on the influence of africa in popular music

it has four albums that were made by people of african descent. (most likely. there is a chance i missed one or two, but unlikely.)

ignoring the fact that there are a lot of albums on this list that barely qualify as influential, and a fair few that while influential still just suck, it's an insult that so few people of african descent made it to a list of influential musicians. without african music, there would be no pop music. i don't mean britney spears (though her music wouldn't exist either); i mean the broad, all encompassing umbrella term that includes everything that isn't classical, experimental, or regional folk music. it was white folks imitating slaves that invented the first forms of popular music, and it was african-americans who invented the fundamental pieces of modern pop music when they created jazz and the blues and rnb, which lead to the birth of rock''n'roll. without soul music, then funk, then disco, modern pop music wouldn't sound anything like it does, and without rap, the top 40 charts of the late 90s to the present would be half-empty.

and all of the dancefloors would be bare without african music.

yes, latin america had its own influence on modern dance. yes, europeans danced before music of african influence reached their ears. yes, there are honky tonks still (though anyone with a brain can hear the influence of rock rhythms on country music after the 1950s). but a modern day disqotheque is going to be primarily music influenced by african music. 

so here is a counterpoint list ofrecordings (not just albums; too many influential works came out before albums were the in-thing to do) of equal or greater influence to those on the list, in no particular order. note that i am not going intentionally obscure. most of these recordings are well known, good to great, and of palpable influence:

1. robert johnson, king of the delta blues: besides influencing rock'n'roll in general, this kick started the blues and folk revival of the sixties, which was a key to the evolution of pop music that took place then. without robert johnson, bob dylan never becomes a thing, the beatles never start writing their own songs, and we're still listening to 101 strings. 

2. louis armstrong, "west end blues": a king oliver composition, this recording was one of armstrong's most influential, and considering his overall influence, that's saying something.

3. fats domino, "ain't that a shame": part of the rise of rock'n'roll, this record not only influenced early rock'n'rollers, it also, along with the music of chuck berry and other early rockers and 50s-era rnbers, helped break down racial barriers. add to that the obvious influence of domino and his contemporaries on the beatles (the standard for influence to any rockist list), and the impact of this one is undeniable. 

4. michael jackson, thriller: how you make a list of influential albums and leave off the one that invented the sound of modern pop music is beyond me. if you wish to measure influence by the crass yardstick of albums sold, there's none more influential.

5. james brown, lvie at the apollo: it proved that live albums with no new recordings would sell. it showed that you could capture the energy of a live show on record if you did it right, and lead to "kick out the jams" by the mc 5, a key record in the evolution of punk (of all things). add to that brown's influence on the genres of soul and funk and disco, and yeah... 

6. fela kuti, zombie: the man invented afrobeat and took on a corrupt government, and this album spurred the nigerian government to send a thousand soldiers to fela's republic. 

7. lead belly, "goodnight irene": a song that quite possibly got lead belly out of prison, and what lead to his career going from nothing to greatness. his work popularized folk music and basically helped turn folk music into popular music, and everyone who came after him owes him a debt. 

8. miles davis, kind of blue: i tried five or six times to ennumerate the things i can name off the top of my head that were birthed from this album, but it's easier just to link to a more official documentation. 

9. funkadelic, one nation under a groove: this album (and others by the parliament-funkadelic conundrum) are basically what people think of when they think of funk. 

10. bob marley, exodus: one of the biggest reggae albums of all time. its staying power in the british charts goes a long way to explaining the pervasiveness of reggae rhythms in british new wave/synth pop in the decade to come. 

11. harry belafonte, calypso: popularized calypso as a style and brought the music to the ears of the world. 

12. nina simone, nina simone in concert: one of the most direct albums in addressing civil rights issues, this album was more or less the start of simone's involvement in the civil rights movement, where she was a major contributor.  

13. ali farka toure, ali farka toure: the breakthrough album of one of the first african musicians to achieve worldwide fame, this album lead to toure becoming a world music force for decades. 

14. chuck berry, "johnny b. goode": launched into space so that any alien life out there would also get to hear it. 

15. mfsb, love is the message: includes "tsop," which might be the first number one disco song, which is a major milestone in making disco the dominant sound of the seventies. the influence of disco on modern music is still audible in more or less every major dance hit to this day. 

16. lord shorty, "clock and dagger": invented soca music, which, sure, probably might not seem huge, but it spread through the west indies, became one of the major styles of music popular there, and the music of the west indies has a way of influencing pop music worldwide. 

17. the meters, rejuvenation: though p-funk is synonymous with funk, the meters are, to my mind, the real epitome of it. they were crucial in its development, and this album is one of the keys to their and its evolution. 

18. run-dmc, raising hell: showed the world how profitable hiphop could be, creating opportunity for thousands of rap artists and leading to the eventual domination of the pop charts by rap and hiphop. 

19. mahalia jackson, "take my hand, precious lord": the signature song of the woman who is probably the most honored, influential, and well known gospel singer in the world. 

20. jelly roll morton, "jelly roll blues": i have a hard time explaining how influential morton is. basically, he was one of if not the first to start, well, arranging and composing jazz in such a way that it did not lose the vital improvisational quality, thereby allowing it to be, well, more easily sold. this song is the first jazz piece that was published. he's sorta the gutenberg of jazz music, and jazz music was the dominant form of popular music for the first two decades of last century, and... well, that's basically where all of what you listen to comes from. 

21. nwa, straight outta compton: one of the primary albums in the rise of gangsta rap, which dominated the nineties after it, and still leaves its mark on hiphop. 

 

and i could go on and on and on. these are a bare scratching of the surface of the influence of african music on what you listen to. that list in the link above is skewed, narrow, and boring, and even the barest effort reveals a huge facet of the musical heritage of the world that should be recognized if we're going to talk about "influence." there's so much influence from the above recordings, i am clearly unable to describe it all here, and i've left off literally hundreds of other works and artists of equal or greater influence who deserve recognition (black, white, asian, hispanic, native american, etc.). 

(it is also worth noting that while some of the above are some of my favorites, many of them are far, far from it. before you get up in arms, i'd rather listen to desmond dekker than bob marley, too, but we're talking influence, not quality.)

the point is this: when we're talking about great music, what you like is what you like. if the list of your favorite albums is 95% white, well, that's weird, but fine. but if you're talking about something more measurable than taste, if you're going to discuss influence specifically, and the list you give is 95% white, there's a gap in your education that is unfortunate. the influence of africa and african-descended music on what you listen to is disproportionate to what often gets recognized, even by major music media (hello, rolling stone. hello, mtv back in the day. hello, pitchfork). 

also, who the fuck are the delgadoes and what the fuck did they influence?

p.s. i apologize if i have poorly worded anything in regards to what can be a sensitive subject. i try to be aware, but i have yet to get jeff winger to show me the ropes on being perfect.