the sound of young america

8/14/2019 The Sound of Young America

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The Classic Motown

and its influence on Americanculture


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Berry Gordy Jr. b. 1929 in DetroitHis parents came to Detroit from Georgia in 1922

His grandfather was the son of James Thomas Gordy, awhite farmer, his grandmother was a slave working in

Georgia.

His grandfather was also the great-grandfather ofJames Earl Carter, Jr., the 39th President of theUnited States, making Berry Gordy III and JimmyCarter second half-cousins.


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Whilst Berry's siblings were respectedmembers of the Black community inDetroit, Berry, dropped out of high schoolin the eleventh grade to become aprofessional boxer, a profession hepursued until 1950.

Around 1953 he began composing music,writing songs and opening the 3-D RecordMart, a jazz music store.

He later left the store and began work atthe Lincoln-Mercury plant.He then met the owner of the Flame ShowBar talent club, where he met singerJackie Wilson.In 1957, Jackie recorded 'Reet Petite', a

song Gordy had co-written with his sisterGwen and writer-producer Billy Davis.

Reet Petite

Gordy with Smokey

Robinson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE46zm4yjhA&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE46zm4yjhA&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE46zm4yjhA&feature=related


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The Flame Show Bar opened in 1949 and was located atthe corner of John R and Canfield. The Flame was theshowplace for top Black talent in Detroit during the 50s.Billie Holiday, T-Bone Walker, Wynonie Harris were a fewof the many great black entertainers that appeared there.The Berrys were in charge of the photo concessions at the

Flame. Sisters Gwen and Anna took the photos withbrothers George and Robert developing the film. It wasduring this time the Al Green the club's owner invitedGordy to write songs for the artists he managed whichincluded Jackie Wilson. Berry teaming with Roquel "Billy"Davis began writing at Green's office. Berry wouldeventually bring sister Gwen in and the trio would writeseveral bestsellers To Be Loved," "Lonely Teardrops,""That's Why (I Love You So)" and "I'll Be Satisfied"establishing themselves as hit writers. At this time Gordystarted doing some of the producing.


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Berry married married Thelma Coleman andquickly had three children. It was after theclosing of the record store that Gordy wentto work on the assembly line at Ford'sLincoln-Mercury plant.


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On the set of the Flame Show Berry metRaynoma Liles whom he married soon.


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Through his songwriting connections in 1957, hediscovered The Miracles (originally known as TheMatadors) and began constructing a roster ofpotential recording artists.

In 1959, using an $800 loan from his family, BerryGordy formed the first incarnation of his legendarylabel Tamla Records, which produced Mary Johnson'sfirst hit, entitled 'Come To Me in January 1959 .

First release with an actual Motown label:"My Beloved," The Satintones(Motown 1000),February 1960
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCvrB-M98XQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCvrB-M98XQ


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He made a decision to keep it in Detroitrather than move to a music business hublike New York or Chicago .Gordy started hiscompany with the most primitive of

recording equipment and facilities and abare-bones staff of mostly family.

His father did the plastering and repairs, andhis sister did the bookkeeping. The vocal

studio was in the hallway, and his echochamber was the downstairs bathroom. Wehad to post a guard outside the door, Gordysays, "to make sure no one flushed the toiletwhile we were recording.


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Machines used at the infancy of therecords used to break the tape

First hedquoters of Gordys record

Hitsville


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In 1960 Smokey and the Miracles charted with'Shop Around', which led to Motown's ownlabel independency.

Hits began to follow at a rapid pace, with theMarvelettes 'Please Mr Postman' being an earlyexample. Marvelettes songs was featured ascover version on the Beatles album 'With TheBeatles'.

The Fab Four also included Smokey Robinson'sown composition 'You Really Got A Hold On Me'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nuEY6fQgzk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEUOiiVxsGc&feature=fvsthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEUOiiVxsGc&feature=fvsthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nuEY6fQgzk&feature=related


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Holland-Dozier Hollandcollaboration in songwritingprovided a host of hits to the

Gordys empire.

Berry's kids with the Beatles


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Merging the music as a product with the bussines fiting in the socio-cultural circumstances of late

fifties and early sixtiesThe assembly line for musicWanted to kill the imagery of liquor and drugs

and how some people thought it pertained toR&B.

In 1988 Gordy sold the label to MCA

Change in the 1970s war, drugs, psyhodelic era,disco music influenced the step.He had literally changed the American music

industry, introducing large numbers of suburbanwhites to black music.


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Berry did have a five year relationshipwith the label singer, Diana Ross.The pair had a daughter called Rhonda Ross

Kendrick in 1971.Their relationship was part of the company's

backbone, and her eventual decision to leaveMotown was read as an indicator of the label'sdeclining fortunes.

Berry's son Kennedy Gordy is the son out of arelationship with Berry's ex-girlfriend MargaretNorton. Kennedy is better known as the Motownmusician Rockwell.


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Chess/Checker Records(Started by Polishimmigrant brothers Leonard and Phil Chess in1947 ). Black Jazz and Blues predominant witha star Chuck Berry

Atlantic/Atco founded in 1947 by a Turkishimmigrant Ahmet Ertegun. It was an equalopportunity record label. Featured Jazz, earlyRocknRoll. Stars: Roberta Flack, Ray Charles

Labels: Vee Jay, Imperial, Checker, King, Ace,Crown


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The population shift created a newdemographic group, which developed R&Bmusic in the late 1940s. In the mid-50s, blackmusic found its expression in Soul music as aresult of the confluence of R&B, gospel anddoo-wop. At that moment in history, Soul gotassociated with the black civil rightsmovement through the transformation of

black music into a type of funky affirmation.


