R&B discussion

Morgan Dontanville to Jack @ 2:48 pm

Ok Jack, of anyone I know you might be able to explain it to me.

At what point did R&B switch from singing songs to just talking like Usher switching back and forth between A and B.

So they will just talk some nonsense "singing" A, A, B, A, A, B, B, A, A, B etc.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Morgan


The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

--H. P. Lovecraft

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John Mack to Morgan 6:59 pm

I think I know what you mean, and I think I know the answer. R&B used to be about really good songwriting. It was the black equivalent of Rufus Wainwright or Billy Joel or whoever else you might call a "singer-songwriter." Every song has a "life" and a story, and singles were chosen by which of those songs was the best and most sellable. That's why Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums are such beautifully orchestrated collections.

R&B used to be more closely associated with soul and gospel where the artistic content was at least as important as the inspiration towards hip-shaking. R&B (and hip hop, for that matter) is now all about the dancey and/or radio-ready single. Instead of a songwriter creating a piece of art that will carry emotion or a message, a few catchy beats and a hook get filled in with whatever is necessary to make the song 3 minutes long. Once they have a few single-worthy tracks, the album is stuffed with filler so it can be 10 tracks long. You know this, that's how pop music works. I guess that's the difference: R&B is now seen as a sub-genre of pop, instead of an artistic and cultural world all its own. Instead of Stevie Wonder working out exactly which chord progression will bring the best effect to the song he's been working on this week, Usher goes in to the studio with a few beats and hooks prepared for him, knowing that most of the work of the album is done. No one listens past the beats and hooks on those few singles anyway. I can't believe that the iTunes music store and other buy-1-song stores haven't eliminated the need for Usher to make full albums, but I guess they probably put so little work into the filler tracks anyway that it's worth it. Basically they're selling a collection of 3 singles for the price of a full album, with very little extra work.

There is, however, great R&B still being made. Common's last album ("Be") was about half great hip-hop and half great R&B. I just picked up Gnarls Barkley's (DJ Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo) "St. Elsewhere" and I've been really digging on it. It's just straight-up R&B at its best. Check it out, every song is so well crafted and it sounds so good.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Thanks for the question, it was interesting to think about.

<3 Jack

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"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." - Thomas H. Huxley English biologist (1825 - 1895)