Keep On Pushing: Black Power Music from Blues to Hip-hop

by Denise Sullivan

The marriage of music and social change didn’t originate with the movements for civil rights and Black Power in the 1950s and 1960s, but never before and never again was the relationship between the two so dynamic. In Keep On Pushing , author Denise Sullivan presents the voices of musician-activists from this pivotal era and the artists who followed in their footsteps to become the force behind contemporary liberation music. Joining authentic voices with a bittersweet narrative covering more than fifty years of fighting oppression through song, Keep On Pushing defines the soundtrack to revolution and the price the artists paid to create it. Exclusive interviews with Yoko Ono, Richie Havens, Len Chandler, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Michael Franti, Solomon Burke, Wayne Kramer, John Sinclair, Phranc, plus musician-activist Elaine Brown on the Black Panthers, Nina Simone collaborator Al Schackman, Penelope Houston and Debora Iyall on San Francisco punk rock, Ed Pearl on the L.A. folk scene and the Ash Grove, and other musical and political icons.

Genres: Music

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[C. Quabela · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book that is ostensibly about black power in music it spends an awful lot of time talking about white liberals. I mean, there is interesting information here, but more time is spent on the punk movement than hip hop, and John Lennon takes up more space then any single rap group. Not that all black power music is hip hop, even the early years spend far too much time on hippie politics and peace movements than the more militantly angled black liberation musicians.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tend to research topics and books and read reviews before I dedicate all of the hours I'm going to spend on it. This book was a good reminder that I should continue to do that.

I was gifted this book and in all honesty it's one I probably would've picked out on my own had I discovered it. A book about black culture, history, and civil rights mixed in with music would make for a great book. This is not that book. Not only that, but the title should be considered false advertising. "Black Power Music" is a very direct and specific topic that is being promised in the title. All I need to tell you is that in a chapter about punk rock music, multiple pages are given to artists like Patti Smith and Phranc while one single mention in passing is given to Bad Brains. There is a ton of stuff written about Bob Dylan, Buffy Saint-Marie, and Phil Ochs. All of whom are important protest artists of the 60s, but are they black power musicians?--In my opinion they are not. This book should have a title that is more generalized to civil rights movements from the 50s through the 90s and then it would be a little more honest in its title.

By the time I got to the halfway point of this book, I was straight up mad about spending my time reading it. I read through to the end because I wanted to see what happened if the white-centric perspective that took over it from the beginning would get any better. Spoiler alert: it got worse. This book served as a reminder to me, not only to be more selective with my books, but that a good journalist is not necessarily a good author, and also may not be a good ethnomusicologist. This book was sloppy and disorganized and read like a school assignment that was rushed before it had to be turned in. Including the fact that the last ten pages seem to try to cram in some additional information about "black power" that they knew was missing from much of the rest of the book. This was just a frustrating, wasted time on a book and I'm sitting here just ten minutes after finishing it to tell you that the topic she advertised is a fascinating topic to dive into if you are so inclined, but do not read this book for that reason.

If I were to say one nice thing about this book it would be that if you were only to compile a list of songs and albums to listen to mentioned in this book, then you'd have an awesome playlist.

[Alexander Freveletti-Thiedmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wealth of music and history, but poorly organized and disorienting to read.

[Sumayyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of disappointed.. but I got a good list of names to check out.

[Suzeesg · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far, fascinating! And only on the Intro!

Up to CHapter 4 - WOW, SO much amazing info about the music, the times, the artists... true history book.

[Patrick McGarry]

Great excellent book. Knew many interviewed.