Damn.....I can probably name like 4 or 5 songs on that list that I know the words too. 
R&b top ten hits for 1982
- Thread starter geechiedan
- Start date
I like that fact that during that time, music sort of just melded together.
With 3/4 of that list, you can start a great old-school party!
1982 I was a Junior in high school
I remember all of these songs
I remember all of these songs
the foundation of Rock music is live instrumentation front and center..its an integral part of the sound and emphasized strongly.
Contemporary R&B and Soul is emphasized by the vocals. The singer is the primary attention. The band and instrumentation is still there its just pushed waaay in the background.
Things go in cycles but this is the first time since theres been modern R&B vocal groups that for the last 5 years or so there hasn't been a top selling/popular vocal group in the US music scene.
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^^^
Absolutely...
I have all the albums of the ones I mentioned...some I posted in Unsung/music.
And this is just from one year. You can definitely turn a party out with these jams.
This is just a normal day in the ride for me. I do try to keep up with the new stuff too tho.
I just labeled that Lionel Richie type stuff as pop back in the day. But Lionel had some bangers tho especially on that All Night Long album. That's a classic album although it was a heavily pop and commercial album.
Back then I hadn't really gotten too deep yet and just pretty much followed whatever was popular on the radio like most people back then. I was just your average sheep until my older brother started hipping me to some alternative sounds and kinda opened and expanded my mind a little bit more beyond what the average crowds were listening to.
By the time I got out of high school and into the club scene that's when I really started getting into underground and alternative stuff.
To me R&B back then was either pop commercial music, funk, more traditional or soulful urban R&B and of course the slow and steady growth and emergence of hip-hop. I was cool with pretty much all of it including rock new wave or blue eyed soul.
ask a 40 year old to name 5 songs from last years list
the scary part is 40 years from now the R&B list of 2014 will be considered "classic"..
last year's list? man i can't name 5 current songs.
the most recent song i know is "happy" and only because it's been played everywhere. i don't listen to the radio and don't watch music videos. i have no idea what's on the charts.
that 1982 list, i remember damn near every one of those songs and have some of them on my playlist.
last year's list? man i can't name 5 current songs.
the most recent song i know is "happy" and only because it's been played everywhere. i don't listen to the radio and don't watch music videos. i have no idea what's on the charts.
that 1982 list, i remember damn near every one of those songs and have some of them on my playlist.
This!! Hell...I was a second semester freshman at Syracuse in 1982. I know about 90% of the songs on the list. Music was very different back then (late 70's-early 80's)..artists that you didn't think would be on the R&B list or played on urban radio were...like the Rolling Stones with Miss You. First time I heard that was on 107.5 - WBLS, which was THE #1 urban radio station in NYC!!
4 REAL!!!
Maaannn, I can STILL remember having to link up with other players on the football team @ the Staten Island Ferry, we DIDN'T get buses to go to ANY games, we ALL got together after practice on Friday to link up with, & find out who lived in the neighborhood we were going to, THOSE were the days!!!
It's sad but true, geechie just pointed that out, and technically, I would label Rick James as a band, and even when Lionel went off on his own, he could arrange, compose and write ALL of his music, a la Stevie Wonder, or in other words, they weren't "studio" singers, they were FULL musicians in EVERY sense of the word!!!
....
That's because Frankie Crocker was notorious for playing Rock on that station.
If it was Rock with a groove, Crocker played it. He didn't give a fuck.
Especially if it was music by Bowie, John Lennon, and The Stones. Those cats were soaking up the sounds of NY Black Music in those days.
Shit. The Stones best music was their New York period during the 70s/early 80s (before they cut that deal with CBS).
And Crocker LOVED John and Yoko's "DOUBLE FANTASY". Tons of Black folks bought that record.
it was a hot here as real music started coming back.I was 5 years old, but I remember most of the songs. 1 of the greatest benefits of being born in the seventy's or early eighty's is that you actually remember when music was good. I cannot believe that any thing the college itself music nowadays will be classic in 20 years
ask a 40 year old to name 5 songs from last years list
the scary part is 40 years from now the R&B list of 2014 will be considered "classic"..
Damn damn damn
That's a good point.4 REAL!!!
Maaannn, I can STILL remember having to link up with other players on the football team @ the Staten Island Ferry, we DIDN'T get buses to go to ANY games, we ALL got together after practice on Friday to link up with, & find out who lived in the neighborhood we were going to, THOSE were the days!!!
It's sad but true, geechie just pointed that out, and technically, I would label Rick James as a band, and even when Lionel went off on his own, he could arrange, compose and write ALL of his music, a la Stevie Wonder, or in other words, they weren't "studio" singers, they were FULL musicians in EVERY sense of the word!!!
Also though, in the 70s and 80s and before, considering all those great R&B singers and vocal groups had a regular group of musicians backing them when they toured, as well as either the same or a different ensemble of musicians backing them on their records - EVERY act, whether they were singing groups, solo singers or whatever WAS a band.
That's one important element that makes so much of today's radio R&B music sound so lukewarm and lifeless in comparison - The lack of bands. With an MPC or Pro-Tools, etc you just can't get the same organic effect of the meeting of minds of gifted musicians building together through song. It's like a generic tv dinner compared to a home cooked meal from mama.
We took a similar path, really. My temporarily stepping away (for the most part) radio R&B opened me up to a number of other options. I started listening to the jazz station and gained an appreciation for that music, which hasn't left me to this day. I also started to check out alternative acts as well as blues, etc. The reason I wasn't with the crossover trend going on at the time is because I saw (and heard) it as kind of a compromise that didn't have to be made. Crossover to what? A more 'pop' sound? Musically, what has to be given up to make that happen? OK I'ma chill now... my inner musician is starting to rant...lol
Lionel Richie is one of the greatest pop songwriters in American history. I agree with you about the All Night Long album. It was without question a MONSTER. The title cut SUCKED though. I couldn't take that weak imitation calypso beat and that lame attempt at a Jamaican accent Lionel was doing on the verses: "Waaal my frien' the time has come, raise THEE roof an' have some fun..."
...Also, I remember reading and interview with Lionel in Ebony where regarding "crossover", he said he didn't mind taking some of the bass out of his music to appeal to a wider (read "whiter") audience. He actually said that he didn't feel any obligation to Black people to make his music soulful or funky. Soon after that, I read a different interview with Frankie Beverly, where he said that he owes his career to Black folks because they put him and Maze where they are. He said he will always make music for Black folks.
I'll always love and respect Frankie for that. Since he said that, he has been true to his word.
Black bands have been gone. For years, there were only about two: Mint Condition and The Roots. The Roots got bought out by Jimmy Fallon to be his cover band on his show.
Its divide and conquer.
Look at all of the black musicians playing behind white pop artists.
Don't let me get started.
Any of you other old heads remember these songs?
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