History Lesson- Soul and the 60's Music Revolution

I became aware of the Motown sound nearly three decades after it was “hip”. The music of Motown, and to an equal extent, Stax, are still relevant because they differed from their contemporaries. Four decades after their composition(s), the brands’ opuses still hold significant musical weight because their sound was simple and appealed to a broad audience. The solely African American rhythm and blues music of the 1950s and early 1960s branched out into the musical mainstream with the help of a number of musical acts. Rhythm and blues was banned from a number of mainstream radio stations, white radio stations, because the music was viewed as subversive. The rhythm and blues acts of the late 1950s that heralded the sound under a new musical banner, rock n’ roll, blazed a path for the Motown, Stax, Brit rock, and jazz fusion acts of the 1960s. White and black acts including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly (to name a few) helped redefine popular music. Though many music critics will argue that the 1960s was the decade dominated by rock n’ roll, the various genres tested the limits of their respective sounds. Rock acts, bourne of rhythm and blues, incorporated everything from jazz to world music. Jazz artists like Miles Davis were intent on keeping their genre relevant by incorporating psychedelic rock and electronic sonorities. Though lambasted by critics, the musical acts of the 1960s redefined our nation and our world’s musical perspectives. Below are a few defining tracks from 60s artist that (I feel) changed music forever:

1) Otis Redding- “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (The Sad Song)” and “A Change Is Gonna Come”: Otis Redding and the Bar Kays were one of the most soulful and energetic live acts of the 1960s. Both the “Sad Song” and “A Change…” are some of Redding’s better balads (with the latter a cover of Sam Cooke’s classic ballad). Redding and most of the original members of the Bar Kays, his backing band when he toured, died tragically in a late 1960s plane crash.

2) The Animals- “House of the Rising Sun”: The Animals and the psychedelic rock revolution that dominated most of the 60s redefined popular music. The group was among the many British rock acts that was inspired by the black rhythm and blues acts of the 1950s. They interpolated that sound into their own to develop a rich, soulful tone. Lead vocalist Eric Burdon’s work on this track alone sends chills down my spine.

3) The Beatles- “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Helter Skelter”, “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds” (take your pick of any album they did when they were experimenting with psychedelic drugs and you’ll be amazed): You can’t discuss popular music in the 1960s without mentioning the Beatles. Their earlier works were pop laden opuses with a great degree of radio airplay. As the decade progressed, the group experimented with drugs, made several movies, delved into world music, and even made the silly mistake of recording an album with Phil Spector. Nonetheless, the writing team of Paul McCartney and John Lennon was one of the most prodigious in the history of rock music.

4) Smokey Robinson and the Miracles- “Tears of a Clown”, “Ooo, Baby Baby”, “If You Can Want”, and “Second That Emotion”, “Going To A Go-Go”: Smokey Robinson is someone who will always be cool in my eyes. I saw him perform a few years ago (I’m pretty sure he’s in his late 70’s) and he sounds as good as he did on the Motown songs he wrote and performed 40 years ago. Robinson was one of Motown’s most prodigious song writers, composing tracks for his label mates and other artists (he composed “My Guy” performed by Mary Wells, “My Girl” made famous by the Temptations as well as Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain). Robinson left the Miracles in 1970 to pursue a solo career. The Miracles continued to produce hits including 1970’s “Love Machine”.

5) Marvin Gaye- “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing (w/ Tammi Tyrell)”, “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby”, and “Heard It Through the Grapevine”: The music Marvin Gaye recorded in the 1960s was in stark contrast to what he wrote and recorded in the 1970s. The socially conscious “What’s Going On?” and the sexually charged “I Want U” were a quantum leap from the poppy duets performed with Tammi Tyrell in the 1960s. It was, nevertheless, the genesis of a 60s music legend.

6) The Velvet Underground and Nico- “Heroin” and “I’m Waiting for the Man”: The Velvet’s influence on rock music is undeniable. They never enjoyed a great degree of commercial success, but the critics couldn’t (and still cannot) say enough about this legendary musical act‘s influence on the rock genre and all the avant garde rock that came after it. The group’s first album (colloquially known as the “banana cover album”) was one of the greatest cult rock albums of the 1960s. It was produced by the band’s manager, artist Andy Warhol, who introduced the band to a German model named Nico. Nico was the source of a lot of turmoil in the band and she was never truly treated as a member of the group. “Heroin” and “I’m Waiting…” were two songs that ostensibly discussed 60s drug culture.

7) The Rolling Stones- “Under My Thumb”, “Paint It Black”, “Ruby Tuesday”, and “Gimme Shelter”: The Rolling Stones were white boys, British white boys, that knew the blues. Their aforementioned songs are some of the greatest rhythm and blues songs of the decade though they were considered a hard blues/rock n’ roll band. Mick Jagger’s cacophonous voice was the perfect accompaniment to the band’s gritty sound. He was sex on a microphone.

8) Jimi Hendrix- “All Along the Watchtower”, “Little Wing”, “Angel”, and “Stone Free”: Jimi was another 60s legend who was posthumously celebrated. A decade or so after his passing, fans were drawn to his sound and style. The song “All Along…” was his only song that hit the musical charts.

9) James Brown and the JBs- “Night Train”, “Cold Sweat”, “Get Up (I Feel Like A Sex Machine)”,  “Doing It To Death” (the JBs), and “Cold Sweat Pt. I and II”: The self proclaimed “Hardest Working Man in Show Business” was a phenom in the 1960s with the tightest, most disciplined live act of any rhythm and blues outfit. His backup band, the JBs, were a who’s-who of 1970s funk instrumentalists. Maceo Parker, William “Bootsy” Collins and his brother “Catfish” were just a few members of the legendary backup outfit. Brown’s sound is so synonymous with 60s R&B music that it’s no wonder he also holds another nom de guerre: “Godfather of Soul”.

10) The Who- “Substitute”, “My Generation”, “Magic Bus”, “I Can’t Explain”, and “Boris the Spider”: The Who was another group that came to the states with the wave of British boy groups during the British invasion. Their sound wasn’t as edgy as the Stones yet not as pop laden as the early Beatles records, yet anticipated punk and grunge by being TOUGH. Keith Moon's and John Entwistle are one of the all time great rhythm sections in all of popular music and make their more adventurous songs such as "A Quick One While He's Away" and their more theatrical operatic albums work so well, because they never loose sight of their groovy roots in rhythm and blues.

And yeah, feel free to disagree with me…I dare you.



-Rodney