Soul – Introduction

Overview

The role of African American musicians in rock and roll had changed drastically by the 1960s. Black musicians were largely relegated to roles where they took direction from major record labels, record producers, or television show producers. As rock music included more and more white performers and listeners, many African American musicians and listeners began seeking out new modes of musical expression, which came to fruition in a new genre of music that would be called soul. Soul music came in many different variations, such as sweet soul, the Motown style, and southern soul.

Objectives

Examine the roots of soul music and the cultural and economic factors that led to its creation
Identify several prominent artists from the genre of soul music including Sam Cooke, the Supremes, the Temptations, and Aretha Franklin
Identify several record labels that were critical to the development of soul music, including Motown, Atlantic, and Stax

Introduction

Four Tops

As we saw a few lessons ago, many of the earliest rock and roll musicians were African American. In order to play rhythm and blues records on the radio, disc jockey Alan Freed retitled them "rock and roll." With the successes of artists such as Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly, more and more white artists began to perform rock and roll. By the 1960s, the presence of African American musicians in rock had dwindled significantly. A few black artists had some commercial success, but usually only when they had the full support of a record company or producer.

Chubby Checker’s "The Twist ♫" was a smash due to its presence on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, and the African American girl singers of groups such as the Ronettes and the Crystals were chosen by producers almost as an afterthought in the recording process. The place of black musicians in rock had shifted by the 1960s, and many artists were headed toward a new genre of music called soul.

“Soul lyrics, soul music came at about the same time as the civil rights movement, and it's very possible that one influenced the other.”

-Ahmet Ertegun

“A big part of the Motown formula was, they took music and turned it into this sort of automotive assembly line. They were cranking out 10 songs a day in that studio, or more.”

-Mayer Hawthorne

"The backing band on almost all of the Motown recordings are a group of highly dedicated and tight-knit group of musicians called The Funk Brothers. The surviving members received The Grammy Legend Award in 2004 and were induced into The Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville in 2007"

Flying Music