Motown AND STAX Records PDF

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MOTOWN AND STAX RECORDS The rise of the producer ● 1950s ○ Work for record label ○ A&R (artist and repertoire) ○ document live performance ● 1960s ○ Handle details of recording process ○ responsible for success of record ○ insert personal taste into records Motown ● Berry gordy jr. ○ Songwriter, producer, entrepreneur ○ Detroit, michigan 1953 ○ Production line approach of detroit's booming auto industry Songwriters ● Tin pan alley model ● Formula pop ● Geared toward top 40 radio ● Early figures-smokey robinson ● Most important song writing team ○ holland-dozier-holland (HDH) House band ● The funk brothers ● Bass player james jamerson, drummer benny benjamin, and keyboardist earl van dyke ● Musical collaboration ● “Brandy-identity” -the motown sound ● Consumer confidence Artist development ● Finishing school (maxine powell) ● Cultivate polished and professional image ● Strict code of personal conduct ● Characteristic modes of dress ● Distinctive stage choreography (cholly atkins) Quality Control ● “Hitsville usa ● Weekly Meeting to determine successful hits The temptations ● Original members from two rival detroit vocal groups ○ Doo wop influence ● 38 top 40 hits ● “My girl” 1965 ○ Twist on romantic theme “my guy”

○ Begins with bass guitar and hook ○ Layering shows increased passion ○ Key change before final chorus The supremes ● Motown's biggest act in the mid 1960s ● 1964 holland-dozier-holland ● Characteristic sound “baby love” 1964 ● Verse-chorus form ● Songs show innovation within convention ○ 3rd verse saxophone solo ○ 5th verse key change up ½ step Martha and the vandellas ● Vocal style drawn from gospel ● Powerful full-throated sound ● Contrast to supremes more reversed pop approach ● Foreshadowed more soulful singers ● Ex “heatwave” 1963 Artist-songwriters ● Stevie wonder ● Smokey joe robinson ● Marvin gye ○ “Whats going on” 1971 Motown and the civil rights movement ● Motown integrated the pop market ● “The sound of young america” ● Sell out? ● One of the most successful african american owned businesses ● African american in power positions ○ Producers, songwriters, band, performers Stax records ● Founded 1960 ● Jim stewart and estelle axton ○ (st+ax) ● Memphis ○ The Birthplace of southern soul ● Association atlantic records ● “The sound of balck america” ● House band-booker T and the MGs (interracial group) ● Stax sound-raw power and emotional Otis redding ● Exemplifies “the stax sound” ● Gospel-influenced vocals and hard driving accompaniment ● Ex “i've been loving you too long” Wilson rickett

● Ex “in the midnight hour” ● Simple verse-chorus ● Simple 2 chord pattern forms the basis of the tune ● Guitar and drums play on the backbeat ● Instrumental interlude offers variety ● No backup vocals - focus on the singer Stax records and the civil rights movement ● White owned and operated company ● Racially mixed in house band and songwriters ● African american performers (singers) ● Deliberate attempt to create “black sound” Wattstax ● African american answer to woodstock? ● Commemorate 7th anniversary of race riots in watts, los angeles Popular music Approaches to the civil rights movement ● Assimilation ● Celebration PHIL SPECTOR AND THE BRILL BUILDING Producers ● Philles records ● New model for production and marketing of pop records ● “Spectropop” The spector sounds ● Created at gold star studio, LA ● House band, the wrecking crew ● Featuring carol kaye, bass “Be my baby” 1963 ● Exemplifies the wall of sound ● reverb/echo ● Think texture ● Instrumental doubling ● Tracks recorded separately and mixed to mono The brill building ● The new tin pan alley ● Owned by aldon publishing ● Al nevins and don kirschner Song writer ● Ellie greenwich and jeff barry ● Carole king and gerry goffin ● Cynthia weil and barry mann Girl groups ● “Will you still love me tomorrow” 1960

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Written by king and goffin Performed by the shirelles Early hit that spurred the success of brill building girl groups ■ The chiffons ■ The crystals ■ The chantels ■ The cookies ■ The dixie cups ■ The ronettes “Doo-doo-ron-ron” ● Lead vocals darlene love ● Nonsense syllables- doo wop influence Teenage symphonies ● “The first tycoon of teen” ● Painstaking crafted songs that talked about themes important to teens ● Interesting perspectives on 1960s era romance “Uptown” 1962 ● Class inequalities and economic injustice ● Introduction flexible tempo vs chorus upbeat tempo ● Downtown (minor) vs. uptown (major) ● Spanish-sounding features- guitar style, percussion “He hit me, and i felt like a kiss” ● Goffin and king ● Documents the abuse of their baby sister, “little eva” ● Does not take anti-violence stance “Romanticization of death” ● Songs dealing with the death of teens common ● Ex: the shangri-las, “leader of the pack” ○ Coincided with the death of the brill building The brill building and feminism ● The presence of many female songwriters and studio players ● Female groups do not achieve recognition ● Lyrical content reinforces stereotypes of gender The brill building and civil rights ● Performers primarily african american girl groups, largely interchangeable ● Producers and songwriters white Closing thoughts ● People brought records for the sound ● Producers becomes important to songwriting process ● Finalizes shift from sheet music-record THE BEACH BOYS Surf culture

● Southern california ● White and middle class ● Optimistic and upbeat ● Subculture- no parents allowed Instrumental surf music ● Pioneered by dick dale and the del-tones ● “Misirlou” 1962 ● Characteristic “wet” sound ● Solid body guitar with high-wattage fender amplifier ● Metallic twang ● Tremolo (shake) ● Middle-eastern sounding melodies and spanish harmonies ● The chantays, “pipeline” ● The duals, “stick shift” ● The surfaris, “wipe out” ● Suane eddy, “rebel rouser” ● Ventures, “walk don't run” The beach boys ● Brian wilson- songwriter, arranger, producer, and proformer ● Best selling group of the 1960s ● Longest history of chart success ● Popularize surf culture outside of the us ● Add vocal harmony The beach boys and rock music ● Established the rock model ○ Limitations ○ Emulation ○ Expansion ● The first rock artists “Surfin usa” (1963) ● Tribute to and cover of chuck berry ● Melody borrowed from berry's “sweet little sixteen” ● Shortened and simplified form ● Lyrics about national celebrations; dancing-surfing “Fun fun fun” (1963) ● Solo guitar introduction borrow blues licks from chuck berry's “roll over beethoven” and “johnny b goode” ● Newly composed music and words ● References to youth culture ● The kind of song chuck berry would have written if he had been born 16 years later in southern california Pet sounds ● Response beatles rubber soul ● Concept album

○ Conceived as integrated whole ● Diverse and unusual instrumentation ● Advanced harmony, experiments in form “Wouldn't it be nice” ● A fantasy of marital bliss ● Notable introduction: harp suggests? ● Remarkable singing “God only knows” ● Complex counterpoint ● Reflect the rising influence of the producer ● Recording is no longer about documenting performing - its about making an aesthetic object...