WSPC'S BLACK MUSIC MONTH TRIBUTE #3: LENNY KRAVITZ

To think, I nearly never gave this man a chance.

Between the years of 1987 and 1991, I was a DJ for my college student radio station WLHA-FM , which carried our sonic waves on a booming watt and a half of power from the bowels of the J.F. Friedrick center which sat near Lake Mendota (the full story of which I will share at a future date). In my Junior year of college, I was most fortunate enough to become the radio station's Music Director, a position which gave me the opportunity to not only meet and interview prospective new DJ's and have keys to the station, but best of all, retrieve ALL of the new records and promotional materials that were sent to the station from a myriad of major and independent record labels. Being able to obtain package after package, all of which were waiting to be opened to reveal their musical bounties, made me feel like it was Christmas Day several times a week throughout the entirety of the school year!

Sometime in 1989, there were low rumbles in the press about a young musician who was set to release his debut album and who also happened to be dating Lisa Bonet of "The Cosby Show." Upon first sight of said musician, I and some of my closet DJ compatriots openly and loudly scoffed at the possibility of any positive musical prospects as the long dreadlocks, hazy gaze and near penniless appearance only suggested to us savvy and cynical purveyors of pop culture that this man was nothing more than a "hanger on" to a celebrity who had herself was straining to extend beyond her "squeaky clean" image. I also remember one friend mocking the young musician's name in an extremely exaggerated nasally drawl, as if she were playing the role of a stereotypical ancient Jewish Grandmother, "Ooooohhh...Lennnny Kraaaaaaaaavitz!!"

Now, despite my extreme skepticism, there were a few qualities that I had read about that did make me pause, wonder and question if perhaps Mr. Kravitz was not a "hanger on," but indeed the real deal. In a brief interview with the Chicago Tribune, I read that his personal musical preferences rested most comfortably in the music of the '60s and 70's, with The Beatles, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix as a few of his influences. A good sign, of course. He spoke of his love for vintage instruments and technology. Hmmm...another good sign. And then, there was the information that made me perk up the most: Lenny Kravitz was a multi-instrumentalist who recorded the majority of his upcoming debut album all by himself, playing all of the instruments and singing all of the vocal parts in addition to writing, arranging and producing all of the songs. Oh boy...right up my alley, like Todd Rundgren and Prince. But still...I remained steadfast in my extreme skepticism, laughing along to every utterance of "Lennnny Kraaaaaaaaavitz!!!!" that was said.

And then, on one fateful day, a promotional copy of the "Let Love Rule" single arrived...

While sitting in the WLHA studios alongside two of my fellow DJ compatriots, the very ones who originated the exaggerated announcement of Lenny Kravitz's name, we placed the single onto one of the studio turntables while off-air and we were practically salivating at the prospect of hearing something so awful that we would be ready to openly mock it on-air. We placed the needle onto the vinyl and listened...and five minutes and forty two seconds later, we sat in complete silence, open mouthed and stunned by what we heard. We then played it all over again, and again...and "Lennnny Kraaaaaaaaavitz!!!!" never, ever left our lips.

Once the full album of "Let Love Rule" (released September 6, 1989) arrived, I purchased my copy immediately and I was completely won over, from start to finish, thus beginning a musical journey from which I am still an exuberant traveler.

In preparation for writing this piece, I dug out the album, which I actually have not listened to in many years, in order to reunite with my introduction to the musical world of Lenny Kravitz. "Let Love Rule" just struck me with just how good he was from the very beginning, from songwriting, to his supreme musicianship and the complete and direct initiation into his artistic vision. The album represented the past, from its musical approach which was shockingly "retro" in the overly plastic late 1980's. As I listened to it recently, I also felt that the album almost works more as a gospel album than as a rock album due to the nearly indescribable feel that definitely houses something spiritual and less secular (despite the punky garage rocker "Mr. Cab Driver"). Amazingly, and of course in retrospect, you can hear how this album truly set the stage for absolutely everything that was yet to come.

  

When his second album "Mama Said" (released April 2, 1991) arrived, I was more than ready to hear what Lenny Kravitz had up his sleeve and I was supremely knocked out that he had actually improved upon his debut album. He had not only become a better songwriter and producer, making his blend of psychedelic rock, soul and funk more effortless and seamless, he had become an even better singer, eschewing with the overly raw, "bleed into the red" vocals from the first album and discovering greater control and nuance. "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (released March 9, 1993), Kravitz's third album, was a rock and roll juggernaut that had it all as it was filled with rock star messiah heroics (the title track), spiritual psychedelics (the outstanding "Believe"), rock and soul come on ballads ("Come On And Love Me," "Sugar"), a seven minute epic ("Sister") and utopian reggae ("Elutheria").

  

From the dark and underrated hard rock album "Circus" (released September 12, 1995), to the sprawling, vivacious "5" (released May 12, 1998) and to the one-two singles punch of his "American Woman" (released June 29, 1999) cover version of The Guess Who's classic and the power ballad knockout "Again" (released September 14, 2000), Lenny Kravitz became unstoppable to me and not just for the music itself.

