Assessment Genre: Soul

A. 1960’s Soul Music

1. ORIGINSHow did this particular genre/form of this genre come about?Soul music has its roots in traditional African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues, and the hybridization of their respective religious and secular styles, in both lyrical content and instrumentation, that began to occur in the 1950s. According to musicologist Barry Hansen,

"Though this hybrid produced a clutch of hits in the R&B market in the early Fifties, only the most adventurous white fans felt its impact at the time; the rest had to wait for the coming of soul music in the Sixties to feel the rush of rock and roll sung gospel-style."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_music#1960s)2. CHARACTERISTICSSoul music in the 1960’s have characteristics such as;gospel influenced vocals

For example - Aretha Franklin

lyrical soulful melodies

For example - Think (Aretha Franklin)

And an emphasis on the rhythm section & large horn sections (trumpets, saxophones and trombones)

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/music/popular_music/popular_1960s3.shtml)

3. ARTISTSAretha Franklin - Think

The song, a feminist anthem, reached No. 7 on Billboard Hot 100, becoming Franklin’s seventh Top 10 hit in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_(Aretha_Franklin_song)Sam Cooke - A Change Gonna Come

Though only a moderate success sales-wise, “A Change Is Gonna Come” became an anthem for the American Civil Rights Movement, and is widely considered Cooke’s best composition.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Change_Is_Gonna_Come#Chart_history_.28Sam_Cooke_version.29)

The Supremes - Baby Love

The song topped the Billboard pop singles chart in the United States from October 25, 1964 to November 21, 1964, and in the UK pop singles chart concurrently.

Considered one of the most popular songs of the late 20th century, “Baby Love” was ranked #324 on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Love#Chart_history)

Ray Charles - Hit The Road Jack

Ray Charles’ recording hit number one for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning on Monday, October 9, 1961. “Hit the Road Jack” also got a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording. The song was also number one on the R&B Sides chart for five weeks, thereby becoming Ray Charles’ sixth number one on that chart. The song is ranked #387 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit_the_Road_Jack)

5. What Was Great About This Genre?What’s great about soul music is that is can come in many shapes and sizes. It can be interpreted in so many ways and used it so many different forms that it doesn’t limit a musician, but allow them to evolve.

Soul has originated from a variety of genres, such as Jazz. Which although has up beat numbers within its genre, can primarily have slow smooth ballads. Gospel music primarily involves more up-beat, spiritual and uplifting qualities. This has allow soul music to be diverse and allow to do both forms of music (ballads and up-beat music)

B. 1950’s Soul Music To The Present DayInclude reference to the following sub-genres:

1950s GospelGospel music history/origin/how it changed the world etcThe gospel genre is mostly known for it’s strong stereotypical, religious, and soulful scene. Another term for gospel is ” Praise Music”. Gospel originated in Africa where the incident of the transatlantic slave trade occurred. The majority of slaves were religious and therefore sung in harmonised groups. The popular term used is “choir”. Gospel is an interpretation of Christianity which is why gospel music is mostly incorporated with churches and any other religious parties. Gospel music was like a biblical image towards those who thought it was an inspiration to get through the hard times of working on plantations, picking cotton, etc. to the slaves it was a form of hope and brought everyone together as a community, because of this it changed the world. Religion was expressed impressively to those who believed in god, singing this religious music is how the slaves also thought of freedom as they worshipped god. Due to civil rights and segregation moments, this caused a whole new wave of socially aware gospel music in the 1920’s and through to the 1960’s. From the 1960’s till this present day the financial success of gospel music rocketed and was more socially engaged than ever. This included - (godfather of soul) James Brown.- Aretha Franklin.- The staple singers.- Sam Cooke.

- Reverend Al Green.This demonstrated that gospel music could be sung solo as well as in a group.

(http://evolverthree.tumblr.com/post/100149939926/beginning-summary)70s FunkFunk is a quintessential example of a word whose essence was redefined by a collective choice to seize control over lexical meaning. Traditionally, funk had been used to refer to body odor or the scent associated with sexual relations, and as jazz before it, was considered an inappropriate word for polite conversation. The implication of the word was well suited to accommodate the suggestive nature of funk’s lyrics and repetitious rhythmic contortions and eventually its use in the new context supplanted the earlier definitions in common perception. Musically, funk combines elements from the African-American musical tradition, most notably those drawn from soul, jazz and rhythm and blues.

(http://evolverfour.tumblr.com/post/100231612256/origins)80s Soul1980’s soul music was a type of music which grew from genres like rhythm and blues, jazz, and 1950’s R&B. It began in the united states and became more and more popular fairly quick. It was very popular for its time because it was known to be the best type of soul music anyone in the united states had ever heard. The main instruments that were used in 1980’s soul were: Electric bass guitar, normal electric guitar, drums and keyboard. The keyboard was the main instrument which created the effect of 1980’s soul music. Even though the electric bass guitar created quite an affect on 1980’s soul, it didn’t as much as the piano/keyboard.The main facts of technical developments are what the drummers played, it was like a drum kit but looked more upgraded. These were called electronic drum pads. These were very positive drums for soul music since they were more acceptable and made sounds as a machine than actual noise making. This proves that 1980’s soul was mainly created by a lot of machinery. Even Synthesizers were used to create the effects for the main instruments of 1980’s soul. So in conclusion, 1980’s Soul music had a very positive influence and made a big change to other types of music in the united states during the 1980’s because it helped other light genre artists come up with ideas for their songs and some of these artists are famous towards people today because of 1980’s soul.

(http://evolver-1.tumblr.com/post/100082972248/technical-developments-of-1980s-soul-music)Modern SoulModern Soul has gone on to influence many other artists that we now hear to this very day for example Daft Punk’s newest album Random Access Memories, it has a noticeable funk/soul feel as the drumming is clean and not over played along with some muted guitar. The dance/70s feel of soul music is very easily recreated in music software like Logic Pro and Pro Tools, therefore allowing tracks to be created electronically, for example Breakbot’s Baby I’m Yours.

However, there are still well known artists that are creating soul music to this day, these include Earth, Wind and Fire, Hamish Stuart and Tower Of Power.

(http://evolverseven.tumblr.com/post/100149171062/section-8-for-modern-soul)Can you say why changes happened?Changes happened within soul music because it had other influences of music merge within soul to create other variations of soul. For example, funk, gospel etc…

I think another reason why soul music was changed was from society within different era’s. Songs would have lyrics reflecting on times of politics and struggles.

Can you compare two of the sub-genres and say what the similarities and differences are?70s Funk & 80s Soul Differences70s Funk music is upbeat has a use of repeated chord progressions.

80s Soul music has taken a direction of “quiet storm” which has more of a use of relaxed tempo’s and soft melodies.

70s Funk uses instruments such as electric guitar & bass.

Which one do you prefer and why?I prefer 70s Funk because I’ve always like the chord progressions used within funk music and it’s use of 7th’s. Also I also enjoy listening to up-beat soul