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What are some bands/artists that crossed over WITHOUT sacrificing their roots? What are some artists/groups that made great impressions on the pop charts without making their music too accessible if not outright changing their sound?
The first one that comes to mind for me are the Ohio Players. I find it bemusing (in a good way) that they managed to land not one but two pure funk jams at the #1 spot. Even back in the 70s when black music was tearing up the Top 40, their success still feels like an anomaly. [Edited 4/8/20 14:00pm] | |
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Sly and The Family Stone perhaps. | |
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slyjackson said: Sly and The Family Stone perhaps. | |
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Really, but where do you think they crossed over, with Stand I guess? | |
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As great as the Ohio Players were it's amazing that their chart run only last 4 years. After their 1977 Angel album things just started to go downhill for them. They had some good songs here and there afterwards but nothing compararble from Skin Tight up until Angel. Tough question to answer but OP and Sly are probably the 2 bands that come immediately to mind. Don't laugh at my funk
This funk is a serious joint | |
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Earth Wind & Fire | |
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slyjackson said:
Really, but where do you think they crossed over, with Stand I guess? "Everyday People" crossed over big time. | |
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From the 70's, I'd have to give it to The Commodores...And even though it was for a brief time, Rick James. | |
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...I almost forgot, The Bee Gees. They're one of the few groups that I can remember hearing on both pop and R&B radio from 1977 to 1980. | |
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slyjackson said:
Really, but where do you think they crossed over, with Stand I guess? I honestly don't know much S&TFS other than a handful of songs and his influence on Prince. But I got a vague inkling of just how big Sly and his entourage were in their short prime. | |
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RJOrion said: Earth Wind & Fire The first ever black band to sell out MSG?Fasho. | |
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You should dig into their music, is just great, they are pioneers, Sly Stone is a visionary artist. | |
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SPYZFAN1 said: From the 70's, I'd have to give it to The Commodores...And even though it was for a brief time, Rick James. | |
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MotownSubdivision said: RJOrion said: Earth Wind & Fire The first ever black band to sell out MSG?Fasho. i went to the 1977 "All N All" show at MSG, and i was surprised to see that of the over 19,000 people there, at least one third of the crowd was white | |
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Fats Domino Bessie Smith The Temptations (they didn't have much crossover after the early 1970s though) The O'Jays (1970s) late 1960s Aretha Franklin (after her earlier Columbia Records stuff that was made more for the middle of the road Johnny Mathis/Dean Martin audience, didn't do that well) James Brown War (they might have been helped by starting out being the backing band for Eric Burdon from The Animals.) Salt N Pepa Bobby Brown (Don't Be Cruel sold more than Michael Jackson's Bad at the time in the USA, but Bad passed it up later because it kept selling in the decades after) Bell Biv DeVoe Sade TLC You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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RJOrion said: MotownSubdivision said: The first ever black band to sell out MSG? Fasho. i went to the 1977 "All N All" show at MSG, and i was surprised to see that of the over 19,000 people there, at least one third of the crowd was white I saw them 5 years ago and nearly half the crowd was white. EWF,Commodores,and JT Taylor era Kool & The Gang attracted white audiences. Don't laugh at my funk
This funk is a serious joint | |
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The guy after whom this website was named? The guy who inspired the first part of my username? If you take any of this seriously, you're a bigger fool than I am. | |
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MotownSubdivision said: slyjackson said:
Really, but where do you think they crossed over, with Stand I guess? I honestly don't know much S&TFS other than a handful of songs and his influence on Prince. But I got a vague inkling of just how big Sly and his entourage were in their short prime. Start by watching the Woodstock film. If that's not a crossover, I don't know what is. If you take any of this seriously, you're a bigger fool than I am. | |
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phunkdaddy said: As great as the Ohio Players were it's amazing that their chart run only last 4 years. After their 1977 Angel album things just started to go downhill for them. They had some good songs here and there afterwards but nothing compararble from Skin Tight up until Angel. Tough question to answer but OP and Sly are probably the 2 bands that come immediately to mind. | |
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phunkdaddy said: As great as the Ohio Players were it's amazing that their chart run only last 4 years. After their 1977 Angel album things just started to go downhill for them. They had some good songs here and there afterwards but nothing compararble from Skin Tight up until Angel. Tough question to answer but OP and Sly are probably the 2 bands that come immediately to mind. D’Angelo | |
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Back in the early '70s when I was a kid, Sly and the Family Stone were huge... You couldn't go anywhere without hearing their music blasting from radios, car speakers, and even the garage band playing their songs next door... "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato
https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0 | |
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As it should, their music is great, Sly is really a genius, up to High On You his music to me is everything. I'm so glad I found him. | |
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Listen to Fresh. Turn if off if you're not completely hooked by track 2. |
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I wouldn't be that quick to turn it off as you say, it took me some time to get into the album, or their whole music for that matter. | |
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WhisperingDandelions said:
Listen to Fresh. Turn if off if you're not completely hooked by track 2. Is that why it's called I You Want Me to Stay? If you take any of this seriously, you're a bigger fool than I am. | |
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Yes. |
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I wasn't around but it stands to reason that if someone can get to number 1 with an album as uncommercial as There's a Riot Goin' On back at a time when you needed radio play to have hits then they have crossed over. | |
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And number one hit with such a non comercial song like Family Affair. | |
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Bob Marley Nine Inch Nails Michael Buble The Offspring The Prodigy  I'm afraid of Americans. I'm afraid of the world. | |
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Bob Marley did sacrifice a little bit of his sound with Exodus and afterwards. | |
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