― Andy K (Andy K), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 13:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
i remember hearing Rick Astley for the first time and assuming he was a Luther Vandross typa guy, that was a real eye-opener
― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:05 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:10 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
Sorry, someone had to say it.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― kevin brady (groeuvre), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ferg (Ferg), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― kevin brady (groeuvre), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:45 (twenty-one years ago) link
― paul cox (paul cox), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― hstencil, Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 14:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 15:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 15:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 15:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
I've said it before I'll say it again, my friends from NB were blown away by Dave the former guitarist in Mean Red Spiders when one of them uttered "He's like the black Jimi Hendrix man."
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 15:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 15:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Arthur (Arthur), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
Ugly Ducklings, on the other hand, I had to go see in concert before I found out they were crackaz.
And Dave Fuczinski (however you spell it), the guitarist from Screaming Headless Torsoes...totally black, to my surprise.
The dude from Sigur Ros? I was certain he was a little girl for at least the first two entire spins of Agaetis Birjun.
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
I still can't tell about Tom Morello. What's up with his ethnicity? Anyone know?
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:26 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
Some examples of partially-Lebanese folks: Salma Hayek, Shakira, Shannon Elizabeth, Ralph Nader, Dick Dale, nickalicious, Frank Zappa...is it generally only when mixed with other non-white ethnicities (such as Salma Hayek or Shakira, both Lebanese-Latin hybrids of the highest caliber...YOWZA!), or does it apply to the basically-a-honky Lebanese mutts like Nader or myself?
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― christoff (christoff), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
also, whats with the dudes from System Of A Down - i've heard the singer's from the Lebanon but also from Albania - clarify?
― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:45 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Arthur (Arthur), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Chris V. (Chris V), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nick A. (Nick A.), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 17:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
All of System of a Down are Armenian-American. Glendale represent, and all that.
Cher's background is Armenian-American as well, I believe.
Terminator X's mom is German.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 17:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 17:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
Speaking of which, I was never fooled a bit by Third Bass, because I saw the "Gas Face" video before I heard the song. But I know some radio-lovin' friends who were snookered on that one.
― Neudonym, Tuesday, 25 February 2003 17:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― William R Henderson (Cabin Essence), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 18:01 (twenty-one years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 20:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
hahahahahahahaha.
― jillian (jillian), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 21:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
http://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/sn_legacy/addict/AMG_images/artists/P08619.JPG
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 25 February 2003 21:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
i did not know that
― juiceboxxx (juiceboxxx), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 21:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 22:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 22:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 22:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sonic, Tuesday, 25 February 2003 22:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 22:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
Weird, I thought he had some roots in Lithuania, because there's a statue of him in Vilnius.
He has fans there. Both his parents were Italian or of Italian stock, I think? That bit about Arabic and French and Greek seems a bit stereotypically American for Frank.
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Tuesday, 11 November 2008 12:20 (fifteen years ago) link
I have a vague recollection that the statue in vilnius was at least in part due to some work he did as a cultural envoy, or something else equally unlikely...
― m the g, Tuesday, 11 November 2008 12:37 (fifteen years ago) link
I think he was, or it was proposed that he be, Cultural Envoy in the Czech Republic?
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Tuesday, 11 November 2008 12:39 (fifteen years ago) link
I heard a Ray LaMontagne song on the radio the other day and thought it was a woman.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 11 November 2008 14:51 (fifteen years ago) link
Nat Hentoff is white?
― Hoisin Murphy (jaymc), Thursday, 28 January 2010 21:02 (fourteen years ago) link
do you only know him from liner notes? i would say the vast majority of his articles i've come across have his picture beside them
― Sit 'N Creep (tremendoid), Thursday, 28 January 2010 21:11 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't really know him much at all. I hate to say it, but I think I thought he was black because he writes about jazz and his name is Nat (viz. Turner, King Cole).
― Hoisin Murphy (jaymc), Thursday, 28 January 2010 21:16 (fourteen years ago) link
short for "Natalie" iirc
― what of the fuck you talkie bout (Pancakes Hackman), Thursday, 28 January 2010 21:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Someone seven years ago mentioned thinking Eminem was black. Me too - he sounded like Del Tha Funky Homosapien on My Name Is... to my ears then.
More recently when I heard the Memory Cassette singles I thought he was a she.
― Treblekicker, Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:20 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd sort of pictured Hentoff as an Ishmael Reed/Cornel West kind of dude.
― Hoisin Murphy (jaymc), Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I knew a girl in school who, based on their name alone, thought Pearl Jam were a black female vocal duo.
― BTW, I'm frightfully middle-class (chap), Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Also I thought Sting was black first time I heard a Police record. I must've been about five.
― BTW, I'm frightfully middle-class (chap), Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Someone upthread mentioned him before, but I used to think Bob Seger was black and more specifically I thought he was Sherman Helmsley. I would always picture Mr. Jefferson when "Night Moves" came on the radio when I was a kid.
― Robert Necrofrost, Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:48 (fourteen years ago) link
damn
― ('_') (omar little), Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:49 (fourteen years ago) link
fwiw from some pictures he could def. pass as light-skinned, when placed next to an article about jazz ;)
― Sit 'N Creep (tremendoid), Friday, 29 January 2010 01:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Chaka Khan... is this person a man, a woman, black, white, Middle Eastern? Who knows.
― Melvin van Osterlow, Jr. (res), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:45 (fourteen years ago) link
one of the biggest disappointments in my life was finding out Todd Edwards is white
this was a shock to me as well!
