R&B
R&B, which began as an abbreviation for Rhythm & Blues, is understood by many today as an umbrella term that includes the most popular forms of African-American music from the late 1940s, when the term rhythm & blues first appeared, through to the Contemporary R&B of the 1980s forward. Between the time that the term faded in the late 1960s and then reappeared in the 1980s, Soul and Funk were two of the most popular genres in the African-American community. While there is much that is distinct about these genres, they are strongly influenced by the first decade of rhythm & blues and often included under the R&B umbrella. These genres collectively cover the career arc of some of the most notable stars of R&B including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, and Stevie Wonder.
In the early 1950s, the term would have also included late-period Jump-Blues and early Rock & Roll; however, today's usage generally limits the early period of the genre to rhythm & blues, Doo-Wop, and New Orleans R&B. Mainstream acceptance of Hip Hop in the 1990s brought an end to R&B as the umbrella term describing almost all popular Afro-American music, though contemporary R&B has continued in popularity alongside hip-hop, occasionally mixing influences as is the case with New Jack Swing.
Whilst having American roots and origins, the international popularity of its main genres (rhythm & blues, soul, and funk) have led to a number of distinct genres including British Rhythm & Blues, Latin Soul, and Afrobeat. R&B has also been a major influence on Pop and Disco.
It is notable that the term rhythm & blues, and thus R&B, was invented by marketers in the late 1940s to replace the term "race records", but for some the short form of the name is more closely associated with contemporary R&B. Additionally, it is not universally accepted that R&B is inclusive of soul and funk, which are considered more distinct by some than others. The history of the Billboard charts likely adds to the confusion. A switch was not made from "best selling rhythm & blues singles" to "best selling soul singles" until August of 1969 even though the 1960s is sometimes considered the heyday of soul. Similarly, in the late 1970s, the "Hot Soul Singles" chart was often topped by disco or funk single. For most of the 1980s the chart went by the name "Black Singles" or "Hot Black Singles", though the hits of that era are often recognized today as contemporary R&B.
Alternative R&B
(also known as Indie R&B, PBR&B, R-Neg-B)
Alternative R&B is a movement of R&B music that began around the late 2000s that deviates from the traditional styles, timbres and sometimes subject matter of Contemporary R&B.
A typical alternative R&B song features subtle, smooth, and reverberated production, heavy bass and often reverberated vocals. The sounds are often linked to Dream Pop, Future Garage, and UK Bass for their reverberated, airy, and bass-heavy sound. Many releases by alternative R&B artists have tracks that were produced by UK bass and future garage producers, such as Jessie Ware's single "Running", which was produced by Julio Bashmore, and Jamie Woon's single "Night Air", which was co-produced by Burial. In some cases, such as Jai Paul and The Weeknd, producer/singers also sing over their own produced music in an R&B style.
The subject matter and lyricism of alternative R&B is sometimes more vague and more varied than that of the often strictly love and sex themed contemporary R&B parent genre. Some themes may include but are not limited to drugs, spirituality and personal philosophies; however, themes of sex and love are still often the focal point of most lyrical content in the genre.
Blue-Eyed Soul
(also known as White Soul)
Blue-eyed soul is Pop with an affinity for R&B or Soul and usually refers to a pop or Pop Rock song that contains strong Gospel-like elements.
The style is best exemplified by the music of The Righteous Brothers ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'") and The Walker Brothers ("The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More"). Both were singers who gave soulful performances over highly orchestral music that found unexpected crossover success on R&B radio stations of the 1960s. Because they were white, they were referred to as "blue-eyed soul", a reflection of that era's racial division.
Boogie
(also known as Disco Boogie)
Boogie was developed around 1979/80, just as disco music was starting to go into decline. Boogie takes its name from Boogie Woogie, and adapts boogie rhythms to a disco format (often replacing the 4x4 beat by a shuffled 1x2 beat), with a blend of Disco, Funk and Soul. In its most typical form, in comparison to most Dance music, boogie has a relatively slower tempo, accentuated bass lines and soul-style vocals, combined with a sleek production and a melodic and sophisticated sound. Machine driven rhythms and synthetizers are common too, sometimes taking the form of synth layers.
