There's probably no better example of the classic Supremes song than this monster hit, which took the girl-group genre and brought it out of the realm of bubblegum.
The Motown sound most folks think of when you say the name, a straight four-on-the-floor backed by piano, call-and-response vocals, and elaborate production. A great example of the way Motown worked horns into their mix, emphatic and rhythmic and propulsive. Bonus: Smokey's trademark elegant sadness.
Motown, like the blues, could somehow get either joy or heartbreak out of its sound without changing anything but the lyrics. Here, the joy is so fresh it practically bursts through like a ray of sunshine. The label also knew how to tailor one basic sound to fit the individual personalities of its artists — here, David Ruffin hits the word "friends" like a blues belter and "please" like a gospel prayer.
Contrary to popular opinion, the Motown sound had a grittier side, one brought out simply by accenting the horn and rhythm sections. The bass guitar may have been the most basic element of the Motown sound, even burbling under a song as sweetly strung and sung as this one.
Motown in girl-group mode, with jazzy organ and a rhythm so tight it sounds like it's snapping its own fingers along with the beat. The label could also go dark when the mood called for it -- what sounds like a pledge of fidelity keeps turning into a kind of obsession here.
Perhaps the greatest quality of the Motown Sound was its ability to get out of the way when a singer had something deeply personal on his mind. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
There are almost no words that trigger the same international emotional response. At 60, the sound of young America retains its vitality — and its iridescent power. There is something else that explains the enduring power of Motown. The audiences were segregated. The venues had a rope down the middle of the audience separating blacks from whites, but soon the rope was gone and black kids and white kids were dancing together to the same music.
It created a bond that echoed throughout the world. If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter. New or Nu Wave New wave is a broad music genre that encompasses numerous pop-oriented styles from the late s and the s.
The term was originally used as a catch-all for the music that emerged concurrent with punk rock, but was not as primitive and slightly more accessible. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style featured in music videos and fashion. New wave peaked commercially in the late s and the early s with numerous major artists and an abundance of one-hit wonders.
See Stronger Than Dirt. Noise or Noise Rock Noise refers to outsider music that is expressly loud and chaotic. Nordic Traditional Nordic dance music is a type of traditional music or folk music that once was common in all five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
The most typical instrument is the fiddle. In most cases normal violins are used, but there are exceptions such as the hardingfele, used in parts of Norway, that in addition to the normal four strings has a set of sympathetic strings.
Other instruments that traditionally often were used are simple clarinets, mainly home-made, and later accordion. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads, and other disaffected working-class youth. It became a recognized genre in the latter part of the s, emerging after the perceived commercialization of punk rock, and before the soon-to-dominate hardcore punk sound.
It fused the sounds of early punk bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Clash, and the Jam with influences from s British rock bands such as the Small Faces, and the Who, football chants, pub rock bands such as Dr.
Although Oi! Pop Pop music is a sub-genre of popular music. Post-Rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with electronics. The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scene of the s and early s.
However, due to its abandonment of rock conventions, it often bears little resemblance musically to contemporary indie rock, borrowing instead from diverse sources including ambient music, electronica, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalist classical. Technology was often harnessed for new sounds, and music became more studio oriented, rather than for the stage, creating an experience more for listening rather than dancing. Key elements of Prog often include but are not limited to: 1 Abandoning the standard lengths of rock or pop songs, which sometimes has led to epic length of compositions.
Proto-Punk Proto-punk or protopunk is the rock music played by garage bands from the s to mids that presaged the punk rock movement. The Stooges, MC5, Death, etc. See Le Chateau Daddy-O. Psych or Psych Rock Psych refers to contemporary Psychedelic music, often with a darker edge informed by Punk or with Noise elements. Punk Punk Rock is an anti-establishment music movement that began about although precursors can be found several years earlier , exemplified by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Damned.
It was initially used to identify the style of music that later developed into rock and roll. By the s, rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term to describe soul and funk as well. Ragtime An American musical genre, enjoying its peak popularity around the years — Much Ragtime is written in Sonata form, with four distinct themes and a modified first theme appearing in the work.
