Here's a trick question: Who was the only R&B artist to end up in the top ten albums of 2012 by sales? The surprise answer is Lionel Richie, who sold more than a million copies of his first non-R&B album, the countryfied smash, Tuskegee. While Richie's comeback is a novel, interesting story in itself, it is also a metaphor for the diverging fortunes of country music and R&B in 2012.

Nielsen and Billboard magazine just released a detailed summary of 2012 in music, and behind all of the numbers was a story that most adult soul music fans could probably have identified: R&B and its related formats have a problem. Both R&B and rap music suffered sales declines, with each down 5-6% in 2012 despite overall growth in mp3 downloads. It was further evidence that a genre that helped drive the music industry for five decades has an identity crisis. And we can just look at the success of our Country cousins to see what's wrong here at home. Country music grew nearly 13% in 2012 and its digital album growth was an astonishing 37%, allowing it to blow by rap sales in that category. Why this divergence? Is Country music inherently superior? Of course not. But one thing is clear: Country music is beating R&B at its own game, and increasingly making itself relevant to broad groups with quality product and long term thinking, even as commercial R&B and rap ignore history and large swaths of America with approaches that alternate between insulting and insular.

While its influence had been silently profound during most of the 20th century, in the 1960s black music firmly established itself as the music of a nation. Motown called itself "The Sound of Young America," and popular secular music derived from Gospel and Blues roots became the dominant creative and cultural driver -- a role it would maintain for the next several decades. Motown also created a template for commercial success in Detroit that was subsequently followed by musical forces in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and elsewhere. It is a template that brings together entrepreneurship with true music people, and it has been a casualty of the consolidation of music power into conglomerates that appear to have forgotten their musical history...at least as far as black music is concerned. Somehow though, those lessons have not been lost on the Country music sides of the house, where the rules of the Golden Age of R&B are being successfully followed in a very 21st Century manner, even as the genre that delivered Motown, TSOP, et al, fades in popularity. What is country music doing right and what is missing from modern R&B?


Long-Term Artist Development

Central to the success of Motown and its progeny was the patient development of artists, with an emphasis on both patience and development. Young Motown artists were trained to be versatile entertainers who could excel in any environment. They learned skills ranging from harmonizing to choreography to media relations. And even though it took artists such as the Supremes several albums to have any level of success, Motown patiently trained the trio and worked to create opportunities (including broad media exposure) over a half decade. The patience and work paid off as the Supremes became the most popular female group of all time, selling millions of albums and singles and establishing real careers that resonate even today. Nowadays, Country music, while not perfect, has been the most impressive genre in training artists, preparing them them for long-term careers with a patience that rivals Motown and TSOP back in the day. And the Country genre's strong network, including media and terrific venues, hones artist careers even further. Meanwhile, over the past decade, major label R&B and hip-hop artists have been justifiably criticized as never before about their tepid, sometimes undisciplined shows, which demonstrate not a lack of talent, but rather a lack of training as stage performers. And increasingly, major labels are completely abandoning artist development in R&B, instead signing artists only after those artists are established and as organically "developed" as they're going to be. As a result, the trend is a generation of less distinguishable R&B and hip-hop artists who appear to have correspondingly shorter careers ahead of them.


Songwriting

Every great era of music has been led by songwriting, and R&B's greatest times boasted not only fine tunes but also insightful lyrics that reached their listeners. For Motown, the basis was clever wordplay about love, for Philly the messages mixed romance with social and political statements. Similarly, Country music has a long legacy of being "storytelling music," and strong, established songwriting teams still drive the genre. Country lyrics may vary from spiritual to R-rated, but they continue to set the bar for the entire industry and make an firm, emotional connection with audiences. Unfortunately, R&B can't make that same claim. With some notable exceptions -- mostly on the indie circuit -- R&B is now dominated by rhythms, with song structure being secondary and lyrics an embarrassing afterthought. R&B/Hip-Hop's biggest artist of 2012 was likely Drake. And his biggest song was "The Motto." So, where does Drake place on the lyrics bar? Here is the first verse of "The Motto" (and it just gets worse from there):

I'm speechless on this one..........

