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The Top 10 Male R&B/Soul Vocal Groups
- Thread starter kes1111
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mint condition?
except for Temps and Drams - these are all bands not groupsBULLSHIT!!!! Temps, Smokey & Miricles, Earth wind, Jackson 5 (fuck that instruments shit...they wasn't playing), Dramatics, Kool & them
band
vocal group not band - J5 is a band
Ok, Silk? Dru Hill? Blackstreet? Tony! Toni! Tone!? Con Funk Shun?
N.E. was commercially better than most but not necessarily better.
Tony! Toni! Tone! & Con Funk Shun are bands
in their prime NE was mainstream pop, they had larger tours and sold more records than DruHill Silk and Blackstreet
Fuck you mean Black Ivory NO? shiiit they had just as many or MORE hits than the Manhattans. you must be young late 70's early 80's maybehuh
Sorry Will, I've got to disagree with you on Black Ivory having more hits than the Manhattans. Now IMHO Black Ivory deserves to be in this list (top 20 would be tough) but no way do they get a top 10 spot. An as mush as I loved listening to my homeboys the Manhattans, its hard placing them in the top ten. They fell into my top 20.
Funny looking at my list I've got 20 groups listed and the 4 Tops aren't even on my list......yet. I'm going to have to expand my list to 30.
I think this thread needs to be redone. I think this thread should've been done by eras. Your thoughts...? Oh yeah and we must include the lady groups if we're going to do it again.
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When I think back to that area yes there were many of good groups..but now you have me curious..20 of your groups listed and 4 Tops aint even on it huh..well now i'd like to see your list.NOT that i disagree but more of I'd like to see what it's compiled with..post it bruh.
01 - The Temptations
02 - The Dells
03 - The O'Jays
04 - The Spinners
05 - Delfonics
06 - Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions
07 - The Dramatics
08 - The Isley Brothers
09 - The Jackson Five/Jacksons
10 - The Whispers
11 - The Chi-Lites
12 - Tower of Power
13 - Bloodstone
14 - Enchantment
15 - The Manhattans
16 - The Stylistics
17 - Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes
18 - Con Funk Shun
19 - Tavares
20 - Cameo
21 - Earth Wind & Fire
22 - The Main Ingredient
23 - The Persuaders
24 - Cameo
25 - The Moments
26 - New Birth
27 - Black Ivory
28 - The Four tops
29 - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
30 - Heatwave
There's a slew of groups that were not included in my list. A few one hit wonders, none from the 90's which I felt kind of fell
into the Neo-Soul category. My cut off was around the mid-80s. Not to mention because the listings limited to male groups we're
missing out on groups like The Emotions, The Jones Girls, Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Groups like Graham Central Station, Kool & The Gang, The Parlament Funkadelic, Sly & the Family Stone fell into more of a funk bag in my opinion. Plus there's groups like Little Anthony & the Imperials, The Mad Lads that were able to hold on till the R&B era but were really Do-Wop groups.
IMO groups like Jodeci, Public Announcement, Color Me Badd, Next, Shai, Mint Condition don't belong in the R&B/Soul era maybe New Edition the exception but that is only how I see it. My list is not perfect its merely my listing.
Oh and somebody mentioned bands vs. groups. Really?
BTW this is only a list, there is no difference between 1 or 30. Its based upon my memory nothing more.
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Earth Wind & Fire was a Band Mo and so was Tower of Power although R&B based OABTW you have them listed Twice on your list 12& 26 are the same. The Commodores was also considered a band Mo your slippin Mo lol01 - The Temptations
02 - The Dells
03 - The O'Jays
04 - The Spinners
05 - Delfonics
06 - Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions
07 - The Dramatics
08 - The Isley Brothers
09 - The Jackson Five/Jacksons
10 - The Whispers
11 - The Chi-Lites
12 - Tower of Power
13 - Bloodstone
14 - Enchantment
15 - The Manhattans
16 - The Stylistics
17 - Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes
18 - Con Funk Shun
19 - Tavares
20 - Cameo
21 - Earth Wind & Fire
22 - The Main Ingredient
23 - Commodores
24 - Cameo
25 - The Moments
26 - Tower of Power
27 - Black Ivory
28 - The Four tops
29 - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
30 - Heatwave
There's a slew of groups that were not included in my list. A few one hit wonders, none from the 90's which I felt kind of fell
into the Neo-Soul category. My cut off was around the mid-80s. Not to mention because the listings limited to male groups we're
missing out on groups like The Emotions, The Jones Girls, Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Groups like Graham Central Station, Kool & The Gang, The Parlament Funkadelic, Sly & the Family Stone fell into more of a funk bag in my opinion. Plus there's groups like Little Anthony & the Imperials, The Mad Lads that were able to hold on till the R&B era but were really Do-Wop groups.