Boogie was particularly popular in New York and the most relevant record labels were Prelude Records, Sam Records, Easy Street Records and Salsoul Records. Although this genre went into decline in the late 80s, nowadays it has a massive cult following, and Boogie releases are highly sought after by records collectors. Some of the most important Boogie acts are D Train, Leroy Burgess (as singer and producer), Sharon Redd, The Brooklyn, Bronx & Queens Band, Skyy and Inner Life.
British Rhythm & Blues
British rhythm & blues is a style infusing Rock and R&B music that was hugely popular in the UK between 1963 and 1966. It initially developed around the turn of the decade from the closely-related British Blues movement, which saw Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and other London-based live bands seeking to emulate the sounds of 1950s electric Chicago Bluesmen Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. R&B bands attempted to combine the purer, more intrinsically "Blues" sound of British blues with the rawer primal energy of Rock & Roll and African American Rhythm & Blues singers such as Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, showcasing a gritty, syncopated sound with a guitar-heavy mix, sometimes with wailing harmonica and organ accompaniment.
Alongside Beat Music, rhythm & blues was the dominant force in rock music in the UK during the mid-1960s, with early material by The Rolling Stones, The Spencer Davis Group, The Animals, Yardbirds and The Pretty Things consistently high in the charts. Many musicians originated from Skiffle and British trad Jazz clubs in the late 1950s, and on top of self-penned material, R&B bands commonly covered blues and rock & roll songs from the previous decades, such as The Rolling Stones' debut single, the 1963 Chuck Berry cover "Come On", The Animals' 1964 cover of the traditional "The House of the Rising Sun" and Them's 1964 cover of the blues standard "Baby Please Don't Go" (first copyrighted by Big Joe Williams).
British rhythm & blues was a direct influence on the mid-1960s Mod scene, providing early beginnings for The Who and Small Faces, and, together with British blues, helped pave the way for Blues Rock. The style was an integral part of the 'British Invasion' in the USA, influencing mid-to-late 1960s Garage Rock, as well as Pop Rock as a whole.
Chicago Soul
(also known as Chi-Soul)
Like Southern Soul (Stax, Muscle Shoals) and classic Motown Soul, Chicago Soul had its very own approach, style and impact on Soul music as a whole. Chicago Soul actually was a unique combination of the hard, groove-oriented rhythm of Southern Soul and the sophisticated gloss of Motown arrangements and orchestration. Record labels such as Vee-Jay, OKeh, Chess, Brunswick, Dakar and Curtom were and are still regarded as chief purveyors of Chicago Soul and people such as Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler, Jackie Wilson, Tyrone Davis, The Impressions and Gene Chandler were considered its chief artists. Goldmine writer Robert Pruter wrote a tome on Chicago Soul in 1992 to demonstrate its exclusive character.
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B evolved from its link to traditional Rhythm & Blues music, but it is specifically defining a style of African American music from after the demise of Disco in the 1980s. This newer style combines some prior elements of Soul, Funk, Pop, and Dance-Pop but with an integrated approach and a slick modern production.
Country Soul
Country soul has its roots in Gospel, Rhythm & Blues, and Country music, while musically emphasizing the signatures and textures of country music over the grittier and horn-driven sound of Southern Soul.
Deep Soul
Deep soul emerged in the USA in the mid-1960s, usually drawing on the typical Southern Soul groove and accentuating the Gospel and Blues influence, particularly Chicago Blues. It is played at a relatively slow tempo and is primarily focused on the intense, intimate lead vocal delivery, emphasizing both the melancholic tone and lyrics, and producing a downbeat, reflective atmosphere. Common instrumental tropes include murky, 'scratchy' guitar sounds, prominent horn sections (accompanying strings more popular in 1970s recordings) and crystalline, spiritual-sounding piano and organ parts. The style declined in popularity in the late 1970s with the emergence of Disco and newer R&B genres.