The songwriting and artist development are right on!

I'm not a fan of country music, but at least these folks can sing and play instruments and some can actually write a song! Who knew

I wish they wouldn't put artists like Drake in the R&B category though. It's not, in my opinion.

Why the hip hop/R&B? They are not the same. And all R&B is not that terrible. Kinda sweeping generalizations, don't you think?

Stymie said:

Why the hip hop/R&B? They are not the same. And all R&B is not that terrible. Kinda sweeping generalizations, don't you think?

Stymie said:

Why the hip hop/R&B? They are not the same. And all R&B is not that terrible. Kinda sweeping generalizations, don't you think?

Why would they even use Drake as an example of R&B

Very direspectful to artists such as Marvin, Al, etc

If they were talking about the current mainstream scene then they should have specified.

I HATE Billboard so fuckin dumb, white washed and a frauds.

mjscarousal said:

Stymie said:

Why the hip hop/R&B? They are not the same. And all R&B is not that terrible. Kinda sweeping generalizations, don't you think?

Why would they even use Drake as an example of R&B

Very direspectful to artists such as Marvin, Al, etc

If they were talking about the current mainstream scene then they should have specified.

I HATE Billboard so fuckin dumb, white washed and a frauds.

Exactly, as opposed to using a Miguel, who'd be a better example.

And I think it's unfair to compare the best of country to the worse of R&B. Country has its share of terrible music too.

Stymie said:

Why the hip hop/R&B? They are not the same.

According to the Billboard charts, they are. That's most likely where the media gets their info.

R&B/Hip-Hop songs

R&B/Hip-Hop albums

MickyDolenz said:

Stymie said:

Why the hip hop/R&B? They are not the same.

According to the Billboard charts, they are. That's most likely where the media gets their info.

R&B/Hip-Hop songs

R&B/Hip-Hop albums

Yeah I get that.

I was driving out of town and listening to XM radio and couldn't find R&B. They had stuck those stations under hip hop.

I agree with this article 1000%. It's what I've been saying to people for the last few years. It's as if the r&b songwriter is gone and the beat makers have taken over. Nothing wrong with beat makers, but a lot of these people don't know how to write clever lyrics or tell stories. It's as if they all want to sing about "beating it up" and getting high. These themes have been present in popular music, but come on....I don't want to hear about "beating it up" in every popular song.

I agree that the writer should not have used a Drake song to make his point, but he is telling the truth. When I listen to Trey Songz's music, I just shake my head in disbelief that little girls are buying this guy's music and his whole content is how he is a "panty wetter" and he makes "love faces."

Stymie said:

mjscarousal said:

Why would they even use Drake as an example of R&B

Very direspectful to artists such as Marvin, Al, etc

If they were talking about the current mainstream scene then they should have specified.

I HATE Billboard so fuckin dumb, white washed and a frauds.

Exactly, as opposed to using a Miguel, who'd be a better example.

And I think it's unfair to compare the best of country to the worse of R&B. Country has its share of terrible music too.

And if you think about it, what's been described as country music these days ain't the same country our parents grew up with, just like R&B ain't the same as when I was young or when my parents were young. Country artists and R&B artists are pretty much in the same boat as far as career development, they just do it differently. Country still has songwriters penning songs for others, same can be said about R&B. Having Drake in an R&B debate loses all the credibility it hoped to have. Besides, R&B music is having something of a resurgence, if not in sales, in musicality anyway.

Stymie said:

MickyDolenz said:

According to the Billboard charts, they are. That's most likely where the media gets their info.

R&B/Hip-Hop songs

R&B/Hip-Hop albums

Yeah I get that.

I was driving out of town and listening to XM radio and couldn't find R&B. They had stuck those stations under hip hop.

