Soul In the summer of 1967, Blacks in Detroit, waiting to see reforms promised by the Civil Rights Act, starting

rting rioting, looting and burning over 19 square miles of the city in 4 days time The authorities responded with brutal armed force including rifles, submachine guns, tanks, and helicopters The end result was the worst civil disorder in 20th century America During the first 8 months of 1967, the government estimated that 41% of cities with population over 100,000 had experienced racial violence that stemmed from poor economic conditions, joblessness, homelessness and bad schools In April 1968, MLK was assassinated and hours later Washington D.C. erupted with more than 700 fires foreshadowing riots in other urban areas around the country With MLK and his peaceful message dead, Blacks turned toward militant black power and began following Malcolm X, Stokely Carmicheal, H. Rap Brown and the Black Panthers Black Americans had radically declared their collective identity which they labeled soul Soul music reflected the militant search for a Black identity In the 1950s Blacks used the term soul to suggest the essence of being Black in America By the early 1960s the term soul was applied to Jazz music Around 1965, many Blacks started to equate soul with the struggle to reassert Black dignity in the face of continued discrimination Accentuating the value of their culture, Black began eating soul food, referring to each other as brothers and sisters and wearing more natural hairdos Eventually, R & B became soul music Performers who crossed over from R&B to soul James Brown, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding Most of them started their careers singing gospel music in church Atlantic records produced many soul acts including Ray Charles, Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett, and Percy Sledge Atlantic also distributed the music recorded by Stax Records Stax artists had a distinctive sound which was created by the Stax house band, Brooker T. and the MGs who backed virtually every artist who recorded at Stax including Pickett, Franklin, Sledge, Redding and Sam and Dave The gospel based rhythm and blues recorded by Atlantic and Stax became known as soul music during the min 1960s James Brown sang a mixture of gospel and spirited blues that featured bursts of dominant, repeating, overpowering rhythm accented by phrase-shouting vocals and the punchy sound of horns which became a new style called funk

During 1965 and 1966, soul music was bought primarily by Blacks but by 1967 soul became the popular music in America and white youths started to buy soul records Soul music crossed over into white America with Aretha Franklin and her first hit single Respect which seemed to epitomize the renewed self-[ride that Blacks has discovered

Militant Blues The war in Vietnam triggered unrest, protest and violence on college campuses across America Angered by the war and ensuing draft, American youths became interested in hard-edged rock and started listening to angry, slashing, piercing blues of British and American guitarists such as: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton of Cream and Jeff Beck of the Yardbirds They all were inspired by Blues greats such as: Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Robert Johnson, Howlin Wolf, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker Jim Marshall designed a huge 100-watt amp that could be stacked, allowing rock guitarists to generate a deafening roar that suited the needs of sixties rock and rollers Janis Joplin, inspired by the blues great Bessie Smith, began singing a psychedelic form of the blues The MC5, or Motor City Five, played jazz influenced, blues based music that brought the political protest to Detroit Creedence Clearwater Revival mixed Chicago electric blues with early rockabilly to broadcast their version of social commentary Heavy metal was originally loud explosive blues untouched by psychedelia Steppenwolf was one of the bands that initially defined this new amped-up, aggressive, politicized rock Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page became one of heavy metals main exponents Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne perfected the loud, aggressive, angry sound and later dubbed it doom music Deep Purple produced a loud, pulsating, dangerous sound that was blasted through amps turned full and then boosted by Jim Marshall The dark mood of American Youths, white blues performers born in the south such as Johnny Winter, ZZ Top, The Steve Miller Blues Band, Canned Heat, and the Allman Brothers The era culminated with the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, held in August of 1969 The era unraveled with the disaster at the Altamont Speedway concert in December of 1969 and the killings at Kent State University in May of 1970 During the next few months, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Al Wilson, lead guitarist for Canned Heat all died SOFT SOUNDS OF THE SEVENTIES

