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Motown impact on music
Motown and the civil rights movement
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He wrote dozens of hit singles and was a lead singer of his own band known as the Miracles. He was also a vice president of Motown from the 60s to the 80s. Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr.; who had previously been Motown recording artists, were responsible for some of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed hits of Motown’s mid-Sixties Golden Age. They wrote all of the big singles for bands such as Supremes, For To[ps and many more. Brian and Lamont generally wrote the music and produced it, Eddie usually wrote the lyrics.
Motown ended up with big success after some years(classic motown). Motown achieved crossover success by was major people performing for them. Many people, including The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and the Four tops performed on Motown records. Gordy was a believer that you can do anything that you set your mind to.
By creating Motown, Gordy impacted the world not only on a musical level, but also through the culture. Under his multiple record labels such as Tamla and Motown, Gordy worked with and popularized many artists such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, and The Supremes. With these artists' help, Gordy successfully achieved his goal of producing music that resonated with all kinds of different audiences, a significant feat considering the time of his work being during the civil rights movement. With the Supremes in particular, the connection between white and black culture was evident. Through the popularity of the Supremes, they became one of the many faces of Motown and were undeniable hits.
James Jamerson, according to Bjorn and Gallert, was often considered the innovator of the Motown sound (202). He was one of the pioneers on the electric bass, which helped him change the sound of music that was being played. According to Dr. Licks, an American guitarist, “James had the ability to incorporate his jazz background into Berry Gordy’s R&B influenced pop format.” Jamerson wasn’t the only one who was able to use his musical background to advance his career.
Two of the biggest groups to separate themselves from the other bands of the 1960s were the Beach Boys and the Beatles. Each had their own style of rock ’n’ roll and their own way of creating new music. The Beatles had a very British pop style at the start, which morphed into their unique style of music as they blended and mixed it with different kinds of “world music.” The band worked together to write and develop their style, which was different from the Beach Boys “whose creative center was unquestionably one member of the group” (Starr & Waterman, 305) Brian Wilson. Through Wilson, the Beach Boys developed a surfin’ style of rock ’n’ roll and like the Beatles, Wilson liked to experiment with different instruments and effects to change their sound.
The artists were expected to look and act the part at all times and at all places. The hard work eventually did pay off as Motown will have forever influenced history, the civil rights movement, and the music industry by catapulting black culture into a primarily white civilization. Motown records was founded by American songwriter, Berry Gordy, on January 12, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan. Berry borrowed just $800 dollars from his family and started up what would become one of
The music during the 20th century reflected jazz and the other genres of music during the Harlem Renaissance. “…the massive amount of genres of music available today most thanks to the Harlem Renaissance. For instance in the 1920's genres such as, Ragtime, jazz, and the blues were very popular….. And
They had an unusual barroom swagger, but their distinctive style was the guitar. Not only did they love the guitar, but they introduced to the audience a triple-lead guitar sound. This band uses the four elements of music: rhythm, melody, harmony, and timbre. As I listened to their music, I could the rhythm in each of their songs. Some songs used a 2/4 signature time and a 4/4 signature time.
The deeper meaning made people relate to it, making music one of the main types of enjoyment for the whole family.(Reublin, Richard A. "Music of the 1850's From the Marshall - Morrow Collection." ) In this period most Americans were interested in transported songs and styles. Lots of composers tried to recreate these styles whether it be as close the original European form as possible, or adding a little piece of an American melody and rhythm but still similar. (..."Music of the 1850's From the Marshall - Morrow
In the 1920s, there were many popular kinds of music. For example, there was Jazz, blues, swing, dance band, classical, big band, country, and many more. Almost all of these genres originated from the work of African Americans influenced by their culture and heritage. (Tennant, Amie. "Radio and Music in the 1920s United States.")
Coltrane had an obsession with chord changes and his pre-1960s style displayed that. Coltrane was also great at playing slow tempo songs and adding deep and full-bodied tones. He popularized pedal point which is when a single note is played continuously underneath a melody to achieve a drone-like effect. As
Throughout chapter one, I learned that music originated from one main source; Country music. All the other genres began to tend by the 1800's. There were four main styles of country music in the early age. The four in which were: Fiddle tunes, Blues, American songs, and Southern religious music. To create the early country vibe, there were only four main instruments.
There are many events I know of that changed the world and impacted society, but I think that WWII played a big role in how we turned out. Women’s roles changed, weapons that we use today improved, and the economy changed after the war. WWII impacted women’s roles. Before the war, women’s rights weren’t that great and they weren’t great even after they helped in WWI.
One decade that changed music was the 1950s. This is due to the fact that rock n roll was invented in the 50s. The people of the 50s described rock n’ roll as a form of music, stepped in blues rhythm and blues, country, and gospel (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum). This was said to be the reason that rock n roll has such a distinctive sound. Record producers searched for white men to sing black music ("America Rocks and Rolls").
Twentieth-century music brought freedom with new musical styles that challenged the rules of the previous