tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post2357021624435910140..comments2024-02-06T16:17:25.826+00:00Comments on THE GRĂNMARK BLOG: The strangely selective racism of 1950s American LP covers: Little Richard made the cut, but James Brown didn't!Scott Gronmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-52453367916963699182014-09-20T04:26:40.161+01:002014-09-20T04:26:40.161+01:00Thats all very well...and what about...and then th...Thats all very well...and what about...and then there's...oh alright point(s) taken.<br />I don't live alone and have some friends,but I do spend half my time inside a compound surrounded by walls twenty feet high.southern mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-33109541048970389592014-09-18T15:54:12.983+01:002014-09-18T15:54:12.983+01:00The Shadows' LP without their faces on the cov...The Shadows' LP without their faces on the cover was a 1970s Greatest Hits compilation - their faces were plastered all over their early releases. As for America, the marketing men might have thought that way - and some performers may have had faces better suited to radio - but I'm just not sure white teenage record-buyers would have cared - you listen to James Brown records and you can sort of guess the colour of his skin. Maybe it was done in the belief that it would worry parents rather than the actual purchasers. As for old-time blues musicians, isn't the fact that the performer is some craggy, clapped-out old black guy sort of the point of buying the record in the first place? It's hard to listen to Leadbelly and imagine he looks like Ricky Nelson! Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-31121171763682341672014-09-11T08:12:35.907+01:002014-09-11T08:12:35.907+01:00I don't think it was racism at all,but somethi...I don't think it was racism at all,but something all of us black and white may one day experience,witness 'friendless in Scotland,'and that is ageism.Even the great James B.looked a bit dumpy in his tight fitting costumes and always seemed to me to be prematurely heading for middle age.Photos of old,pock-marked men slumped in a rocking chair like a sack of King Edwards (and that's just the producer) were unlikely to sell albums to the lovely bright things of the early 60's.<br />Did'nt the Shadows also have album covers showing just their guitars err in shadow.southern mannoreply@blogger.com