Motown|

What is Motown?

Motown music is a musical genre that blends the sounds of rhythm and blues (R&B)and pop music styles. It is played with a variety of musical instruments, from electric to acoustic. Though Motown uses a variety of instruments, some of the most common sounds come from percussioninstruments and distinctive vocals.

Though the unique sound that is Motown was influenced by R&B and pop, the vocals closely rival those that are found in gospel music. Such strong vocals and the distinct sound of the blended sound of the tambourine, drums and bass guitar, make this a well-known style of music.

The term was created to pay credit to the place of origin of the musical style. Detroit, which is also known as the motor city, was the first official home of this sound. The musical form that erupted in Michigan quickly gave way to a record company in 1959.

Berry Gordy, Jr. launched the Motown record label in 1959 in Detroit, Michigan. It was the first ever record company to be owned and operated by an African-American and to primarily feature African-American musicians.

From 1959 on, the Motown sound and its record label artists both soared to popularity around the country. In fact, the record company became the largest and most successful independent record company in the United States by the middle of the 1960s.

Garageband|

Garageband.

In one of my lectures i was introduced to the software ' Garageband' this was to help us get used to making music on a computer and the learning how to build music or edit music for future individual projects throughout the rest of the module. 

I found it really useful as sometimes i struggle to make music sound perfect when playing them as i am not very experienced and i learnt that you can even move notes and bars along so everything sound perfect. I created a song by The Kinks, who were a 60's band and i found the chords for the piano to one of their songs 'All day and all of the night' and once i had played the song into garageband i then started to layer different sound effects and i tried to add in different instruments to make it sound different. I really enjoyed doing this as it has now shown me that i can edit music that i create of my own and make it perfect and unique. 

We didn't have much time to come up with anything spectacular but with the time we had to play around with the software this is what i created. 

The Supremes|

Stop! In The Name of Love

We had dared to dream at a time where it was really impossible to dream- (Wilson, no date)

But the impossible became The Supremes, the most successful female group of the 1960's with 12 number 1 pop singles, numerous gold records, regular TV appearances and sold out concerts. Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard rivalled the Beatles in popularity.

They were poor teenagers living in a housing project where they first met in their hometown of  Detroit. 

The 'Supremes' started out as the 'Primettes' which was a group made up of 4 woman. Diana ross, Mary  Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty MGlowen , they travelled around Detroit doing record hops, they ended up getting an audition at Motown with Mr Gordy. Barry Gordy Junior created Motown in 1959, it was the first record label owned by an African American and the sound was the style of R&B fused with a pop influence, But unfortunately he turned them down. Everyday the would go down to Motown until eventually they signed them. Barry Gordy Junior ran Motown like a movie studio, artists were taught to dance, to sing harmony and to talk to the media, it was like a finishing school for talent and the young woman embraced it and each other. By 1962 the Primettes had become The Supremes and two years later they had their first number one song 'Where Did Our Love Go. Between 1964 and 1965 the Supremes continued their hot streak and chocked up for more consecutive hits including Baby Love, Come See About Me, Back In My Arms Again and Stop! In The Name Of Love. The Supremes where among the first African American acts to cross the colour barrier with audiences. The Supremes - Mini Bio (TV-14; 05:28) A short biography of The Supremes.

The Supremes were a big deal in the 60's as civil rights were just coming into place. Having an african-american girl group would have been outrageous before 50's but was now socially acceptable due to more rights happening around the world.