From the very beginning of his music career as we know it, Lenny Kravitz has been subject to negative criticism from music journalists over his penchant for utilizing the sonics of the past and his core influences to create music for the present. Kravitz, as far as his detractors were concerned, was nothing much more than a derivative copycat who leans far too heavily upon the likes of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, so much so, that his albums amount to musical plagiarism. On the one hand, I can understand the criticism and even let it go because of course, no artist can be all things to all people. But on the other hand, and crucially so, I found myself feeling more than a little protective of Lenny Kravitz and not because of any feelings of atonement due to my initial intense skepticism.

Like so many of my most cherished artists, Lenny Kravitz, was and remains decidedly out of step with everything else around him in the music world, despite all of the massive success he has attained. Just imagine how out of step he was when he first arrived upon the scene. There was no one who really sounded like him and definitely no one who even looked quite like him in his preferred genre of rock and roll but one he merged with a variety of additional musical styles. The matter of his biracial makeup and lineage within a genre that has long been associated with white musicians, but was indeed CREATED by black musicians, is key. I increasingly found myself growing more angered each time a critic would bash Lenny Kravitz and admonish him for supposedly being derivative when those very same critics would lavish praise over other musicians and bands who did the exact same thing regarding the musical honoring of their musical heroes and inspirations.

The band World Party instantly comes to mind as Karl Wallinger's musical visions arrived on the scene around the same time period as Kravitz (perhaps beating him by two years). World Party is another of my most favorite "bands" (it serves as a near pseudonym for Wallinger who composes, produces, arranges and performs all of the music and albums completely on his own, with occasional aid from a very small selection of musicians) and it has been held aloft so highly by music journalists who praised the albums for their "Beatlesque" qualities and updated versions of what the best the 1960's had to offer. Wallinger's influences are as "heart on sleeve" as Kravitz.

Just listen to any World Party album and you will hear the deep influence The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Prince have had on him, sometimes overtly so as he is not trying to hide them whatsoever. But Karl Wallinger and World Party have never been described as "derivative" while Kravitz has. Wallinger has never been admonished as a plagiarist but Kravitz has. White musicians who have performed the very same tactics as World Party have been celebrated over and again for their nods to the musical past but Kravitz, over and again, has been criticized and I found myself angered because it all felt to be so obviously racially motivated and not based in any sense of musically historical truth. Yes, Kravitz's track "Rock And Roll Is Dead" openly references Led Zeppelin but he uses the reference and musical style as an audio commentary to merge with the song's lyrics abut the cliches and consequences of rock and roll excess. Does that make Lenny Kravitz a thief? And if so, what does that make Led Zeppelin, a band that would not exist if not for all of the musical groundwork laid by every black musician who played the blues before them? Are they thieves? And then, those questions reach even further as we are only bound to ask ourselves what is "black music" and what is "white music" and does any of this matter at all if we are just looking for music that is just plain good or even great??

I champion Lenny Kravitz as he is precisely that idiosyncratic artist who has forged his own path, blazed his own trail and has forced us to ask those very questions about race and music without any didactics but just through his sheer presence and the music he has delivered. No, he was not like Prince in the sense that Prince essentially re-invented the wheel with every new release, inventing his own musical language in the process. but in his own way, Kravitz is of (nearly) equal weight and relevance as each album he has released elicits further that Lenny Kravitz only sounds like Lenny Kravitz and the musical sound he makes STILL sounds like absolutely nobody else that surrounds him. His voice is his own and he has continued to march forwards on his own terms and without any apology. For that, I will be forever in his debt as that very singular approach has taught me how to stride forward within my own life, career, choices, passions and beliefs and in a more Earthbound fashion than Prince who remains so otherworldly and unreachable.

 

 

After his fantastic initial run, I was waiting for Lenny Kravitz to release that one album that would shut his critics up for good. Yet, as solid and sometimes as emotionally stark as the following albums are, "Lenny" (released October 30, 2001) "Baptism" (released May 18, 2004) and "It Is Time For A Love Revolution" (released February 5, 2008) all seemed to be a bit like he was musically treading water and holding back. For what, I am not certain but they weren't the slam dunks I just KNEW that he had inside of him.

For me, that slam dunk arrived with the expansive, outstanding, mesmerizing, beautifully sequenced, arranged, performed and wildly energetic magnum opus "Black And White America" (released August 29, 2011), an album that just begged to be spread across fours ides of delicious vinyl.

Where Lenny Kravitz heads from here is anybody's guess as he is currently hard at work on his 10th album. 

If I had any words for him that he would listen to, I would urge him to just simply keep doing what he has been doing: to remain musically independent, steadfast and fearless to any sounds that fly into his head, heart and soul. To disregard all trends except for the ones he has created himself. To serve his creative spirit first and foremost for these are the very qualities that made millions upon millions fall in love with his music in the first place.

Lenny Kravitz is a musical treasure and how thankful we all should be for having him.