The term was coined by Dave Godin, who compiled his own Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures series. Notable artists include James Carr, Otis Redding, Percy Sledge, O.V. Wright, Aretha Franklin, Lee Moses and Irma Thomas.
Due to often sharing similar influences, moods, southern soul backing and lyrical fare, some deep soul artists forayed into Country Soul.
Doo-Wop
Doo-wop is a popular style of R&B with a heavy emphasis on male four-part harmonies and light instrumentation that peaked in popularity in the 1950s. Because instrumentation is not critical to the form, A cappella performances of doo-wop songs have been popular among amateur groups and street performers from the genres 1940s origins to the present. The onomatopoeic name, referring to the often silly lyrics, was bestowed on the genre retrospectively in the early 1960s.
The Mills Brothers and The Ink Spots, two of the most popular male Vocal Group artists of the 1930s and 1940s, influenced doo-wop with their approach to harmonies, but the doo-wop groups that emerged from cities throughout the Northeastern United States and California in the late 1940s and in the 1950s had a much more up-to-date style with the same sort of appeal to teenagers than helped to birth Rock & Roll. One of the early doo-wop hits, Sixty Minute Man by Billy Ward and The Dominoes was notably risqué for the time.
Many of the most important doo wop groups in the early years were the so-called "bird" groups such as The Orioles and The Swallows from Baltimore, The Ravens and The Larks from New York City, The Flamingos from Chicago, The Robins (who would become The Coasters) from San Francisco and The Penguins from Los Angeles.
Similarly to Rock & Roll, doo-wop became more popular with white audiences in the second half of the 1950s, and major white doo-wop groups included Dion & The Belmonts and The Four Seasons. By the 1960s, the doo-wop style was quickly fading, but it was also an obvious influence on male vocal groups ranging from The Temptations to The Beach Boys.
Latin Soul
Soul music combined with Latin American Music genres such as Salsa and Mambo.
Motown Sound
The Motown sound is the signature Pop Soul style developed by the Detroit label Motown Records, founded by Berry Gordy, that found huge success during the 1960s.
The most major contributions to the distinctive Motown sound were the songwriting and production team Holland-Dozier-Holland and the tight-knit group of studio musicians The Funk Brothers. The general template is succinct, catchy songs and structures; complex arrangements, often with multiple drummers and guitarists; Gospel-influenced vocals (lead and backing harmonies); highly melodic and rhythmic bass lines (with embellished 'passing notes' inbetween chord progressions); tambourine-heavy 4-4 drum patterns; pounding, often syncopated piano parts; regular use of horn and string sections; and historically a distinctive reverb and treble-heavy production which was effective for AM radio broadcasts.
During the mid-1960s, Four Tops, The Temptations and Girl Group The Supremes exemplified the Motown sound, with Billboard Top 100 No. 1 hits such as "I Can't Help Myself", "My Girl" and "Where Did Our Love Go" respectively.
Plenty of music released on Motown does not use the Motown sound, especially from the 1970s onwards, as well as considering several subsidiary labels specialising in other genres such as Jazz, Country and Rock. Some artists and producers not on Motown made music emulating the Motown sound, for example The Foundations and Fontella Bass. Motown acts and music made by small labels in the same style also made up the basis of the Northern Soul scene which gained a noteworthy following in the UK.
Neo-Soul
(also known as Nu Soul)
Neo-Soul emerged in the mid to late 1990s as a combination of classic 1970s Soul and modern influences. Acts like Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Maxwell, and Jill Scott incorporated aspects of Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk, House, African Music, and Latin American Music music into their revival of 1970s soul singing. Neo-Soul tries to sound organic and often features live instrumentation, in contrast to the slick, commercial production of Contemporary R&B.
New Orleans R&B
New Orleans R&B is distinct from other forms of R&B primarily due to the added rhythmic complexity of the second line, which is named for the second line of marchers at New Orleans mardi gras parades and jazz funerals. It is also a feature of Dixieland and New Orleans Brass Band. New Orleans R&B also gives greater prominence to the piano and horns than most R&B.
