Does "Rock music is evil / of the devil" have racist roots? (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by PlanetOfOrd@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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As a Christian most of the circles I'm around are pretty chill...no stone-cold fundamentalists. But I have been around people (and even had family members) who are 100% convinced that rock music is evil and will lead people to engage in witchcraft and draw pentagrams all over their home.

The root of the belief is that rock music uses drums, which are used by voodoo tribes in Africa to entrance people.

Along a different track of thinking, from where did rock music originate? Slaves. They created the guitar because slave-owners didn't allow them to make music with drums.

So then is "rock music is evil" sort of an echo of that attitude?

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[-] lvxferre@lemmy.ml 30 points 10 months ago

[some are] convinced that rock music is evil and will lead people to engage in witchcraft and draw pentagrams all over their home.

I think that it's pretty safe to say that at least some people around you are stone-cold fundamentalists. This sort of discourse doesn't come from non-fundamentalists.

That said as stupid as "rock is [from the d]evil" claim is, I don't think that it's rooted in racism. Instead I think that it's because some values often followed by rock bands, singers and fans clash directly with some values of Christianity.

Note that some sort of percussion pops up in almost every musical style, across the eras.

Slaves. They created the guitar

This was already addressed, but... come on, acoustic guitars are from Middle Ages Iberia, and they backtrack all the way into the lutes of the Ancient Egypt and Anatolia. (Probably. It's so old that the origins are hard to determine.)

[-] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 6 points 10 months ago

And the electric guitar was invented by Les Paul.

Slaves invented the banjo which they developed from stringed gourd instruments they had in Africa.

[-] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Oh well the banjo is pretty good too.

[+] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

[deleted]

[-] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Are you really done? This might be a major life moment for you.

[-] lvxferre@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

This might be a major life moment for you.

Nah. ElderWendigo@shitjustworks is clearly a witch hunter, and witch hunters don't usually learn. Five minutes later they get another major life moment: misread something, point hooves and screech, get called out, then delete the comment while downvoting people calling them out, as they run away with tail between legs.

[I kind of wanted them to point out historical falsehoods in my comment though. If there's something false there I'd gladly fix it.]

[-] lvxferre@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Your whole comment is just so much racist whitewashing and ignorance it is painful to read.

In no moment I whitewashed rock, denying its black origins. I didn't even mention the origins of rock. So don't be a liar - or worse, assumptive trash.

The anti-rock movement is deeply rooted in racism.

That does not contradict what I said given that I was talking about that specific claim, not about the anti-rock movement as a whole.

Long before there was any hint of witchcraft in Rock and Roll, it’s greatest threat to christian fundamentalism was in brining black music to white audiences.

I believe this to be correct but it does not contradict what I said.

Your whole comment is just so much racist whitewashing and ignorance it is painful to read.

No, it is not. Learn to read.

This kind of bullshit is how conservatives today get away with claiming racism doesn’t exist anymore.

I'm neither what would be considered "conservative" where I live, nor in USA (where rock is from). And I am not responsible for what your intellectual peers claim. (You might not be a conservative but you bloody behave like one!)

Nota bene: if two were to play this "I'm an illiterate so I make shit up lol" game, you'd be screwed, as it would be really easy for me to label you as an Islamophobic and a nationalist, on the exact same grounds that you're claiming that I'm [ipsis ungulis] "a racist" and "whitewashing rock". Think on why.

Or alternatively you might go back to Reddit. Given that you lack basic reading comprehension, you'd be doing everyone a big favour.

this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023

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