Once upon a time there was James Brown, Lyn Collins, Sweet Charles, The Fatback Band, Rick James, Cameo, Earth Wind and Fire, Don Blackmon, Freddie Jackson, Alyson Williams, Kashif, Maze, Roger Troutman and Zapp, Chuck Stanley, Al B Sure, Eddie Kendricks, Debarge, Curtis Mayfield, Leroy Hutson, The Natural Four, The Voices Of East Harlem, Keith Sweat, Johnny Kemp, Labelle, Loose Ends, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass, Mantronix, Guy, Today, Intro, Basic Black, Karen White, Atlantic Starr, Patrice Rushen, Minnie Riperton, Slave, Tony Toni Tone, Miles Jaye, D Train, Howard Johnson, Deja, Miki Howard, Oran Juice Jones, Tashan, James Ingram and Stephanie Mills to name just a few.

Where or who are their modern day successors? Or did hip hop kill soul music?

Soul was replaced by Contemporary R&B with acts like R. Kelly and Mariah Carey. Another obvious reason why soul died is that most of the icons of it, died as well.

Keith Sweat was soul? More like New Jack Swing to me. Luther Vandross was pop/adult contemporary, no different than Lionel Richie & Whitney Houston.

It faded away, like funk.

The producers of that music started to retire .............and hiphop producer & acts killed it off.

Haven't you heard? It was resurrected this past weekend in Stockholm by the RnB Jesus.

Some of those people posted aren't even soul singers and are one-hit wonders. Orange Juice Jones? Really? LOL. Where the hell is Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and Aretha Franklin?

Soul got replaced by 'neo-soul' .

I wonder if vainandy has any opinions about who killed soul music?

rialb said:

I wonder if vainandy has any opinions about who killed soul music?

the point i was trying to make had been taken completely the wrong way...

in the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s there was such a wealth of black recording talent - be it soul - aretha, donny hathaway - funk - bootsy collins, the ohio players - new jack - entouch, today - neo soul - d'angelo, india arie - even so called one hit wonders like oran juice jones (who actually released 4 studio albums - and had a number of underground hits on NYC independant labels before getting signed to def jam).

parking r kelly and his like to one side - are we now only left with anthony hamilton, raphael saadiq, jill scott and a few others?

i was one of the original essex soul boys in the 80's and spent most of my money back then til the mid 90's buying soul / funk / rare groove / new jack swing / house / garage / hip hop - i lived it at home and in the clubs.

i know i'm older now and the world changes but i just don't see the wealth and depth of talent as before.

at the end of the day i wouldn't change my record collection and the connected memories.

There are artists on independent labels or with their own label, representing their work on sites such as CDBaby | Urban/R&B, soulchoonz soul music promotions rnb, http://blog.jazz-not-jazz...gory/funk/, http://blog.jazz-not-jazz...gory/soul/. UK soul stations such as Solar Radio and Starpoint Radio have dj's who regularly browse those sites above and filter out the stuff they dig and which they think might appeal to the radio listeners. And although not every artist will have a chance to get a deal at a major company, in this digital age it's at least possible for them to represent their work online and reach a broader group of potential/interested listeners/buyers.

[Edited 1/31/12 6:09am]

safetypin said:

the point i was trying to make had been taken completely the wrong way...

in the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s there was such a wealth of black recording talent - be it soul - aretha, donny hathaway - funk - bootsy collins, the ohio players - new jack - entouch, today - neo soul - d'angelo, india arie - even so called one hit wonders like oran juice jones (who actually released 4 studio albums - and had a number of underground hits on NYC independant labels before getting signed to def jam).

parking r kelly and his like to one side - are we now only left with anthony hamilton, raphael saadiq, jill scott and a few others?

i was one of the original essex soul boys in the 80's and spent most of my money back then til the mid 90's buying soul / funk / rare groove / new jack swing / house / garage / hip hop - i lived it at home and in the clubs.

i know i'm older now and the world changes but i just don't see the wealth and depth of talent as before.

at the end of the day i wouldn't change my record collection and the connected memories.

I think the same argument can be made about rock music that you are making about soul music. From the sixties to the nineties there was a very vibrant rock scene with several different movements emerging each decade. From the late nineties to the present rock has been very stagnant.

Music in general ain't what it once was.

safetypin said:

Once upon a time there was James Brown, Lyn Collins, Sweet Charles, The Fatback Band, Rick James, Cameo, Earth Wind and Fire, Don Blackmon, Freddie Jackson, Alyson Williams, Kashif, Maze, Roger Troutman and Zapp, Chuck Stanley, Al B Sure, Eddie Kendricks, Debarge, Curtis Mayfield, Leroy Hutson, The Natural Four, The Voices Of East Harlem, Keith Sweat, Johnny Kemp, Labelle, Loose Ends, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass, Mantronix, Guy, Today, Intro, Basic Black, Karen White, Atlantic Starr, Patrice Rushen, Minnie Riperton, Slave, Tony Toni Tone, Miles Jaye, D Train, Howard Johnson, Deja, Miki Howard, Oran Juice Jones, Tashan, James Ingram and Stephanie Mills to name just a few.

Where or who are their modern day successors? Or did hip hop kill soul music?

