Ever since the invention of the record, the sellers and especially the fans of music have managed to package and promote artists and their work according to styles. In the early days, if you were African American, you were pigeonholed as jazz, blues or "race" music. Jazz and big band artists had to "swing" within their genre.

And today's rock-'n'-rollers, country stars and hip hoppers all have their separate fan bases. (Remember the scene in "The Blues Brothers" when the band was pelted with beer bottles and profanity at a country-and-western concert when they broke out a soul tune?)

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Source: http://www.italianamericanvoice.com/