“Steal Away, Baby, Steal Away!”

By Daniel Kenai Hunt

November 27, 2017

I acquired my very first vinyl record when I was eighteen years old. Nesting in a small

crate on a shelf in my grandmother’s garage for god only knows how long, there it sat waiting,

ready to be played once again after so many years. It had probably belonged to one of my uncles,

or maybe it was my aunt. I’m not quite sure. Well, regardless of who the original owner was, this

record became the inaugural installment in my now abundant collection. The first time I heard it

was an experience, to say the least. Pulling the disc out of the light brown and faded, scarred sleeve,

I placed the needle down and heard the gentle crackle of oldness coming from the speakers. The

first smoothe guitar, drum, and bass tones that fill the room give me a sense of wonder at how the

record still plays after so much time and use. Those almost watery tones form into a funky groove.

That song is called “Bleeding Heart”. It is the first track from Jimi Hendrix’s posthumous album

War Heroes.

Music is most definitely my biggest passion in life. I feel fairly confident in saying that

it’s the thing I do best. It’s something that I devote time to every single day, whether it’s having

a solo practice session on the bass or drums, jamming with my friends, or even just casually

listening to some songs. Much of my passion for music I credit to my father. I grew up listening

to music with my dad, him introducing me to his favorite bands. Some of my fondest memories

of my youth are of riding in his car and jamming out to Boston or the Eagles. It is from these

experiences that I became interested in rock music.

The history of rock music is one of

transition and absorption throughout time

periods and across cultures, where different

styles combined to form entirely new genres,

a sort of natural evolution caused by the

adoption of elements from several styles of

music. Long before Led Zeppelin IV, or Pink

Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, or before my

dad started listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash,

and Young, there existed in the United States

a culture and industry of blues music

originating in the south which was dominated

by black artists. Eventually this genre of

music became popular and started to expand,

with black blues artists performing on tours

(Allen 143). Another similar style of music

known as Rhythm and Blues (R&B) emerged

and gained popularity as well. American

blues and R& B artists travelled to Britain in

the late 50s and in the 1960s, where they

would perform for primarily white European

audiences (Allen 143). Young British

musicians took a liking to this new style and

adopted it into their playing. A few of these

young Brits who fell in love with American

blues and R&B are guitarists Eric Clapton

(The Yardbirds, Cream), Jimmy Page (The

Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin), Jeff Beck (The

Yardbirds), Keith Richards (The Rolling

Stones), Pete Townshend (The Who), as well

as keyboardist Steve Winwood and bass

guitarists John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and

John Entwistle (The Who). These musicians

incorporated those iconic bluesy licks into

their playing, and from there a brand-new

style of music emerged.

You may notice that all of the

musicians mentioned in the previous

paragraph are white, and that each one of

them were influenced by these black

American musicians. Each of the above-

mentioned musicians were part of very

successful rock bands in the 60s and 70s and

beyond. These bands remain popular even to

this day. Some might say that due to these

facts – the enormous success they achieved,

their adoption of historically black music

styles, and their lasting impact – these

musicians took a historically black style of

music and altered it into something

completely different. There are quite a few

critics out there who believe that white

people stole black people’s music and

“white-washed” it into something totally

unrecognizable. One such critic is Jack

Hamilton, pop culture critic who wrote an

article titled “How Rock and Roll Became

White”. In it he asserts that this British blues

scene consisted of a “racial realignment of

rock music in the late 1960s” (Hamilton).

Hamilton explains that bands such as The

Rolling Stones (a band which he mentions a

great number of times throughout the article,

and far more than any other band) were

“obsessed” with black music and tried to

emulate the “black” sound, but in doing so,

created something inauthentic and ultimately

detrimental to the history of rock and roll.

The issue of cultural appropriation has been subject to high debate and controversy for

many years, especially in when critics discuss art forms, such as music. Certain people, such as

Hamilton, believe that white people have stolen in the past and continue to steal culture from

minority groups and market it as their own. However, as humans, isn’t it necessary for us to learn

from each other in order to grow and expand the way we think? This includes exchanging

cultural aspects and sharing with cultures different from our own. Is not the goal of interacting

with other cultures so that we may gain perspective on how others see the world and express

themselves?

