{"id":229,"date":"2018-12-04T01:03:36","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T01:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc099-04\/?page_id=229"},"modified":"2018-12-13T08:04:48","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T08:04:48","slug":"the-reception-of-exploitation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc099-04\/the-reception-of-exploitation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reception of Exploitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blues music, as the name implies, aims to invoke a subdued, melancholy response from its listeners. B.B. King once referred to it as \u201cthe one form that\u2019s followed our path from slavery to freedom.\u201d(5) Standing out amid violence and legal tumult which plagued the African-American community in the early half of the twentieth century, blues music was viewed as a source of familiarity and consistency; one of the very few tenets of their culture that they had been able to cling to without encroachment from the white community. Needless to say, it would not be long before this blissful outlook dissipated and their traditional music became commercialized; bought and sold as a commodity by outsiders who, in essence, stole a product they had never before claimed, particularly as they feared it would sully their “pure” reputations as white celebrities. An extreme example of this dramatic shift is Elvis Presley\u2019s word-for-word copy of \u201cTutti Frutti,\u201d a song released and relatively undistinguished a year earlier by black artist Little Richard.<\/span><\/p>\n