Give him the rock: Suns' Terrence Ross says musical taste surprises people

Most NBA players pump up the volume on hip hop or R&B music from their smartphones or a large speaker at their team practices or locker room.

The Phoenix Suns' Terrence Ross is an outlier who prefers the sounds of crunchy and speedy guitar shreds.

After Phoenix lost to the Milwaukee Bucks on Mar. 14, Metallica’s seminal 1986 album title track "Master of Puppets" blared from Ross' phone as the media entered the room for postgame interviews.

When The Republic asked Ross about his love for hard rock music at the Suns’ Wednesday practice, he giggled about being an unexpected headbanger to most who don't know him.

“I love rock. Everything from heavy metal to grunge rock to classic rock to alternative,” Ross said. “It’s weird because growing up playing basketball, the majority of everybody plays hip hop or R&B or whatever it may be.”

Ross also listens to hip-hop but enjoys breaking up the monotony of regularly listening to the same thing for motivation and leisure.

“I like the instruments, the live music and it’s just a different feel from hip hop because I hear it every day all the time. You don’t ever get away from it,” Ross said.

“It’s funny because no matter where I go, I put on rock, everybody’s like (grimaces), ‘What is this? Who’s this?’ I’m like, ‘Bro, there’s a ton of good music out there. We can’t just listen to the same guys over and over. I gotta mix it up.”

Ross called politically-driven rap rock stalwart Rage Against The Machine his favorite, and declared the band's Madison Square Garden performance a few years ago as the best he's ever witnessed in his life. He added that Jimi Hendrix, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and 1980s Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha are always on his playlists.

Ross, who’s currently learning to play guitar, also told The Republic that his peers become shocked by hearing his rock taste and being a student of contemporary rock musicians and the genre’s luminaries because he’s Black.

“Absolutely,” Ross said with a grin. “They’re always jaw-dropping when I hit them with all the knowledge I have, just like different musicians and rock bands and stuff.”

The hesitation that Ross has encountered speaks to the longstanding generalization within the African-American community: Black people who prefer hard rock subgenres such as heavy metal or punk instead of hip hop or other urban music genres might have their Black authenticity questioned by their peers.

For anyone who gives pause to a Black person because of that notion either doesn't know or all but forgets that rock and roll music has roots in the African-American community. From pioneers like Chuck Berry, Ike Turner and his ex-wife Tina Turner, Little Richard, Bo Diddley and James Brown, the white male-dominated music industry originally labeled their music "race records" because of the segregated society during those Black music acts' 1950s and 1960s heyday.

Black music such as R&B, blues, jazz and reggae became more domestically and internationally popular since then, though Hendrix, considered one of the great guitarists of the rock era, remains a popular rock staple.

There have been plenty noteworthy Black rock acts and musicians over the past 50 years: Death; Funkadelic; Living Colour; TV On The Radio; Body Count; Guns N Roses' lead guitarist Slash; Lenny Kravitz; Prince; British punk pioneer band X-Ray Spex's late lead singer Poly Styrene; American hardcore punk progenitors Bad Brains; metal and ska fusion outfit Fishbone; and King's X led by its African-American co-founding frontman Doug Pinnick to name a handful. The latter two bands heavily inspired rock acts with mostly white members like the 1990s chart-topping ska punk group No Doubt and the Seattle-based grunge rock sound during that decade.

Ross said he began his penchant for hard rock music during his college days at Washington from 2010 to 2012, when he entered the NBA draft as a sophomore.

The University of Washington is based in Seattle, where platinum record-selling bands such as Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana were formed.

The NBA veteran attributed his rock predilection to being raised in Portland, Oregon where there’s lots of precipitation, grey skies and cold temperatures for most of each year. That weather influenced many grunge and nü metal rock acts from the Northwest to create their signature sound of angry or emotionally distressed vocal deliveries accompanied by murky, dark, heavy punk rock-oriented three-chord guitar riffs.

More: Can Terrence Ross play same role Spencer Dinwiddie did to help Mavs stun Suns last year?

Landry Shamet is a huge fan of R&B songstress Jill Scott. But he told The Republic at the Suns' Thursday practice that Ross rocking out hard is something he cherishes to bring change to the norm.

“I like it because music can kind of be like a comfortable thing,” Shamet said. “So when a guy like T-Ross comes in and plays something that’s way outside the box, I’m like, ‘OK, I like it.’ I listen to a lot of music, too. So it’s good hearing a little mix of everything.”

In addition, Devin Booker said Ross going against the grain by playing hard rock around the team helps build his own music knowledge.

“Definitely uncommon but I respect it," Booker said about Ross. "I try to pride myself on my versatility in music, too. I’m always open ears to anything. All my friends have different genres of music that they enjoy, and I give it all a chance and see the beauty in it.”

Suns-Clippers playoff storylines: What's the OKC connection all about?

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns' Terrence Ross says his hard rock preference often surprises people