Music/Society Modern Wrld (W3)
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SoulFunkBlackPower.pptGet on Up!: Soul, Funk & Black Power
“Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud”
“What’d I Say”
“Respect”
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The Meaning of Soul
- What is soul? What did it mean for Af-Am community? When did it become attached to popular music?
- The essence of being Af-Am; 1958; Coltrane Soultrane; sass, attitude, self-expression, swagger, pride, power, growth, Black identification/solidarity, spirituality,
- c. 1965, Af-Am equated “soul” with the struggle to re-assert Black identity and culture
- Soul referred to the spiritual roots of the music, soul singers brought church/gospel music into the mainstream, using sermon vocal style, call-and-response, harmonies, rhythms, melodies, themes
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Ray & The Roots of Soul Music
- Ray Charles (1930-2004) - “Genius of Soul,” played R&B and gospel, toured w/jazz and blues artists, and comics;
- 1952 signed with Atlantic records, Jerry Wexler v.p.
- 1st hit, “Don’t You Know,” “I’ve Got a Woman” 1953, from “I’ve Got a Savior”; “Hallelujah, I Love Her So”
- 1957, debut album for Atlantic
- 1959 - “ What ’ d I Say ” , 1st top ten hit
- 1955 - “ This Little Girl of Mine ” based on gospel song “This Little Light of Mine”, created controversy
- Incorporated Black church/gospel music into pop music (swing, harmonies, vocal style;
- Brought sacred music into secular context; some (more conservative) audiences argued that Charles was wrongly profiting from church music, cheapening the spiritual message of gospel
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Blues artists lowell fulson, ruth brown,, comic jackie moms mabley, eddie guitar slim jones
Timothy 6:10 ‘for the love of money is the root of evil’
Ray Charles, cont.
- Major hits; “Georgia on My Mind,” (1960) “Hit The Road Jack,” (1961) “Unchain My Heart” (1961)
- 1962, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music vol. 1 & 2; “ I Can ’ t Stop Lovin ’ You ” (by Don Gibson)
- Crossover - album merging two distinct genres; sounds of integration; Country and Soul
- Recommended Movie: Ray, 2004 (feat. Jamie Foxx)
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Soul Stars and Stax
- Sam Cooke - “You Send Me” (1957), “Chain Gang” (1960) “ A Change is Gonna Come ” (1963) anthem of civil rights (tells history of Af-Am struggle)
- Wilson Pickett - “I Found a Love” (1962), “ In the Midnight Hour ” “Mustang Sally” (1965)
- Sam & Dave - “ Soul Man, ” (1967) “Hold On, I’m Comin’” (1966)
- Otis Redding “King of Soul” - “Try a Little Tenderness” (1966), “ Sitting on the Dock of the Bay ” (1967), 1968 death
- All had strong roots in Af-Am church, i.e. Gospel music, fused w/R&B, jazz, and rock
- Pickett, S&D, Redding recorded for Stax label, w/Booker T and the M.G.’s (Memphis group, racially integrated house band)
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Sam cooke – crossover, appeal to white audiences, smooth style; look; activist;
Sam Cooke; b. miss., moved to chicago, doo-wop; sun gospel, sim contraversy as charles; crossover secular/sacred;
SAR label then RCA
Booker T; ‘Green Onions”; donald duck dunn, Anton Fig, Steve Jordan…Al Jackson Jr.,
James Brown (1933-2006)
- “The Godfather of Soul” - Gospel roots;
- toured the Chitlin ’ circuit (juke joints) w/Famous Flames;
- 1st hit “ Please, Please, Please ” (1956)
- 1962, “Night Train,” “Try Me”, on 1963, Live at the Apollo album; 1964, “Out of Sight”- proto funk sound
- 1965, “ Papa ’ s Got a Brand New Bag, ” “I Got You (I Feel Good)”1st top ten hits, funk sound begins
- Development of funk sound w/ syncopated drum beats, horn stabs, rhythmic vocals, muted guitar strumming
- “Cold Sweat,” “I Got that Feelin’” (1968)
- “Funky Drummer” (1969); influenced development of hip-hop w/ drum break (sampled on Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”)
- 1970, “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine”
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- What is Black Power? Who are its major figures? Why movement?
