March 20th will see the release of ‘Black Music White Britain’, a written tribute to the great black artists and bands that inspired its author’s Ian Snowball and Pete McKenna, and the influence this music has had on Britain’s youth culture.
About Ian Snowball
Ian Snowball born in Kent, England in 1970. He has been a lover of black music since he was ten years old and first discovered Northern Soul and Ska and Reggae. He has spent the past thirty plus years building up a record collection of the great black artists and bands. The collection has expanded to include Jazz, Funk, Soul, R&B, Disco and so much more. His latest book Black Music White Britain is a tribute to just a handful of those great artists and songs and the impact and influence they have had on Britain’s youth cultures since the 1950’s.
A sample from Black Music White Britain.
The Blues Incorporated had a massive impact and was responsible for triggering a host of bands and musicians that in many ways laid the foundations for the London mod scene (and then 70’s rock and roll) to evolve. Off the back of the bands that were born from out of the British R&B scene, bands such as The Who and The Yardbirds were accepted and became the leading figureheads in the mods’ world. But the success of the British R&B scene was only possible due to the black music from which they took their pointers, as Garry Bushell acknowledges: “A huge debt of gratitude to black music. It’s difficult to over-emphasise how much of an impact black music had on the British music industry, both in sales and as a direct influence. Without black music, no Stones, Yardbirds, Clapton, Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Kinks, Pretty Things, Spencer Davis, Eric Burdon etc. British bands put their own spin on the blues and sold it back to the world. The Beatles covered Chuck Berry songs at the start. McCartney took his yelps from Little Richard.”
Pre order your copy of Black Music White Britain by Ian Snowball, Pete McKenna from Waterstones.
MODERNISM 