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11 Blacks Who Kill It In Heavy Metal & Hard Rock

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No.6 Lajon Witherspoon – Sevendust

I remember, back in Wisconsin, delivering about 30 pizzas to a high school gymnasium where Sevendust was playing. The gym wasn’t even half full, which is kind of sad since Sevendust has gone on to become one of the more influential “Nu-Metal” acts. Basically, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and company have inspired most of what you hear on rock radio.


No.5 Doug Pinnick – King’s X

King’s X is one of those bands that garners universal respect from fans, critics, and peers, yet has never achieved widespread success. Much of King’s X’s greatness is derived from bassist and co-lead vocalist Doug Pinnick. If you’ve never seen him or heard him, he plays, carries himself, and resembles Jimi Hendrix, Prince, and The Beatles with punk, funk, Motown, and prog sensibilities.

With influences that range from Hendrix and Zeppelin to Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin to Sly and the Family Stone, it comes as little surprise that one of King’s X’s goals was to be simultaneously melodic and heavy.

Despite never achieving that Holy Grail of success, VH1 ranked King’s X at Number 83 on its 100 Greatest Artists of Rock. It’s also widely known within the industry that Pinnick, his vocals, and his distorted bass are highly sought after: In 2006 he stood in for Living Colour’s vocalist, Corey Glover, on the band’s European tour; he’s appeared on countless tribute albums; he was a guest vocalist on Dream Theater’s “Lines in the Sand” on their Falling into Infinity album; and his latest side project, Tre Mtl., involves Jeff Ament (Pear Jam) and Richard Stuverud (Fastbacks).


No.4 Tom Morello – Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave

Rage Against The Machine was all the rage in the ‘90s and aughts. In large part their success was because of Zack de la Rocha’s incendiary lyrics and, of course, because of Tom Morello’s inventive guitar work. Fuck, the dude can scratch his guitar better than most DJs can spin a record.

Tom’s guitar prowess landed him at Number 26 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list, and helped RATM find its way to Number 33 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock list. It’s also helped the band earn a Grammy.

Tom’s guitar work was compelling and intricate, and the riffs combined with the driving hip-hop rhythm sucked you in like nothing else. You couldn’t help but listen.


No.3 Slash

Let’s get this over with. Slash is on this list, well, because he’s Slash and he’s a whore who’s on all sorts of lists. While the name has been sullied and run through the mud, Slash was a part of one of the most important hard rock/metal acts to come out of the ‘80s. Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction has gone on to achieve 18 Platinum certifications (as of 2008) and has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide (as of 2008). You just can’t argue with those numbers.

But Slash (half black, half white), after the demise of Guns n’ Roses, has gone on to be guest guitarist for several artists, formed Slash’s Snakepit and Velvet Revolver, and most recently (2010) formed his solo act. His debut solo album, Slash, went on to be included in several “metal albums of the year” lists (including Ozzy’s) and landed at Number 3 on the Billboard 200.


Finally, Number 1 is next…

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  • Brentlopez100

    Too glammy?  I ain’t even gonna continue.

  • http://twitter.com/YellMagazine Yell!

    Too glammy, flashy, or whatever you want to call it… for our purposes. This doesn’t mean that we don’t love it. Of course, when I wrote that I had just one Living Colour era in mind. No offense, man. Despite saying that you weren’t going to continue, i hope that you did and that you enjoyed the list.

  • Drekt

    great list…but, I wholeheartedly agree with Brentlopez100…Vernon Reid should be on this list…absolutely genius guitar player, plus the BLACK ROCK COALITION…really…Slash (Saul Hudson) is mulatto anyway…plus, there should be more musicians on here in addition to vocalists…

  • BOBBYMARLEY

    What about Tommy Morello and Skin (Deborah Dyer) lead vocalist for Skunk Anansie? I also agree with Brentlopez100 about Vernon Reid and Slash being on the list too.

    • http://twitter.com/YellMagazine Yell!

      I was warned that I was gonna take heat for not including Reid. But what I find shocking is that no one, absolutely NO ONE, is complaining that I put Hendrix at #11.

