"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"
Artist - Sly and the Family Stone
In the late 1960s Sly and the Family Stone was a realization of the social and political ambitions of a generation, a fully integrated band with both male and female members that wedded black music and psychedelic rock in a joyous synthesis. Its spiritual and musical leader was Sylvester Stone, whose interest in music predated his family's move from Texas to San Francisco in the mid 1950s. His career actually started when he was four years old, singing in his family's gospel group, the Stewart Four.
At the age of sixteen he recorded his first song, "Long Time Away," which became a modest regional hit. While he studied music theory, composition, and trumpet at Vallejo Junior College, Sly and his brother played with bands in the San Francisco Bay area. His work as a disk-jockey and producer put him in contact with Tom Donahue, the pioneer behind album-oriented radio. In 1966 Stewart formed a band called the Stoners; after a personnel shift the outfit was renamed Sly and the Family Stone.
The band did contain real family members—Sly's brother Fred on guitar and his sister Rosie on piano— but also included local musicians of various ethnic backgrounds, including Cynthia Robinson, a white trumpet player. Rosie Stone and Robinson were the first prominent female rock instrumentalists, and they played a crucial role in creating opportunities for women in the genre. Their first album, A Whole New Thing (1967), didn't perform particularly well, but the follow-up, Dance to the Music, became an unexpected hit when the title track entered the Top Ten; it was followed in short order by "Everyday People" and "I Want to Take You Higher." The band was explosive on stage; as members of the psychedelic brotherhood they wore outlandish costumes and hairstyles, but they also adopted the precision choreography of Motown artists. Their performance at Woodstock was hailed as one of the festival's best and introduced the band to a mainstream white audience.
The band had frequently included political statements on its albums, exemplified by songs like "Don't Call Me a Nigger, Whitey," and "Hot Fun in the Summertime," but these were overlooked until There's a Riot Goin' On was released in 1971. The slower tempos and darker sound of the album was an early testament of funk, and its militant stance belied the group's earlier affiliation with the hippie ethos. This new direction was never fully explored, as Sly Stone had already begun a precipitous slide into drug addiction and mental illness from which he has never recovered.
Also see: Miles Davis, Booker T. and the MGs, James Brown, Wilson Pickett
Must Haves:
- "Everyday People "
- "I Want to Take You Higher"
- "Dance to the Music"
- "Hot Fun in the Summertime"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- Parliament/Funkadelic
- the Ohio Players
- Prince
- Was (not Was)
- Arrested
"Papa Was A Rolling Stone"
Artist - The Temptations
Berry Gordy's strategy of producing songs that were universal in their appeal meant that Motown artists avoided social commentary for most of the 1960s. This should not bring into question the commitment of Gordy or Motown to the civil rights movement—the label issued recordings of the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. and donated money to CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and the United Negro College Fund—but one couldn't ascertain this stance from the songs in the label's catalogue. In this, Motown was not alone. Very few black pop stars directly addressed the civil rights movement; most of the social and political commentary that was heard on popular records originated with folk-rock artists and San Francisco bands. Toward the end of the decade certain popular songs by black artists, like Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Streets" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect" (1967), were interpreted as having political overtones. Their reception in this context demonstrated that black record buyers were interested in music that more closely reflected the struggle for racial equality. When James Brown, one of the most successful artists in the black community, released "Say It Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud" in 1968 not only to positive reviews but also to chart success, it signaled an ideological shift among young record buyers. Motown was quick to respond; a handful of songs from the late 1960s addressed social problems of the black community, like the Supremes' "Love Child" (1968), and the Temptations' anti-drug song "Cloud Nine."
The Temptations, one of Motown's flagship acts, reflect the changes brought about by the emerging black power era. The band abandoned their matching outfits in favor of a more relaxed and Afrocentric image. Their new sound was brought about partly by a personnel change—Dennis Edwards was brought in to replace David Ruffin, who left to pursue a solo career—and also by their collaboration with producer Norman Whitfield. Beginning in 1968, Whitfield encouraged the band to adopt a more rhythmically aggressive, groove-oriented sound and to explore social themes. Whitfield collaborated with songwriter Barrett Strong to produce hits for a number of other Motown artists, such as "War" for Edwin Starr, but their early efforts for the Temptations, like "Message from a Black Man," and "Slave" (1969) were less than successful. They eventually learned how to write songs of social import that played into the group's strengths, beginning with the 1970 hit "Ball of Confusion." The track signaled that Motown could profit from topical subjects, and the newly relevant Temptations were embraced by a new generation of record buyers.
