8:44 pm UTC Feb. 8, 2021
As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive series, Hallowed Sound.
Motown Records’ creative ingenuity and commercial prowess made it a hit machine, one that’s still chugging along today indeed, a list of Motown classics could fill a book. For now, here are 50 essential singles from Motown’s Detroit era, defined as 1959-1972, as selected by the Detroit Free Press and its readers to commemorate the label’s 50th anniversary.
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Let’s cut to the chorus: “Pop music” is a very subjective genre description. It’s right up there with “indie” being liberally applied to any unsigned, signed, underground, or mainstream artist who sings in cursive. And, although a rock and roll fan might swear off pop as a genre, the distinction isn’t as cookie-cutter clear as it seems.
In simple terms, pop music is literally… popular music. And, though our perception of the genre has evolved over time to become its own entity marked by catchy melodies, unforgettable choruses, and rather saccharine lyrics pop music, as it stands, is still just… popular music. You can t deny that.
âItâs nice to have some good news for a changeâ
Most of Overture s lost 2020-2021 season will be back next year
Joan Marcus
Shoba Narayan, Ta Rea Campbell and Nyla Sostre in the 2018 touring production of Hamilton; the musical returns to Overture Center in August 2022.
There are a lot of people who would like a do-over for 2020 â an opportunity to go back and experience all the things we had planned for the year that were put on hold by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing quarantine. For those Madison area theatergoers, Overture Centerâs Tim Sauers has some very good news: Most of the lost 2020-2021 season will be back next year. And, provided season ticket holders didnât already ask for refunds or donate their tickets to Overture, they donât have to do a thing to enjoy it, except wait. Â
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Ma Rainey
Check out this track! Ma Rainey’s ‘See See Rider Blues’, in which the primordial germ of rock ‘n’ roll lives.
Chicago blues
Heyday: 1950s and 1960s
Muddy Waters (Getty)
What is it:With US cities on the skids following the Great Depression, life was still tough. It’s no wonder the blues took a turn towards the dirt again. Unlike urban blues, this music was performed on the street and at so-called ‘rent parties’, where tenants would stage gigs to raise the money to pay their landlords. Though blossoming across the Midwest, the blues artists made Chicago the genre’s epicentre, and most of the most highfalutin’ names in US blues lived there. Their amplified, guitar-heavy vision of the blues set a template for popular music that’s still in action today.