Listening to the most recent Chart Music podcast, I was surprised to hear Al Needham having a go at Ali Campbell of UB40 for singing in a cod Jamaican accent.
Now, I’ll grant you, I’m just a Murphy McMurphface from Paddyland, but all I ever heard was a nasal (red, red) whine and that thing people from areas with strong accents often do which is deliberately try to blandify their singing voice because going “full Brummie” just wouldn’t do. (Although, c’mon, how cool would it be doing a duet with Cher in the Mark Williams “We want to be together” voice?).
To be fair, Im not totally deaf to this – I did own most of the early singles by The Police and thought there was something odd about the vocal..
But Al spoke with the certainty of someone from the midlands and his guests agreed without hesitation, so maybe I need to take the potatoes out of my ears..?
The bigger question, really, is how much does it matter?
Obviously, in this case there is the question of racial sensitivity and appropriation. Again, as Al pointed out, UB40 are a mixed race group and, apparently, none of Campbell’s other band mates ever chucked a drum stick at the back of his head when he adopted his chosen singing voice.
And pretty much all of music lands somewhere on the stealing/imitating/inspired by/pushing forward an earlier idea spectrum.
While we chinstrokers will deduct points for a lazy absence of originality, we seldom go so far as to take offence when some young tyke half-inches a celebrated guitar sound or production style.
Mais, c’est homage, dear boy..
Adopting someone else’s voice, on the other hand, raises our hackles in an entirely different way.
I used the dodgy word “blandify” above, and if there is one voice that bugs me it is that strangely homeless mid-Atlantic aggregate accent that emerges from the gobs of singers from all over the British Isles when they are on shows like Pop Idol.
The funny thing is pop music brings out the natural mimic in everyone, including ourselves. Like the dude with the tennis racket in the ad for The Shadows’ Greatest Hits, when the stereo is blaring and I am moved to join in, should I not snarl along with Johnny Rotten or roar along with Chuck D?
Alright, then. What about when Max Romeo’s Chase The Devil comes on and all of a sudden I find I’m adopting Jamaican patois?
Race again.
But pasty whities pretending to be black is an obvious dodgy area.
Another voice I really enjoy is unleashing is my inner cockney.
“You should cut down on your Porklife, mate. Get some exercise!” is a favourite.
This brings us to our next controversy which is you English and your obsession with class. I first came across this, in the context of pop, when there was a series of letters in the NME (I think) about whether David Bowie was a cockney by birth and therefore allowed to use one of his occasional voices as he wished. A decade later, much the same argument was had about Damon Albarn.
We do have class in Ireland. Oh yes. But we tend not to give a hoot about, say, Hothouse Flowers inhabiting the personas of smelly hippies (I think our top class-related controversy was that one time Colin Farrell – who is from a very nice part of Dublin conducted an interview on the widely watched Late Late Show as though he had grown up about ten kilometres further northeast. Method, I presume).
The gist of the objection seems to be that poshos slumming it by pretending to be salt of the Earth is positively verboten, when 99% of pop identity is pretence already. (I’ll grant you, the JIODH is thin and white, but where is the evidence he has any real title? Eh? Eh?..
This is why so many rappers make such fine actors.
Hip Hop is world music now. With time, most artists have found their own voice. But, in the early days you had Belgians, Brazilians and .. I expect.. Brummies all copying the intonations of the Bronx as readily as the choreographed hand movements which accompany your spitting.
Mimicry, it seems, is inevitable and – to these ears – the accents and intonations of vocalists are as fundamental to the records as the artists’ choice of instrument.
So, when, if ever, do you take exception to the deliberate (or, occasionally, accidental) adoption of another’s voice?
And can it possibly be satisfying to you to say “Lee Marvin on the jukebox/ Wanderin’ Star” in anything other than your best attempt at a thick Scottish accent?
Is this you?
Personally, I sing along to most things in a mock-Joyce Grenfell voice. Schoolly D works particularly well:
Rock and roll music is a thing of the past,
And all you long haired faggots can kiss my ass
What an amusing fellow.
Well we should probably cancel The Rolling Stones right now. And it’s not just singing, it’s stealing someone else’s music too. Also Talking Heads. Never listen to electric guitar. Lou Reed thought the whites shouldn’t do the blues but then he did rockn’roll that came from Bo Diddley among others. It’s a minefield. The culture benefits from the mix but it can be one way traffic.