- Race riots/rebellions - Harlem (1964), Watts (1965), Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco (1966), Detroit and Newark (1967); “Soul Brother” signs put in shop windows to show solidarity and to protect from ‘looting’
- Mid 60s, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); Stokely Carmichael, Willie Ricks; 1966 shooting of James Meredith fueled
- disillusioned with civil rights acts; frustrated with pace of social & economic change; jobs, housing, and education discrimination
- rejected non-violence, joined leaders like Malcolm X (rec. reading: Autobiography of Malcolm X), & Black Nationalist ideology advocated separate nation (also see Republic of New Afrika, founded in Detroit)
- Self-empowerment, Black pride, Black solidarity (close ranks)
- Black Panthers, organization for defense of Af-Am, and community development; class struggle (founders: Huey Newton and Bobby Seal in Oakland, CA, 1966)
- The term “soul” became synonymous with Blackness
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Killing of Af-Am veteran Danny thomas incited detroit riots; video 4:11
Soul, Funk, & Black Power
- 1965, DJs began to identify Af-Am music as “soul”
- Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions, “ Keep on Pushing ” (1964), adopted by MLK, Jesse Jackson; also inspired by Carmichael “People Get ready” (1965), “We’re a Winner” (1967), “This is My Country” (1968), “Choice of Colors” (1969); composed soundtrack for movie Super Fly
- James Brown, “ Say it Loud, I ’ m Black and I ’ m Proud ” (1968); “I Don’t Want Nobody to Give me Nothing” (1969), “Get Up, Get into It and Get Involved” (1970)’ “Talkin’ Loud and Saying Nothing” (1972), “Funky President” (1974)
- The Isley Brothers, “Freedom” (1970), “Give More Power to the People” (1971); the O’Jay’s “ Backstabbers ”, “Love Train” (1972); The Staple Singers “You’ve Got to Earn it,“ Respect Yourself ” (1971)
- Aretha Franklin “Soul Sister #1” - daughter of Baptist preacher, “ Respect ” (1967), (Redding 1965) feminist, and Af-Am empowerment; “Think,” “Chain of Fools”
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Melvin peebles sweet sweetback’s badass song, 1971
Furthering
Funk
- Sly and the Family Stone; interracial, mixed-gender group; “Dance to the Music” (1968); “Everyday People” (1969) “Thank you (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin” (1971) – written in honor of MLK
- Kool and the Gang – “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight” (1970) (in reference to MLK assassination), became more pop, less political “Jungle Boogie” (1973)
- War - “The World is a Ghetto” (1972); “Slipping into Darkness” (1971); political/social messages
P-Funk
- George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic – used space and comic book imagery to express a funky political message
- “Chocolate City” (1975) – lyrics, imagining Black presence in political positions (a chocolate city is one with a majority Black population; Washington, DC was one of the first; Detroit became one in the mid 1970s)
- “ Mothership Connection ”
- (Inspired by Sun Ra (jazz musician) and Afrofuturism – Black sci-fi and speculative fiction; escape from racism and oppression, to a black utopia in outer space and/or the future, use of Egyptian and other Afrocentric icons)
More Funk & Futurism
- Earth, Wind, and Fire
- Formed in Chicago, debut album 1971
- “Fantasy” (1977)
- References to Africa (Black pride)
“roots” movement
Afrocentricism, and Afrofuturism
combined
Drummer, leader, Maurice White
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Blues artists lowell fulson, ruth brown,, comic jackie moms mabley, eddie guitar slim jones
Timothy 6:10 ‘for the love of money is the root of evil’
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Sam cooke – crossover, appeal to white audiences, smooth style; look; activist;
Sam Cooke; b. miss., moved to chicago, doo-wop; sun gospel, sim contraversy as charles; crossover secular/sacred;
SAR label then RCA
Booker T; ‘Green Onions”; donald duck dunn, Anton Fig, Steve Jordan…Al Jackson Jr.,
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Killing of Af-Am veteran Danny thomas incited detroit riots; video 4:11
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Melvin peebles sweet sweetback’s badass song, 1971
Drummer, leader, Maurice White
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