Rhythm and Blues also known as R&B has become one of the most identifiable art-forms of the 20th Century, with an enormous influence on the development of both the sound and attitude of modern music. The history of R&B series of box sets investigates the accidental synthesis of Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Ragtime, Latin, Country and Pop into a definable from of Black music. The hardship of segregation caused by the Jim Crow laws caused a cultural revolution within Afro-American society. In the 1900s, as a method of self-expression in the southern states, the Blues gradually became a form of public entertainment in juke joints and dance halls picking up new rhythm along the way. In 1910, nearly five million African Americans left the south for the …show more content…
Cooke had thirty U.S top forty hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits such as” You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Happen”, “Cupid”, “Chain Gang”, “Wonderful World”, “Twistin’ The Night Away”, and “I was Born by The River”. Cooke was among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. Otis Ray Redding’s, Jr was another soul artiste born on September 9th, 1941. He was an American singer, songwriter, recorder and a talented scout. He was considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in Soul music and Rhythm and Blues. Redding has been called the “King of Soul”, an honorific also given to Sam Cooke. Shortly before his death, Redding’s wrote and recorded his iconic “The Dock of The Bay” with Steve Cropper. The song became the first posthumous number-one record on both the billboard hot one hundred and R&B charts. The album “The Dock of the Bay” was the first posthumous album to reach number one on the U.K Albums …show more content…
If R&B/Soul had not been started many decades ago, there is no telling where music would be now. While R&B/Soul has been morphing over time, it is still a commanding and significant culture that you can see with newer artists today. Many musicians are now using elements of R&B/Soul in their music making whole albums that sound like it or dedicating a few songs to the fun sounds. Whether it is Green Day performing a funk inspired song or another, newer artist, you can hear the influence in the latest albums and tracks released. R&B/ Soul music for a lot of people that are going through everyday issues that some of us at some point or everyday have to face such as break-ups, unfaithful partners, crime life, struggles, and poverty can reach out to your heart and in a way, that give us the strength to carry on. Elements of R&B/ Soul such as Strong demanding but similar lyrics, various sounds ranging from up beats, motivational beats, angry beats and slow beats can bring the true self out of us and teach us to accept us the way we are. It also teaches a lot of people to stand up for what they believe in and to not tolerate any form of disrespect for anybody regardless who they are and how much you love
The African-American civil rights movement was a cruel time for the African American race to endure due to the harsh discrimination and segregation that they faced. This movement fought for the rights and the equality of African Americans in the United States. With all that was going on, African Americans turned to music for motivation, courage, inspiration and strength to overcome the difficult obstacles that they would soon face. “Non-violence marchers faced beating, hosing, burning, shooting, or jail with no defense other than their courage and songs” (Hast 45). “It's been a long, a long time coming/ But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will” (Cooke, Sam. A Change Is Gonna Come). Music was their greatest hope for change in the near future and is the thing that kept them fighting for what they deserved. They came together with each other due to the lyrics of many different songs that kept the civil rights movement alive and known. Music painted a vision that they could picture and look forward to; it was a dream that they could fight for. “Music empowered African Americans to hold tight to their dream of racial equality” (Jeske). A genre of music that bought society together during this movement was folk.
In 1988 Gordy sold Motown Records to MCA and Boston Partners, ending Motown’s era as an independent company. In the post-Gordy era, Motown continued to release hit music by new artists such as Boyz II Men, Johnny Gill, alongside veteran performers like Wonder, Ross, and the
This soul music was a combination of R&B and gospel music that began around the 1950s. Soul was spreaded throughout the nation in which a lot many people of races took on such as, Aretha Franklin, Sonny & Cher, Teena Marie, as well as Otis Redding. Soul music is defined as a something powerful and it was a mainstream black pop in American music. Soul music had a meaningful impact in which you can feel where its coming from. Soul music had grown and changed, and it kept up with time.
A type of music which was and is part of many today is soul. It is said that the church is its home. The term soul first applied in the late 1950...
Black people were disenfranchised and to make it in the industry, they turned to music.