Also see: Sly and the Family Stone, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye
Must Haves:
- "Ball of Confusion"
- "Cloud Nine"
- "Uptight (Everything's All Right)"
- "Funky Music Sho' Nuff Turns Me On"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- The O'Jays
- Rare Earth
- the Commodores
"Living for the City"
Artist - Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder—born Steveland Jundkins—exhibited musical talent at an extremely young age; he was already singing in the church choir when his family moved to Detroit in his fourth year and had mastered percussion, piano, and harmonica by the time he turned nine. In 1961 he was performing for some friends and was overheard by Ronnie White, a member of the Miracles, who arranged an audition for the boy at Motown records. Berry Gordy signed the young prodigy, and the following year twelve- year-old "Little Stevie Wonder" released his first two albums. Neither sold very well, but the following year he had a hit with "Fingertips, Part 2," a charismatic harmonica solo from his live album, The 12 Year Old Genius. He was kept in hiatus for two years while his voice changed but returned with the Top Ten hit "Uptight (Everything's All Right)" in 1965, a song he co-wrote. After this, Wonder became a reliable hit-maker for Motown, putting ten songs in the Top Ten before the end of the decade.
His contract with Motown expired on his twenty-first birthday in 1971. Instead of automatically renewing under the same terms, as Berry Gordy wished, Wonder enrolled in music theory courses at the University of Southern California and built a lavish home recording studio, in part to prove to Gordy that he didn't need Motown to make music. When he renegotiated his contract Wonder made only a few demands. He wanted a higher royalty rate, uncompromised ownership of his songs through his own publishing company, and total artistic control over his music. Only Marvin Gaye had been allowed such freedom at Motown—and he didn't own his own songs! Wonder, however, got everything he asked for.
For his first few autonomous albums Wonder was unwilling to surrender any of his newly won artistic control; he performed all of the instrumental parts himself, then assembled the tracks and added vocals. He also began to think of albums in the same way the Beatles did, as larger vehicles for artistic expression that couldn't be contained in a single. The results were dazzling. Music in My Mind, his first entirely solo effort, was followed by Talking Book and finally Innervisions, often cited as his masterpiece and unquestionably a seminal album of the 1970s. Innervisions is the nearest thing to a concept album Wonder has produced. All the songs deal with the idea that life is tough but beautiful, a hopeful vision for those in seemingly hopeless situations, a philosophy summed up in the track "Higher Ground." Its other top ten single, "Living in the City," is a morality tale about the lengths to which some have to go to survive, but it ends with a suggestion that change is still possible.
Also see: Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Marvin Gaye, Louis Jordan
Must Haves:
- "Superstition"
- "Higher Ground"
- "Signed, Sealed, Delivered"
- "Master Blaster (Jammin')"
- "Isn't She Lovely"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- Alicia Keyes
- Ziggy Marley
- Prince
"Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up The Funk)"
Artist - Parliament
George Clinton began his career singing doo-wop with his group, the Parliaments, while he was working in his barber shop in New Jersey. They relocated en masse to Detroit hoping to be signed by Motown, but to no avail; Clinton kept body, soul, and band together by running a series of successful hair salons. The Parliaments added a horn section (Funkadelic) to update their sound and finally scored a regional hit (as Parliament) in 1967. By this time, the band was experimenting with a fusion of James Brown, Hendrix, MC5, rhythm and blues, Stax Soul, electric blues, and Sly and the Family Stone. The result was psychedelic and heavy but laid back at the same time, a quality achieved by playing just behind the beat. Clinton dubbed the results funky music. For contractual reasons the band recorded as Funkadelic from 1967 into the 1970s, but the Parliament name was reactivated as soon as possible.
Though Parliament/Funkadelic is considered a single unit, in fact, they are two separate bands that happened to have the same personnel; in the 1970s they were even signed to different labels! Funkadelic records are satirical, guitar-oriented explorations of psychedelic rock; Parliament albums feature the vocalists and harmony singing, riff-driven arrangements, and extensive use of the horn section and keyboards.
Beginning with the 1974 album Up for the Down Stroke, Clinton reframed funk as a language of black nationalism that stood in opposition to everything square and repressive. He did so by way of a complicated mythology that pitted his Star Child and Dr. Funkenstein, who want only to bring peace to the world by returning it to its primal funky state, against Sir Nose D'Void of Funk, who tries to stop this new liberation. This space framework—which cast the rest of Parliament as "Afronauts"—allowed Clinton to comment on commercial exploitation, threats to free speech, and the continuing struggle for civil rights without being viewed as a reactionary. The Afronauts, Dr. Funkenstein, and even the Mothership became part of P-Funk's mind-blowing stage shows, which involved elaborate costumes, freaky hairstyles (crafted by Clinton), and a giant spaceship. While this may sound like theatrics influenced by David Bowie and Alice Cooper, the first rock artist to create a persona and elaborate stage act was Screaming Jay Hawkins, the black rock and roll star who wrote "I Put a Spell on You." He adopted the character of a witch doctor on stage; he dressed in zebra skins and rubber snakes, was wheeled onto the stage for performances in a coffin, and had a human skull named Henry who smoked cigarettes and talked like a ventriloquist's dummy.