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Any analysis of early Motown songs must consider thisinteractive recording process and its role in songcreation and structure.

The other major factor which must be taken intoaccount when considering the Motown style is the

formative exposure to gospel traditions that was apart of almost every black musicians' experience atthe time. Vehicle both to entertaiment and spirituality.

'characteristic form of verse . . . and chorus . . . Thetempo of these gospel songs is usually fast as

opposed to a slower tempo for the traditional hymns.The rhythm, the rhythmic element of these gospelsongs is almost a predominant one.'


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Motown songs are refered to as secularizedGospel

'Motown sound' incorporates various other

stylistic features - the call-response stylebetween lead and backing vocals; quasi-improvisatory verse melodies; and the use ofhandclaps, fingerclicks and tambourine toemphasise the 'backbeat' - which arecommon to many African- American musicalstyles


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choruses consisting of a short repeatedlyric/melodic statement

Rythm is elevated to the new structural

status: catchy rhythmic or rhythmic/chordalmotifs used as a foundation for either acomplete song, or a particular section of thesong.

Artist would sit down at the piano, andbasically there were three parts to the song-the words, the melody that the words werehung on, and the chord bed


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The achievements of Motown in terms ofchart success, are undeniable. Between1964 and 1967 Motown records accountedfor, in Nelson George's summary a total ofsixty top fifteen pop chart hits includingfourteen number ones.


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The Four Tops

The Temptations

Smokey Robinson and the

Miracles

Gladys Knight and the Pips

The Supremes (Diana Ross)

The Jackson 5

Stevie Wonder

Martha and the Vandelas

Marvin Ga e
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWvwP72FuVghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELWrVyR_Bl0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsxn6fwLEk0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23UkIkwy5ZMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6xkT7FMyTc


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Barrett Strong - Money(That's What I Want); 2:35

The Funk Brothers

The Contours - Do You LoveMe; 2:53

Mary Wells - My Guy; 2:48

Jr. Walker & The All-Stars -Shotgun; 2:59

Isley Brothers - This OldHeart of Mine (Is Weak for

You); 2:46Jimmy Ruffin - What Becomes

of the Brokenhearted; 3:01

Chris Clark - Love's GoneBad; 2:21

Rare Earth - Get Ready; 2:48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6xkT7FMyTc


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A songDancing in the Street by Matha and the Vandellasallegedly refering to the Watts uprising takingplace at the moment which the record companycould not control.

The Watts Uprising: referred to as the Watts Riot,a five-day disturbance in the South Central sectionof Los Angeles was the first of several eruptions inAmerican cities in the 1960s. The conflict beganon August 11, 1966, when a confrontation betweenlocal police and an African-American motoristunleashed a more violent altercation involvingpolice reinforcements and members of the blackcommunity. Lasted 6 days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvITn5cAVchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvITn5cAVc


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Other such songs were Nowhere to RunandShotgun

They were not just Party songs as prof.

Susan E. Smith argues. Theyclearly illustratehow the sounds of Detroit's streets couldarticulate the needs of African Americans

Motown and the cultural politics of Detroit BerryGordy's soul music label and the civil rights

movement.Dancing in the Street - Suzanne E. Smith, Harvard

UP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhcflDSUMvchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhcflDSUMvc


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The first American music label owned by anAfrican-American

It involved many white people for the first timeaccepting black music and musicians in a direct

way - supporting the original product instead ofa cover version. In the words of Quincy Jones

The talented people that flowed throughMotown, both the performers on stage and the

writers and producers behind the scene, brokedown the barriers between black and white,between the R&B world and the 'mainstream',letting everyone see the beauty of black music.


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We are not going to make Black music. Weregoing to make music for people. Were goingto make music for the world

In the late 1950s, many Blacks enjoyed

rhythm and blues music, but it was routinelyunprofitable and often performed in shabbyvenues. Berry Gordy, who would become oneof the greatest entrepreneurs in Michigan

history, would change that. He had a visionof taking Black-inspired music out of theslums and giving it broad, national appeal asa respectable art form.


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Berry Gordys philosophy, involved thetargeting of both nightclub patrons andyoung fans of cutting-edge rock.

He controlled every aspect of production,recording, auditoning, and artists image.

Industrial form of entertainment.

Created a "charm school" to ensure that its

acts were palatable to the mainstream until1973, when the label left Detroit and itsdecline already had begun.


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Before Motown. A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-60 LarsBjorn with Jim Gallert, 2001 U of Michigan Press

Berry Gordy and the Original Black Label in Popular music(accessible from JStor)

Berry Gordy Site Dertoit History Web Page Motown and the American Culture, Gelard Early, 2004 U of

Michigan Press Motown Crossover Hits 1963-1966 and the Creative

Process. Jon Fitzgerald in Popular Music Motown:Sex, Music and Money. Gelard Posner Our Motown Heritage.Robert Dennis. Motown Museum Page The Rise of Motown Records - When Art Met Business, and

One Plus One Made Three. Tom Ersin.
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Berry%20Gordy.htmlhttp://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Berry%20Gordy.html

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