Looking at their page of different charts, they have 'country albums' and 'bluegrass albums' separate. I guess they got rid of 'adult urban' and replaced it with 'R&B songs', which looks similar to the 'R&B/Hip Hop' chart, except the rap songs are left off.

theAudience said:

http://www.soultracks.com/cr-country

Reading this article provided me with the comfort in knowing that someone out there gets it.

Isnt it also a fact that people who listen to country actually buy music?

Eversince R&B became about "branding", music became an after-afterthought.

Folks look at you sideways like you're a fuckin' dinasour if you even brought it up, god forbid you talk about music when you talk about,,,,,,,singers

The constant use of R&B and shit hop in the same sentence and on the same charts has always been a thorn in my ass. Back in the early 1980s when it was hip hop with a rap instead of singing, that was fine because it was still actual music behind the rap. But when it became shit hop and become nothing but some talking over a slow, weak, cheap sounding beat, it's insulting for it to even be mentioned in the same sentence with R&B.

While I agree that R&B these days is geared towards nothing but a bunch of thugged out Romper Roomers and that a lot more of it should be made for the older crowd, I feel that the music business mistakes the "older" crowd for the "old" crowd. Unlike generations before the Baby Boomer crowd, we weren't raised on Lawrence Welk type music. We were raised on fun and energetic forms of music such as disco and funk and just because we get older, does not mean we lose our fun and energy. We want it to continue, not decline. There is a portion of my generation that does not want adult contemporary R&B where everything is slow to midtempo, has no edge, is "safe", and has a "family" feel to it. We're "older" not "old" and the only reason that many of us have slowed down is because the world around us has slowed down. Actually, it is the younger generation that has slowed down, not us. We want to move forward, not backwards to the days when everything was Lawrence Welk tempoed and dull. And at the same time, we don't want the music watered down with weak sounding drum machines just so it can sound "modern". We want fun, strong, hard, powerful thumping jams like we're accustomed to and we're not prudes either, profanity is fine. The filthier, the better. We're not the previous generations who existed before that "devil" rhythm took over. We want that "devil" rhythm that the younger generation took out of the music, put back into the music. Many of the straight folks of my generation has grown kids now and a lot more are divorced, single again, and ready to party and get plain filthy. The blues genre is filled with folks like this, why not the R&B genre. Of course, you'd have to put something like funk or disco back into it to attract them back. And this trans, euro shit is NOT disco.

I agree with Timmy this isn't your grandparents country. A lot of stuff that's coming out of Nashville isn't much to be written about either. I think country sometimes suffer from the same disease that makes some people trip over R&B and Jazz artist. Wow, they can sing in tune and play an instrument, at the same time! In some instances what are we talking about really, bad versus mediocrity? In many instances I would say the latter. But I guess that's a mute point because its selling.

Will all due respect to Chris Rizik reasoning doesn't take into account

As much as Motown developed artist, the Black church and live music within African-American community was the primary driving force for the evolution of black music, musicians, and artist. Without those two key elements you don't get any of what came out of our community and it wouldn't have showed up at Motown's doorstep either. The lack of live venues killed R&B/Funk/Soul music.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

[Edited 1/11/13 6:33am]

TD3 said:

As much as Motown developed artist, the Black church and live music within African-American were the primary driving force for the evolution of black music, musicians, and artist. Without those two key elements you don't get any of what came out of our community and it would have showed up at Motown doorsteps either. The lack of live venues killed R&B/Funk/Soul music.

Recently, Jermaine Jackson said something similar to this. It's the last video in his thread, around 6:20.

http://prince.org/msg/8/3...?&pg=2

R&B music is dead,atleast the exciting kind.I hope you like techno.

[Edited 1/12/13 3:06am]

MickyDolenz said:

TD3 said:

As much as Motown developed artist, the Black church and live music within African-American were the primary driving force for the evolution of black music, musicians, and artist. Without those two key elements you don't get any of what came out of our community and it would have showed up at Motown doorsteps either. The lack of live venues killed R&B/Funk/Soul music.

