MUSC 1800: Popular Music

Dr. Matthew C. Saunders

Lakeland Community College

C-1078

The Mid-to-Late 1960s• Instability in the world situation

– Viet Nam War

– Protest and Revolution (1968)

– Decolonization

The Mid-to-Late 1960s

• Expansion of consciousness

– New spirituality and revival

– Technology

– Rebellion against conformity

– New individualism

Culture and Counterculture

• The 1960s and “liberal” values

• However: Most Americans did not identify with the counterculture.

Soul• Soul: Synthesis of gospel and blues

– Secular music with clear models in sacred music of black Protestant churches

• Sister Rosetta Tharpe: “I Saw the Light”

• Ray Charles: “I’ve Got a Woman,” 1954

Ray Charles– Wide Range of Music

• Country: “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” 1959

• Tin Pan Alley: “Georgia On My Mind,” 1951

• British Invasion: “Eleanor Rigby,” 1965

• Traditional: “America the Beautiful,” 1976

Other Soul Artists• Otis Redding

– “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” 1967

• Marvin Gaye

– “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” 1968

• James Brown

– “Say it Loud, I’m Black and Proud,” 1968

• Aretha Franklin

– “Chain of Fools,” 1967

Motown• Founded 1959

• Berry Gordy

• Smokey Robinson

• Songwriters: Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Brian Holland

• House musicians: The Funk Brothers

Motown Stars of the 1960s

• Smokey Robinson and the Miracles– “Shop Around,” 1960 (Gordy-Robinson)

• The Temptations– “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” 1964 (Rogers-Kendricks)

• Diana Ross and the Supremes– “Where Did Our Love Go?,” 1964 (Holland-Dozier-Holland)

• Martha Reeves and the Vandellas: – “Nowhere to Run,” 1965 (Holland-Dozier-Holland)

• The Four Tops– “Reach Out (I’ll Be There),” 1966 (Holland-Dozier-Holland)