Unlike LedZep, the Stones were usually proud to credit the writers of the many covers they performed.
The US success of the Stones enabled the careers of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker et al to be revived, when they had been completely unknown to white audiences and were unloved by young black audiences who regarded the blues as old people’s music.
You are right of course. I was being kind of ironic. The Stones are an example where there are positive effects and they made it their own as they say, incorporating all kinds of styles and influences like country, funk, disco, soul, pop and so on. The lazy thinking and ignorant reduce them to blues copyists. They had the gebius to make everything sound distinctively like The Stones.
You are right, Mike. It’s very easy to jump to conclusions about the relationship between the likes of Muddy Waters and the Stones.
But then I watched the footage of them playing together. Muddy is having a ball as are the Stones who are clearly delighted to be playing with one of their great idols.
It is all an interesting question, Sewer.
I am from Pinner and often Reg Dwight’s transatlantic vocals have bugged me. He has never sounded like someone from Middlesex.
He could learn a lot from Baxter Dury!
Reg Dwight sounds like he’s from Venus these days.
Aaaaahmstulstan’n, beddathanaevadud, lookinla’katrusuviva, lookinlakal’dlkid. Klaa-tuberadaniktuuuh-uh.
Venus indeed, Vulpes! Are you sure this is not a quote you’ve nicked from Dr Who or Star Trek?
If Reg tried that in the pubs of Pinner, rumours would rapidly spread about an alien invasion.
I’m old enough to remember multicultural melting pots, cross-pollination of music and art and food, and general gleeful mashing-up of genres across social boundaries all being considered a good thing by anyone who saw themselves as “progressive”.
About five years ago, it was.
We’re now in an age where McDonald’s gets roundly abused on social media for doing their thing with a jerk chicken burger.
I’m also old enough to remember the sort of people who insisted everyone stay in their lane and not even consider participating in anything remotely cross cultural. We used to call them the National Front.
Progress, eh.
Incidentally, anyone from King’s Heath in the 70s will tell you that the Campbells’ reggae credentials were considered unimpeachable back in the day. If they weren’t, you reckon Steel Pulse would’ve been caught dead touring with them in recent years? Steel bleedin Pulse?
Plus, Signing Off is amazing, plus Ali Campbell just has a slightly weird singing accent. I’ve never particularly heard it as cod Jamaican, but I wouldn’t care if it was.
I blame that Peter Sellers myself,
https://youtu.be/E-ov-vBxDuE
As a Brummie, former Kings Heath and Moseley resident, I never heard Ali’s singing voice as “cod” Jamaican. Just pretty strong. Also I know Ali was never trying to disguise his “pasty whiteness” by pretending to be black. Just singing and celebrating the music he grew up with in an area of the country that was multicultural long before many other places. Its not cultural appropriation, just a mixing of cultures and a celebration of them.
I haven’t listened to the podcast that the OP refers to, but I imagine Al Needham was just sneering at a band he doesn’t have any affinity with.
Not sneering. And I think the attitude to the DSD/DLIPYBH on the podcast was not that dissimilar to my own, which is kudos to the lads – they made more brilliant music than, say, The Stone Roses and don’t always get the credit for it – but, while one might get why an 8 piece band might pursue the most lucrative fork in the road, one could also be pissed off that having exhibited such talent early on, much of their output since could have come from any half-competent troupe. The vocal remark was almost an afterthought and, judging by the comments so far, is as surprising to others here as it was to me.,
Definitely sneering. Just listened to it. Just because you don’t like something doesn’t make your opinion right. These guys obviously don’t get that,
“Not everyone that likes UB40 is a cunt, but everyone who is a cunt likes UB40.” I know they are just quoting a book, but they seemed happy to endorse that view.
Oh, yeah – I forgot that bit. You’ve got a point there, JT..
As another brummie I have to agree with James. I don’t believe Ali Campbell was/is trying to sound Black – actually completely the opposite. In interviews he has the strongest Brummie accent you could hear. They were a mixed race band of brothers from a culturally diverse part of Birmingham that is possibly one of the most racially integrated areas in the country. Shame they had to fall out though.
Apparently at their height they were making more money than any other UK act.