Like Rhythm & Blues, early New Orleans R&B singles, particularly the early 1950s recordings of Fats Domino and Lloyd Price, were instrumental in the evolution of Rock & Roll. Due to both regional proximity and the large horn sections, New Orleans R&B is also considered an original influence on Ska.
As times changed in the 1960s and 1970s, artists like Irma Thomas and The Meters expanded the New Orleans R&B sound in the directions of Soul and Funk with a reduced reliance on piano and horns. Others, such as Professor Longhair, maintained the traditional sound of New Orleans R&B blended with other traditional genres such as New Orleans Blues.
New Jack Swing
(also known as Swingbeat)
New Jack swing is a genre of music which generally mixes light Hip Hop & Funk production techniques with Contemporary R&B vocals and melodies. The beats are generally quite up-tempo and aggressive. It was mainly popular in the late 1980s and 1990s where it would provide a mix of Hip Hop and R&B.
Examples of the genre would be Public Announcement, R. Kelly, Bobby Brown, and Michael Jackson - mainly on the Dangerous album.
Northern Soul
"Northern Soul" was the name initially coined by UK soul aficionado Dave Godin to describe the kind of soul desired by customers from the North of England visiting his London record shop "Soul City". Up north, to begin with mainly in and around Manchester, a scene devoted to rare soul records had grown into something approaching a movement complete with unique clothing style, dance moves, fanatical followers and all-night raves. The music at the center of it all was the soul groups and singers who more or less copied the remarkably successful Motown Sound, recording for a multitude of small labels largely unknown outside soul connoisseur circles from Okeh in New York to Mirwood in Los Angeles. The term has today, thanks in large part to world leading soul reissue label Kent and eBay sellers eager to satisfy a steady demand for Northern Soul rarities, gained widespread use outside the world of UK soul record collecting, though it remains a very niche genre.
Northern Soul is often juxtaposed with its more serious down home brother Southern Soul and it is important to keep in mind that while "Southern" refers to where the bulk of the music was recorded, "Northern" refers to where the fan scene developed in the North of England. It so happens that most Northern Soul was recorded in the Northern United States (Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York especially) but that is a coincidence.
Philly Soul
(also known as Philadelphia Sound)
The Philly soul sound is defined by lush arrangements, often borrowing upon the orchestral instrumentation (mostly the strings and brass) seen on productions from the 1960s period, with the commercial atmosphere exemplified by Pop Soul and the Motown sound. Some of the most popular songs were in ballad format as a result, precursing the Smooth Soul subgenre. Later productions then drew more influence of Funk's compositional features.
It originated with the activity from the Philly Groove Records label and then developed further in the 1970s by Philadelphia International Records. Although there are musical acts related to the genre that aren't from the city, the sound's development mostly was localized there. Having its peak on the early 1970s, philly soul declined around the second half of the decade with the rise of popularity of the more commercial soul subgenres, but also with Disco, which succeeded on the prominent orchestration of the genre and gave it a more club-friendly atmosphere which was then globalized.
Pop Soul
Pop soul is a fusion of Pop and Soul that originated in the 1960s as an attempt to give soul music crossover success. The style is exemplified by Motown Records artists such as The Supremes ("Baby Love"), Martha and The Vandellas ("Jimmy Mack"), and The Miracles ("Tears of a Clown"). Pop soul eventually metamorphosed into Disco in the 1970s, and in the 1980s, elements of the genre were incorporated into Sophisti-Pop.
Psychedelic Soul
Psychedelic soul came about when Sly & The Family Stone took the effects heard in Psychedelic Rock and brought them into Soul. Psychedelic soul often uses keyboards and electric guitars to create a psychedelic sound accompanying soul vocals. Psychedelic soul is closely related to the Funk of the late 1960s and early 1970s (psychedelic soul's heyday), as many musical acts played music incorporating both styles, such as Stevie Wonder or The Temptations.
