The last earWorms may have been a bit long winded for a few of you, so I am going to attempt to keep this one down to a slightly more manageable size. Rather than focus on a country this time, I figured I might look at a single city. Many American cities can lay claim to a specific music genre or two, but few cities cover such a diverse range as Detroit, Michigan. Call it Motor City (Motown) or call it Rock City, either way and you are only touching the surface of what has come out of Detroit.
Let us start with the blues. When Henry Ford opened shop in the Motor City, large numbers of African-American laborers travelled north in search of steady work. Along with their affordable labour, they brought their music. Starting with southern blues (predominately Delta Blues from Mississippi), Detroit soon developed its own blend of blues based heavily on the Delta and neighbouring Chicago style blues. John Lee Hooker was the most famous performer of this blues hybrid. Using his delta foundation and amplified guitars, Hooker helped to define a new path.
During this same time period, Gospel music was also quite popular in Detroit. The late 40s and early 50s gave birth to many a fine gospel group and vocalist. One of my favourites would have to be The Meditation Singers (founded by Della Reese and later fronted by Laura Lee when Reese left in 1953).
Detroit in the 50s also saw great popularity in Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul and good ol' Rock-n-Roll. Clearly this was a big decade for Detroit. With the likes of Pepper Adams (often seen/heard with Coltrane, Monk and even Goodman) holding down the local Jazz Bop scene, and Tamla Motown putting out the finest Motown (including Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Four Tops and many others) how could it be anything but a spectacular town?
Add to all of that a couple of white kids with greased hair and cuffed jeans, watching Happy Days and dancing to Bill Haley and we can see where Motown shifts toward Rock-City.
The 60s provided Detroit with even more of a push with the folks like Del Shannon, and even more so with acts like Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels. By the mid-70s things were really getting messy and rock-n-roll was taking its true form. From the noisy MC5 (Motor City Five) to Iggy & the Stooges... it was raw and it was intense. Good shit it was.
The 70s also brought us some fine early Metal, with the outstanding Alice Cooper (notice the blues tone in his early work) and Glam Rock fashion boys, KISS. We can't talk about the 70s with out a mention of Disco/Funk, and thankfully Detroit was home to some of the finest. You know George Clinton and Bootsy Collins? Both of those cats were a part of Parliament (later renamed Funkadelic).
The 80s gave us all sorts of trouble, most notably Detroit gave us Madonna (technically Michagan, and not Detroit... but whatever). I don't want to dwell too much on this decade (for a number of reasons) but I do want to say that in the late 80s and through the 90s there was a small but steady number of groups carrying on the garage rock tradition of MC5 and Iggy's brand of "proto-punk", at the same time blending Blues, Motown, Funk and a bit of Rock-n-Roll. One of my favourite groups from this small crowd is The Gories.
After 2000, Detroit became known for its large Garage Rock revival. Members of The Gories later (in the late 90s... maybe 2000) formed The Dirtbombs, one of the best known in the revival, but without a doubt the most well known would have to be The White Stripes. I love The White Stripes, from their first album on... quality each time. While these are just two from the many, if you like either of them, you should definitely dig around... Detroit was home to some great Garage revivalists.
Now, I know I am rambling on a bit here, so I'll close things down, but first I need to mention two more of my favourite bands from Detroit. The first of which is the rockedUp motown bitin' Detroit Cobras. The second band is The Black Dahlia Murder... dark and good. Shit, you know I haven't even talked about hardcore and hipHop... you do know the Eminem is a Detroit boy right?
Okay, and now for the treats. Enjoy.
audio:
The Detroit Cobras:
MC5:
John Lee Hooker:
Stevie Wonder:
The White Stripes:
video:
The Meditation Singers: I'm Determined
Bill Haley: Rock Around The Clock
Alice Cooper: I Love The Dead
Iggy & The Stooges: No Fun
Iggy & The Stooges: TV EYE
Eminiem: Mosh
John Lee Hooker: Hobo Blues
MC5: Looking At You
The Detroit Cobras: Cha Cha Twist
KISS: I Was Made For Loving You
Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels: CC Rider
The Supremes: You Keep Me Hangin' On
The Gories: Land of A Thousand Dances
Funkadelic: One NAtion Under Groove
The Black Dahlia Murder: Funeral Thirst
Aretha Franklin: Chain of Fools
The White Stripes: Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground
The White Stripes: Conquest
Again, a little disclaimer... my primary source has been either Wikipedia or Last.FM (which typically comes from Wikipedia anyway). I wouldn't use this in an essay... you dig?
[/jc: guest post]
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