Jump cut ten years, you get Disco, which influenced Some Girls (I had an original copy of the album. The one with Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, Judy Garland, Raquel Welch, and Marilyn Monroe on the cover). I'm looking forward to seeing what Jay-Z and Roc Nation has in store for us. Even as an old white guy.