Rhythm & Blues
The term "rhythm & blues" was invented as a marketing term in the late 1940s, but it quickly replaced the term race records to describe popular African American recordings and remained the dominant term to describe popular African American music through the mid 1960s. Early 1950s rhythm & blues was a direct descendant of Jump-Blues and the blues shouters, who may be categorized as either jump-blues or rhythm & blues, are generally credited with the first Rock & Roll recordings. The increasingly melodic and Pop-friendly sound of rhythm & blues in the early 1960s eventually gave way to Soul in the late 1960s, while the abbreviated term R&B endured as an umbrella term to describe the evolving sounds of urban America.
The Harlem Hit Parade was replaced by the Juke Box Race Records chart in 1945 and then, in June of 1949, both the Juke Box and Best Sellers charts removed race from their names in favor of "rhythm & blues". The two biggest hits in the first year of the new chart were Louis Jordan's "Saturday Night Fish Fry" and Joe Liggins's "Pink Champagne", which spent 12 and 13 weeks at number one respectively.
These big early hits reflect the blurry line between jump-blues and rhythm & blues. On the one hand, late period jump-blues might be considered the beginning of rhythm & blues. Alternatively rhythm & blues could be defined more strictly as a style played by smaller bands with a stronger link to Rock & Roll and pop and a much weaker link to Jazz and Swing compared to jump-blues.
The 1950s and early 1960s were also a time when some of the 1950s biggest Gospel stars such as Sam Cooke started changing their lyrics to connect with a secular audience. In this way, gospel was an important influence on many early rhythm & blues artists such as The Clovers. Both the beat of gospel music and the vocal style contributed to the 1950s rhythm & blues sound. Doo-Wop, which shares the gospel influence on vocal harmonies, is sometimes considered an early style of rhythm & blues and sometimes considered a style that developed concurrently. Collectively, they were important influences on rock & roll.
In fact, the link to rock & roll was so tight that most of the earliest proponents in the first half of the 1950s had their initial success on the rhythm & blues charts. Later in the decade, Elvis Presley had six number one rhythm & blues singles on the Billboard charts between 1956 and 1958. Few would retrospectively identify Elvis as a rhythm & blues artist, and it's notable that some of these same songs also topped the Country charts.
The overlap of rhythm & blues and country was brief, but the prominence of rhythm & blues in American pop music was not. Between November 1963 and January 1965, Billboard actually ceased production of the rhythm & blues chart because it was not sufficiently different from the pop chart. It was during that period that The Beatles took "Twist and Shout" to number 2 on the pop chart two years after the The Isley Brothers had taken it to number 2 on the rhythm & blues charts. Those years also coincided with the early Motown Records years when artists such as The Supremes and The Miracles regularly topped the charts.
In 1965, Billboard introduced the Hot R&B LPs chart. While it would be a number of years before soul supplanted rhythm & blues as the more common commercial term, the mid 1960s probably represent the clearest point of bifurcation of the Pop Rock and soul genres, each of which owe a tremendous debt to rhythm & blues. A wave of British R&B bands, who are more often retrospectively considered Rock bands, also took the music in a different direction in the mid-60s.
Samba Soul
(also known as Brazilian Soul)
Brazilian musical genre developed in late 1960s and very successful in early 1970s with the popularization of Black/Soul/Funk/Psychedelic culture in South America plus a mixing of Samba-Rock in Brazil. Popularized by artists like Elza Soares, Tim Maia, Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Wilson Simonal and Banda Black Rio.
Smooth Soul
Smooth soul is a style of Soul music that emerged in the USA in the mid-to-late 1960s. Initially developing from the Motown Sound, the genre reached its greatest height of popularity in the 1970s, exemplified by singles such as "Let's Get it On" by Marvin Gaye and "Me and Mrs. Jones" by Billy Paul. Smooth soul emphasizes slow tempo ballads with silky, often sensual, vocals and light, polished arrangements to create an intimate, romantic atmosphere. Specific musical traits include lush, sweeping string sections and piano, in contrast to the gritty, brass-dominated sounds of Southern Soul or the Psychedelic Rock-inspired keyboards and guitar in Psychedelic Soul. The underlying percussion and melodic basslines of smooth soul often showcase a light Funk influence, whilst common lyrical themes are love, sex and seduction.
