Motown

When she says, “It’s flame and fists and life according to Motown.” She is telling us something deeper than the literal meaning of the words. Symbolizing that growing up a black girl is a struggle in finding confidence, and living according to a stereo-type, or everyone else’s ideas of the social norm. The blue…

in music as well as the relevancy of popular music to make connection to historical events and social movements. An example of this type of learning can be seen in making the connections between hymns and spirituals and period music from Detroit’s Motown Record Company and how they spurred several events within the 1960’s Civil Rights…

Elvis Aaron Presley, “the king of Rock and Roll,” was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. He was the most successful American rock and roll singer, guitarist, and actor during the mid 1950s. He was born and raised in the South in poverty. His first musical experience was from the Pentecostal services of the First Assembly of God Church. Other influential styles that shaped his music included county, blues, rhythm and blues music, and the popular tunes at the time. In 1954,…

overly used pop culture references, but this one is very appropriate given the topic. “War” originally written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong was one of the first politically charged Motown songs wrote in protest of the Vietnam War. First sang by the Temptations this song became the first of many Motown songs to declare political protests on the world climate, but for my generation many recognize the song as being soulfully shouted by Edwin Starr. The first line and subsequent famous…

first (prominently) black style that showed the positive side of African Americans. For example, the Caucasian view of African Americans (at least up to this time) were generally that of a servant or as someone of a lower class. The creator of the Motown label, Berry Gordy Jr, wanted to demonstrate to all musical…

social, and political nature” (T’Shaka 238). One example of these cultural attacks is the white records business attempt to gain control over the Black music market (T’Shaka 249). In order to gain the popularity and success the Black companies, such as Motown, white record companies had to learn and take on their methods. As a result, white companies developed relationships with Black radio stations, placed more Black people on staff, and took major Black artist away from Black owned labels…

it goes pitch black. The whole stadium is dark except for one spotlight and there he is “ The King of Pop”. Michael Jackson was known for his great singing career, especially starting at such a young age with his family. He was a part of his family Motown group called, Jackson 5 before becoming a very successful solo artist. When people think of Jackson, not only do they think about his great records, but also his funky dance moves. His most popular being the moonwalk. Today, it’s still being…

Gail Davis worked as an Executive Assistant to Motown Legend Diana Ross. After about a year, Davis voluntarily resigned. About a year later, Diana Ross wrote and distributed the following letter: The following people SEVEN people are no longer employed by me, due to their work not being acceptable or their personal views do not correlate with my own. I do not recommend any of the SEVEN persons listed. Please feel free to contact me if free to contact me. Davis vs. Ross Gail Davis and…

(1965), Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Black Ark (1973) music studios contributed to and supported Bob Marley’s music growth and international success. The music producing studios in Jamaica were as equal in ambition and spirit to Berry Gordy’s Sounds of Motown/Detroit, MI; Satellite/Stax Records of Memphis, Tennessee; Kings Records in James Brown era; Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff’s Sound of…

In descriptive writing has a unique power and appeal, as it evokes sights, smells, sounds, textures, and tastes. Using description in your writing brings the world within your text to your reader. In 2000, John D. Freyer decided to sell everything he owned on eBay® so that he could move and wrote ads or each item, and later collectively published them as a book. The unique aspect of his ads was the way he described each item, subjectively descriptive. A typical ad on eBay is objectively…