Black people: Classic or dud?

There loaded bit, though, is how exactly we want to think of "black people" as a group, both in terms of an African diaspora and in terms of involvement with other races: who gets credit for what isn't entirely clear.

Anyway, giving this ludicrous thread more respect than it deserves, a few reasons: Davis, Coltrane, Tatum, Holiday, Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Wynonie Harris, Chuck Berry, Ike Turner, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Bobby Bland, James Brown, Isley Brothers, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Al Green, James Carr, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Four Tops, Supremes, Temptations, Darlene Love, Sly Stone, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton, Trammps, Chic, Prince, Jimmy Cliff, Lee Perry, Culture, Gregory Isaacs, Toots & the Maytals, Burning Spear, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, Dre, Wu-Tang Clan, TLC, Destiny's Child, Missy Elliott, Outkast, Kelis, Kevin Saunderson, A Guy Called Gerald, DJ Krust, Khaled, Mahlathini, Diblo-Dibala. That's a few highlights off the top of my head, without looking at my music shelves.

Some key points: Miles in the '50s, early jump blues into rock 'n' roll, Motown and Stax in the '60s, Hi in the early '70s (or just Al Green, there and then), the Chic organisation in the late '70s, Sugarhill in the early '80s, Detroit techno and Def Jam in the late '80s, Wu-Tang and R&B in the '90s.

For me, most of my favourite singers are black, whereas more of my favourite groups are white. I guess I have more music by white people than black, but not by much. Certainly considering the proportion of black people in the world/America/the UK, black people are overrepresented in my collection. Do I make many comparisons based on race? Sometimes - usually when moaning about white people jumping on black styles and getting the disproportionate credit - Benny Goodman, Elvis, the Beastie Boys, Eminem (and I love two of those). I also like that it's not terribly relevant in much of the music I listen to these days, where I frequently don't know if the act behind the drum & bass or techno I'm hearing is black or white, male or female, solo or group.

The key recordings made by black people in the last hundred years exist across many different genres, someone of which I wouldn't claim to begin to know enough about to say which are the key recordings. In fact, I'm not sure I'd be willing to give the key recordings for any of those genres.

How does it compare to music made by white muscians?

On the whole, it's easier for me to find "black" music that is rhythmically interesting, and that features singers I enjoy, than it is for me to find "white" music with those qualities. Perhaps some people with more thorough knowledge of American music could imagine what American music would be like without the black contribution, but I find it impossible to do so. (You didn't ask specifically about the U.S., but that's where I have lived all my life.)

[The] loaded bit, though, is how exactly we want to think of "black people" as a group

(Aside: this is currently very vivid to me since I just started dating someone who I perceive as "white" but who, based on some hints she has dropped, may consider herself "black," due, if what I suspect is true, to some African American ancestry on her father's side.)

This is a silly thread, but for what it's worth, I find that, yes, I like quite a bit of music by musicians I consider to be "black" or more semi-objectively, by musicians generally regarded as black.

Certainly considering the proportion of black people in the world/America/the UK, black people are overrepresented in my collection.

I'm with Martin on this. Maybe not overrepresented in my collection, but overrepresented in my mental list of what I really like at the moment. However, a coalition of Arabs and Latinos (but many of them might be considered "black") threaten to overcome both the whites and the blacks in my collection.

I have had a look at the 50 artists by whom I have most stuff (I haven't used my database on ILX in ages!) and 20 are black. I think the US is about 25% black, Britain < 5%, so that's an overrepresentation. I'd say that black people's importance in American music has been disproportionate too. Black musicians have been much the biggest part of jazz, blues, R&B (original and recent varieties), soul, funk, disco and hip hop, and have played the key role in the creation/formation of techno, drum & bass, house and of course rock 'n' roll. Even in the whitest rock genres, like indie and metal, you don't have to look that hard or that far back to find black influences. Country may be the least affected, I guess.

this thread is a joke, right? or is everyone taking it seriously?

Actually, the US is about 10% black.