Hello all.

Since the age range is so varied here on the org I thought it would be cool if we could have a discussion on different musical periods. For this thread I would like to choose R&B music the 70s vs the 90s. Two eras that are very different in musical styles.

This isn't exactly a comparison thread, yet you are free compare them. I want this to be about the change of music throughout each decade. Who the hot producers were, who the biggest names and who flew under the radar. What did you like/dislike about each era.

The 70s were the peak of R&B music, as far as talent and creativity go. One of my favorite periods of music is the mid-70s. It was all about the FUNK bands. Lately I've been listening to a lot of 70s music Rufus, War, Slave, P-Funk, Brothers Johnson just to name a few. The sound of 70s music was very raw and real feeling. It was more gritty than the motown era. My favorite thing about it was the insturments. I love the sound real drums and bass playing. I really want mainstream R&B music to bring back bands. Younger people only associate bands with Rock music, that's soo not the case lol.

90s music has a special place in my heart. I grew up listening to Whitney, Boyz II Men, Mariah, Aaliyah, Brandy, Monica, Tupac, MJB, TTT, En Vogue, TLC. The 90s were all about the R&B groups and big ballads. Hip Hop basically took over in the 90s. Starting with 1992 (I think), 85% of Billboard #1 hits were Hip Hop songs, this was on the POP chart might I add. I've read music articles saying that the 90s had an "anti-pop" movement. I can kind of see this, pop music was definitely on the backburner throught the 90s. However it would re-emerge at the end of the decade with Britney Spears, Xtina, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, etc.

Honestly, I can't pick which era I like best. I love both eras. Although, I will say 90s music was very formula driven and in turn a lot of the ballads kinda sounded the same. This was due to Babyface's production style.

awesome topic......awesome and much needed

Don Cornelius says it best

[Edited 2/25/13 4:16am]

as you said..the peak was in the 70s....besides from some and the artist there was not much excitement in R and B in the 90s...

The early 90's still had some redeeming qualities in R&B because you still had R&B artists around from the 70s who were still having some pretty big hits in the early 90's. People like Phyllis, Chaka, Peabo and Patti were still doing pretty well on the charts. I think it was around '95 or '96 when i started to notice a drastic difference in what I was hearing only a year prior. the youngsters really took over the genre, changed the sound, removed the Rhythm & the Blues and it was almost impossible for veteran artists to have a chance. There was that so-called "Neo-Soul" movement that exposed some incredible talent but it seems like they just weren't able to break-out like the stars of the 70s did.

The 70's CRUSH the 90's.

P-Funk, The OHIO Players, Steve Arrington, EWF, The Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Bootsy, Rufus, the Jacksons, the Commodores, Prince.........I could go on and on.

The 1990's were ok but about the only group from that time that could hang with the 70's is Mint Condition.

[Edited 3/6/13 6:12am]

Graycap23 said:

The 70's CRUSH the 90's.

P-Funk, The OHIO Players, Steve Arrington, EWF, The Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Bootsy, Rufus, the Jacksons, the Commodores, Prince.........I could go on and on.

SoulAlive said:

Graycap23 said:

The 70's CRUSH the 90's.

P-Funk, The OHIO Players, Steve Arrington, EWF, The Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Bootsy, Rufus, the Jacksons, the Commodores, Prince.........I could go on and on.

And so many 70's acts/performers carried R&B well into the 80's.

One major difference: You could be a star in the 70s and be ugly as fuck, but in the 90s you better look like a mack daddy.

2freaky4church1 said:

One major difference: You could be a star in the 70s and be ugly as fuck, but in the 90s you better look like a mack daddy.

Another negative that could probably be laid at the feet of the MTV era.


Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

2freaky4church1 said:

One major difference: You could be a star in the 70s and be ugly as fuck, but in the 90s you better look like a mack daddy.

Another negative that could probably be laid at the feet of the MTV era.


Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

Good point!

I never thought of that before. Great observation.

The 1970s by far. The 1990s were horrible and R&B still hasn't recovered and progressed from that decade. The early 1970s were great but they still felt like they bled a little off of the late 1960s. When the mid 1970s kicked in, it felt like a new sound altogether. The early 1980s felt like a continuation of the mid to late 1970s. Bands still dominated and funk still ruled but with a more modern twist on up until 1984. Changing technology changed things in the late 1980s but tired asses with absolute dull tastes of senior citizens changed things even more during the late 1980s which escalated and got even worse in the 1990s and never changed since then on up until today.

My quick take on the subject, without going too deeply: In the 70's, I could hardly keep up with all the good music that was being produced. In the 90's, I often found myself waiting for something that would truly move me, which rarely came.

Not surprisingly, a few of the CD's I've just purchased in the past 30 days:

• Major Harris - My Way
• The Essential Teddy Pendergrass
• Ohio Players - Funk On Fi... Anthology
• The Best of Dionne Warwick (...with plenty of 60's material thrown in there as well)
• The Sugarhill Gang -vs- G...atest Hits
• Martha Wash - Something Good (...okay, maybe it's not from the 70's, still it's some very REAL, and worthwhile, NEW MUSIC)

PDogz said:

My quick take on the subject, without going too deeply: In the 70's, I could hardly keep up with all the good music that was being produced. In the 90's, I often found myself waiting for something that would truly move me, which rarely came.

