Rhythm and blues is an inclusive term that captures a wide swatch of American popular music that began to infiltrate the mainstream after WWII. It grew out of disparate sources: delta blues, country, and gospel music from the South, as well as more electrified jump and swing that grew in northern urban settings.
The genre spread out in all directions, fronted by rock and roll and soul music that dominated the 1960s. The labels producing these artists often aimed for mainstream success, smoothing out the rougher, grittier elements, keeping the love songs sweet and innocent, and the politics invisible. By the end of the 1960s, that position was becoming increasingly untenable.
There were still plenty of crossover hits under the broad banner of R&B/Soul, but the civil rights movement demanded a different kind of music. James Brown and the birth of funk as a legitimate offshoot signaled a clear change toward the end of the decade. By the time 1970 came around, there was a revolution—if not televised, then playing loud on the radio.
6 R&B/Soul songs that showed how much music was changing in the 1970s
The following six songs barely scratch the surface of all the innovation from soul and funk music, especially early in the decade. But they do give a hint as to that change. The sound was new. The subject matter was new.
Types of music heretofore seen as Black American were now claiming a new place. This was American music, regardless of race or ethnicity. These songs were listened to by everyone with ears.
“Family Affair” by Sly and the Family Stone (1971)
Sly had already evolved from the early, joyous funk of “Dance to the Music” into the somewhat more socially conscious empowerment tracks from 1969’s Stand! Still, nothing prepared listeners for the assault of There’s a Riot Goin’ On two years later.
“Family Affair,” Sly's third and final number one hit in the USA, was the first song I remember not merely hearing. I felt it viscerally. Something in that sound and that voice got inside you, not just your ears but your core. Sly was raising the bar for what modern soul/funk music could be.
“Theme from Shaft” by Isaac Hayes (1971)
Meanwhile, Isaac Hayes was winning mainstream awards. His funk masterpiece, the heartbeat of Gordon Parks’ movie, won the Oscar for Original Song. Until now, fewer than ten African Americans have even been nominated for an Oscar, and only a couple have won, always in acting categories.
Hayes helped introduce funk to a wider audience and paved the way for even more revolutionary film soundtracks, like Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly the following year.
“Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green (1972)
In one respect, Al Green was the antithesis of James Brown. Whereas Brown was all grit and sweat, Green was smooth as satin and cool as ice. But in another significant regard, the two singers were the same. Both sang with a passion that would have shocked your parents.
Green began singing gospel – a genre he would return to at various points in his career – before venturing into soul and pop. His otherworldly falsetto could recall Robert Johnson and Skip James, while his collaborators Willie Mitchell and Al Jackson, Jr. could craft the most seductive love songs.
Green would be a major pop recording artist for much of the decade. One of his first hits, “Let’s Stay Together,” spelled out the pattern very clearly: a restrained vocal and musical approach that would effortlessly build into fireworks.
“Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” by The Temptations (1972)
Like many other acts, the Temptations evolved from youthful pop to bolder and more elaborate statements as the decade progressed. Nowhere was that more apparent than on their magnificent number one smash from 1972.
The original album cut, produced by Motown legend (and co-writer) Norman Whitfield, is a 12-minute sonic journey into the depths of funk. Even in its shortened single edit, the song is among the most potent pop hits ever to top the charts.
“I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” by Gladys Knight & the Pips (1973)
Not all music released by African American artists in the early ‘70s had that hard-edged funk sound. The Memphis sound of Al Green strode across the pop charts alongside the Philly soul of the O’Jays and the Detroit transplants, the Spinners. They were mainstream pop hits exploring soul with only a nod to funk.
Gladys Knight & the Pips had also been putting out successful songs in that vein, including the number one smash “Midnight Train to Georgia" in ’73. But you need look no further than the “Midnight Train” follow-up, “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” to hear how invasive the funk that Sly Stone had been developing a few years before had become.
The throbbing bass and jittery horns that kick off the jam were a clear precursor of what was coming.
“You Haven’t Done Nothin’” by Stevie Wonder (1974)
The way Elton John albums ruled the radio in the preceding years, Stevie Wonder began to dominate mid-decade. Stevie had been around forever, but his newfound, mature work, starting with Music of My Mind and then exploding with Talking Book - both from 1972 - raised the bar.
Talking Book featured “Superstition,” one of the most iconic grooves of the decade. I think he got even better by the time of Fulfillingness’ First Finale. “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” has enough funk to feed a dozen malnourished jams but also teems with the sound and fury of protest.
This attitude, even more than the sound, was going to blow the lid off late-decade music in the form of punk and new wave. As for traditional R&B and soul, after detouring through disco, it would blend all that funk and dance pop into something immortalized by a song at the end of the decade by the Sugarhill Gang called “Rapper’s Delight.”