Recently, Jermaine Jackson said something similar to this. It's the last video in his thread, around 6:20.

http://prince.org/msg/8/3...?&pg=2

He's absolutely right. Wherever the Black community lived, music surrounded us 24/7, in walking distance, you couldn't get away from it. I would add, integration was a factor in R&B/Soul/ Funk decline. It use to be like politics, all music was local. I look at some of these artist and you ask were did they come from? Back in the day an artist cut his or her musical teeth playing places in their region, that's where the buzz the word of mouth started. Now these artist appear to come out of nowhere. Not to speak of the access to music education which was usually free or for a nominal fee. All that is gone, never to return.

TD3 said:

He's absolutely right. Wherever the Black community lived, music surrounded us 24/7, in walking distance, you couldn't get away from it. I would add, integration was a factor in R&B/Soul/ Funk decline. It use to be like politics, all music was local. I look at some of these artist and you ask were did they come from? Back in the day an artist cut his or her musical teeth playing places in their region, that's where the buzz the word of mouth started. Now these artist appear to come out of nowhere. Not to speak of the access to music education which was usually free or for a nominal fee. All that is gone, never to return.

In the Jacksons' case, they often opened up for established acts before getting a record deal, so they saw them work in person. Maybe even playing for stippers in clubs might have been helpful for showmanship. Movie musicals were popular back then, which is not really the case today, except maybe in India with Bollywood films. So were variety shows like Ed Sullivan. Back then, there wasn't much for youngsters to do, that's one of the reasons people started doo wop & vocal groups.

The more I read this thread, the more I get the same kind of rant. Rhythm and blues changed so much over the years that people who don't investigate its history are left to wonder where the real R&B lied. Many think R&B died a quick death, around the time Motown and Stax was created and people started going for former gospel singers who brought the church to the nightclubs. Some here think R&B died when they married "You know I love you baby" with "hip-hop you don't stop". It's an never-ending cycle.

Same with other forms of music. Like I said, country, pop music, rock, today's versions of the genres that "shaped popular music" are not the same.

Personally I think Ray Charles is somewhere in Heaven or whatever shaking his head at this article after someone gave him a Brailie copy of it.

[Edited 1/10/13 18:25pm]

MickyDolenz said:

TD3 said:

He's absolutely right. Wherever the Black community lived, music surrounded us 24/7, in walking distance, you couldn't get away from it. I would add, integration was a factor in R&B/Soul/ Funk decline. It use to be like politics, all music was local. I look at some of these artist and you ask were did they come from? Back in the day an artist cut his or her musical teeth playing places in their region, that's where the buzz the word of mouth started. Now these artist appear to come out of nowhere. Not to speak of the access to music education which was usually free or for a nominal fee. All that is gone, never to return.

In the Jacksons' case, they often opened up for established acts before getting a record deal, so they saw them work in person. Maybe even playing for stippers in clubs might have been helpful for showmanship. Movie musicals were popular back then, which is not really the case today, except maybe in India with Bollywood films. So were variety shows like Ed Sullivan. Back then, there wasn't much for youngsters to do, that's one of the reasons people started doo wop & vocal groups.

That's true but there audience where their peers. They played their fair share of sock-hops, formal / informal talent, regional theatres.

Timmy84 said:

The more I read this thread, the more I get the same kind of rant. Rhythm and blues changed so much over the years that people who don't investigate its history are left to wonder where the real R&B lied. Many think R&B died a quick death, around the time Motown and Stax was created and people started going for former gospel singers who brought the church to the nightclubs. Some here think R&B died when they married "You know I love you baby" with "hip-hop you don't stop". It's an never-ending cycle.

Same with other forms of music. Like I said, country, pop music, rock, today's versions of the genres that "shaped popular music" are not the same.

Personally I think Ray Charles is somewhere in Heaven or whatever shaking his head at this article after someone gave him a Brailie copy of it.

[Edited 1/10/13 18:25pm]

you think he's blind in heaven?