A reflection of the poor economic conditions, and aftermath of the tumultuous 60s, rock and roll in the 70s abandoned the pounding, loud sounds of psychedelic music, the punchy rhythms of soul and the wrenching, angry urban blues and embraced a sound that was soft, serious, apolitical and introspective It was fused with more respectable, established musical forms such as jazz, classical, country and folk Blood, Sweat and Tears spearheaded the trend toward a jazz-rock fusion Chicago fused their jazz-rock sound with pop to deliver an apolitical message Carlos Santana added Latin rhythms to the jazz-rock mixture Steely Dan produced 4 top 20 albums which helped popularize jazz-rock Influenced by Jimi Hendrix, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis blended a raw-edged, slightly dissonant 1960s jazz with the electric sound of rock Reinvigorated by Stevie Wonder, soul turned from the gritty sound of Areatha Franklin to a soft, lush, romantic and hopeful sound Philadelphia International Records became a successful recording company by selling the new sound of soul with a lush background of strings, French horns, and light percussion British musicians merged rock with classical music, adding escapist, fantasyladen lyrics British bands such as: Moody Blues, Procol Harum, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, ELO, Pink Floyd, Yes All merged rock and roll with classical music and fantasy-laden lyrics All of these bands used a new instrument called the Mellotron, a Keyboard capable of reproducing the sounds of violins, trumpets, cellos, and other orchestral instruments Bob Dylan led 1970s rock back to its country roots and merged a mellow folk rock with bluegrass and country swing Other folk-rock artists who looked to country music for inspiration were: The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Band, Poco, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, Jackson Browne Many baby boomers began to question the institution of marriage and decided to either divorce or not to marry at all The result was a large population of middle-aged singles During the 1970s, singer-songwriters sang ballads about the emotional trauma of divorce, lost love, and loneliness in a plaintive, confessional style that had its roots in 1960s folk music James Taylor was the prototype of the easygoing 1970s folksinger and inspired many other soft folk balladeers such as: Carole King, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills and Nash

The Era of Excess

During the mid to late 1970s, hippies from the 1960s became disillusioned with radical politics, realized they had to pay the rent and put food on the table and transformed into the self indulgent ME generation With the end of the war in Vietnam and the end of the draft and the landslide reelection of Richard Nixon, many college students and graduates focused their energies on immediate, material concerns Became baby boomers no were acquiring disposable income, they began spending money excessively on luxury items such as boats, cosmetic procedures, household gadgets, air-conditioned cars and drugs, including cocaine Their sexual lives were also excessive and bisexuality, homosexuality, and so called open marriages or swinging became part of the lifestyle Rock music latched onto this excessive mindset with many over the top performers who wore extravagant costumes and make up and put on very theatrical live shows that included incredible special effects Some of these performers were: Elton John, T-Rex who started glitter-rock, David Bowie inspired many performers, Mott the Hoople, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Lou Reed, New York Dolls, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Queen The extravagant stage shows of the afore mentioned artists fit well with the new venue for rock shows: the arena which gave rise to a new genre of rock known as art-pop or arena rock Kansas, Styx, Journey, Supertramp and Boston were all art-pop bands that held concerts in places such as Madison Square Garden and dominated the airwaves in the late 1970s Following the footsteps of James Brown, artist like George Clinton and Sly and the Family Stone started mixing funk and rock and roll with psychedelia and glitter glam Disco, a simplified version of funk, started in New York City at Black, Latin and gray bars and clubs By the mid 1970s, disco emerged from the underground and became commercialized Disco appealed especially to the me generation by taking the emphasis off the band and putting the spotlight on the audience that congregated on large, glittering dance floors in the middle of opulent dance clubs made popular in the movie Saturday Night Fever Discotheques, or discos, popped up all over the country and became gathering sports for many celebrities Artists such as Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, the Village People and the Bee Gees all capitalized on the discomania craze that swept the nation By 1973 the record business was almost completely controlled by seven major companies: CBS, Capitol, MCA, Polygram, RCA, A&M and Warner Communications By the end of the decade, rock and roll had become a big business and many rock stars were multi-millionaires