On July 5, 1954, forty-nine days after the Supreme Court handed down the decision on the Brown vs. Board of Education case, a nineteen year old truck driver recorded an Arthur Crudup blues track called “That’s All Right Mama” (Bertrand 46). Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips found the cut and played it on his radio show a few weeks later. He received calls all over from people, mostly white, who wanted to hear more. He quickly located the musician and brought him into the studio for an interview, audiences were shocked to learn that Elvis was white (Bertrand 46). Elvis’s music brought black music into white mainstream pop culture almost overnight. The breakthrough of Elvis happening almost simultaneously with the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement was no accident. As any scholar of the humanities would tell you that often times after a great war there exists a time of enlightenment, prosperity and reformation. One such cultural revival took place in this nation after the closing of the Second World War. The progressive thought of the ‘50s nurtured new ideas and cultures including the Civil Rights Movement and the fast spread of rock and roll. In an essay entitled “Color” written to Esquire magazine in 1962 the essayist James Baldwin describes the revival of white culture after WWII with the following passage:
Roy, W. (2010). Reds, whites, and blues social movements, folk music, and race in the United States. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Record labels played a big role in bringing the black struggle to the mainstream through their artists music. In particular, two labels were the frontrunners for producing records that would continue to promote addressing the black struggle: Motown and Stax. Motown, a black-owned label, was seen as a more assimilationist and industrial record label that was successful in making hits that appealed to both black and white audiences, earning it the nickname of “Hitsville, U.S.A.” Stax, a white-owned label, was seen as being more representative of black self-reliance and an overall more authentic, black record label that appealed much more to the black audience, earning it the nickname of “Soulsville, U.S.A.” Despite their differences, both labels used their own style of music production and distribution to help surface the black struggle in very similar ways, and in turn they helped pave the way for black consciousness to emerge through soul music.
Blues music emerged as an African American music genre derived from spiritual and work songs at the end of the 19th century and became increasingly popular across cultures in America. The Blues is the parent to modern day genre’s like jazz, rhythm and blue and even rock and roll, it uses a call-and-response pattern. While Blues songs frequently expressed individual emotions and problems, such as lost love, they were also used to express despair at social injustice. Even though Blues singing was started by men, it became increasing popular among women, creating one of the first feminist movements. Ma Rainey, a pioneer in women’s
By 1945, nearly everyone in the African American community had heard gospel music (2). At
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
By the end of World War I, Black Americans were facing their lowest point in history since slavery. Most of the blacks migrated to the northern states such as New York and Chicago. It was in New York where the “Harlem Renaissance” was born. This movement with jazz was used to rid of the restraints held against African Americans. One of the main reasons that jazz was so popular was that it allowed the performer to create the rhythm. With This in Mind performers realized that there could no...
The development of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the late 1940s and early 1950s by young African Americans coincided with a sensitive time in America. Civil rights movements were under way around the country as African Americans struggles to gain equal treatment and the same access to resources as their white neighbors. As courts began to vote in favor of integration, tensions between whites and blacks escalated. As the catchy rhythm of Rock ‘n’ Roll began to cross racial boundaries many whites began to feel threatened by the music, claiming its role in promoting integration. This became especially problematic as their youth became especially drawn to ...
Paul, Minnesota University, Banfield informs students of Rhythm and Blues' history and how it came to be from unsung musicians who innovated the sound during the end of World War II to its involvement with Hip-Hop. Its sub-genres include Doo-Wop, Soul, Funk, Dance and Disco that are credited for evolving the music's five decade reign on the charts. Along with artists such as The Temptations, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Bobby Womack and Isaac Hayes who gave this music its raw energy and prowess to define an era of racial tension and the need for change. From the late 60's to the early 70's, Rhythm and Blues brought out a gritty sound to shout for a need to change by giving a voice to those who want change to happen. According to his book, Representing Black Music Culture: Then, Now, and When Again? Banfield talks about the “the rise and (he argues) the fall of black music from the early 1960s to the present. However, Banfield paints a vivid picture of the development of and trends in the music that have led up to the current rap scene and pressure on artists to become publicity. Sensations rather than bona fide
“Rhythm and blues is a combination of soulful singing and a strong backbeat” (Cahoon, 2004). Rhythm and blues was created by and for African Americans between the ends of World War II. By 1946 the style of swing music started to fade away where early R&B artists started breaking away from using big bands and emphasizing using blues-style vocals and song structures. “Billboard magazine coined the term rhythm and blues to rename its’, “race records,” chart in 1949, reflecting changes in the social status, economic power, and musical tastes of African Americans” (Cahoon, 2004). Rhythm and blues was like a stepping stone for the popularity of Rock and Roll. There were several focal points for rhythm and blues music, but the main focal point for early R&B originated in Atlanta, Georgia. The first radio station to play rhythm and blues was in 1949. Even though the R&B late night show on WGST was a big hit in the African American community, it featured a white disc jockey named Zenas “Daddy” Sears. (Cahoon, 2004)