Theres a Riot Going On - Reflection - Essay Example

There’s a Riot Going On There’s a Riot Going On Introduction The paper intends to investigate the impact of the Marshall’s album, ‘There’s a Riot Goin On’ based on its reflection on the African-American experience in the early 1970s. The paper will further emphasize on the social-historical circumstance that led to the rise of this masterpiece (Lewis 2006, 15). The researcher will to this end connects revealed musical style applied to this album to the initial styles employed by the black music at the late 1960s and the early 1970s.With this in mind we turn our attention on the author of the mentioned album called Miles Marshall Lewis. It was not until 1971 that Marshall changed the music industry that made audience realized that there existed a new style of doing music. His album theirs is Riot Goin On hit the musical industry putting a greater significance to both cultural and music industry state of affairs. Reflection of Album on the African-American experience in the early 1970 There was a sudden notion that the black music would no longer be the same with the introduction of the album. It was an initial characteristic of the black musicians to do R&BS songs but this would soon varnish. More freedom was felt as quoted, ‘Even the Ohio Players. Then the next time, next thing you know, every time you look, you don’t know what to expect. It’s almost the rarity to see four or five guys dressed in the same suit doing moves and singing harmony the way we were used to it (Lewis 2006, 71). All of a sudden you had to play instruments, you dressed the way you felt, the song didn’t have to be two minutes and forty five seconds. And it opened everything.’ From this quote we are told of the sudden and numerous changes occurring based on introduction of the Marshall’s masterpiece. The stringent regulations that the African musicians were subjected are changing and musical culture is developing at rapid rates, “There’s Riot Goin On.” The narrator is at a point of no return and does not see the riot ending any time in the near future, he wonders what style it really was, “And so many things were happening that, occasion, you dint know what to call Sly. Is this R&B? It’s definitely not the Motown style, it’s definitely not the Stax Style, and it’s not the British Invasion.” As contrasted to the chamber brothers, the Sly shown a different style in terms of coining the name as he always challenge people when asked about the band name as having consisted of only family members as it was known as the family stone, he would say, “we all are” this enabled him to override those who intended to pin him down based on the band name making the album very promising and would soon attract more fans (Lewis 2006, 55). Sly when contrasted to Hendrix who is found to be mixing black and white style after having went to England and hence deviated from African pride but was imitating the whites playing blues and is more, his pure black style is found to be much appealing as one could easily dance to it, a feature that was lacking in the Islay making people to have serious problems with it (Santiago 2008, 54). From the contrast of JB songs and the sly in terms of their rhythm, it is revealed that the African music could persistently stay in a rhythm through the music but JB would always shift. Based on the over control that JB had as he would rent the whole Apollo taking all the hours, sly was coined and would take some of the time ranging from thirty minutes to two hours. It was nice as it was introduced and the narrator describes it as a tight. There was a competition and much audience would not want to miss the brass instruments used during the sly performance as claimed by the narrators claims, “And from those runs, the brass instruments would tone, right? So as soon as they hit the stage, even though it felt like there was no rhyme or reason to what they were doing, they were tight. And the next thing you knew, they were in it. As soon as Sly sat down at the organ, the rhythm started, the beat was on, and things were happening.” The Sly was more of interesting as the narrator quotes that, “We didn’t need a group! We knew every grunt, every groan, every little joke, everything. When you saw sly, you didn’t know what was gonna happen.” We are told of the narrator having regretted when he never attended the Woodstock performance to which sly performed. This affirms the interesting dance incorporation on the music industry that was attached to sly, “Take You Higher, Dance to the Music, Music Lover” Social or Historical Circumstances that Informed the Album The album is based on the urgent call for the discrimination against the blacks based on frequent assassination of the young musicians on the basis of spreading unwarranted information that did not augur well with the white authorities. With his interviewer Al Aroonowitz, he explains, “When I was a disc jockey,” I had all these black cats calling up and saying, Why you playing whiteys, man? , I explained to them that there is no black and there is no white and if it comes down to that, there is nobody