Kelefa Sanneh’s Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres sets out to map the development of Rock, R&B, Country, Punk, Hip-Hop, Dance, and Pop music over the past 50 years. All the major groups and solo performers face Kelefa Sanneh’s analysis. The result, a least for me, is a list of music I need to re-listen to. And, of course, buying more music CDs that I somehow missed!
I liked the chapter on R&B music the best. Sanneh traces the origins of “Black music” as it morphed into Motown music. Barry Gordy’s vision of making groups like The Supremes and The Temptations mainstream worked. I did not know the story of Smokey Robinson’s A Quiet Storm album that not only created a “Quiet Storm” radio format, but also fostered the development of “Smooth Jazz.” In the 1970s, “Smooth Jams” became popular and I’ve been one of the eager listeners to that genre.
Even if you’re not a fan of Country & Western or Punk or Hip-Hop music, you’ll learn a lot about the trends that made those genres popular.
Major Labels offers insights, historical perspectives, and great information about music made over the past 50 years. It’s very readable and consistently clear and concise. What’s your favorite type of music? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction vii
Wearing Headphones
Literally Generic
Excellent/Popular/Interesting
Divide and Conquer
1 Rock 1
The Kingdom of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Abunchanoise
Less Monstrous and More Glamorous
The Edge of Wuss Cliff
Alternative Everywhere
Heavy Metal Rules
The Power of Evil
Cock Rock
Counter-Countercultural
The Opposite of Noise
Confessional
Making Progress
Old-Time Rock ‘n’ Roll
2 R&B 86
An Exclusive Music
Race Records
Soul Music Is Ours
Selling Soul
Ain’t Nothing to This Disco
The Comforts of Crossover
The Other Black Music
Shame and Shamelessness
Guilty
Deplorable
A Rebirthing Process
Mea Culpa
3 Country 154
At Its Purest
What Is Country Music?
Absolutely No Hollering
A Revolt, a Revival, and a Sales Pitch
Make Country Country Again
The Horseshit Rebellion
Suburbs and Sippy Cups
Good Luck on Your New Venture
Where Are Your Guts?
Only in America
The White Experience
What Makes You Country
What’s Right with the Format
4 Punk 216
Converted
Incoherent and Inescapable
Rock ‘n’ Roll at Its Finest
Punk Explosion
Punk Politics
Tougher Than Punk
An Incantation
Feasting on Crumbs
Stubborn Purists
The Opposite of Punk
Hipsters Everywhere
5 Hip-Hop 277
Rap Music Don’t Have to Teach You Anything
The (New) Sound of Young America
Music in Every Phrase
Making Records Out of Records
Street-Corner Rhymes
I’m Not a Rapper
The Real Face of Rap
Raging Sexism
Self-Conscious
Ambition and Hunger
Escape from New York
Serious Rapping
Your Voice Too Light
Mixed Up
6 Dance Music 362
What Else Is Music For?
One Big Mix
Very Much Alive
Party Monsters
Different Worlds
The Upward Spiral
Get Lost
7 Pop 404
Pop Revolution
The Monster with Seven Letters
The Triumph of Poptimism
The Most Popular Records in the Country?
Pepsodent Smiles
The Perils of (New) Pop Stardom
Pure Pop Music
You’ll Grow Out of It
The End of Taste
How Can Anyone Listen to That Stuff?
Acknowledgments 457
Index 460
Mostly prefer Rock . With the exception of Heavy Metal and Hair Metal. Not too big on Disco , MOR or Corporate Rock( Boston, Styx, Reo) . I like alt country (Drive By truckers, Lucinda Williams). Blues and R&B before 1980. Not a big fan of Jazz with a few exceptions (Coltane, Chet Baker). Especially dislike smooth jazz. Jazz’s equivalent of easy listening rock. Don’t care for Hip Hop.
Like Steve, I would go with Rock, Soul and R & B. I also like older Country.
Jeff, we’re about to leave for BRUNCH! See you and Jackie there!
Steve, I was never a Hip-Hop fan. But my students loved it!
EDM is my favorite contemporary music because it seems to me to be the natural evolution of my two favorite types of music: Disco (the 1970s) and Alternative (the 1980s & early 1990s). I do like “Quiet Storm” type music, especially in the background for doing chores, having a meal, etc.
Slightly o/t, but I watched the first two hours of Peter Jackson’s Beatles film on Disney Plus over the weekend. Jackson took about 60 hours of raw footage of the band (preparing for what would be the “Let It Be” album and concert) and edited it down to six hours. I hate to admit it, but—as much as I love the Beatles—I found the program a bit tedious. Their hearts just didn’t seem to be in it and there are only so many times I can listen to the boys riffing on “One After 909.”
Deb, some of my friends who watched “LET IT BE” were underwhelmed, too. But, I’m sure Cap’n Bob, who is a massive Beatles fan, will be all over it!
I don’t get thjat channel, so, no!
Bob, we get some streaming services, but there are really too many to keep up with!
Now that you can ask Alexa to play the music being discussed this kind of book is really interesting.
Patti, I agree. I’ve generated a list of music I want to listen to after reading MAJOR LABELS.
Crankypants here. I find little of today’s misic worthwhile. The older I get, the older good mucis gets, not that htere weren’t some abominations when I was younger. Heavy metal, rap, disco, punk…Ptah!
I’m old.
Same here – still a fan of Blues-Rock from the 60s and 70s.
one exception:
Joe Bonamassa whom we’ve seen live several times
Jerry, you’re right about a lot of terrible music being produced to day. The dismaying aspect is…it sells!
No big band? No surf music? No hard bop? No fusion?
Rick, Kelefa Sanneh deals with those seven broad categories. But he does point to other books for more specialized interests.
Noite to all: we had a GREAT time with George and Diane and Patrick & Katie (and their niece Elise). Weather could be better but otherwise, things were good.
Jeff, Diane, Patrick, Katie, Elise, and I loved enjoying Brunch with you and Jackie at the Clinton Street Baking Company! Those banana walnut pancakes I ordered were fabulous! With Patrick now living in Brooklyn, you’ll be seeing ore of us.