W6 - Motown Pop and Southern Soul ( )

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Georgia Blankenship
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1 W6 - Motown Pop and Southern Soul ( ) Week 6 Preamble Black pop history Race issues sensitive issues new rise of black pop Motown, Detroit Berry Gordy Jnr crossover black pop to white audiences sold out its blackness for a white audience Southern Soul Stax, Memphis more black not trying to be white more authentic than Motown James Brown iconic black pride and identity no concessions for white audiences, but still crossed over Hitsville, USA: Motown Label established Berry Gordy Jr 1959 most successful black owned business in the contry started as a regional indie label Gordy had a vision to create a label to crossover to white audiences pro boxer jazz musicians worked on assembly line for car company started a record store specialising in jazz eventually failed he realised the real money was in pop and rnb writing songs Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite Lonely Teardrops, #1 on r&b chart, 58

2 That s Why I Love You, 59 Took advice to stay in Detroit established Motown in 1959 parallel structure to the Brill Building but went on longer Brill early 60s Motown late 60s Early hits on Motown Barrett Strong, Money, #2 rnb 960 Marvelletes, Please Mr Postman, # on rnb and pop charts The Contours Do You Love Me, # imitations of what other labels had been doing Crossover pursuing a white audience where are the people who have money to spend mostly in white community artists couldn t really mix in polite society he helped to shape artists image for crossover criticised for selling out no different to what Chuck Berry did writing for white teens Chuck Berry philosophy, Brill Building methods Etiquette and Choreography of Motown assembly line of artists Detroit home of auto industry concerned about image of his stars hired Maxine Powell to start charm school of Motown teach them how to be polite, etiquette and deportment he wanted all of his artists to be presentable in the white house or buckingham palace artists hated it many have since said they appreciate it now Hired Cholly Atkins broadway dance choreographer dance moves for the acts Motown also managed the artists coordinate tours, releases, marketing Gordy had a lot of control over shaping artists careers Songwriters and producers Studio band that played on all records

3 Songwriters: Berry Gordy Mickey Stevenson Smokey Robinson Brian Holland Lamont Dozier Eddie Holland Norman Whitfield Studio band The Funk Brothers Detroit version of The Wrecking Crew from Phil Spector records Standing in the Shadows of Motown, 2002 movie James Jamerson on bass Bennie Benjamin on drums Earl Van Dyke on piano Had own devoted studio was in use constantly The Motown Performers Parallel to the american response to the Beatles in the mid to late 60s Smokey Robinson and the Miracles Shop Around #2 60 Gordy took recording home and decided the tempo was wrong they re-recorded in the middle of the night Gordy played piano You ve Really Got A Hold On Me #8, 62 Beatles covered in early days Mary Wells The One Who Really Loves You, 62 My Guy, #1 64 Holland Dozier Holland writing/production team The Supremes quintessential Motown group Diana Ross Mary Wilson Florence Ballard started as The Primettes Temptations were called The Primes

4 no hits Supremes Gordy decided Diana Ross should do all the lead vocals 3rd try, #1 hit summer 64 Where Did Our Love Go Baby Love, 64 Come See About Me, 64 Stop In The Name Of Love, 65 Back in my Arms Again, 65 The Four Tops formed in 54 signed to Chess records moved to Motown in 64 Levi Stubbs on vocals orchestras on records Baby I Need your Loving 64 I Can t Help Myself, #1, 65 Standing in the Shadows of Love, #1 66 Martha and the Vandellas Martha reeves pro singer, hired at Motown as a secretary first doing backing singing Marvin Gaye s, Stubborn Kind of Fellow Heat Wave, 63, #4 Dancin in the Streets, 64, #2 Nowhere to Run, 65 Jimmy Mack, 67 Other acts worked with more than one producer switched producers until they had a hit The Temptations came together from The Primes and The Distance famous for choreography they did their own routines, not the labels choreography more show offy moves than the others David Ruffin vocals Eddie Kendricks vocals Motown s falsetto The Way You Do The things You do #11, 64 Smokey Robinson wrote it and produced My Girl, 65, #1 Smokey Robinson wrote it and produced Norman Whitfield writer Aint Too Proud to Beg, #13, 66 I Know I m Losing You, #8, 66

5 Marvin Gaye worked with variety of producers Pride and Joy, 63 Mickey Stevenson How Sweet to be Loved By You, 65 HDH Aint That Peculiar, 65 Smokey Robinson First Motown concept album, What s Going On role in producing his own records in the 70s Stevie Wonder child star Fingertips Pt 2, 63 #1 almost recorded by mistake live recording went so well it was released bass player had already left the stage and had to run back Uptight Everythings Alright, 66 #1 Mickey Stevenson Soulsville, USA: Stax and Southern Soul Atlantic records were there before rock n roll throughout rock n roll signed a lot of big rock acts in the 70s In the 60s made the transition from sweet soul to southern soul gospel influences raw sound Solomon Burke If You Need me, 63 #2 Got to Get You Off my Mind, 65 #1 Jerry Wexler producing his own artists for Atlantic and licensed regional hits rebrand songs and buy licensing rights Stax Records, Memphis, formed 1960 Jim Stewart Estelle Axton licensed and distributed by Atlantic Records

