# Affecting accents



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

One of the weird things about popular music is the manner in which those who like and latch on to a particular genre or subgenre/style feel they have to affect the accent of whoever is associated with the birthplace or origins of that music.

I was listening to a broadcast earlier today of Indigenous artists, and when one of them played some hip-hop with rapping included, he tried his best to "sound black" at every opportunity. It wasn't cultural appropriation as much as some sort of deep-seated belief that this is how this music HAS to sound. He certainly doesn't have to sound like Tonto or some cartoonlike version of what an "Indigenous accent" sounds like. Complete freedom to sound the way you want to sound and feel comfortable talking or singing. But it's as if he doesn't sound "black" in the way he says "Yeeah", and as "unCanadian" as possible, then the music is somehow inauthentic and awkward. The accent somehow "completes" the music, even if it's not how that person's voice and accent normally sound.

And it's not just First Nations youth trying to sound like they're from Compton or Brooklyn. It's country musicians from Saskatchewan or London feeling like they have to sound as if they grew up in rural Tennessee or Georgia in order to sing "country". It's not recent either. Find me a British Invasion band that _didn't_ try to sound American. I won't say they were all successful at sounding like the place where their preferred music came from, but they tried to_ sound_ like it.

Weird. It's almost like trying to imagine hard rock without any drums or distorted guitar. The affected accent simply HAS to be there.


----------



## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

My family are from the Confederate States; is it OK if I sound like a r e d n e c k.


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

There's been more than one singer from the UK that suprised me after I heard them talk.

The Canadian C&W singers with that southern twang seem cringy to me.

That indigenous rapper might've grown up around that culture and people to influence him, but it just might be the same as the C&W singers.


----------



## Grainslayer (Sep 26, 2016)




----------



## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

Well, Udo Dirkschneider refused to sing in German for Accept because "English is the language of rock 'n roll."

The adoption of the twang or rap accent may be essential to the form. Try to run through the first verse of "Straight Outta Compton" with a twang or a British accent. I doubt it will sound right.

And I have always found it odd that British singers so often sing without accents. I also find it odd that Keith Urban is an Aussie that sings country.


----------



## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

Some actors can only play themselves in every movie. Others can take on a completely different person in each movie. A singer could be an actor too. Beefheart used a variety of personna . So did the Beatles to some extent. Gotta be others...


----------



## DeeTee (Apr 16, 2018)

Rollin Hand said:


> The adoption of the twang or rap accent may be essential to the form. Try to run through the first verse of "Straight Outta Compton" with a twang or a British accent. I doubt it will sound right.


I'm British, and for enough beer, I'll record myself doing this.


----------



## Always12AM (Sep 2, 2018)

Fake accents are performance art, the art is called mockery.

Mocking urban African Americans or rural Kentuckians is not needed to make rap or country.

It’s possible to add a touch of twang to a word or two, even in jest like Elvis would. But drenching oneself in a cliche or making music entirely from the standpoint of a culture that is alien to oneself is nothing more than satire.

Singing in cursive is my main diarrhea inducing sound. Amy Winehouse is the only person that could do it in a way that sat right with me.


----------



## jimmythegeek (Apr 17, 2012)

KapnKrunch said:


> Some actors can only play themselves in every movie. Others can take on a completely different person in each movie. A singer could be an actor too. Beefheart used a variety of personna . So did the Beatles to some extent. Gotta be others...


I always felt like Beefheart's default setting was Howlin' Wolf but I guess the more spoken wors type stuff IS different  I love both versions dearly in any case.


----------



## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Accent this .lol

I saw her a couple of times; she had a nice mezzo and would open with some opera piece before launching into the thrash. Trained in the Brecht - Weill tradition but could lay it down.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Always12AM said:


> Fake accents are performance art, the art is called mockery.
> 
> Mocking urban African Americans or rural Kentuckians is not needed to make rap or country.


In some instances, yes, affecting an accent can be mockery. I've heard tunes by British artists that affected a Cockney accent. I don't think it was mocking urban Londoners as much as attempting to provide a cultural context for the content of the lyrics. But in a great many other cases, I think the musicians sincerely believe it's the way the music/vocals *need* to sound. Once in a while you get a Stompin' Tom Connors, who sings like he sings with his own voice and accent. But much of the time, I think those striving to be cuuuuhhhntree ahrtists either feel, or are encouraged, to sound as southern as they can to assure success with listeners. The affected accent is as critical as the hat, jeans, and the Telecaster. Of course the irony, that has been discussed here many a time, is that the boundary between what is "country" and what is rock has pretty much dissolved. Sometimes the only thing that allows for some music to be thought of, or classified, as "country" IS the accent, hat, jeans and Tele.

And somewhere in a Nordic recording studio, the producer in the control room is asking the singer in the metal band to sound a little less Finnish and a little more "American".