Al B Sure wasn't soulful in any way. I saw that joke live at the Apollo back in the 80's and there were more than a few boos coming from the audience. They were being easy on him too. But, back to your thread. I don't think you're missing "soul music" as much as you're missing the soul in black music. It still exists though through underground circuit. Julie Dexter, Tony Hamilton, Anthony David to name a few. Good music will always be there endlessly floating in the atmosphere to demanding ears like ours.

dseann said:

safetypin said:

Once upon a time there was James Brown, Lyn Collins, Sweet Charles, The Fatback Band, Rick James, Cameo, Earth Wind and Fire, Don Blackmon, Freddie Jackson, Alyson Williams, Kashif, Maze, Roger Troutman and Zapp, Chuck Stanley, Al B Sure, Eddie Kendricks, Debarge, Curtis Mayfield, Leroy Hutson, The Natural Four, The Voices Of East Harlem, Keith Sweat, Johnny Kemp, Labelle, Loose Ends, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass, Mantronix, Guy, Today, Intro, Basic Black, Karen White, Atlantic Starr, Patrice Rushen, Minnie Riperton, Slave, Tony Toni Tone, Miles Jaye, D Train, Howard Johnson, Deja, Miki Howard, Oran Juice Jones, Tashan, James Ingram and Stephanie Mills to name just a few.

Where or who are their modern day successors? Or did hip hop kill soul music?

Al B Sure wasn't soulful in any way. I saw that joke live at the Apollo back in the 80's and there were more than a few boos coming from the audience. They were being easy on him too. But, back to your thread. I don't think you're missing "soul music" as much as you're missing the soul in black music. It still exists though through underground circuit. Julie Dexter, Tony Hamilton, Anthony David to name a few. Good music will always be there endlessly floating in the atmosphere to demanding ears like ours.

"as much as you're missing the soul in black music" - that's exactly what i was trying to say. cheers

i'm not a fan of julie dexter - went to one of her gigs at the jazz cafe a few years ago & was not impressed.

as jam and lewis say - the earth has music for those that listen

rialb said:

I wonder if vainandy has any opinions about who killed soul music?

I'll give you a hint. Just imagine Debbie Boone wearing some Fashion Fair makeup and a wig.

safetypin said:

dseann said:

Al B Sure wasn't soulful in any way. I saw that joke live at the Apollo back in the 80's and there were more than a few boos coming from the audience. They were being easy on him too. But, back to your thread. I don't think you're missing "soul music" as much as you're missing the soul in black music. It still exists though through underground circuit. Julie Dexter, Tony Hamilton, Anthony David to name a few. Good music will always be there endlessly floating in the atmosphere to demanding ears like ours.

"as much as you're missing the soul in black music" - that's exactly what i was trying to say. cheers

i'm not a fan of julie dexter - went to one of her gigs at the jazz cafe a few years ago & was not impressed.

as jam and lewis say - the earth has music for those that listen

Aaaah, but I appreciate the fact that you at least went there searching for the music.

Surprinsingly, I feel the same way about Amel Larrieux ..... live that is. Love her cd's though.

vainandy said:

rialb said:

I wonder if vainandy has any opinions about who killed soul music?

I'll give you a hint. Just imagine Debbie Boone wearing some Fashion Fair makeup and a wig.

aardvark15 said:

Soul was replaced by Contemporary R&B with acts like R. Kelly and Mariah Carey. Another obvious reason why soul died is that most of the icons of it, died as well.

I think that when Marvin Gaye died in 1984,soul music as we knew it...sorta died too.

SoulAlive said:

aardvark15 said:

Soul was replaced by Contemporary R&B with acts like R. Kelly and Mariah Carey. Another obvious reason why soul died is that most of the icons of it, died as well.

I think that when Marvin Gaye died in 1984,soul music as we knew it...sorta died too.

The dead body of soul was then burned to a crisp, eaten, pooped, then fed to a dog when James Brown died

I always said that April 1, 1984 was the beginning of the death of soul music with January 13, 1979 preceding its real start.

To be more historically frank, to me soul started around the time Tina Turner exclaimed she was "a fool in love" and Ray Charles and the Raelettes started having sexual sermons. The golden age was between 1960 and 1975.

Then soul gave in to funk, which gave in to disco, which gave in to electro funk. Marvin Gaye was one of the few to emerge from the soul genre to still have a career by the time he died. Once that happened, soul music really started fading.

It was revived (somewhat) when D'Angelo and Erykah hit the scene and that's why the media called it "neo soul". But then that trend died.

Hell R&B died sometime in 1959 after "What'd I Say" IMHO. The "R&B" went overseas and was reprogrammed by artists in the UK.

So the genres itself either died or moved elsewhere and Americans as always bypassed it. Especially black Americans. Now we keep asking ourselves where did it go? The answer is there lol

[Edited 2/1/12 16:31pm]

Timmy84 said:

It was revived (somewhat) when D'Angelo and Erykah hit the scene and that's why the media called it "neo soul". But then that trend died.

It never died! It just went far underground. Neo-soul will arise again!

smoothcriminal12 said:

Timmy84 said:

It was revived (somewhat) when D'Angelo and Erykah hit the scene and that's why the media called it "neo soul". But then that trend died.

It never died! It just went far underground. Neo-soul will arise again!

I still hate that word though.

The 80s.

Disco is what happened.

duccichucka said:

Disco is what happened.

Most artists of the golden age of soul either were told by record companies to do it or refused to because they didn't wanna just jump into trends. I remember Dionne used to complain bitterly about disco.

Integration.

yes, i'm serious.

Timmy84 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

It never died! It just went far underground. Neo-soul will arise again!

I still hate that word though.

I'm not a fan of it either, but it's just like "modern classical" or even worse "nu-funk." I just live with it.

TD3 said:

Integration.

yes, i'm serious.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHIT, you just dropped a bomb in this thread.

smoothcriminal12 said:

Timmy84 said:

I still hate that word though.

I'm not a fan of it either, but it's just like "modern classical" or even worse "nu-funk." I just live with it.

I can't roll. Why categorize anything "neo"? It's like they're dissing it than giving it props if you think about it.