Can you summarize soul music in one side?
That’s the question that popped in my head during Wednesday’s class. An answer quickly burst into my head as quickly as the question did. And the answer was no. I understand time is limited for class. We only have 50 minutes and usually by the time I arrive we only have 40 minutes of class. But even with that understood, soul music was the most important genre of the 1960’s. For soul music peaked during the civil rights movement. It gave blacks in America is voice in mainstream America. It was also the first genre that was exclusive to African Americans. Songs like James Brown’s “Say It Loud” ignited black ethnocentrism in a time of great oppression. Not to mention it birth the inspiration for young Michael Jackson to become a performer. Regardless soul music’s impact reaches more than just musical history but it reaches American history and you cannot summarize that in a 1 minute slide.
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Chad-of course you can't summarize soul in a slide and do it justice, you're right. Its importance and influence surpassed the '60s and you can still see it today-especially with Michael Jackson, and contemporary hip hop. I was not trying to downplay its importance, but merely trying to cover everything in the chapter (which was alot). There have been entire courses devoted to soul, and even in a semester-it would still be difficult to cover it all. The '60s was not just a chaotic decade politically and socially, but musically as well-there were several different genres emerging out of the woodwork, or finally gaining popularity-and each of them rose to mainstream popularity in a relatively short time-I felt it was necessary to cover all of those to provide an accurate historical picture of the time.
ReplyDeleteI promise if I ever teach this course again-I will devote more time to soul. In fact, when we get to hip hop we will be covering a little bit more.