Timmy84 said:

The more I read this thread, the more I get the same kind of rant. Rhythm and blues changed so much over the years that people who don't investigate its history are left to wonder where the real R&B lied. Many think R&B died a quick death, around the time Motown and Stax was created and people started going for former gospel singers who brought the church to the nightclubs. Some here think R&B died when they married "You know I love you baby" with "hip-hop you don't stop". It's an never-ending cycle.

Same with other forms of music. Like I said, country, pop music, rock, today's versions of the genres that "shaped popular music" are not the same.

Personally I think Ray Charles is somewhere in Heaven or whatever shaking his head at this article after someone gave him a Brailie copy of it.

[Edited 1/10/13 18:25pm]

I don't think anyone here said anything about R&B music dying or being died, some have questioned the quality of R&B music.

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

The more I read this thread, the more I get the same kind of rant. Rhythm and blues changed so much over the years that people who don't investigate its history are left to wonder where the real R&B lied. Many think R&B died a quick death, around the time Motown and Stax was created and people started going for former gospel singers who brought the church to the nightclubs. Some here think R&B died when they married "You know I love you baby" with "hip-hop you don't stop". It's an never-ending cycle.

Same with other forms of music. Like I said, country, pop music, rock, today's versions of the genres that "shaped popular music" are not the same.

Personally I think Ray Charles is somewhere in Heaven or whatever shaking his head at this article after someone gave him a Brailie copy of it.

[Edited 1/10/13 18:25pm]

I don't think anyone here said anything about R&B music dying or being died, some have questioned the quality of R&B music.

The real question is, is the music being present to us is really the genre they say it is? Like Miguel, he's R&B. But when you put Drake in it, that destroys the argument.

TD3 said:

MickyDolenz said:

Recently, Jermaine Jackson said something similar to this. It's the last video in his thread, around 6:20.

http://prince.org/msg/8/3...?&pg=2

He's absolutely right. Wherever the Black community lived, music surrounded us 24/7, in walking distance, you couldn't get away from it. I would add, integration was a factor in R&B/Soul/ Funk decline. It use to be like politics, all music was local. I look at some of these artist and you ask were did they come from? Back in the day an artist cut his or her musical teeth playing places in their region, that's where the buzz the word of mouth started. Now these artist appear to come out of nowhere. Not to speak of the access to music education which was usually free or for a nominal fee. All that is gone, never to return.

this article is 100% right, but attacks the result rather than the cause..the victim rather than the perpetrator

during the summer of 1987, during the fourth of july holiday, I was 15 years old

and during that weekend.....I was over my older cousin's house....it was late evening/early night

I sat down in the front of her porch on the steps, and took in the whole scene and I sat there by myself....

and what I saw was our community transforming right before our eyes as if it was happening overnight. I saw young cats blasting NWA and their song DOPEMAN, throwing up gang signs, calling young girls hoochies (this was a year or two before hoes and bitches became the vernacular)...A voice inside my head asked what the f*** is going on. I felt this negative force overtake the minds and the conscious of the neighborhoods and the generation of youth that I was growing up in. the heart grew heavy and I said on that day WE ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE and God is my witness...I never forgot that day, because as we fast forward some 25-26 years, I see those feelings of unease has been justified

You can take a person of their money, you can take a person of their belongings, and even their freedom...but when you take away their culture and strip them of it, you've taking the most precious thing a person can have

that's what has happened to black music over the course of the past quarter century. See, I never bought into what was beginning to take shape, I didn't understand why at 15, but I understand now.....

see, we no longer have a culture in the 21st century. Many think we do but we don't, and the catalyst that has caused that chism is the greatest illusion in the history of entertainment, better known as the POP ASCENSION which took over the industry during the late 1980s, and when it grasp control, all traces of the beginning of music's decline, especially REAL R&B music can be traced by to that defining moment.

