MUSI 005F. Black Popular Music: From "Race Music" to the Mainstream (SC)

2014.This book, therefore, contains biographies of all 684 artists who had releases on Motown and their various imprints, as well as biographies of 16 musicians, 23 producers, 19 writers and 13 executives. There are also details of the 50 or so labels that Motown owned, licensed to or licensed from. All nine films and the 17 soundtracks are also featured. Every Motown single and album and EP that made the Top Ten of the pop charts in either the US or UK also have their own entries, with 222 singles, 84 albums and five EPs being featured. Finally, there are 36 other entries, covering such topics as the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Motortown Revues, Grammy Awards and the most played Motown songs on radio.The 1,178 entries cover every aspect of Motown and more - of the link between Granny in The Beverly Hillbillies and Wonder Woman, of the artists from Abbey Tavern Singers to Zulema, and the hits from 'ABC' to 'You Really Got A Hold On Me'. The Motown Encyclopedia is the story of Motown Records; Yesterday, Today, Forever.

2001. Introductory article. American record company specializing in black soul music; the name is the registered trademark of the company but has also come to be used as a descriptive term for the associated musical style. The company was founded by Berry Gordy in Detroit (‘motor town’: hence the name) in 1959 as Tamla Records, the Motown imprint following in 1961. Motown’s distinctive sound developed from a policy of using the same teams of songwriters and producers, the same musicians and the same studio for virtually every recording. Although there was a fair degree of latitude in the realization of this sound from artist to artist, there were a number of important general characteristics. Links to several Motown artists.

2017. I Hear a Symphony opens new territory in the study of Motown's legacy, arguing that the music of Motown was indelibly shaped by the ideals of Detroit's postwar black middle class; that Motown's creative personnel participated in an African-American tradition of dialogism in rhythm and blues while developing the famous "Motown Sound." Throughout the book, Flory focuses on the central importance of "crossover" to the Motown story; first as a key concept in the company's efforts to reach across American commercial markets, then as a means to extend influence internationally, and finally as a way to expand the brand beyond strictly musical products. Flory's work reveals the richness of the Motown sound, and equally rich and complex cultural influence Motown still exerts.

2013. "Some of the best music criticism you can read about contemporary R&B. Works both as a straight-up guide to the R&B artists of the early 2000s (contextualized with an encylopedic knowledge of American pop music history), and as a political and economic commentary on the music business, and debates about race and gender in the post-9/11 U.S. Hyper-conscious of contemporary scholarship but written in a pop style. Includes nuanced discussions of gender and sexuality from Marvin Gaye to Macy Gray and many lesser known artists."

2012. Brian Ward is Lecturer in American History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne .; This book is intended for american studies, American history postwar social and cultural history, political history, Black history, Race and Ethnic studies and Cultural studies together with the general trade music.

2009. Rhythm & blues emerged from the African American community in the late 1940s to become the driving force in American popular music over the next half-century. Although sometimes called "doo-wop," "soul," "funk," "urban contemporary," or "hip-hop," R&B is actually an umbrella category that includes all of these styles and genres. It is in fact a modern-day incarnation of a musical tradition that stretches back to nineteenth-century America, and even further to African beginnings. The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950-1999 traces the development of R&B from 1950 to 1999 by closely analyzing the top twenty-five songs of each decade. The music of artists as wide-ranging as Louis Jordan; John Lee Hooker; Ray Charles; James Brown; Earth, Wind & Fire; Michael Jackson; Public Enemy; Mariah Carey; and Usher takes center stage as the author illustrates how R&B has not only retained its traditional core style, but has also experienced a "re-Africanization" over time. By investigating musical elements of form, style, and content in R&B--and offering numerous musical examples--the book shows the connection between R&B and other forms of American popular and religious music, such as spirituals, ragtime, blues, jazz, country, gospel, and rock 'n' roll. With this evidence in hand, the author hypothesizes the existence of an even larger musical "super-genre" which he labels "The New Blue Music."