----------



## Always12AM (Sep 2, 2018)

mhammer said:


> In some instances, yes, affecting an accent can be mockery. I've heard tunes by British artists that affected a Cockney accent. I don't think it was mocking urban Londoners as much as attempting to provide a cultural context for the content of the lyrics. But in a great many other cases, I think the musicians sincerely believe it's the way the music/vocals *need* to sound. Once in a while you get a Stompin' Tom Connors, who sings like he sings with his own voice and accent. But much of the time, I think those striving to be cuuuuhhhntree ahrtists either feel, or are encouraged, to sound as southern as they can to assure success with listeners. The affected accent is as critical as the hat, jeans, and the Telecaster. Of course the irony, that has been discussed here many a time, is that the boundary between what is "country" and what is rock has pretty much dissolved. Sometimes the only thing that allows for some music to be thought of, or classified, as "country" IS the accent, hat, jeans and Tele.
> 
> And somewhere in a Nordic recording studio, the producer in the control room is asking the singer in the metal band to sound a little less Finnish and a little more "American".


It takes more balls than most people have to be yourself and be unilaterally rejected by society at large and masturbate alone in abject poverty

Putting on an act is how we hold down jobs and attract mates and maintain friendships and our place in society.

Society rewards mockery. 
I reward myself from time to time by dressing up as Marylyn Munroe and beating the shit out of my neighbors car with a tennis racket.


----------



## DrumBob (Aug 17, 2014)

One night, I drove into NYC to see and hear blues guitarist Debbie Davies. We chatted before the set, and as expected, out she was a lily white California girl who lived in Stratford, Connecticut. She didn't have a southern accent at all, but when she got onstage, she suddenly turned into a southern black blues mama: "Alright nah! We're gonna play some blues for ya'll right nah. Do ya'll feel alright?"

It was all I could to keep from cracking up laughing. I walked out right after that.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The line between "genuine" and disingenuous can be both confusingly fuzzy and mighty thin sometimes.

And it goes beyond accents, sometimes. You want a budget Epiphone Les Paul in eminently playable condition? Probably $120 or less on Kijiji. I saw one for $80 over the weekend. You want a Teisco or other "60s department-store guitar" so you can project a garage-band vibe? Probably $250 or more on Kijiji, and sometimes double or triple that. They won't sound all that different once the amps get dimed. All in service of some conception of "authenticity" that goes beyond the actual music.

I'm not sneering at these folks. I just find it fascinating how our appreciation of some musical form relies on nonmusical signs and omens of authenticity. Both the musicians AND the audience would perceive the music as incomplete without this stuff. It's a semiotician's playground.

Incidentally, nice Harmony review in VG, bob. Simple, informative.


----------



## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Whenever I've been in Ontario invariably someone will tell me I have an accent & I'm not from there.
(I am indeed not from Ontario & have been there, I think four times.)

But sometimes they wonder if my accent is a put on.

I don't think I have an accent.


----------



## Midnight Rider (Apr 2, 2015)

Just be yourself with your own unique style and sound,... you'll go much farther in life and will be recognized for it,... ie. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimmy Hendrix, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, James Taylor, Neil Young, Allman Brothers Band etc., etc., etc..

If you can pull off creating your very own patented sound that can be immediately traced back to you within the first few bars by the listener,... well, then you have truly arrived,... and the A&R people will start to show up wining and dinning you to sign the dotted line.

Don't forget to bring along your Entertainment lawyer/watchdog.


----------



## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Midnight Rider said:


> Just be yourself with your own unique style and sound,... you'll go much farther in life and will be recognized for it,... ie. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimmy Hendrix, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, James Taylor, Neil Young, Allman Brothers Band etc., etc., etc..
> 
> If you can pull off creating your very own patented sound that can be immediately traced back to you within the first few bars by the listener,... well, then you have truly arrived,... and the A&R people will start to show up wining and dinning you to sign the dotted line.
> 
> Don't forget to bring along your Entertainment lawyer/watchdog.


ActuallyJagger affected a southern country accent on some Stones songs that I can think of offhand. I’m sure there are other pros who have as well. It’s not limited to new artists or amateurs.


----------



## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Was watching a vid of Garry Moore being interviewed. I didn’t know much about him; he was a good guitar player and did some blues stuff. He comes from Belfast and has a Belfast accent although not to the extent of it being a speech impediment. When he sings, he does not use the Belfast accent. The Beatles had strong northern accents and they didn’t sound like it on their recordings. There was a band called the Proclaimers who had some annoying drivel song that got airtime here; the only thing notable about the song was that they used their native accents. They were either Scots or Geordies but regardless they sounded like oiks in a pub.


----------



## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Wardo said:


> oiks in a pub


----------



## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I have two hands and a tin whistle. I could play that.. lol


----------



## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

JBFairthorne said:


> ActuallyJagger affected a southern country accent on some Stones songs that I can think of offhand. I’m sure there are other pros who have as well. It’s not limited to new artists or amateurs.


Dead Flowers off of Sticky Fingers.


----------



## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

SWLABR said:


> Dead Flowers off of Sticky Fingers.


The Girl With Faraway Eyes and Sweet Virginia spring to mind.


----------



## Midnight Rider (Apr 2, 2015)

laristotle said:


>


Sounds like my kind of place.


----------