blacker than me. There is nobody blacker than syl” The albums aim at showing that no blame was to be put to a person discriminatively on races (Doggett 2009, 11). . To this end, the album aims at availing the freedom of expression through the music industry. There were massive bans on recording industry as explained in regard to the Batch (Doggett 2009, 121). We see massive brutal killings of young musicians such as Tupac based by oppressors. The Sly stone is described as the believer whose faith was attacked and shattered. The album revolves around the idea of putting in straight that each person was equal, “Don’t hate the black, and don’t hate the white. If you get bitten just hate the bite.” Sly seeks to advice the America states on the equal treatments to be accorded to both blacks and white as black were more oppressed. At the Sullivan show, sly cited the following lyrics, “You can make it if you try, different strokes for different folks, and you don’t have to die before you live.” These are the salient issues addressed by Sly in his Woodstock and the Summer of Love days. Sly released a mournful album the Riot, where he is quoted, “Watch out because the summer gets cold when today gets too old”. He was fully disillusioned by oppressive acts of the American states to the blacks that led to massive cultural and political disintegration during the sixties (Rabaka 2013, 38). Reflection of Sly Musical Style black music The African are allowed only to do the R&Bs music as evident from the text. Consequently, Sly mixed Bob Dylan with the Marvelettes, and R&B’s as he is quoted saying, “I only have Eyes for you” besides rocks “Tomorrow never knows. He used piano in his songs as he played his highly rated integration record by a rock act he adored. At signoff, performing Jesse Blevins’s “Goodnight My Love” and this was on solo basis, this developed his aesthetics and reputation. . His style of using several cultures in composing the songs as he aims at representing a diverse culture and would not discriminates on either races but still the song will be original and would remain blacks was found to be so unique to style. This was so significance to help the America to fully incorporate the black culture despite being relatively young with respect to the multicultural mix and the young history. The use of Motown beats in the Family Stone songs blended well as explained by their saxophonist, Jerry Martini (Rabaka 2013, 17). The other black musicians are found to have used such styles such as the brass instruments and this is also captured by the Sly and Stone Family. We are told of the use of rhythm within the black music that would remain persistent throughout the music which was an opposite of what JB does as he would change rhythms (Rabaka 2013, 21). Sly brings in to the music industry the ability to dance as opposed to Hendrix who changes and sees no pride of being a black. At some points we see Sly employing personal signature by performing individually as he plays the piano. Conclusion Sly is urged to perform most of his masterpieces based on need to point out the negative impacts that the Africans singers are subjected to. This follows the Woodstock killings and the frequent assassination of young artist as blames are put them for conveying messages regarded by oppressors to be wrong. Many music recording industries are banned and this urges Sly to further oppose this by unearthing his disillusionment via the music. Summary of the Black Music Summary of the key points and ideas of the text The black music investigates and shows that current rhythms and styles do not separate the content of initial R&B and New black music. Culture of the black music has been derailed by the slavery in the west and their oppressions. It further looks at the content of the black music in relation to black and investigates the implication of such content based on imitations and transfers; it realizes the black culture will remain affected in the west. A question that merits further discussion There should be a further and critical examination of the relationship between the New Black Music based on the effect of the current music on the content of the culture of the black and whether the content remains unchanged or not. A sentence that suggests how the reading might pertain to the major work being studied there’s a Riot Goin The reading is attached to the current work studied as it attaches on the rhythm and styles that are used in the R&B which forms the major topic of discussion as the blacks were only meant to do R&Bs. Reference Doggett, Peter. 2009. Theres a riot going on revolutionaries, rock stars and the rise and fall of 60s counter-culture. Edinburgh: Canongate. Lewis, Miles Marshall. 2006. Bronx biannual. New York: Akashic. Lewis, Miles Marshall. 2006. Theres a riot goin on. New York [u.a.]: Continuum. Rabaka, Reiland. 2013. The hip hop movement: from R&B and the civil rights movement to rap and the hip hop generation. Russell, Jesse. 2013. Theres a riot goin on. [S.l.]: Book On Demand Ltd. Santiago, Eddie. 2008. Sly: the lives of Sylvester Stewart and Sly Stone. [S.l.]: Lulu.com. Read More