EVERY Billboard #1 rhythm & blues hit discussion thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by tomstockman, Mar 4, 2016.

  1. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I think it's because a bunch of '60s acts didn't have a lot of success much past the early '70s, at least not as they were configured in the '60s. Or if they did it was via a comeback that came much later.

    I also think there was more to talk about when it came to innovations in the '60s. '70s pop has evolved much more slowly - at least on the singles charts - perhaps because so much of the artistically edgy stuff was happening on albums and not at the pinnacle of the Top 40 countdown.
     
  2. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I don't know if I agree with that, as R&B went through a fundamental change in the 70s, as we are starting to see here in late 1974 and early 1975. That Love Unlimited single was a strange throwback, for sure. I don't think hardly any of us liked it, and that's why if had very few, and negative responses. We will still see throwbacks, but the youngbloods are starting to make a serious impact in the R&B world.

    But, jumping ahead is like opening your Christmas presents on Christmas Eve afternoon. It's like blowing your wad after you and your woman get your clothes off.

    You mentioned influence. I don't think there was as much influencing going on as you may believe. I think that, in the mid-70s, most artists were too off into their own little bad to care about what their favorite artists were doing. George Clinton was in his bag. Ohio Players were doing their own thing. Earth, Wind & Fire were doing their own thing. Alice Cooper was in his own world. Paul McCartney was doing his Wing thing, and so on and so on and scooby-doo-bee-doo-bee...
     
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  3. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    The problem is, R&B took years to evolve a chart-changing genre like disco. Whereas in the '60s, whole new genres like the British Invasion or psychedelic rock seemingly dropped out of the sky overnight.

    And I'd further argue that a lot of the innovation behind disco was driven by Isaac Hayes way back in '71 with "Shaft". That's so early in the decade I'm not sure if it really counts as the '70s or still a holdover from the '60s.

    Not to rag on R&B, because rock evolved at a pretty glacial pace in the 70's. Outside of glam we mostly got minor tweaks to the CSNY singer/songwriter formula (I saw a reviewer describe rock superstars Fleetwood Mac as a "depoliticized CSNY", which I thought was a perfect observation), variants on the Zep/Sabbath hard rock formula (a holdover from the late '60s and extremely early '70s), and lots and lots of nostalgia-driven stuff. Steve Miller perfected stadium rock in the '70s, and The Rolling Stones went on blending contemporary R&B into their work,, and rock did evolve, but so, so slowly compared to the '60s.

    It really wasn't until New Wave rolled along at the end of the decade that we got something fairly new (and old - it borrowed a lot from the '50s and '60s too, as well as from glam). If it weren't for Bowie going to Berlin, we might not have even gotten that...
     
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  4. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Shaft was recorded in 1971.
     
  5. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Zoinks!!
     
  6. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I'm not saying they didn't listen to other artists, but, going by their interviews and such, by the 70s, so many artists were insular. They weren't much into innovating other artist's music.
     
  7. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I know. I just said "back in '71 with Shaft". But I'd question whether that counts as "the '70s", since most decades don't really take on their final unique musical character until several years into the decade (the '80s being a notable exception). Hayes and Shaft strike me more as a last blast of '60s-level creativity and innovation.
     
  8. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    That's what I meant - about what was fascinating and frightening about that whole "scene" at the time.
     
    Grant likes this.
  9. Aren't that The Meters backing them up? It sure sounds funky to me!
     
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  10. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Given Mr. Toussaint's production, that would indeed be them . . . therefore, the most successful record on which they were associated. Apparently more so than their own records including "Sophisticated Cissy," "Cissy Strut," "Look-Ka Py Py" and "Chicken Strut," highly influential as they were and how they helped lay the foundation for funk.
     
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  11. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I've tried, but was never able to get into The Meters. Rock critics love 'em, though.
     
  12. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    I wonder if it's rock critics we have to thank for the idea that "prime" rock and roll isn't such unless it has cowbells, horns (especially sax), accordions and mandolins. The music that critics seemed to latch on to had a combination of any or all of the above.

    But I presume with "Lady Marmalade" and what it's about, I suppose it was apropos that this version was recorded in "N'awlins" . . .
     
  13. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    More cowbell! Always!


     
  14. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

    Shaft is very '70s to me regardless of how early it happened in the decade. Hayes's style was changing by the minute and I couldn't imagine anything like Shaft (conceptually and sonically in say 1969) it's very 1971 and that's nothing like the '60s IMO.
     
    Grant likes this.
  15. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!


    I'd say soul music morphed into the 70s decade faster than pop or rock music did.
     
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  16. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

    Yep I agree...
     
  17. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    To keep up the momentum, the next #1 Billboard #1 single of 1975 is...well, er...I think I got them jumbled up.:)

    I'm going to March 1, 1975 with "Shame, Shame, Shame" by Shirley & Company:



    Ah! Another product from Sylvia Robinson (Pillow Talk, Love Is Strange). Shirley Goodman was part of Shirley & Lee (Let The Good Times Roll), and she sang lead with Jesus Alvarez. Good, straight-up R&B, disco, whatever you want to call it, all with that famous Sylvia Robinson lo-fi sound quality, although this sounds much better than her earlier productions with The Moments (Love On A Two-Way Street).
     
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  18. Great track, but like Grant said: sound quality is bad. Jesus Alvarez is the element that makes it a great track. And of course the groove!
     
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  19. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    The sound quality seemed to go up with Sylvia's own "Pillow Talk." But the LP that contained this, the cover is a hoot:
    [​IMG]
    Badly drawn with crayons or magic markers or whatever. A fifth-grader could have presumably done better than that.
     
  20. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    Wow. That cover artist is certainly no Pedro Bell!

    Not sure what Tricky Dick has to do with the proceedings, other than using the title for a good post-H2Ogate jab.

    Can't imagine him getting down to Shirley and Company, but like Neil Young said, even Richard Nixon has got soul.

    I love how Shirley refers back to "Be Thankful For What You've Got" in the lyrics.
     
  21. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I don't think the sound of "Shame, Shame, Shame" is bad at all! It's sure not audiophile, but it's clean, and the EQ is nice.
     
  22. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    That drawing's not bad. I think the artist nailed Nixon's face.
     
  23. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    back in the 70s after Nixon resigned, a lot of people made fun of him, or used him as a meme. I remember when a Tucson top 40 radio station KTKT used him in a TV ad.
     
  24. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    I love this one! Great groove, love the lo-fi aura, everything about it. Not typical disco if ya ask me. Okay, okay, ya didn't.
     
  25. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    I haven't done a total count by section (and have lost the notes of my timings), but it did seem that as the song went along its BPM went down by about 3 or 4 from the beginning to the end. One has to wonder if "Rock Your Baby" was being drawn (ahem) for inspiration here, as well.
     
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