6 Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd Dowd helped them upgrade recording gear Volt was a subsidiary of Stax records Stax is referred to as a style southern soul Parallels between motown and stax devoted songwriters and producers not as organised as motown Isaac Hayes and David Porter Steve Cropper Otis Redding Studio band Booker T and the MGs Booker T Jones, organ Steve Cropper, guitar Duck Dunn, bass Al Jackson, drums Green Onions Instrumental hits backing band working with Stax groups looser than at motown writing tunes as they went with artist cooperative Horns not on all records, but on many influential to Beatles Got to get you Into My Life the Stax horns The Stax Performers Stable of artists who developed southern soul sound seen as a contrast to Motown more raw Otis Redding Stax Mr Pitiful 65, #41 Respect, 65 #35 later covered by Aretha Frankllin Try a Little Tenderness, 66 #25 monterey pop festival spring 67

7 with booker t and the mgs legendary Otis moment helped launch his career with a whiter audience died in plane crash December 1967 Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, #1, 68 after he died Sam and Dave Signed to Atlantic, loaned to Stax Isaac Hayes and David Porter Soul Man, 67 #2 covered by the Blues Brothers reignited a passion for this music Wilson Pickett signed to Atlantic In the midnight Hour, 65 #23 written by Steve Cropper and Wilson Pickett recorded in Memphis Wexler at the recording session suggested the delayed backbeat sound Jim Stewart at Stax forbid Wilson Pickett from recording at the Stax studios Muscle Shoals, Alabama Joe Tex, Hold on to What You Got, 65 #5 recorded at Fame studios Percy Sledge, When a Man Loves a Woman, 66 #1 recorded at Quincey studios in Muscle Shoals Wexler moved Wilson Pickett down to Muscle Shoals Land of a 1000 Dances, 66 Mustang Sally, 66 Funky Broadway, 67 Aretha Franklin the queen of soul end of the 60s gospel singer father is Rev CL Franklin minister at gospel New Bethel church, Detroit Michigan Initially signed to Columbia records they didn t know quite what to do with her when contract was up for renewal, Wexler convinced her to move to Atlantic took her to Fame studios I Never Loved a Man, 67 #37 session dissolved before even a Bside completed finished the single off in the NY studio where she subsequently recorded most of her music

8 Respect, 67 #1 Chain of Fools, 68 #2 Think, 68 #7 in blues brothers movie Motown, Stax, the British Invasion, and the American Response Parallel tracks through the mid 60s Beatles invasion folk rock artists Motown paralleled the British invasion continued going strong Stax rise a little later Black pop remained on the pop charts throughout the 60s the rise of Stax broadened the market more unabashedly black church and gospel traditions Old school business practices remain in force writers and producers Motown and Stax didn t react to the British invasion than white pop did they just continued doing their thing Similarities between Motown and Stax both had their own studios devoted songwriters studio bands Motown musicians were almost all black couple of white guys, but mostly black Stax was white owned studio band was integrated Stylistic-wise its considered to be different Stax recordings more loose sounding more improvisation, gospel style Motown were very controlled and produced as Atlantic records had sounded against Chess Records Motown more pop oriented concerned with pop crossover

9 James Brown James Brown makes no concessions to white taste yet has many crossover hits Born in S Carolina raised in Georgia had group The Fabulous Flames booked by Little Richard as support act for gigs James Brown did the gigs for Little Richard First big hits Please Please Please, 56 King records in Cincinatti Syd Nathan as a mentor mostly in Doo wop style in the 50s Change in the style in the 60s The Stage show of the James Brown Experience The Hardest working man in show business stage show famous athleticism, dancing influence for Michael Jackson close concert routine acts exhausted, delirious roadies come and lead him off he almost gets off stage then throws the coat off and starts back up became tradition for his shows Live album Live at the Apollo, #2, 63 showcases his range captures the energy black style, for black audience yet sells on pop charts Albums were secondary things at the time Music becomes more soul influenced in 60s tight and driving style innocuous, repetitive lyrics not telling a story lyrics are like a percussion instrument Out of Sight, 64 Papas Got a Brand New Bag, 65 #8 I Got You, I Feel Good, 65 It s a Man s Man s Man s World, 66

10 Cold Sweat Pt 1, 67 Identifiable style you know it s James Brown Why so popular with white audiences trademark sound emphasis on groove aggressive vocals quite funny, not serious not threatening Motown goes for elegance James Brown goes for pure feel firing musician for making mistakes on stage very thoroughly rehearsed band Assassination of ML King, April 68 turning point in black music and communities riots around the country new racial tension in the wake of death idea of black pride James Brown became a peacemaker the day after the assassination scheduled to do concert at Boston garden mayor thought it wasn t a good idea televised the concert for free only a few thousand went to the show brought Boston community together quelled a potential riot

Regional Centers for R&B/Soul

Regional Centers for R&B/Soul Stax in Memphis, and Memphis sound generally Motown in Detroit: pop crossover Chicago sound: Curtis Mayfield Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama Atlantic Records, NYC: