Unsung Heroes - The musical pioneers who inspired the greats

Elvis Presley, the King of Rock'n' Roll hugely inspired by Little Richard

Our music industry insider Tash Peskin looks at the musical pioneers who inspired some of the greatest acts in history - and ponders why they remain the unsung heroes.

In Ancient Greece, “inspiration” literally meant to be breathed upon by God:  divine in its power, the Almighty imparting exuberance and creativity into the lowly man.

Today, the meaning  is not quite so literal but there remains a strong grounding in the idea that inspiration comes from a kind of genius; a gift that when used to its greatest potential can consume and create with immeasurable success. 
By default then, the “inspiration” to an idea should be held in as high regard as the idea itself- if not more so.

To be an inspiration should be as celebrated as being inspired -  yet so often this is not the case. 

In music, particularly,  there are numerous unsung heroes who  have produced remarkable work;  those that pioneered and pushed boundaries, creating new types of music and inspiring others in their wake. 
But, often, some of these musicians never became quite as successful as those they inspired and have since lived in the shadows of their successors.

Elvis Presley is one of the biggest selling artists of all time, yet he was unashamedly influenced by black culture and more specifically gospel and blues.

In fact Elvis himself clearly cited rhythm and blues singer Little Richard as his biggest inspiration. 
Little Richard went on to release songs such as Tutti Frutti that were a potent mix of funk, rhythm and blues, gospel and soul, and this subsequently led some to believe he was the founder of Rock ‘n’ Roll, but , although he was a successful artist in his own right, he has always been totally eclipsed by Elvis who went on to steal the crown as  the “King” of Rock ‘n’ Roll. 

And his influence spread to whole generation of musical giants:  of including the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, but these three acts have outsold Little Richard by astronomical levels. 
Proof of this is merely reiterated in the Rolling Stones publication of the 100 Greatest Artists of all time where Little Richard came in at number 8, while the Top 7 were all heavily and explicitly influenced by him.  
 Quite poignantly he himself noted when writing for the magazine in 2004 “I wish a lot of things had been different. I don't think I ever got what I really deserved… The Rolling Stones .. The Beatles…James Brown, Jimmi Hendrix -- these people started with me. I fed them, I talked to them, and they're going to always be in front of me.”

But its not just artists like Little Richard who have been unfairly overlooked as trail blazers.

In Hip-Hop too there was one protagonist who received barely any notoriety for inventing the  distinctive Hip-Hop sound and its familiar break-beat pattern.
The man, DJ Cool Herc began chopping, cutting and pasting ‘breaks’ in funk and reggae tracks while DJing in New York during the early 1970’s where his parties and sound system became legendary.

His status and fame grew but as the new sound caught on, other crews took it on as their own tightening and polishing its rhythms.  Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaatta were boldly rehashing Herc's ideas and subsequently became big names in music, forging themselves as the “founders” of Hip-Hop, leaving DJ Kool Herc trailing behind. 

Similarly in electronic music the man that pioneered it 60 years ago, has been glossed over in a gulf of obscurity making way for Bob Moog or Kraftwerk to take the credit.

 Raymond Scott (quite unbelievably) invented electronic music in the 1940’s while composing jingles for radio adverts and cartoons.
  It was a sonic revelation and an absolute pioneering feat yet most of his work and even his name have never reached the public ear.
 Bob Moog, under Raymond’s tutelage no less, quickly went on to establish himself as a household name for any budding DJ, while Raymond received little if no recognition for his works.
 His tumbling rhythms and infectious plethora of jingling bleeps are reminiscent of the ambient and minimal techno music of our times and in hindsight it now seems so advanced that it’s quite amazing he has been under the radar for so long. 

And today the swathe of artists dubbed the mockneys:  Kate Nash, Jamie and Man Like Me may seem new and ground-breaking, but,  again, they’re not the first.
Incidently Jamie T went to a boarding school where he no doubt shared the same dining hall as plum voiced Tim Henman.
The media has been all too quick to cite these musicians as reflective of innovative British youth culture, yet artists have been indulging in so called "class-tourism" for years, frequently lyricising about working class life to become a more alluring product to the masses.
 The new trend of British chav culture in music is, however, a mere reproduction of those who saw its marketing potential in music over 20years ago.

One of the first to pioneer this mockney sound were Chas n Dave in the 1980’s who hugely exaggerated the working class accent and attitude to increase their popularity.
Since then, artists including Blur, The Streets and Lily Allen have made the mockney attitude in music a cultural phenomenon, leaving Chas n Dave floundering in the underbelly of the British pop charts.  

Why then, were these artists so often not as revered or successful as those that follow them?

 The answer is probably an equal measure of luck, society and politics.
  It was not just coincidence that Elvis should become the “king” of Rock ‘n’ Roll given that he emerged in a time of huge racial segregation in America; it was a well timed insurgence.
He was bringing to the white people what black people couldn’t; likewise, the Rolling Stones did much the same in 60’s Britain.  What’s more mass success and recognition is about the package Elvis was a brand and a marketable product:  a talented, sexy singer and a very good looking actor, placing him firmly in the zeitgeist of teen popular culture during the 50’s and 60’s. 

Elvis was much more of a manufactured product then Little Richard ever was. 

Similarly Chas n Dave were unlucky enough to not be blessed with either the sexual appeal of the young Lily Allen or indeed the vocal talents of Amy Winehouse.

Raymond Scott remained an elusive prodigy of electronic music because he was first and foremost a scientist, unfamiliar with the social aspect of music and the impresarios that came with the territory.
Instead, he preferred to bury his head and shunned the idea of celebrity.

And as for DJ Cool Herc, unfortunately during the early 80’s he was stabbed at one of his own parties- consequently pushing him out of the most pivotal era for Hip-Hop, paving the way for others to bag the credit.

Perhaps though, it’s about time we gave these artists their due credit, a small consolation for all their bad luck and ill timed emergence.

We need to revel in those who inspired, not just those who copied.  
While they are all brilliant artists in their own right I think there is some truth when Salvador Dali famously said “The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.”
 

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