Motown, stands for more than just historic music. The label and it’s great legacy is a reflection that the hard work of dedicated individuals that have overcome incredible obstacles to achieve a great success. Detroit has only ever been known as the “Motor City”. Gordy felt like he was down home quality of the warm and he grew up with soulful people which gave him the idea to use the town in place of the city. This gave him the idea “Motown”, which was the perfect name for his new record label company. He was a man of vision, drive, talent, and determination. Gordy was also a producer, Innovative entrepreneur, and teacher as well. The great success of Motown records was and still able to contribute to all the talent he brought out in others.
Motown settled racial prejudice by becoming the most successful independent record label company in the history of the music industry and the most successful and the best African-American owned business in America. In 1968, the company had 5 records out on the top 10 on Billboard’s hot 100 chart which was a chart of the most successful music. During the late 80s and 90s, all of Motown’s talented major artist were admired with all their accomplishments and success and were inducted into the Rock n’ roll Hall of Fame. Upon Berry’s own induction in 1988, Motown’s legendary founder was given the follow tribute: “ Gordy endeavored to reach across the racial divide with music that could touch all people, regardless of the color of their skin. Under this tutelage, Motown became a model of black capitalism, pride and self expression and a repository for some of the greatest talent ever assembled at one company...Motown’s stable of singers, songwriters, and musicians took the concept of simple, catchy pop songs to a intensity...After Motown, black popular music would never again be dismissed as a minority taste...Aesthetically no less than commercially, Motown’s achievements will likely remain unrivaled and
This paper will be an updated version of my last paper which talked about a portion of Barry Gordy's background, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations and their start at Motown. How Motown was the first American music label owned by an African-American, the first music label to successfully market black artists to white mainstream audiences. How Motown was responsible for discovering, mentoring, and perfecting a lot of American popular music's most influential and successful artists and the best albums and artists and what new artists have entered Motown.
But even with 2 hit songs, Gordy was far from a financial success. "As a writer, I had issues obtaining cash at the time that I needed it,” he explains. "I was broke even with hit records in certain cases." In one case, a...
listening public and started making major headlines overseas, Gordy confidently issued a memo stating, “We will release nothing less than Top Ten product on any artist(classic.motown.com)
Memphis is considered to be a dangerous city by many around the country with not many attractions besides Martin Luther king, jr. What they do not know is that Memphis is full of rich music and history. Various genres have made an impact on people’s daily lives such as gospel, soul, funk, blues, jazz, R&B, pop, country, and rap. Stax records were found in in 1957 which was known as satellite radio at the time. Stax has made a major impact on helping the lives of people in Memphis. Stax has overlooked the obstacles of color and racism by giving many artists of different races the opportunity they dreamed of. Stax has made a major impact by helping the lives of people in Memphis, breaking color and racism barriers, and most importantly by making music. (Stax Museaum)
Charlie Pride did it in 1971. Darius Rucker did it in 2009. That’s it. Two black men, spanning thirty-eight years, are the only black artists to win a Country Music Association Award. With country music rooted in bluegrass and rhythm and blues, why aren’t there more black country music stars? When considering the roots of country music, and how closely related country is to blues, bluegrass and honky tonk music, an examination of what happened to all the black musicians seems warranted, no? This paper examines the dearth of black artists in country music and the careers of one of the few black artists who has had commercial success in this genre of music.
"Motown Music - The Sound that Changed America - Motown Museum Home of Hitsville U.S.A.." Motown
Motown Records was founded in 1959 by Berry Gordy who turned his music production company into history’s most successful black-owned record label company.
The birth of Motown music came to be in a small recording studio aptly named Hitsville, U.S.A. Barry Gordy, who came from a large middle class family had borrowed money in order. The main stage of Motown music came from a small house that had been remodeled into a recording studio, the name of the company was Hitsville, U.S.A. Mr. Gordy had gathered the best jazz and blues players in and Motown was born through his genius. This small but dynamic record company has produced and help make many stars that we all know today such as Diana Ross and the Supreme, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and more recently the Jackson 5, Boyz II Men , and Queen Latifah. It is very surprising that both the genre of Motown and Hitsville remind unharmed by racism for the most since Detroit has been historically known for severe racism and segregation. Hitsville U.S.A. was one of the first African American owned record companies, this was just one step in popularizing and taking a step for African’s Americans many talents to become well known and chart topping.
Berry Gordy's "Motown" had the largest impact on music on behalf of its direction and redefinition. Berry Gordy's "Motown" impact music through cutting across divisions of race, region, and class. According to Schloss, Joseph G. et al., "unlike the music of earlier black-owned record companies, Motown's music was not directed primarily at black audiences." Gordy is characterized
The most important thing that music and art effected was the population of Detroit. The music of Motown and the art changed the culture of Detroit. As the population grew so did its diversity. Detroit’s music and art scene brought in many different ethnicity adding to its great culture. As these ethnicity began to flow into Detriot their heritage began to be present in Detroit. The different ethnicity could be seen in the food, the buildings, entertainment, and language, make Detroit a melting pot of
Before the war started, a wealthy white man by the name of John Hammond worked to integrate black and white music.1 Since his childhood, he enjoyed the music of numerous black artists, and he wanted to share his love with the rest of America. He used much of his inherited fortune to make this possible. He went against the general opinion of society and his parents, who despised black people. Hammond refused to ignore black artists’ musical abilities because of their color, “I did not revolt against the system, I simply refused to be a part of it.”2 He used his money to organize the most eclectic group of musicians ever assembled, for an integrated audience of his time. Hammond’s efforts made an indelible impact on the music industry. The musicians Hammond introduced in...
Even when one becomes an artist in the industry, there are many troubles that go along with the tag of being a recording artist in the urban division. One example is seen in the article, “The Business of Rap: Between the Street and the Executive Suite” by Keith Negus, where columnist, J.R. Reynolds, mentions the closing of the urban division at Capitol Records in 1996, calling it “the systematic extermination of black music at Capitol Records”, saying that it did not make any sense because the genre was doing well in the market (528). The black music division is often subject to this kind of cutting compared to others. Negus also states that “despite the influence of rap and hip hop on the aesthetics of music, video, television, film, sport, fashion, dancing and advertising, the potential of this broader cultural formation to make a contribution to music industry business practices is not encouraged” (534). The sad fact of the matter is that this is true. It is almost like the larger companies take from the smaller urban divisions in order to make themselves look better without giving credit where it is due and in turn, because those companies are not seen to be doing well in the market, they are dropped from the label. Ted Swedenburg explains this in the article “Homies in The ‘Hood: Rap’s Commodification of Insubordination”, when he states that “while the major academic rock critics usually acknowledge black musicians’ essential contributions to pop and occasionally write sympathetic a...
The development of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the late 1940s and early 1950s by young African Americans coincided with a sensitive time in America. Civil rights movements were under way around the country as African Americans struggles to gain equal treatment and the same access to resources as their white neighbors. As courts began to vote in favor of integration, tensions between whites and blacks escalated. As the catchy rhythm of Rock ‘n’ Roll began to cross racial boundaries many whites began to feel threatened by the music, claiming its role in promoting integration. This became especially problematic as their youth became especially drawn to ...
Mainstream music in the 21st century is known to blend many different genres. Chuck Berry has influenced such genres as rhythm and blues (R&B), country, and today’s pop music. He realized at a young age he had to play more than just “black” music as a black artist. He had to appeal to whites since most Americans in the 1950s were white.