From the mid-1970s onwards, it was associated with the American late night R&B radio show 'Quiet Storm', with singers such as Gaye, Al Green, Minnie Riperton, Barry White and Bill Withers given frequent exposure during this period. Due to similarly silky production styles, smooth soul overlaps with a large amount of Philly Soul, a distinct sound developed in Philadelphia by groups such as The Delfonics and Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.
With the emergence of Contemporary R&B in the 1980s, smooth soul's prevalance gradually wavered, though singers such as Luther Vandross and Sade ensured the genre still maintained a relative degree of popularity. In the 1990s, D'Angelo, Maxwell and Erykah Badu combined smooth soul with elements of Hip Hop, contemporary R&B and funk to create the 'organic' sound of Neo-Soul.
Soul
Soul music originated in African-American culture of the 20th century. It resulted from the combination of the ecstatic vocals of Gospel music with the upbeat instrumentation of Rhythm & Blues, consisting of guitar, bass and percussion. Two further strong influences on the style are Big Band brass and the call-and-response style of Work Songs.
The vocal delivery is the most important and distinctive feature of soul music, with most vocalists possessing an expressive, flexible voice. Despite the loose and unleashed feeling of the music, the expectations towards a soul singer include virtuosity and discipline, as well as great abilities as an entertainer. Many soul musicians became icons of popular culture and were more sexually explicit than their contemporaries, a point that was stretched by the closely related Funk, popularized by singer James Brown (who was dubbed the "Godfather of Soul"). Other founding fathers of soul and recording giants are Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.
During the 1960s, soul music was the most popular form of African-American music with commercially and artistically successful record labels. Motown Records was the leader of the pack, with its distinctive Motown Sound defining the Pop Soul music of the era. Stax Records hailing from Memphis, Tennessee was another significant label for the genre's development with its raw, gritty Southern Soul style. The renaming of the "Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles" Billboard category to "Best Selling Soul Singles" indicated the growing dominance of soul music within African-American music.
Soul spawned other various subgenres and scenes since its inception. Smooth Soul emphasizes the themes of love and seduction with decidedly soft vocals and polished production, exemplified by 1970s-era Marvin Gaye. Chicago Soul combines groove with a glossy studio production. Outside the USA, Samba Soul is the combination of the delivery of soul with the rhythms of Samba by artists such as Jorge Ben. From the 1980s onwards, Contemporary R&B is associated with the vocal delivery also common in soul music, while the 1990s saw Neo-Soul emerge as a fusion of classic (mostly smooth) soul with Hip Hop.
Southern Soul
Southern soul is a style of Soul music that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Whilst not limited to any particular area, the majority of recording artists were historically from (and were most popular in) the southern USA, including household names such as Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and Al Green.
Placing an emphasis on the groove of the music, Southern soul draws inspiration from its African American roots in Rhythm & Blues, Gospel and Electric Blues, as well as Rock & Roll and Country (most explicitly demonstrated in Country Soul). The style displays a gritty, raw sound (as opposed to the more polished, poppy arrangements of the Motown sound and Northern Soul) and is often made to be highly danceable, although more downbeat, intense, intimate numbers overlap with Deep Soul. Punchy horns, murky 'chicken scratch' guitar playing and a strong rhythm provide the musical template, resulting in an earthy-sounding groove that was influential on the development of Funk in the mid-1960s.
Labels from Memphis such as Goldwax Records, Hi Records and most prominently, Stax Records (with backing band Booker T. & The M.G.'s), were highly significant and influential for their contribution to Southern soul productions, whilst Otis Redding's appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 only further helped solidify Southern soul as a staple in the popular music climate of the time. The session group The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (also known as 'The Swampers') were also readily associated with capturing the classic Southern soul sound, providing the musical backing on hits such as Aretha Franklin's "Respect", Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally" and Etta James's "Tell Mama".
Definitions courtesy of rateyourmusic.com