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Motown, also known as The Motown Sound and Northern Soul, is a style of soul music
popularized in the late 1960s in the United States by a roster of artists signed to Motown Records. Distinctive characteristics are the use of
tambourine along with a drum kit,
Rhythm and blues instrumentation, and a 'call and response' singing
style originating in gospel music. While there were popular African American musicians prior to the 1960s, including Louis Armstrong, Ethel
Waters, Mamie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Chuck Berry, Motown was the most consistently chart-topping genre until perhaps
hip hop. In contrast to previous genres of black popular music, Motown soul used
African American performers instead of grooming white musicians for crossover fame. It was also the first genre of African
American popular music to move beyond simple lyricisms into the realm of socio-political topics, allowing for a wide range of
African American viewpoints to be expressed in song.
The Motown Sound was also defined by the use of orchestration, string sections, charted horn sections, carefully arranged
harmonies and other more refined pop music production techniques that borrowed from British Invasion styles.
It was also one of the first styles of pop music of that era wherein girl
groups were showcased as an act, as opposed to individual female artists. The acts on the Motown label were fastidiously
groomed, dressed and choreographed for live performances. Motown artists were told that their breakthrough into the white popular
music market made them ambassadors for other African-American artists seeking broad market acceptance, and that they should
think, act, walk and talk like royalty, so as to alter the less-than-dignified image (commonly held by white Americans in that
era) of black musicians.
It was popularized by Motown Records of Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s. Many of the most well known songs, such as all of
the early hits for The Supremes were written by the songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland. The many artists of Motown Records collaborated to produce several hit
songs, although the process has been described as factory-like (such as the Brill Building).
Examples
Other artists
From 1959 to 1971, many of these acts were backed by
Motown Records' major studio band, The Funk Brothers, which was
credited for being instrumental in creating the essential sound of Motown. The band's career and work is chronicled in the
acclaimed documentary, Standing In The Shadows Of Motown.
See also: Berry Gordy
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