Our songs did not transcend being R&B hits. They were R&B hits that white kids were attracted to. And if people bought it, it became rock & roll. That's marketing. Why couldn't it still be R&B? The bass pattern didn't change. The song didn't change. It was still 'Yakety Yak' and 'Searchin'.'
Interpretation
This quote discusses the commercialization and categorization of music, particularly how R&B can be marketed as rock and roll.
Jerry Leiber's quote reflects on the intersection of race, marketing, and music genres. He points out that R&B songs, particularly those that gained popularity among white audiences, were often rebranded as rock and roll despite retaining their original form. This highlights the complexities of cultural appropriation and the role of marketing in defining musical genres, emphasizing that the essence of the music did not change even as its label did.
In practice
In a panel discussion about the evolution of music genres.
With rap, you go in the studio, you make music, you put the music out, then all of a sudden, you're a star: you have a big record on the radio, and you're on stage, and you've never done it before. Let's say your first show is 'Summer Jam,' and you're in front of 60,000 people, and you've never played an arena, ever. You're gonna suck.
True country music is honesty, sincerity, and real life to the hilt.
They're powerful, those songs. At times they've been my only way back, the only door out of the dark, bad places the black dog calls home.
You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.
Yes, you've got to sing from the depths of the heart.
A band's only unique thing is its chemistry, especially if none of you are prodigious players or particularly handsome. The one thing you have is your uniqueness, so we hold on to that.
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