Ragtime music is syncopated, with the melodic notes landing largely on the off-beats. Rap A form of rhyming lyrics spoken rhythmically over musical instruments that typically uses a musical backdrop of sampling, scratching and mixing by disk jockeys DJs. Rapping is one of the elements of hip hop music and was originally called emceeing. See Hip Hop Hooray. Reggae Music founded upon a rhythm style, which is characterized by regular chops on the back-beat, played by a rhythm guitarist.
Reggae is an African-Caribbean style of music developed on the island of Jamaica and closely linked to the religion of Rastafarianism though not universally popular among its members. See Roots Train. Retro Music directly imitating styles of the past. See Ear Candy 2. Rockabilly Rockabilly is the earliest form of rock and roll as a distinct style of music.
It is a fusion of blues, hillbilly boogie, bluegrass music and country music, and its origins lie in the American South. It frequently features slower tempos than ska, as well as more vocal harmonies and heavier bass guitar. Second Line Second line is a type of music characterized by a rhythm used in New Orleans jazz and blues music, or those who follow behind the musical members of a parade to enjoy the music.
An example of second line is the rhythm of the music performed by jazz bands in New Orleans parades. Ska Ska is a forerunner of reggae, combining Caribbean and American musical styles into uptempo dance music with accents famously on the off beats.
It comes in three primary waves: 1st Jamaica , 2nd England , and 3rd global. Soul Soul music is a combination of rhythm and blues and gospel. Rhythm and blues a term coined by music writer and record producer Jerry Wexler is itself a combination of blues and jazz, and arose in the s as small groups, often playing saxophones, built upon the blues tradition.
Soul music is differentiated by its use of gospel-music devices, its greater emphasis on vocalists, and its merging of religious and secular themes. Soundtrack Music used in the sound mix for a motion picture.
For a play or live production, see Cast Recordings. See Overture. Southern Rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals.
Sometimes these bands stray into the territory of Jam. Space Rock Space Rock is a genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound.
It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming, languid vocals, synthesizers and lyrical themes of outer space and science fiction. Surf Rock Surf music is a sub-genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California.
It was especially popular from to in two major forms. The first is instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-drenched electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, and made popular by groups like The Ventures. The second is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys.
Dick Dale developed the surf sound from instrumental rock, where he added Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, a spring reverb, and the rapid alternate picking characteristics. The genre reached national exposure when it was represented by vocal groups such as the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. The words made them surfing songs… That was the difference… the real surfing music is instrumental.
See Darkside Daddy. Swing Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that developed during the s and solidified as a distinctive style during the s in the United States. Swing is distinguished primarily by a strong rhythm section, usually including double bass and drums, medium to fast tempo, and the distinctive swing time rhythm that is common to many forms of jazz. See American Pop. Techno This term has come to have two popular interpretations, the first being a description of all electronic music.
The second interpretation is a style that developed from House music, which completely abandoned the influences of Disco; Techno is more mechanical and less organic. Tejano is usually more modern and is heavily influenced by rock, cumbia, and blues. Trance Trance music is electronic dance music EDM that developed in the s. Trance could be described as a melodic, more-or-less freeform style of music characterized by steady beat between and bpm and repeating melodic patterns.
The genre is arguably derived from a combination of largely techno and house. Trance got its name from repeating and morphing beats and melodies which would presumably put the listener into a trance.
The movement was an outgrowth of jazz. The music is an amalgamation of rural, cowboy, polka, folk, Dixieland jazz and blues blended with swing; and played by a hot string band often augmented with drums, saxophones, pianos and, notably, the steel guitar. The electrically amplified stringed instruments, especially the steel guitar, give the music a distinctive sound. Later incarnations have also included overtones of bebop.
Western swing differs in several ways from the music played by the nationally popular horn-driven big swing bands of the same era. Additionally, although popular horn bands tended to arrange and score their music, most Western bands improvised freely, either by soloists or collectively. World World music is, most generally, all the music in the world. World-beat In popular music, world beat refers to any style of music that fuses folk music from non-traditional sources essentially, outside the Appalachian folk and Celtic traditions with Western rock or other pop influences.
World beat is usually said to have begun in the mids when artists like David Byrne, Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon began incorporating influences from around the world, especially Africa. Within the next few years, world beat became a thriving sub-genre of popular music that influenced many more mainstream musicians.
0コメント