This.
And don't forget the lack of church attendance. It was the very source of musicianship that shaped every decade of R&B.
Rap amd R&B is dead
- Thread starter mcguyver
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And don't forget the lack of church attendance. It was the very source of musicianship that shaped every decade of R&B.
^^^^^
I’ve gone back to listening to music really heavy while I read, which is pretty much all the time now and lately I hear in rotation Al Green, Aretha Franklin and it’s such a nostalgic feeling because it reminds me of growing up and Saturday mornings.My kids got me liking Chappel Roan
When my mom passed i went back to all those 60s records I thought were too white. Now im back on jazz. Now I'm studying blues and Irish folk cause of Sinners.
Ain't nothing dead.
100% COSIGN
That is an excellent point about the Black Church. While not exactly the source, it was certainly the crucible. And the cutting floor.
I read a book where someone, a Motown exec, said Motown's success could be directly traced to Detroit's school system. The author had interviews where many of the artists remembered the same teacher(s) who identified and nurtured their talent.
The problem is that people expect these record labels to force feed them good rappers and singers when that ship has sailed a long time ago.
You know what is crazy though?
I came up during Napster and Limewire and you know what that all did?
Made me love music MORE.
DIFFERENT TYUPES AND GENRES from all decades and all genres and all countries.
My Napster library used to be ILL.
I could never say there isn't ENOUGH new music.
I aint HEARD it ALL never of have.
And at this rate?
You could live to be 100 and only hear like 2% of all the music available to you.
That was back when you could sample 10 seconds from a recent Hollywood movieYep, I'm bumping some Warren G and Nate Dogg now. West coast blended warm melodies with hard hitting drums so well back then. I miss that shit.
and almost the entire melody of a Grammy nominated artist and still be cool.
Now you strum a g7 chord on your guitar and 20 artists demand songwriting credits for using their vibe.
True, but it goes deeper than that.
The music industry targets listeners aged 16-24 because that's when people have their most life defining moments. They know that if a song or artist coincides with you getting your driver's license, losing your virginity, getting drunk for the first time, graduating high school, starting college, joining the military, or meeting your wife that's going to be you jam for life.
The biggest reason today's music sounds like trash is because it's not made for us anymore. That's why it doesn't hit the same as the older stuff.
Sure, some of it IS trash, but so was a lot of our stuff. We just tend to forget about it.
My kids got me liking Chappel Roan
When my mom passed i went back to all those 60s records I thought were too white. Now im back on jazz. Now I'm studying blues and Irish folk cause of Sinners.
Ain't nothing dead.
One of the best things about DJing and having children is both force you out of your musical comfort zone.
Autotune is just an updated version of the talk box Roger Troutman and Peter Frampton used. Like Cher, these artists are amazing with or without the tech. The problem comes when other artists use it to cover their deficiencies. Then it's like slathering pancake makeup on Medusa
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I trust me I have been Forced
I was like wtf is the pink pony club?
and no one could tell me I wasn't a dj when I was making mix tapes pause tapes and then Playlists on Napster and later my iPod.
thats another thing that we need - REAL DJs and mixtapes too.
I trust me I have been Forced
I was like wtf is the pink pony club?
and no one could tell me I wasn't a dj when I was making mix tapes pause tapes and then Playlists on Napster and later my iPod.
thats another thing that we need - REAL DJs and mixtapes too.
We need to go back to DJs breaking new music rather than only sticking to what people already like.
Pause tapes though? I used to make my beats that way back in high school. You just brought a smile to my face.
AGREED
The playlist is in the description...
Keith Sweat on Modern R&B:“Yall keep saying R&B is struggling but yall wanna curse on songs and act like it’s a rap record, R&B is foreplay yall took the foreplay out of the songs if you’re cursing and you wanna make up with your girl and you playing an R&B song with cursing how you gonna make up with her now the R&B song with cursing is arguing with yall that’s why yall be sampling me in your new songs”
This is a pretty accurate to me. Although I would probably extend peak Rap/Hip Hop back to include 1988-1989. As I mentioned previously, I believe it was the strong marriage of hip hop and RnB in the 90s, but that started in the late 80s, that really defined that decade.
Music isn;t dead and it never will be as long as someone has talent and they can share it with the masses.
The music industry is no more and for decades they've been robbing the fans of music with all kinds of tricks and foolery,packaging it up and slapping a price tag on it and we went for it,outta the love for music.
now 2026,if you got talent all you need is a phone and an account to get yourself heard,you control it and if you get popular enough you can make a living off of doing your talent with no company in the middle of your mix;This is the perfect time.
If you're looking,you'll come across something you like but if you're waiting for it to come to you(the old company ways) you're going to be waiting.
We also need to start supporting black radio again,you can pick up a black radio station anywhere across the country,cause once their gone,their gone forever;104WDKX tune in it's black owned
The music industry is no more and for decades they've been robbing the fans of music with all kinds of tricks and foolery,packaging it up and slapping a price tag on it and we went for it,outta the love for music.
now 2026,if you got talent all you need is a phone and an account to get yourself heard,you control it and if you get popular enough you can make a living off of doing your talent with no company in the middle of your mix;This is the perfect time.
If you're looking,you'll come across something you like but if you're waiting for it to come to you(the old company ways) you're going to be waiting.
We also need to start supporting black radio again,you can pick up a black radio station anywhere across the country,cause once their gone,their gone forever;104WDKX tune in it's black owned
My mother thought most of these artist were trash…
Well TECHNICALLY there are still charting vocal groups but theyre male vocal groups from england...one direction for example
theres been no prominent chart topping american and especially BLACK american vocal groups since Dru Hill in the late 90s and Destinys Child in 2003 or 05 whenever they broke up.
Thats unprecedented when you think about it..theres ALWAYS been prominent black vocal groups since theres been vocal groups in american music. I mean you can draw a direct line from the doo-wop groups of the 40s like the Coasters (an arbitrary early starting point from me) all the way to Destin's Child and see vocal groups in each decade from the 40s to the early 00s...this is the FIRST time in american music history that there are NO american top charting vocal groups for the last 10 or so years and NO BLACK top charting (even in R&B charts) vocal groups for the last ten years.
and for clarity lets define the difference... these are VOCAL GROUPS not "boy bands" or "girl bands" I hate those terms. I know its for marketing purposes but still its not accurate to what they do.
A BAND plays instruments that the difference.
THIS is a boy band
a vocal group sings in harmony and MAY do dance or step choreography
THIS is a vocal group
Nsync has more in common with the Temptations than the Beatles
in fact you can draw a direct lineage line from Nsync to the Temps tracing back thru New Kids on the Block thru New Edition thru the Sylvers (not jackson 5 they incorporated instruments) to the Temptations and Four Tops..and thats just one way to get there.
but back to the OP question...what killed the vocal group in america??
yep because the music from 50s 60s and 70s was REAL music while 80s and 90s was trash....and 30 years later we're saying the same thing....and the cycle continues
Exactlyyep because the music from 50s 60s and 70s was REAL music while 80s and 90s was trash....and 30 years later we're saying the same thing....and the cycle continues
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