Music of Detroit, Michigan
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Detroit is renowned for its musical heritage, a long and rich history that includes Motown Records, which produced such hometown stars as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations and the Four Tops.
The Detroit Theatre District is the nation's second largest in America, after New York City, with eighteen professional theaters. Detroit is home to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Opera House. Major theaters include the Fox Theatre, Masonic Temple Theatre, Fisher Theatre, State Theatre, Music Hall, Saint Andrews Hall and the Detroit Repertory Theatre. Historically, Detroit's former Black Bottom neighborhood was a major jazz and blues mecca through the 1950s; its influence would still be felt decades later. Major jazz stars of the era often came to Black Bottom to perform in its many venues.
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[edit] Roots: 1910-1960
Henry Ford began the transformation of Detroit from modest port to the "Motor City". Ford was the first businessman to specifically target African American workers, sending recruiters to comb the South for industrious, cheap labor. Lured by promises of wealth, opportunity, and non-segregation, large groups of African Americans made the trek north, bringing with them their music and culture.
As the Jazz Age began, Detroit quickly emerged as an important musical center, standing alongside New Orleans, Chicago, and St. Louis. Among the musicians who relocated to Detroit were drummer William McKinney, who formed the seminal Big Band McKinney's Cotton Pickers, with Jazz great Don Redman.
The Great Depression hit Detroit hard and the White controlled trade unions locked Detroit's Black population out of the lucrative auto industry. "Black Bottom", the "colored" district on Detroit's East Side, found itself home to a polyglot population of Mexicans, Poles, Italians, and Blacks, each culture adding its musical traditions to the Detroit melting pot.
Oliver Green formed The Detroiters, who became one of the most popular Gospel groups of the late 1940s. Young Della Reese began her long and distinguished career, joining the ranks of the Gospel elite.
In 1948 John Lee Hooker, a dominant force in the "House Party" Blues scene, stunned the R&B world with the release of "Boogie Chillen." The song's raw, poetic, hypnotic power vaulted Hooker to the top of the charts. With the example of Hooker, an entire generation of young, impoverished Detroiters saw the hope of a new way out - through music.
Through the 1950's Detroit was one of America's most important jazz centers. Notable musicians from Detroit who achieved international recognition include: Elvin Jones, Hank Jones, Thad Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Lucky Thompson, Louis Hayes, Barry Harris, Paul Chambers, Marcus Belgrave, Milt Jackson, Kenny Burrell and Pepper Adams.
Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation in Detroit's public school system, home of one of the top music programs in the nation; young children of all colors now had access to it. The Reverend CL Franklin found success with his recorded sermons on Chess Record's gospel label, and an album of Spirituals recorded at his Bethel Baptist Church included the debut of his young daughter Aretha.
Hank Ballard and his Midnighters crossed over from the R&B to the Pop charts with "Work With Me, Annie." The song nearly broke into the elite Top 20, despite being barred from airplay on many stations, due to its suggestive lyrics. Another Detroit native, Bill Haley, ushered in the Rock 'n Roll era with the release of "Rock Around The Clock" in 1955. In the same year, seminal soul influence Little Willie John made his debut. Jackie Wilson had his first hit in 1956 with "Reet Petite", co-written by a young Berry Gordy.
Detroit R&B label Fortune Records enjoyed success with The Diablos fronted by Nelson Strong. In 1956, Zeffrey "Andre" Williams recorded a string of singles, including the song "Bacon Fat." Knowing he couldn't compete with the voice labelmate Strong, Andre chose to talk-sing the song. To everyone's surprise, the song took off, and Rap has a Godfather in Detroit's Andre Williams.
Rockability guitarist Jack Scott laid down the first note of Detroit's badboy rock tradition with the release of "Leroy" in 1957, a song about the joys of incarceration. Scott is the one of the first country/rock pioneers, marrying country's melodic songcraft to the dangerous, raw power of Rock 'n Roll.
Hank Ballard scored a huge hit on the Pop charts with "The Twist," which was brought to the attention of Chubby Checker by Dick Clark. The Falcons released "You're So Fine" in 1959, considered the first true Soul record. The close of the decade also saw record store owner Berry Gordy, Jr. founded the Motown label with $800 in borrowed funds.
