Chart Hit [Level 6]
What artist (past or present) do you feel has been most neglected by Black radio?
It can be a group, duo, or single artist.
I have my opinion but want to know yours first. All responses and angles on this truly welcomed!
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
OK, I'm prepared to eat crow on this but after some thought I'm thinking Donna Summer.
Oh, they played some hits like Love to Love You. Considering her huge body of work as evidenced here by the many songs people mention here, they rarely played her.
Platinum Record [Level 8]
I didn't have the opportunity to listen to black radio back in the day, but I think that would make sense. Her sound was more pop oriented than soul or R&B. I wouldn't be surprised if Diana Ross got more black radio play than she did.Originally Written by paul
Disco Funk
No Longer Charting
If you do not have a big fat checkbook well then you can forget about airplay today no matter how black you are.
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
If I remember, Black radio didn't touch The Fifth Dimension until "Stoned Soul Picnic" caught on. All that "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" stuff wasn't cutting it. They were asked why they never played any Black venues. Their response: "We've never been asked." :o
No Longer Charting
Were most black radio stations black owned back then?
Platinum Record [Level 8]
James Brown apparently owned a bunch of radio stations back in the 60's, but got in trouble for that since they played, of course, his records.
Disco Funk
Indie Release [Level 4]
Madonna /past and present....also for some strange reason the house and techno music genre is non-existing on the Black airwaves and in the Black communities of today__ well, at least here in the u.s.
super d(motordetroit) 8)
Underground Hit [Level 5]
Madonna !?!!!?
Chart Hit [Level 6]
My belief is that there are certain eras that end up ignored.
There was a group on Island and Motown that backed Gerald Alston from the Manhattans. From 1988 through 1993, they released 3 albums that none of the genres frontrunners could top. But they never got airplay except late at night. They also did uptempo songs but they always got the shaft.
The group featured actress Lynn Roderick, Jimmy Varner, and Stan Shephard. The name of the group was By All Means. Did anybody dig this group? Think Alexander O'neal and Cherelle but with 3 singers in the mix.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
but my interpretation is that you're referring to BLACK artists ignored by Black radio, right? Number 1 on the list, I guess, would be Lionel Richie, who's had unbelievable success on pop radio, and had great success on Black radio as a member of the Commodores. But his solo success seems to be pointed more toward MOR and pop radio (if the Billboard charts I look at are any indication. As I said before, I don't actually LISTEN to radio at all. And though I'm not sure of his ethnicity, it seems Johnny Mathis has also been pretty much ignored by Black radio. And I heard (and saw) Lenny Kravitz complaining about being ignored by Black radio (the way he put it is "I have the same problem as Jimi Hendrix in that Black radio programmers seem to think Black people don't know how a guitar sounds...") But Kravitz is biracial. And speaking of biracial performers, I'd like to know who are the most successful biracial performers AFTER Mariah Carey of course...
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Lionel Ritchie recorded a song about 10 years called "Nothing else matters" which featured Toots Thielmans on harmonica. Quite clearly it was the best thing he ever did including anything with the Commodores. Vaughn Harper, host of NYC Quiet Storm, played overnights but nobody picked it up during the day.
Gold Record [Level 7]
better than ZOOM?
Chart Hit [Level 6]
I got the impression that both of them made a real effort to be accepted by Black radio by recording with successful Black producers. Madonna tried using Babyface and TLC producer Dallas Austin, and Lionel Richie also used the then red-hot Babyface and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Madonna had a big hit with "Take a Bow", but Lionel Richies's album "Louder Than Words" went straight to the bargain bins, even though it wasn't really bad.....
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
*****
You knew it was all over when Richie actually thought the lyrics ... " ooooo, what a feeling ! .....when you're dancing on the ceiling" could pass the smell test ..... :P :P :P
----- another artist ignored : .......... Charley Pride ........
*****
Gold Record [Level 7]
dancing on the ceiling? that was the biggest sell out in music history!*****
You knew it was all over when Richie actually thought the lyrics ... " ooooo, what a feeling ! .....when you're dancing on the ceiling" could pass the smell test ..... :P :P :P
----- another artist ignored : .......... Charley Pride ........
*****
Chart Hit [Level 6]
I'd forgotten about Charlie Pride. There's also a new artist who is said to blend hip hop and country, but I've forgotten his name (Troy, or something like that?) And I guess we'd exclude artists like Sammy Davis Jr, Miles Davis and Louie Armstrong who were around before the term "Black radio" was even used much. And artists like Vernon Reid, the Bad Brains, Fishbone and others don't seem to stand much of a chance though they are much appreciated outside of Black radio. There's also a loose group of musicians, based in New York if I'm not mistaken who have formed an organization called the Black Rock Coalition whose goal was to fight stereotypes in the music industry. They have a dynamite but very mysterious guitarist in their midst who goes by the name of "Buckethead" who plays with what looks like an empty Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on his head! He briefly played with Guns 'n' Roses and if he's Black, I may end my band on Gun 'n Roses (I refuse to buy records by a band that has used the terms "f.....s" and "n.....s" in their lyrics.
Indie Release [Level 4]
Charly Pride... hands down!
no no no....just kidding, id have to say donna summer.
Gold Record [Level 7]
My first guess would be Donna Summer also, but if you look on the AMG website, she did very well with many of the early albums, though many times, she reached higher on the pop albums and singles than on the black charts.
But, even pure disco fluff songs like "Last Dance" and "MacArthur Park" reached into the top 10 in the black community.
And for a couple of reasons
For one, there are some songs, most notably "Last Dance" that have universal appeal. The message, along with her voice, just touches alot of people. "MacArthur Park" was already well known in the pop culture from the Richard Harris version. Her interpretation just opened the song up more.
And the Bad Girls album, which Casablanca didn't want to release because it sounded too much like rock, was a tremendous hit on black radio. The album and the singles practically mirror the pop charts.
The second reason is because disco, when it was big, also had universal appeal. It not only crossed ethnic barriers (much like Motown did), but it was also acceptable across the generation gaps.
She had credibility up through the She Works Hard For The Money album, but then disappears from the black charts after that. Of course, Rap and Hip-Hop was now sharing the airwaves of R&B radio. Having a harder edge, Donna Summer just didn't mix well with Run DMC. "This Time I Know It's For Real" was too pop and dancey for the urban formats taking over. You can get away with it today, but you couldn't then.
Thinking more about the topic of this post, I choose Irene Cara as a much ignored talent for black radio audiences. Though she reached #2 on the black singles chart with "Flashdance...What A Feeling", she doesn't show up with anything else she did.
But again, "Flashdance....." was another song with universal appeal during it's time. And the movie brought breakdancing to the masses for the first time.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
I sort of have a different slant on the question. I wondered if you know of Black soul acts who Black radio avoids much like the Northern Soul Embargo of the late 70's. Then, the groups from NY, Philly, California, and mid-west were in. Shirley Brown, Denise Lasalle, and Tyrone Davis could not get a note in edgewise.
I noticed the same thing happened back in the 80's. New Edition got played every hour; Force Md's hit rotation every 10 hours; other artists like Simple Pleasure, Rude Boys, Men at Large, Lo-Key, Intro, By All Means, Kiara, Jamm, Wooten Brothers, Denise Williams, Marlena Shaw all had fine records but had a song played from there albums on light rotation for about 1 week and that was it. These though seem to be some of the best artists and tracks.
Back to the group- BY ALL MEANS
Has anyone ever heard of them?
They had an uptempo track called Say you'll never leave and Do you remember which sounded great. Only once did I ever hear it on the radio. This group backed Gerald Alston of the Manhattans when we went solo. Opionions?
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