IMO groups like Jodeci, Public Announcement, Color Me Badd, Next, Shai, Mint Condition don't belong in the R&B/Soul era maybe New Edition the exception but that is only how I see it. My list is not perfect its merely my listing.
Oh and somebody mentioned bands vs. groups. Really?
BTW this is only a list, there is no difference between 1 or 30. Its based upon my memory nothing more.
The Commodores are an American funk/soul band, which was at its peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in November 1972, having first caught the public eye opening for The Jackson 5 while on tour.
The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer. The band's biggest hit singles are ballads such as "Easy", "Three Times a Lady", and "Nightshift"; and funky dance hits which include "Brick House", "Fancy Dancer", "Lady (You Bring Me Up)", and "Too Hot ta Trot". In 1986 the Commodores won their first Grammy for the song "Nightshift".
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From what I remember The Stylistics were always rated above the dramatics,Enchantment and Bloodstone New Birth was also considered a Band..and if you ever saw them perform you'd Def call them a Band..how many "R&B Groups you know had 12 plus..thats TWELVE plus members? 
At one time they had 17 members at one time.
At one time they had 17 members at one time.
You have a good list how ever IF these are not your personal favorites the order of popularity is waaay off.
I just read the bottom of your post Mo 
Oh and somebody mentioned bands vs. groups. Really?
BTW this is only a list, there is no difference between 1 or 30. Its based upon my memory nothing more.
Last edited: Yesterday at 6:40 PM
Oh and somebody mentioned bands vs. groups. Really?
BTW this is only a list, there is no difference between 1 or 30. Its based upon my memory nothing more.
Last edited: Yesterday at 6:40 PM
This shit is all a matter of taste. You can only say who you like best. Ron Isley and Philip Bailey do some shit on Reasons and Inbetween the sheets that hit you in your soul, but Wanya and K.C. (sober version) can't be fucked with when the hit the bridge on End of the Road or Forever my Lady. There's only so good a human can sing and I feel they are all on the highest level. If you have to start talking about who played instruments and all that shit, it shows you how subjective this is. The only thing that can be measured is number of hits, because that's a numbers thing and numbers don't lie.
See I find it hard to distinguish the difference between a group vs. a band. I think we're splitting hairs if they both play and sing. Now there's are exceptions like Jr. Walker & The All-Stars and Maze. Look at Kool & the Gang, they started out purely as a band With the Jazziacs (jazz band) there was no singing until they changed their name to Kool & The Gang probably around 1967/8. But I always called them a band.
When you look at a group like EW&F one of their first hits was "Think About Loving You." A ballad and they had a woman singing lead with them back then. Were they a band or a group? I think everybody today thinks of them as a band. This question was discussed the link is below concluded there is no difference.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/21352/what-is-the-difference-between-group-and-band
BTW That should've been the Persuaders in that list. Too bad I didn't have my vinyl, possibly to provide a better list. I corrected it.
aight cool Mo
public announcement
men of vision
sons of funk
subway
i'm just playing
but does this rule out groups with a real lead singer like maze ft frankie beverly and mint condition
Fool said "Men of Vision"
How you gonna forget
- Intro
- Ready for the world
- Big Bub & Today
- Blackstreet
- Special Generation
After 7 is a underrated group in my opinion. Made some great music. They don't make top 10 of all time though.
EWF is a band never was a group... only non musicians would ever argue that
the participants in your link are ignorant when it comes to music
a band are musicians that play various instruments -and usually are comprised of at least one composer - they bring in vocalists and sometimes add more members or have features / guests - its still a band
if Edge plays with VanHalen it doesn't become a group... if Chick Corea sits in with Tito Puente's band it doesn't become a group
for this thread / discussion a vocal group is only comprised solely of singers / vocalists - one or all might write lyrics but none compose music
Guy is a band...
as for Jodeci I've never seen Jodeci perform with more than one member on an instrument or seen any song credits with them playing instruments together on the same track
ok - they're a band
Rolling Stones Beatles J5 TonyToniTone mint condition etc all have performed acapellas doesn't make them vocal groups
Now if BIIM, NE, Supremes, TLC, EnVogue etc were playing instruments and composing they could then be considered bands
Fugees /Arrested Development vs City High / digable planets
Why can't a group be both?
why would you want to classify a stretch Escalade as both an SUV and passenger van?
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