[edit] Motown
One of the highlights of Detroit's musical history was the success of Motown Records during the 1960s and early 1970s. The label was founded in Detroit by Berry Gordy, Jr. and was home to some of the most popular recording acts in the world, including Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Four Tops, and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. One major Detroit R&B artist from this era that was not in Motown's stable was Aretha Franklin.
[edit] Detroit Rock City: Late 1960s - 1970s
The 1970s witnessed an extraordinary change in the "Detroit Sound," one as far removed from Motown as imaginable. This sound owed more to the work of Hooker and Scott than the R&B crooners, this sound was raw, rough, and messy. This sound was "Rock", and was equal parts anger, determination and attitude.
This music began emerging in the late 1960s, in garage bands that reflected the lives and lifestyles of two of its sister cities, collegiate Ann Arbor and industrial Flint. Seminal standouts included ? & the Mysterians, The Amboy Dukes (featuring Ted Nugent), Alice Cooper, MC5, The Stooges later on as Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Bob Seger System, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Frigid Pink, The Rationals, SRC Scott Richard Case, among others.
[edit] Melting Pot: 1990s - Present
In the late 1960s, Metro Detroit also spawned a unique high-energy rock scene in antithesis to Motown and the more mellow scenes popular on the coasts. Area artists MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges laid the groundwork for the punk rock movement in the mid-1960s. Rock acts from southeast Michigan that first enjoyed success in the area include 1970s icons Bob Seger, Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes,Brownsville Station and Grand Funk Railroad, the 1980's & 90's with The Romantics and Sponge as well as recent acts Kid Rock, Taproot Uncle Kracker, Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, The White Stripes, and The Von Bondies. Detroit is also home to The Black Dahlia Murder, a popular death metal band.
The Detroit area is also generally accepted as the birthplace of Techno, which has grown over the past 25 years from local radio and clubs to dance venues worldwide. Seminal Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. While Techno and Chicago-import, House, has remained popular with underground audiences in Detroit, the local style of Electro also known as Techno Bass and related to Miami Bass, pioneered by Juan Atkins remained the most popular electronic dance style in Detroit. This highly syncopated and futuristic, Kraftwerk influenced urban dance music was later fused with the minimal Chicago House known as Ghetto House or simply "Jack", to create the frenetic and fast-paced Ghettotech. Meanwhile the scene's luminaries continue to find that their more progressive and less club-oriented work is far more popular in Europe than anywhere in America.
The 1990s brought with it a new round of economic despair for Detroit, the once mighty Motor City. Urban blight, gang violence, and ever diminishing opportunities conspired to depress the hope of Detroit youth. They responded by reaching deep into Detroit's musical past to unleash a diverse and startling mix of new music and old, rap, and soul. Current artists include Kid Rock and Eminem (Marshall Mathers). Detroit is more recently home to many hip-hop artists such as: Aaliyah, Royce Da 5'9", Slum Village, Alley Life, Eastside Chedda Boyz, Rock Bottom, Juan, Trick Trick & The Goon Sqwad, D12, Teairra Mari, Tone-Tone, MC Breed, Blade Icewood, the Street Lord'z, are among the musical acts who have kept the diverse musical pipeline flowing.
As of 2006, fourteen groups or solo artists, four nonperformers, and two sidemen connected with the Detroit area have been enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Inducted into the hall are a record contending 23 Detroit artists and groups: Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, Smokey Robinson, Jackie Wilson, the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Hank Ballard, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, John Lee Hooker, Wilson Pickett, Martha and the Vandellas, Little Willie John, Parliament-Funkadelic, James Jamerson, Michael Jackson, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Glenn Frey, Berry Gordy, and the Jackson Five.
In 2006, A new disc jockey by the name of Young Mase has also helped Detroit in hip hop, while promoting the Detroit Takeover Mixtapes and hosting Tone Tone's new Ride With Cha Boy Mixtape, exposing many Detroit Rap artists from the underground for the world to see.