I need a “like” button for your post Steve. I don’t think a lot of people truly understand how racially integrated several generations of people from parts of Birmingham and other major cities were/are
It is/was one of the joys of working there for 30 odd years, the largely couldn’t care less of whether you were black, brown, yellow or white, and the fact that many, many have DNA reflecting snippets of each.
Ozzy’s voice has remained with an air of Aston about it – it’s just his stage introductions which have moved to the middle of the Atlantic (slighly nearer to New York). But then again he never really knows what day it is anyway.
Listening to The Kinks t’other week I did wonder how Ray Davies cod-Jamacian accent in Apeman would now be received.
Most of Ray’s stuff can be traced to North London, although Dedicated Follower Of Fashion does seem to be a poshed up voice
In idle moments of singing to myself, I find myself adopting the voice of either Steptoe adds a new dimension – Light My Fire by Harold Steptoe is particularly interesting.
Ah yes! One of the great floorfillers in clubland. The Steptoes’ Remix of Light my Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_o1jQkFD3I
A classic!
One of the great things about Bowie was that he didn’t sing in a US accent and I remember this being observed about him in the mid 70s because it was deemed unusual. Well now I’m older I’m not so sure.
Thinking of the biggest stars at that time:
The fabs slipped into it sometimes (Come Together, Get Back, Ballad of John & Yoko) but most of the time you could hear their real accents in the vocals.
Noddy Holder sings in a Noddy Holder accent.
Freddie didn’t sound American although there is the odd yeah baby.
Bryan Ferry doesn’t exactly sound like Ant or Dec when he sings but I don’t think there’s a US affectation going on.
Sparks didn’t sound American even though they are.
I am sure that some US bands particularly from the CBGBs set who toned down their natural aw-gee-shucks-howdy-pardner drawl to sound more edgy.
Bryan Ferry is notorious for beginning every concert by saying “Let’s get ready to rhumble, like”.
There’s a very amusing post on the AW Facebook site. There’s a photo of Bry in a Newcastle boozer with some old men. Comments underneath along the lines of “Divvent Stop the Dance” and “Dance Howay” and many more.
Some of them were mine…
I didn’t actually realise Sparks are American!
This Town ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us!
Remember the consternation when the Proclaimers played and sang in their accent?
They wrote a song about it.
True the world over: the number of folkies who speak minor public school and sing broad yokel has always made me chuckle.
A very amusing and very true comment, Retro.
* thinks ‘hmmm, Northern grammar school, gulp, ah ‘broad yokel’ phew! he doesn’t mean me then *
There is also a tendency for English folkies, no matter their region of origin, to head down to the West Country as soon as they start to sing.
This whole discussion puts me in mind of Ewan MacColl demanding of attendees at his folk club that they only sing songs of their own experience. I guess at the time it was a form of affirmative action and was meant as encouragement for people to sing with their own voice rather than borrow others, but the idea bugs the hell out of me. Maybe folk singing is supposed to be too artisan to be an art form, but I think that the latter flourishes on inhabiting the lives of others, and finding resonance of others’ experience in your own, different, life.
I can see what Ewan was getting at, Cheshire, but it was a totally preposterous suggestion.
No Natty Groves. No murder ballads. No jolly milkmaids. No trolls. The list endless.
And in pop, no yellow submarines or jumpity jack flashes.
I like the idea of Natty Groves. Someone should have word with Simon Care/E II
In the 80s, George Michael and Elton John sounded like they were from Tennessee.
Tim Buckley, certainly in his earlier work, sounded very English – like a medieval minstrel.
Our old pal Richard Thompson had some odd vocal mannerisms on his early solo stuff.
Michele Stodart tends to go rather American backwoods when she starts singing.
For about ten years I assumed The Magic Numbers were American.
This thread has reminded me of Mike Harding’s routine on the blues.
The Stodarts lived in Trinidad and New York before moving to England. Despite seeing Michelle live a few years ago, I can’t remember what her speaking voice is like.
Her speaking voice is UK Southern educated-but-not-posh accent-free, to my ears.
First Aid Kit – the voices of sunny…Stockholm. Fleetwood Makt?
I am a cat who digs the Kit. They grew up in Enskede just down the road from me so they are local heroes
They do sing very beautifully in Swedish.
But I’ll admit, it’s not so very often.
I didn’t know they’d been on Graham Norton!