at 16, I could feel the decline taking place, but I couldn't put my finger on how it was happening, but the music was losing its true voice, and the quality of production began to decline marginally, (the ears don't lie to you) but cleverly masked thru the rise of music video, where real talent would be replace by individuals the industry felt could sell more records due to a buergeoning commercial appeal shaped thru the lens of POP personification that shunned those artists who crafted the very music the industry would come to exploit, at the expense of culture

the pop ascension drew many of our contemporary artists of the 80s from their original support, and they suffered tremendously for it, there was no balance where the artist could maintain that original support while garnering a new generation of music fans.....

that's not how it worked, the pop ascension operated on extreme measures because of those artists maintained the original support, then those who looked to capitilize financially from the talent of that artist could not control the product. Therefore, that artist had to be uprooted from teh community, and when that happened, both the artist and the community suffered. the illusion functions from a dysfunctional platform better known as racial indifference. Along with that, to prolong the exploitation, the system had to generate a generational divide in the process

culture has been exploited in every shape and form and has now been eviscerated, all for the expense of profit, privilege, and a false sense of entitlment that destructive approach has fostered

But the seeds of this problem extends back some 25 years before it actually happened as Berry Gordy founded Motown

Due to the racial conflict evolving into another phase of position while limiting the channels black people were able to respond to it up to that point, Berry Gordy attempted to build Motown’s success around the theme of “inclusion” rather than genuine acceptance. He responded to the conflict according to the time he founded Motown. This was the chosen path and maybe, the perceived path he felt would lead towards racial equality. The goal was to create an environment that promoted the ideal of racial harmony (this was the motivation behind the label's focus on artist developement) but that focus on inclusion would eventually come to “exclude” the audience who made it possible for the label to expand its success beyond its original support.

Motown, as great as it was, as much as I love it, as much as I respect Berry Gordy’s accomplishments, one of the most prolific recording label of all time (and should be viewed as such) focused on presenting music in a way that would appeal commercially by assimilating the context of its measure, leading to the concept of “CROSSOVER APPEAL”.

The aforementioned goal of crossing over was ultimately about appealing to the establishment, an establishment that cultivates an audience who acts from a position of entitlement while disregarding the contribution culture, particularly black culture played in shaping the music they would come to enjoy. Loving the talent and the music, but responding indifferently to the culture, because the establishment seeks the fruits of the labor rather than the blood, sweat, and tear that was shed for those sacrifices are born out of struggle

I'm not referring to common day people, but those who hold access to privilege which undermines struggle, Why does it undermine struggle? Once privilege is granted by the establishment, the establishment eventually gains control of the source, the function, the success; even the history of the very thing a person willing to assimilate seeks privilege for bringing forth. So what happens, the efforts of those who contributed towards the point of origin becomes undermined and begin to lose their voice and the foundation for the success begins to fade.

and during this period, to facility the crossover ambition, GORDY didn't want to discuss social issues carried direct impact on him and the community. Subjects such as the civil rights movement was omitted from anything related to Motown during the 60s, so really we neglect ourselves when we did that.

Berry Gordy promoted Motown as HITSVILLE USA: “The Sound of Young America” rather than the sound of black America. For if he felt he would have been able to identify the music in the manner it should have been, he never would have felt so compelled to facilitate the crossover moment. What's overlooked is the fact that Motown WAS the sound of black america because black people were not only singing the songs but making them.

Motown made music featuring black artists, not necessarily for black people, but for CONSUMERS of black music. Both concepts appear to be similar in vein but run contradictory to each other when both concepts are realized. Even though black people bought the music by the droves, the music was never really meant to be recognized by their support once privilege had been granted. Black support served as the steppingstone until recognition and validation was assured by the establishment. This dynamic DID NOT produce racial harmony. What it DID produce was a pathology better defined as RACIAL INDIFFERENCE which subtlety encouraged the most prominent Motown acts to deny their true identity on marginal scales in order to gain crossover success. and it has produced allot of bitterness in the process, it's ugly, but it's true

Motown wasn’t geared towards culture as much as it was about the establishment, and maybe that’s why the majority of our youth who represent the generations of the past twenty five years disregard this musical period because they can’t identify with it due to the full measure being compromised.