One of the most important musicians of all time who happened to have been a part of the

British blues scene in the late 1960s was a black American musician from Seattle, Washington, a

man by the name of James Marshall Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix began his career as a backing

musician for R&B artists in the mid 60s before moving to England and forming the Jimi Hendrix

Experience, with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo

Child). Along with his band,

Hendrix experienced fast

success in the British blues

scene. Together (a black front

man and two white rhythm

section players) they played on

three studio albums and

performed at a great number of

concerts all over Europe and

the U.S., where they were just as

popular. They played with that bluesy R&B style that so many other British bands had adopted at

the time. During their live performances, the Experience frequently played lengthy jams that

were often over ten minutes long. They were also notorious for jamming covers of other

musician’s songs, as can be heard on many of Hendrix’s live albums, such as Winterland.

Hendrix’s appreciation for other musician’s work shows us a very interesting process that many,

if not most, musicians go through, of playing other people’s songs and learning how they play,

and adopting and adapting their techniques to create a style of their own. You see there’s nothing

wrong with performing other artists songs, and even tweaking them to give them a new type of

feel and groove. All musicians do this. It’s not stealing. It’s simply how we learn.

I think that it’s safe to say that blues was instrumental in the formation of rock music. So

many bands have been influenced by blues, from obvious examples

like The Allman Brothers Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival,

and even Black Sabbath, to bands like The Police, DEVO, Steely

Dan, and Nirvana. One of the most influential blues albums to come

from the 1960s is Albert King’s second release, Born Under a Bad

Sign. So many musicians in the era

of Born’s release drew inspiration

from the album. It’s very simple 12

bar blues structure provided

countless guitar players and

songwriters with a foundation upon which to improvise and create

new songs. The title track from King’s album, “Born Under a Bad

Sign”, has been covered by a variety of artists over the years since

its release, most notably by Cream as well as Jimi Hendrix on his

Blues album. Another band that has covered “Born Under a Bad

Sign” is the band that I play in. Once, during my senior year of high

school, my band and I, who called ourselves “The Threeskins”, opened for our teacher’s pop-punk

band and played two ten-minute Hendrix style jams, one of which was the song “Born Under a

Bad Sign”.

Another albeit more famous example of a band “ripping off” of King’s album is Led

Zeppelin’s use of lyrics from “The Hunter” on their debut album. Near the end of “How Many

More Times”, singer Robert Plant can be heard belting the lyrics, “ain’t no need to hide, ain’t no

need to run. ‘Cause I’ve got you in the sights of my gun” (Led Zeppelin I). Led Zeppelin became

known for using the lyrics and music from other people’s songs and featuring updated

compositions on their studio albums, an example being “The Lemon Song”, which featured

music and lyrics from Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” (Led Zeppelin II).

Albert King’s Born Under a Bad Sign was released in 1967 under the label Stax Records.

It was recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, with King singing and playing lead guitar, and backup

music being played by Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Stax Records’s house band. Booker T. & the

M.G.’s was made up of four musicians, organ/piano player Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve

Cropper, drummer Al Jackson, Jr. and bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn. What is interesting in

regards to this article is that two of the bands members are black (Jones and Jackson) and two are

white (Cropper and Dunn). The music that the band created came from the hands of both black

and white men. I believe that that is a pretty appropriate symbol for the overall nature of rock

music. That it blends different cultures and bring people together to a common place. The beauty

of rock music comes from the combined genius of all of these musicians who influenced each

other, not just from one race or culture to another, but from a melting pot of all different cultures

and types of music.

*Title is in reference to the Led Zeppelin song “How Many More Times” from their 1969

album Led Zeppelin I

Sources:

Allen, Dave. "Feelin' Bad This Morning: Why the British Blues?" Popular Music 26.1 (2007):

141-56. ProQuest. Web. 3 Nov. 2017.

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Chuck Berry. N.d. Www.chuckberry.com. Web. 27 Nov. 2017.

Cosmo's Factory. N.d. Wikipedia. Web. 27 Nov. 2017.

Hamilton, Jack. "How Rock and Roll Became White." Slate 6 Oct. 2016: n. pag. Slate.com. Web.

3 Nov. 2017.

Hendrix, Jimi, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, and Noel Redding, perfs. War Heroes. Jimi Hendrix.

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Rolling Stones. N.d. Www.nytimes.com. Web. 27 Nov. 2017.

The Who. 1977. Express.co.uk. Web. 27 Nov. 2017.