Also see: Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, MC5, Frank Zappa
Must Haves:
- "Up for the Down Stroke"
- "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)"
- "Bop Gun (Endangered Species)"
- "Funkentelechy"
- "Flash Light"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
"Get Up Stand Up "
Artist - Bob Marley and the Wailers
Jamaica was a possession of the British empire from 1655 to 1962, and for centuries it was the hub of the slave trade in the Western hemisphere. By then racism and inequality were well established in the country, and a rigid caste system pitted the white ruling class and a Jamaican elite against the native majority, who were kept poor, underemployed, and powerless. The situation changed little when Jamaica became an independent democracy. The country's independence may not have brought great social change, but it did create an enormous demand for indigenous, rhythm and blues-influenced records. First ska, then rock steady and reggae, were not only means of self-expression but also a way to spread knowledge among those ignored by Jamaica's mainstream media.
Bob Marley was born in the Jamaican countryside, but in 1957 his mother moved the family to Trenchtown, a government housing project on the outskirts of Kingstown. There Marley met Joe Higgs, one of the first successful Jamaican recording artists, who gave musical seminars in his backyard for any local youth who cared to learn. He taught his young hopefuls to play the guitar (and make their own from found items), to strengthen their voices, and to write lyrics that carried a message. He was also a spiritual mentor. Higgs was an adherent of Rastafarianism, a sect of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity that held that an African king would emerge and lead disenfranchised blacks to a better existence. The faith provided hope to the hopeless of the slums, including the young Bob Marley.
Marley, with his friend Bunny Aston and another Higgs disciple, Peter McIntosh (later shortened to Tosh), formed the Wailers in 1963. They made several successful ska records, but as fashions changed and rock steady became popular the group lost its audience. Lee "Scratch" Perry, a successful recording artists and producer, convinced the Wailers to abandon the falsetto harmonies and vocal gymnastics that they employed in emulation of American doo-wop groups. Instead, he suggested that they cultivate simpler backing vocals and assertive lead lines in a lower register and loaned them his rhythm section, the Upsetters. Their new sound, which they combined with the psychedelic rock of Jimi Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone, created a new style of reggae. Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records, heard them and was convinced it was the style of the future; shortly thereafter the Wailers began to attract an audience in Britain and the United States.
Also see: Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Impressions, Joe Higgs, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Toots and the Maytalls
Must Haves:
- "Exodus"
- "No Woman No Cry"
- "Could You Be Loved"
- "One Love/People Get Ready"
- "Redemption Song"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- All other reggae acts; the Clash
- Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers
- Wyclef Jean
- Lauryn Hill
- Busta Rhymes
"Bad Girls"
Artist - Donna Summer
In the late 1970s Donna Summer was known as the "Queen of Disco." She was a familiar hit-maker in a style dominated by one-hit wonders and a songwriter in a sea of manufactured talent. LaDonna Andre Gaines grew up in Boston. She was part of a religious family and started singing in her church's gospel choir at a young age. In her teen years she formed a rock band called the Crow but left the group when she moved to New York after graduating from high school. After a few auditions she was cast in a German production of the new musical Hair. She remained in Germany after the tour and found a job with the Viennese Folk Opera; she later married Helmut Sommer and moved to Munich. She was working as a studio vocalist in the city, making demos for other artists, when producers Giorgio Marader and Pete Bellotte gave her a chance to record an English language version of the French pop hit "Je T'aime . . . Moi Non Plus." "Love to Love You Baby"—a passionate, romantic epic similar to the sexy mood music of Barry White—was a smash hit in Europe. Neil Bogart, president of Casablanca records, quickly signed Summer to a contract and released "Love to Love You Baby" in the United States, where it hit number two.
Summer was infrequently off the charts from 1977 to 1980. She had a string of Top Ten hits (including the duet "Enough Is Enough" with Barbara Streisand), won fourteen Grammy awards, was nominated for an Academy Award, and is still the only person to send three consecutive double albums to the top of the charts. When disco's popularity began to fade Summer redirected her career and had several pop and gospel hits in the early 1980s. While she failed to find a niche in the 1990s, she did find new fans among devotees of trance and house music—those still committed to danceable hits.
Many cultural theorists suggest that the rejection of disco was fueled by homophobia and racism. However, evidence suggests that disco was unpopular with most rock fans not because of associations with African American or gay culture—most weren't aware that many early discos were gay night clubs, and black artists regularly placed songs on the charts—but because they genuinely disliked the music and the related corporate marketing frenzy. Most were dismayed by the use of electronic drum kits and keyboards, which gave the music an impersonal quality, and the unrelenting sameness of most disco songs. At the height of the disco fad, its clubs and bars replaced live music with jukeboxes stocked with disco records, radio stations were switched to all disco formats, DJs released disco versions of classical hits and popular standards, and bands like Kiss and the Rolling Stone hurried to release disco-like singles. "Disco sucks" became the rallying cry of American rock fans looking for someone to mount a serious challenge to the monolithic popularity of disco; most were unaware that punk and new wave were already on the case.
Also see: Diana Ross, Mahalia Jackson, Patti Labelle, Barbara Streisand, Judy Garland
Must Haves:
- "Enough Is Enough (with Barbara Streisand)"
- "Last Dance"
- "She Works Hard for the Money"
- "Sunset People"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- Irene Cara
- Alicia Keys
- Gloria Gaynor
- Taylor Dayne
- Madonna