Not surprisingly, a few of the CD's I've just purchased in the past 30 days:

• Major Harris - My Way
• The Essential Teddy Pendergrass
• Ohio Players - Funk On Fi... Anthology
• The Best of Dionne Warwick (...with plenty of 60's material thrown in there as well)
• The Sugarhill Gang -vs- G...atest Hits
• Martha Wash - Something Good (...okay, maybe it's not from the 70's, still it's some very REAL, and worthwhile, NEW MUSIC)

Yep.

SoulAlive said:

Graycap23 said:

The 70's CRUSH the 90's.

P-Funk, The OHIO Players, Steve Arrington, EWF, The Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Bootsy, Rufus, the Jacksons, the Commodores, Prince.........I could go on and on.

theAudience said:

2freaky4church1 said:

One major difference: You could be a star in the 70s and be ugly as fuck, but in the 90s you better look like a mack daddy.

Another negative that could probably be laid at the feet of the MTV era.


Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

So true!

Video killed the radio star.

^ Indeed it did

I find that musically and vocally, 90's r&b is more similar to 70's r&b than not, and so is some of the funk-rock type of music of the 90's from the likes of Prince and Lenny Kravitz. And 70's fashions were being repeated in the 90's, so there were images of that, and there were many decent vocalists still around. Whether one enjoyed 90's r&b or not, people still had talent and meant what they were singing, though I think it was towards the last bit of the decade and onwards hip hop and teen pop was really taking over and good r&b was being overlooked on the billboard hot 100, declining in sales overtime.

Back to the original question, I wouldn't say one is better than the other, cause I love both, but I was a teenager in the 90's, even if I was exposed to lots of 70's music of different styles a lot as a kid. Sure there was a lot of sampling of 70's and 80's music in the 90's, so maybe originality was going down, but people were a lot more creative with samples back then compared to now where just a few are good with it, and many still had vocal and dance talent, now they don't even have to have that, just an autotune machine. And to make up for it, the 90's gave us creative producers like timbaland and teddy riley who fused r&b and hip hop really well to create a unique sound. But I also really love that fact so many r&b artists played instruments in the 70's and created innovative albums that stood the test of time.

[Edited 2/26/13 12:01pm]

Well I vote 70s. There was just so much different stuff happening, new flavors popping up all the time, everyone trying to be sound different from the last hit group instead of a cookie cutter version of what was already successful.

The one 90s R&B group that I thought could compete with the best of the 70s was En Vogue. They were fantastic. But unfortunately they didn't last & there was no followup, they didn't inspire a bunch of interesting new groups to take up the challenge and keep R&B moving forward. And apart from going even further into hip-hop beat territory, I don't hear much evidence that it has grown much since then.

I'm also of the age where I revere the stuff that went on in my childhood more than the stuff that was popular in my twenties. So there is that. But I know which decade's records I want with me on a desert island. I don't think there's anyone from the 90s that could topple the Pointer Sisters just to name one.

I like some of that New Jack Swing sound but the loss of great BANDS is really a tertible thing. I got the Bill Withers box set & the first half of his catalog is GREAT while the second half is mostly pretty weak. The fact that he had the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band on the early ones feels like a big reason why the later records don't have the same impact. The songs are a little weaker, his voice is just as great as ever, but it's not in the same ballpark. And it's obvious from the first few notes.

I love the 80's and 90's better than the 00's too for sure. Sure I had songs I liked in the 00's, but found myself complaining often that I missed music from when I was younger or if people my age were forgetting or unaware of all the copying going on.

90s R&B sounds nothing like 70s R&B

70s and 80s R&B is better comparison.

80s R&B is my favorite followed by 70s

The 70s is the best era for music in my opinion so 70s without question.

The 90s are definitly better than todays music but the 90s is when music started to really change for the worse. There are some 90s acts that I love but it does not touch the classic 70s, sorry. Its just no competition. 70s was the greatest era for R&B as well as 60s.

SEVENTIES.................................

The 70s was the best decade for lots of music hands down, not just what is now called R&B... (back then we called it funk and soul). There was so much variety, creativity and skill to the point where everybody had to bring their A-game to even get on the map. We were the happy ones who benefitted from the fact that everybody tried to do their own thing and stand out rather than conform to some formula.

I wonder what would happen if bands began to dominate the music scene again?

omg! the 70s!!!!

R&B started its decline during the 90s

R.Kelly opened Pandora's Box

babynoz said:

The 70s was the best decade for lots of music hands down, not just what is now called R&B... (back then we called it funk and soul).

When I organize & update my digital library (...I use MediaMonkey), I refuse to tag the music files from back in the day with "R&B" as the genre. I call it what it was: Soul, Funk, Blues, Pop, Disco, etc. In the 70's, when you went to the record store to buy the new Stevie Wonder, Mandrill, WAR, or Earth Wind & Fire album, you didn't go to the R&B section, you went to the SOUL section. That's probably the main problem with today's productions; they need to put the soul back in the music.

babynoz said:

There was so much variety, creativity and skill to the point where everybody had to bring their A-game to even get on the map. We were the happy ones who benefited from the fact that everybody tried to do their own thing and stand out rather than conform to some formula.

babynoz said:

I wonder what would happen if bands began to dominate the music scene again?

