  |
|
|
|
Black Music Since the 70sAfter the Disco Era, Urban America’s Sounds Have Changed ProfoundlyAs inner city dwellers create America's musical trends that started in the 40s, there has been a concerted effort to make music that depicts their reality.
FunkFunk started in the 60s, but became popular during the 70s. James Brown and his band, the JBs, started it similar to Dizzy and Bird’s creation of bebop – through unscheduled rehearsals and experimentation. The JBs initiated the trend of using instruments carrying the melody – horns, keyboards and the guitar – as rhythm section instruments – percussion (George 101). This technique created a harder and more pronounced beat than the R & B sound. Brown’s first funk hit was “Cold Sweat” in the mid-60s. Brown became the “King of Soul” probably because his funk sound was, in many ways, better dance music than traditional R & B. It made people move their bodies involuntarily. Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic popularized funk during the 70s with their hard-hitting beats. DiscoJames Brown would certainly argue that he created disco because his funk sound was nothing but dance music. Brown would be accurate because dance music was his forte during the 60s when the soul ballad was dominant. In this sense, disco is an extension of funk that changed its face during the 70s as a result of various musical and societal influences. Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes under the guidance of writers McFadden and Whitehead were also influential in starting disco. In the early 70s they made the dance tunes “Bad Luck” and “The Love I Lost” (Taylor 176). The "crossover" success of these songs inspired the creation and promotion of upbeat music – The Sound of Philadelphia – even though groups like Sly and the Family Stone and the Ohio Players were already making dance tunes with funky beats. As dance music became popular by the mid-70s, many clubs had turned into discotheques where the dance music played came primarily from black groups and solo acts like B.T. Express, Kool and the Gang, Eddie Kendricks and Gwen McCrae. However, by 1976 Donna Summer was on her was to becomiing the "Queen of Disco" after her disco hit “Love to Love You Baby” (Fox 297). From this point on, disco turned into a smoothed out sound without funky beats and often without dance rhythms. Rap MusicRap began in the mid-70s when DJs at parties started using two turntables to mix the sounds of two of the same or two different records. In an effort to keep up with this innovation, the person on the microphone, the MC, attempted to match his voice to the rhythms of the DJ’s mixes. In other words, the MC’s voice rode the rhythms of the DJ’s sounds instead of speaking to the audience while music played. The musical and oral collaboration of the DJ and the MC created rap music. Hip-HopRap started with the innovations of the DJ who created quicker but danceable beats influenced more by funk than disco. Then the MC, who eventually became the “rapper,” created words usually in rhyme to match the rhythms of the DJ. Later, pioneers of rap such as Lovebug Star-ski, Junebug, Hollywood and Grandmaster Flash created a term to denote this new urban music – hip-hop. The pioneers of hip-hop, including Africa Bambata, decided that it would be a type of musical and creative life-style. Incorporated into hip-hop with the DJs and rappers were graffiti artists and urban dancers, usually break-dancers sometimes referred to as “b-boys.” Therefore, rap evolved to became only one aspect of hip-hop. Sources:Fox, Ted. Showtime at the Apollo. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983. George, Nelson. The Death of Rhythm & Blues. A Plume Book, 1988. Taylor, Marc. A Touch of Classic Soul. Jamaica, New York: Aloiv Publishing Col., 1996
The copyright of the article Black Music Since the 70s in R&B/Soul Music is owned by William Cook. Permission to republish Black Music Since the 70s in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