this stuff runs deep, so during the period where cutlure was filled with richness, those who were in position to represent it in fullness chose not to do so, they used it to propel themselves to acceptance by the establishment, which has led to the destruction of R&B music and our culture

what' the saying....be careful what we ask for, because we just may get it

this stuff don't just happen by chance, or coincidence, or on a whim, there's always a root cause

the only way we can rebuild this thing, more people have to admit what has happened over time

[Edited 1/10/13 19:58pm]

Scorp said:

and what I saw was our community transforming right before our eyes as if it was happening overnight. I saw young cats blasting NWA and their song DOPEMAN, throwing up gang signs, calling young girls hoochies (this was a year or two before hoes and bitches became the vernacular)...A voice inside my head asked what the f*** is going on. I felt this negative force overtake the minds and the conscious of the neighborhoods and the generation of youth that I was growing up in. the heart grew heavy and I said on that day WE ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE and God is my witness...I never forgot that day, because as we fast forward some 25-26 years, I see those feelings of unease has been justified

What's the difference in that and 1970's blaxploitation movies or blackface before that? Black people participated in blackface during vaudeville too. If you watch the Wattstax movie, there's shots of gang members in the audience. The commentary track even gave one of the gang's name. It's not like many of the the acts from back then lived clean lives either. Sly Stone was a pimp and so was Jelly Roll Morton from the ragtime and early jazz era. Bessie Smith would beat up men and women.

If you listen to old blues and 'country & western' songs, many of them had lyrics about violence, drugs, being drunk, sex, suicide, murder, etc. Some even had profanity. One of the most remade songs is Stag O'Lee/Stagger Lee (and various other spellings) which is based on a real incident from the early 1900's. Old country songs sometimes were about fighting at the "honky tonk". There were the "teen disaster" songs, which was popular in the late 1950's/early 1960's. Early rock 'n roll, juvenile delinquent movies, and even comic books were accused of "corrupting the youth". The Beatles might seem tame today, but some parents were alarmed by their "mop tops", which was considered long hair at the time, and the way girls seemed to be in a trance at their concerts. When the 3 Stooges shorts started running on television, parents complained about the violence in that, which Moe Howard responded that there's more violence in a western, and the same parents were ok with their children watching cowboy movies/TV shows.

Harlepolis said:

Eversince R&B became about "branding", music became an after-afterthought.

Folks look at you sideways like you're a fuckin' dinasour if you even brought it up, god forbid you talk about music when you talk about,,,,,,,singers

vainandy said:

While I agree that R&B these days is geared towards nothing but a bunch of thugged out Romper Roomers and that a lot more of it should be made for the older crowd, I feel that the music business mistakes the "older" crowd for the "old" crowd. Unlike generations before the Baby Boomer crowd, we weren't raised on Lawrence Welk type music. We were raised on fun and energetic forms of music such as disco and funk and just because we get older, does not mean we lose our fun and energy. We want it to continue, not decline. There is a portion of my generation that does not want adult contemporary R&B where everything is slow to midtempo, has no edge, is "safe", and has a "family" feel to it. We're "older" not "old" and the only reason that many of us have slowed down is because the world around us has slowed down. Actually, it is the younger generation that has slowed down, not us. We want to move forward, not backwards to the days when everything was Lawrence Welk tempoed and dull. And at the same time, we don't want the music watered down with weak sounding drum machines just so it can sound "modern". We want fun, strong, hard, powerful thumping jams like we're accustomed to and we're not prudes either, profanity is fine. The filthier, the better. We're not the previous generations who existed before that "devil" rhythm took over. We want that "devil" rhythm that the younger generation took out of the music, put back into the music. Many of the straight folks of my generation has grown kids now and a lot more are divorced, single again, and ready to party and get plain filthy. The blues genre is filled with folks like this, why not the R&B genre. Of course, you'd have to put something like funk or disco back into it to attract them back. And this trans, euro shit is NOT disco.