― one time gaffled 'em up (one time), Friday, 29 January 2010 04:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Does it count if you forget someone is black? In that case, Chris Matthews to thread.
― Hideous Lump, Friday, 29 January 2010 04:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Was totally thrown off when I found out Edan was white.
― Evan, Friday, 29 January 2010 04:42 (fourteen years ago) link
I only knew “Cover of the Rolling Stone”, but I thought until very recently that Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show were black.
― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 21 May 2022 00:01 (two years ago) link
I first thought both Babe Ruth and Amon Duul II were fronted by men singing in Plant/Anderson/Lee register.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Saturday, 21 May 2022 00:13 (two years ago) link
I thought for the longest time that Chuck E. Weiss was black, based on the assumption he was the other guy on this album cover:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51scsNPYGmL.jpg
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 21 May 2022 00:30 (two years ago) link
I thought Chuck E. Cheese was a rat, but turns out he was retconned into a mouse.
― Bob Dylan's iconic Ray Ban sunglasses (morrisp), Saturday, 21 May 2022 02:36 (two years ago) link
i really don't understand how people thought Tracy Chapman was a dude? Like ... her voice sounds totally feminine to me, idk. Same with Nina Simone.
I can understand thinking Allison Moyet is a dude if you confuse her with Andy Bell, which ok sure
some of y'all had some weird instincts in terms of what are or aren't women's voices
― sarahell, Saturday, 21 May 2022 04:24 (two years ago) link
Thought Les Claypool was a tall weasel. Turns out he's just a human man.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 21 May 2022 04:41 (two years ago) link
Had always assumed Alicia Bridges of I Love the Nightlife fame was black until I googled the video the other day.
― Zelda Zonk, Saturday, 21 May 2022 05:07 (two years ago) link
Jónsi Birgisson is one I thought was female on first hearing.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Saturday, 21 May 2022 11:10 (two years ago) link
Pre-internet, I had a song on tape by Chunky, Novi and Ernie with a completely androgynous lead vocal. The singer being named "Chunky" didn't provide a lot of guidance either.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 21 May 2022 11:55 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4JQ37KsdAs
I would have seen this video in 1984, and apparently I thought it was more likely that a man would perform in a dress (and, um, have breasts) than that a woman would be "allowed" to sing a song about another woman being her "gal".
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 21 May 2022 12:08 (two years ago) link
Keith Jarrett tells a great story of how Ornette Coleman says to him "you just have to be black" and Jarrett replies, "I'm working on it."
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Saturday, 21 May 2022 12:43 (two years ago) link
I used to think Nellee Hooper was a woman.
― MarkoP, Saturday, 21 May 2022 14:22 (two years ago) link
I thought for the longest time that Sandy Denny's parts in "Battle of Evermore" were a second Plant track, and I still have a bit of difficulty not hearing it that way.
― jmm, Saturday, 21 May 2022 14:29 (two years ago) link
Also like many people, I assumed Nick Gilder was a woman when listening to "Hot Child in the City".
― MarkoP, Saturday, 21 May 2022 14:38 (two years ago) link
For many years, I thought Irene Cara was white, and while posting this I figured out I've been wrong for many years further in assuming she was black - she's biracial!
― Vinnie, Saturday, 21 May 2022 15:48 (two years ago) link
Haha I think I heard it that way until I read otherwise at 13 or so. It was a little disappointing; I'd been really impressed by how he could just flip into such a pure tone in that register. Conversely, my friend asked "who's the babe?" when Peter Hamill switched to his pure falsetto voice on "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" (ironically, first on the line "I am a lonely man").
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Saturday, 21 May 2022 15:54 (two years ago) link
lol Sund4r ...
xp re kd lang : definitely heteronormativity probably plays a major role in some of this for when we were kids and mis-gendering based on lyrics
― sarahell, Saturday, 21 May 2022 18:09 (two years ago) link
None of my friends believe me that “goodbye horses” was sung by a woman.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, 22 May 2022 02:42 (two years ago) link
Conversely, my friend asked "who's the babe?" when Peter Hamill switched to his pure falsetto voice on "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" (ironically, first on the line "I am a lonely man").
this part always confounds me too, his falsetto never sounds that uh...pure elsewhere
― frogbs, Sunday, 22 May 2022 02:46 (two years ago) link
Peter Hamill switched to his pure falsetto voice
My friend didn't believe that Hammill was doing the high background vocals on "Hemlock".
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 22 May 2022 02:48 (two years ago) link
Keith Jarrett tells a great story of how Ornette Coleman says to him "you just have to be black" and Jarrett replies, "I'm working on it."― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Saturday, May 21, 2022 8:43 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Saturday, May 21, 2022 8:43 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
holy shit. i have seen many pictures of keith jarrett for many years and STILL thought he was black. i am in serious shock.
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Sunday, 22 May 2022 14:10 (two years ago) link
I always thought the lead singer on the We Five version of "You Were On My Mind" was a man...but it was Beverly Bivens.
I still hear her voice on that song as "male" somehow.
― gjoon1, Sunday, 22 May 2022 21:24 (two years ago) link
Been listening a lot to an album by an artist with what seems like a normal woman’s first and last name. Just found out it’s a trio of dudes. The music is still excellent but can we stop doing this?— clipping. (@clppng) May 22, 2022
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 22 May 2022 21:28 (two years ago) link
That woman’s name: Zeze Topp
― Bob Dylan's iconic Ray Ban sunglasses (morrisp), Sunday, 22 May 2022 21:40 (two years ago) link
Alice Cooper
― Siegbran, Sunday, 22 May 2022 21:45 (two years ago) link