• 0
  • 0
Martin Browney's picture

What Happen To Soul Music?

I miss some of the music from the 60s and 70s. Not the Bee Gee’s and “Saturday Night Fever” 70s. I miss the James Brown, Earth, Wind & Fire, Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye music of the 60’s and 70’s. What happen to the “soul” in soul music? Oh, my mistake, soul music has been replaced with R&B and rap.

Maybe there is some hope.

While browsing the music section of the local library, I came across a CD featuring John Legend and The Roots titled appropriately, “Wake Up.” The combination of John Legend and The Roots was the first thing that caught my attention and sparked my curiosity. So I played it as soon as I got in the car. The first song is a Curtis Mayfield song, “Hard Times” and it quickly sent me back to my childhood. Days when more children played outside instead of inside. Men and women with Afros. Radio stations playing a variety of music instead of the same songs every hour. You could buy a candy bar or a bag of corn chips (5oz bag) for a quarter. Man…those were the days.

There is a remake of “Wake Up Everybody” on the CD I think McFadden and Whitehead would be proud to hear. “Hang on in There” ( a remake of Mike James Kirkland) is reminiscent of songs from The Stylistics. There is an extended remake of Bill Withers, “I Can’t Write Left Handed” about a young man coming back from the Vietnam War. Listening to many of the songs caused me to reflect upon the change in our society and the part music has played on it. The song, “Our Generation (Hope of the World)” gives me a feeling that just maybe music about something other than “shake your booty” and “thug life” will return.

We need more Stevie Wonder’s providing us with “Songs in the Key of Life”. Where are the next O’Jays calling everyone to hop on the “Love Train”? Step to the mic the next Earth, Wind and Fire and tell us about “Devotion”. Donny Hathaway and James Brown send us some young voices preaching “Someday We’ll All Be Free” while standing proudly and shouting “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”. I miss The Spinners singing about a mother’s love with “Sadie.” Where in the world is the next Marvin Gaye asking “What’s Going On?”

Source: https://tutoriage.com/essay-help

Log in or register to post comments