  • http://www.tonybaldwin.me/ tony baldwin

    Living Colour!  Those dudes kick arse!

  • http://twitter.com/zeruch zeruch

    I’m not sure how you can call LC too glammy given that while their first album certainly had some material that used glam/hair metal elements(and I assume thats what you focused on), they were (and are) all over the damn map.  Thrash (Times Up), punk (their cover of Bad Brain’s “Sailin On” is a faithful but better rendered version), industrial (Auslander) and just genre bending (Wall, TV News).  I’m not faulting you on your list (its your list after all) but I think that just puts a bad view on a band whose members are more critical to some of the very sounds covered in the rest of the list than they get credit for.

  • Kevinmcclennon

    where’s phil lynott  from thin lizzy ?

  • misspunki24

    Ya know who you guys forgot? The chick from The Noisettes. Her name is unpronounceable and impossible to spell, but she rocks! And to “Drekt” up there, really? The “one drop” theory….it’s a stupid theory, but it makes Slash eligible for his position on this list.

  • Metaln8

    Mike Smith from Suffocation is one of the greatest blast beat masters. Suffocation is also some of the most technical brutal death metal ever created.

  • Pinko95014

    EUGENE S. ROBINSON FROM OXBOW!!!!!!!?!?!!? Morons….

  • MissingLegendsFromBetterBands

    AAAHH!! Terrance Hobb, the guitarist of Suffocation. Sick guitar player. Technical Death Metal godfather.
    It also doesn’t hurt that Suffo is ACTUALLY a good metal band; though there may be some confusion here over what “good metal” means (repping King’s X and Sevendust…?)

    And ya’ll f*$%in up by leaving out Eugene Robinson from Oxbow. Right on @Pinko95014 and @ Metaln8

  • Emj_777

    THIS IS SOME FUCKING BULLSHIT.  Tom Morello and Pat Smear huh? THEY’RE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BLACK!  How about fucking Howard Jones,  Josh Travis from Tony Danza, PHIL LYNOTT one of the most influential cats ever…
    As a black man playing metal myself, y’all should be ASHAMED. Not only for their inclusion, but as number 2!?!? What you could find actual negroes and just went with some olive skin dude? SERIOUSLY?

    • http://twitter.com/YellMagazine Yell!

      Wow, agro much? I guess you want “pure black” on the list? Pffft Sound like you’re trying to be reverse Aryan or something. How about you SERIOUSLY get over yourself. BTW, thanks for reading.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=629696077 Latanya Ivey

      Are you kidding me? Well, I guess I’m not black either. Get out with that. Rock is rock. I don’t need the pedigree of the player to enjoy it.

  • Dean

    Thank goodness Derrick Green from Sepultura is on the list, he did a pretty good job in filling in the shoes of Max Cavalera. Great list regardless of the complaints :-)

  • http://twitter.com/YellMagazine Yell!

    Perhaps we’ll do a Part 2 to this list with your suggestions

  • http://www.romanzewilloughby.com/ Willoughby Spitt

    Wow. Hendrix is to blues, soul, rock, hard rock & heavy metal what Jaco Pastorius is to bass… EVERYTHING! James Marshall was fuckin’ Christ like as far as the “before” Hendrix & “after” Hendrix thang is concerned! His style, original flava’, technique, use of effects & recording techniques, etc. was unparalleled & WAY ahead of its time.  The fact that he’s the last person on that list says that whoever wrote & “researched” the information for the article is as high as I am on the daily! Lastly, You left off Jimi Hazel from 24-7 Spyz & a plethora of other Black hard rock & heavy metal dudes!

  • lsxcesar

    I thought Howard Jones should be on the list.

  • djwill

    Check this podcast out. I think it covers a few more omitted from that “list”
    http://metaldjwill.podomatic.com/player/web/2012-03-09T01_50_12-08_00

  • Fehndrix

    Part 2 needs Tosin Abasi.  Glad to see Alexis Brown on this list!

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