People would try to act like it was some new phenomenon, and claim it as something the current decade invented / implemented.

Graycap23 said:

The 70's CRUSH the 90's.

P-Funk, The OHIO Players, Steve Arrington, EWF, The Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Bootsy, Rufus, the Jacksons, the Commodores, Prince.........I could go on and on.

The 1990's were ok but about the only group form that time that could hand with the 70's is Mint Condition.

Yes!

1970's VS. 1990's is like.....

Minnie Riperton VS. Mariah Carey

Stevie Wonder VS. R. Kelly

Teddy Pendergrass VS. Johnny Gill

The Jackson 5 VS. Hi-Five

Donna Summers VS. Whitney Houston

Betty Wright VS. Mary J. Blige

The Spinners VS. Boyz II Men

Philidelphia International Records VS. Uptown Records

Do we realy think the 90's stand a chance in hell?!?

PDogz said:

babynoz said:

The 70s was the best decade for lots of music hands down, not just what is now called R&B... (back then we called it funk and soul).

When I organize & update my digital library (...I use MediaMonkey), I refuse to tag the music files from back in the day with "R&B" as the genre. I call it what it was: Soul, Funk, Blues, Pop, Disco, etc. In the 70's, when you went to the record store to buy the new Stevie Wonder, Mandrill, WAR, or Earth Wind & Fire album, you didn't go to the R&B section, you went to the SOUL section. That's probably the main problem with today's productions; they need to put the soul back in the music.

Thank you!!!

PDogz said:

babynoz said:

The 70s was the best decade for lots of music hands down, not just what is now called R&B... (back then we called it funk and soul).

When I organize & update my digital library (...I use MediaMonkey), I refuse to tag the music files from back in the day with "R&B" as the genre. I call it what it was: Soul, Funk, Blues, Pop, Disco, etc. In the 70's, when you went to the record store to buy the new Stevie Wonder, Mandrill, WAR, or Earth Wind & Fire album, you didn't go to the R&B section, you went to the SOUL section. That's probably the main problem with today's productions; they need to put the soul back in the music.

I love my Windows Media Player for the shuffle feature because I never know what song is going to play next just like listening to the radio back when it used to be good. So when I placed the genre on each song, I did it so only stuff that fit the mood I was in would play during shuffle.

I labelled disco as disco, funk as funk, slow jams as slow jams, pop/rock as pop/rock, etc. However, when I labelled funk, I broke it off into different labels. Anything before May of 1985, I simply labelled as funk. Anything after that until the end of the 1980s, I labelled as Funk Late 80s and did the same with slow jams too because most of them did not fit the mood of the songs prior to the late 80s. When it came to Prince, even though a song like "Let's Go Crazy" was pop/rock, I still labelled it as funk so it would play during shuffle with the other stuff just like it did on R&B rado. Blue eyed soul like Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust", I duplicated it twice in the computer, one with a funk label and another with a pop/rock label. The R&B odds and ends such as Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" that I wouldn't want to pop up during an ass shaking session or during a night of slow jams with a stranger at 2 a.m., I simply labelled as soul.

vainandy said:

When it came to Prince, even though a song like "Let's Go Crazy" was pop/rock, I still labelled it as funk so it would play during shuffle with the other stuff just like it did on R&B rado.

I have all my Prince music tagged with a genre created just for him: "Funk/Soul/Rock". No one else in my library is tagged as such.

Then, aside from the specific playlists I create, I also enjoy the shuffle feature (as you do), because it's like listening to your own personal radio station; you never know exactly what's coming on next, but you know you'll love it.

Incidentally, my media player is still subscribed to automatically download all your podcasts, and I currently have almost 42 hours (41hrs, 53mins, & 37secs) of VainAndy mixes saved in my library (tagged with "VainAndy" as the genre).

babynoz said:

PDogz said:

When I organize & update my digital library (...I use MediaMonkey), I refuse to tag the music files from back in the day with "R&B" as the genre. I call it what it was: Soul, Funk, Blues, Pop, Disco, etc. In the 70's, when you went to the record store to buy the new Stevie Wonder, Mandrill, WAR, or Earth Wind & Fire album, you didn't go to the R&B section, you went to the SOUL section. That's probably the main problem with today's productions; they need to put the soul back in the music.

Thank you!!!

the reason why the music was so rich was because it reflected the richness of the culture that produced it

that great music was born out of the struggle, the collective struggle

culture has been totally tapped out during the age of the pop ascension and political correctness

urban radio programming is awful, it's not even close to the level of professionalism that was brought forth during the 70s and early 80s

the country said "yall want the highest office in the land, we gone give it to you, but it will cost you everything you have, you have to give up your soul"....

and that's exactly what has happened...oh yes, we have paid a tremendous price