Chapter 6 Motown Pop and Southern Soul

Chapter 6: Motown Pop and Southern Soul I. Introduction i. Attitudes toward African American music began to change in the late 1950s; crossover was so prevalent in the mid-1960s that Billboard stopped tracking R&B separately for a number of months. ii. During the 1960s, black musicians from places like Detroit, Chicago, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and Atlanta had a big impact on the pop charts. iii. Musical trends mirrored national attitudes toward race. II. Berry Gordy Jr. and Black Music for White Audiences i. Adapting a Brill Building Production Model a. After World War II, Berry Gordy Jr. worked odd jobs and dabbled in the music business. b. In 1959, Gordy formed Motown Records; he recognized the commercial potential of crossover. c. GordyÕs production method was derived from Brill Building practices; he gave songwriting and production duties to specialists. ii. The Studio, the Band, and Quality Control a. The Motown company studio was headquartered in Detroit; the company employed skilled studio musicians, a regular group known as the Funk Brothers. b. Gordy encouraged internal competition and quality control within the company. iii. Artist Development and Professional Choreography a. Gordy wanted Motown artists to project sophistication; he hired a choreographer and a finishing school teacher to work with his acts. iv. Motown Girl Groups a. The Supremes, formed in 1959, were a quintessential Motown girl group. b. Working with Holland-Dozier-Holland, the Supremes had a series of successful singles; ÒBaby LoveÓ is an example of one of these hits. c. Martha and the Vandellas were another important girl group at Motown. v. Motown Guy Groups a. The Temptations were a Motown group known for their athletic dance moves. b. The Four Tops were more experienced than many other Motown groups; like the Supremes, they produced a series of hits with HollandDozier-Holland. vi. Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder a. Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder were two of MotownÕs most significant solo artists; Gaye recorded pop and dance-oriented R&B as a soloist and with duet partners. b. Stevie Wonder signed with Motown at age eleven and had his first hit at thirteen in 1963; his career floundered briefly after his voice changed, but he began topping the charts again in 1966. III. Chicago R&B i. Chess Legacies a. Chicago was an important regional center for R&B in the 1960s. b. Professional songwriters and producers were active in Chicago; Chess Records released a broad range of black pop records. ii. Vee-Jay, Okeh, and Brunswick a. Vee-Jay Records was formed in 1953 and specialized in electric blues and vocal group music; the label had sales success in the 1960s with releases by Gene Chandler, the Four Seasons, the Beatles, and Betty Everett. b. Okeh Records was the ÒraceÓ imprint of Columbia, which was discontinued in the 1930s and successfully revived in the 1950s to produce R&B crossover; producer Carl Davis moved from Okeh to the Brunswick label, which also released pop and R&B hits. iii. The Impressions a. The Impressions were led by guitarist and songwriter Curtis Mayfield; the groupÕs music reflected the concerns of the burgeoning civil rights movement and sold well in the R&B market. IV. Southern Soul i. Atlantic in the Early 1960s a. In the late 1960s, Atlantic invested in a harder-edged style of black pop known as southern soul. b. AtlanticÕs Jerry Wexler produced successful singles for gospel- influenced singer Solomon Burke in the early 1960s. c. Southern soul has key stylistic differences from the sweet soul of artists like the Drifters; it incorporates the emotional expression often associated with gospel, and black and white listeners often perceived it as truer to African American heritage. ii. Soulsville, USA: The Memphis Connection a. Atlantic formed a distribution partnership with a smaller, Memphis-based label called Stax. b. StaxÕs studio band, Booker T. & the MGÕs, often worked without prepared arrangements; production duties and credits were shared. iii. Otis Redding a. Otis Redding was one of the most important artists recording for Stax; his crossover hits for the label featured gospel-influenced vocals and the backing of Booker T. & the MGÕs. iv. Sam and Dave a. Sam and Dave were a vocal duo sent to Stax by Jerry Wexler; they worked with the songwriting team of David Porter and Isaac Hayes on a series of successful singles. v. Wilson Pickett a. After starting his career in a vocal group, Pickett signed with Atlantic as a solo artist, and Jerry Wexler sent him to Stax; during a recording session for PickettÕs ÒIn the Midnight Hour,Ó the band created a delayed backbeat feel that became a signature sound for southern soul. b. Stax developed a distinctive house style that typically included organ, horn arrangements, a funk bass, a biting guitar sound, and no backing vocals; ÒIn the Midnight HourÓ is a good example of this sound, and it also demonstrates stylistic differences with Motown Records such as ÒBaby Love.Ó c. After a conflict with Stax in late 1965, Jerry Wexler began sending musicians to record at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama; there, Wilson Pickett recorded some of his best-known hits, which exhibit a distinctive ÒMuscle Shoals sound.Ó vi. Aretha Franklin a. Aretha Franklin was raised in Detroit, where her father was a prominent minister; she pursued a singing career in New York where she recorded for Columbia but had limited commercial success before signing with Atlantic. b. Franklin began recording for Atlantic at Fame Studios, but after a dispute, the sessions continued in New York with the same backing musicians; these New York sessions produced a number of hits, including her cover of Otis ReddingÕs ÒRespect.Ó vii. The Reverse Invasion a. Strong connections were formed between British groups and American R&B firms like Atlantic, Stax, and Motown. b. British bands traveled to R&B recording studios in America, and Motown sent a number of its artists to the UK, including a three-week tour called the Motortown Revue in March 1965. V. James Brown: On the Way to Funk i. From Doo-Wop to Soul a. James Brown began his career as a singer in the Famous Flames and as a stand-in for Little Richard; his early records were released on King. b. In 1960, Brown began to transition from a doo-wop style to the soul style for which he would become famous. c. Brown was known for his stage show, which he attempted to capture on a successful live album recorded at the Apollo Theater in 1962. d. Brown had near total control over his music from the beginning of his career. e. ÒPapaÕs Got a Brand New Bag, Pt. 1Ó demonstrates the precision BrownÕs band, the Famous Flames, could achieve. ii. Black Pride and the Birth of Funk a. To many listeners, BrownÕs musical style seemed free of the compromises made by other black artists to appeal to white audiences; his turn toward funk made him an important influence on 1970s black pop. VI. Crossover R&B i. Assimilation and Issues of Blackness a. Much of the R&B music discussed in this chapter was popular in the mainstream, and the reception of these different styles reflected larger movements of African American assimilation in the 1960s. ii. 1968: A Pivotal Year for Black Popular Music a. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. b. KingÕs death had an impact on black music; Stax Records, located near where King was shot, encountered business difficulties and was sold to Gulf and Western. c. Motown saw personnel changes in the late 1960s; after KingÕs death, MotownÕs records began to address more of the issues facing black America. !