The musicians and producers for early Motown years changed music forever. Most of what you’re listening to on the radio would sound very different if it weren’t for Motown. Some of the greatest performers in the history of our earth stated with Motown. Let’s discuss.
I agree, Motown brought together blues, jazz, gospel and mixed it together and brought these into the Pop mainstream, they allowed people to access these genre's of music who would of never of heard them otherwise, they were instrumental in the civil rights movement and allow the world to hear their music. Also, a lot of modern music, RnB, Hip-Hop, Rave ( the amen break) drum n bass etc have used samples and whole songs in some cases and used Motown and soul/funk/jazz music to create from and inspire. Just my 2 pennies for what that's worth. X
Motown was seminal in the evolution of music not just in the 60's and 70's but as already said, the impact on today's music was/is immense. Not just the artists whose names became household names, but the songwriters, producers, staff musicians. It was one of - if not - the most important contribution to music both in terms of music itself and the socio-political world in which it existed and continues to influence. Berry Gordy was an accidental visionary. The musicians he discovered and the songs he chose and promoted will "sail on" forever. The young, gifted and black changed the world.
there's a reason why Motown has been so influential in so many genres of music since its heydey in the 60s/70s... artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, The Temptations, Gladys Knight, The Four Tops, The Supremes, The Jackson 5 (and Michael Jackson himself)....the list goes on, but just these artists alone ....well, most of them are the gold standard in R&B, soul, etc for a reason. They brought the goods like no one had done before or since and thank goodness they did. Take away their influence from any number of popular artists that came after them and you get a clearly worse product. No thanks. 'The sounds of motown' was / is/ will forever be awesome. No debate or doubt in my mind! And honestly, I don't even know what the 'counter-point' would even be....lol
Tamla as the precursor to Motown certainly set a historic foundation and was, as you saying, "carving a better future for music", but for me it all falls in the Berry Gordy bucket containing great songwriters and artists that turned out classic after classic, whether Tamla or Motown or Tamla Motown. If you are looking for counterpoints I'd suggest bringing up the likes of Chess Records - them blues had their place too....
Motown or Tamla or both is a large part of my music collection. One thing that's annoying is when they are sampled so that some idiot can chant over them instead of writing their own stuff. Can't come up with any reasons against Motown, but there are alternatives that are equally good. One of my favourites is Joe Bonamassa . At age 12 he opened for BB King.... Then there's the Blues Brothers. One of the best gigs I've been at was Neil Young with support act Booker T. In reality that was Neil Young and The Blues Brothers Band jamming for the best of two hours. A
Counter point Chaz and Dave beat them all hands down, how can you beat lines like "You've got more rabbit than Sainsburys" and "Snooker loopy nuts are we..."
Counter, counter point: Easily: Straight up proovin' We can getcha groovin' This tracks boomin' It ain't no hype! Watch us wreck the mike! - PJ and Duncan
not as daft as it sounds. Chas , yes with an S not a Z was once in the Outlaws playing alongside Richie Blackmore and supporting acts such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley and Gene Vincent. I guess Chas and Dave didn't make it across the Atlantic probably because of their very London/Cockney (pronounced cock no) style. A
Forgot to mention that Chas played bass for Deep Purple for a gig when Glover was unwell. (Purple is one of all time favourite bands). And it was in Aberdeen - this city I've been living in for August half my life now. A
Only a bit of Motown from that list. The Outlaws is new to me, they didn't make it in the UK I reckon, and I know a little Deep Purple, but my heavy metal tastes don't go heavier than Led Zepplin mostly. A few Metallica songs are great. My father was in a video with Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden.
The Outlaws were a British Band. I'm from a very musical family. Even the sewing machine was a Singer
Haha. The Outlaws were from Tampa Florida according to Wiki. We are a very musical family. My sister is a voice coach, and flutist, I sing, guitar, piano. Eldest son plays bass and both sons a bit of guitar. One son 16 is a very accomplished pianist as well. It's lovely to be able to make music
Lots of great music came from Motown. And that influenced many. Three of the biggest of all time had a huge influence from Motown. Bob Seger; and Glenn Frey of the Eagles (the biggest selling band of all time at one point) were both from the Detroit area. So they were right in the middle of it. And Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates (the biggest selling duo) has talked about its influence on him. And those are just mega stars that I can think of. Michael McDonald is another that came to mind right after I typed that. And the list goes on and on just in the USA. In the UK The Stones, Beatles, Clapton and many more list many Motown influences in addition to Blues and of course Chuck Berry, B B King, Little Richard and Bo Didley. Personally my favorite type of music is rock. But I like everything except Rap and Hip Hop. Being a kid in the 1970s my folks played a bit of everything and plenty of Motown was included. So I can say a great deal of it was great and it’s why it’s considered classics. I can also say as a student of history that I find the subject of musical influences interesting and fun.
Music was a big part in my life growing up and was always on somewhere in the house Being the youngest I ended up listen to a variety Mum always had either elvis or reggae Brothers was more Motown, classic soul ,northen soul , blues or ska/reggae Sister was more cheesey 70s Most of what I grew up listening too still features high up on my Spotify play lists As they say can't beat a classic
I play bass guitar. James Jamerson is one of the biggest influences to my playing. So yeah, I dig Motown.
I’m only 49 but Motown and 60’s rock was always on the radio and I probably am more familiar with that than new music