The Tempting Temptations With classy dance moves, creative costumes, and smooth vocals, the Temptations were a popular music group during the 1960s. The small group from Detroit had a huge impact on modern society from addressing social issues such as racial injustice, to revolutionizing rhythm and blues music. As a group of five young men, the Temptations began their careers in Motown music where they became an influential quintet that changed the music and culture of the 1960s.
Members of the Temptations
Over time, members of the Temptations changed and evolved, with many diverse musicians coming and going. Paul Williams, Otis Williams, David Ruffin, Melvin Franklin, and Eddie Kendricks are considered to be the original members of the band,
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Due to these developments, the Temptations were faced with a larger problem; conforming to pop culture. Onstage, the Temptations were shaping the way artists would perform through dance and music styles. Off stage, however, the Temptations were forced to retain a celebrity personality and sex appeal (Cox 26). The Temptations also changed fashion as more men sought styles the group wore in public.
While the Tempts may have created a musical revolution with Motown, the group also rebelled against racism. The Temptations’ opinions on ethnic pride were reflected in many African-Americans, as the black community shifted to embracing their natural appearances. “Like African-American artists of decades before, they had started their career with “conked” or “processed” hairstyles, with their natural curls straightened and combed out to look like Caucasian hair. But in the mid-1960s, the Tempts, like many African-Americans, began to experiment by letting their hair grow in “naturals” or “Afros” (Cox 44). The Temptations also used their music in the 1970s to confront drug use and poverty. As the Temptations’ social opinions and style changed, as did their
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In their early years, the Temptations were a polished live performance with original dance moves and classic voices. Their dances were choreographed by Cholly Atkins, an experienced choreographer. “He perfected a style later called “vocal choreography”... Atkins had the raw material to make his routines more intricate than ever. His system was demanding. Otis Williams later said that learning an Atkins dance routine for a new act might take two or three weeks of rehearsing five or six hours a day” (Cox 37). This type of dancing became very popular with the public and many consider it to be the Temptations’
Black and white teenagers listen alike to rock music on the radio and attended clubs to hear it, together. Rock ‘n’ Roll’s roots helped accustom white teens to black music through the lenses of white, male vocalists—a normalcy to ground these drastic changes in race relations. The stars, like Elvis Presley—know for his sexual and riveting performances—began to blur the line between different forms of music and more importantly, black and white music.3 Rock ‘n’ Roll music was a blend of these two different cultures, demonstrating the enormous consumer power of this emerging youth culture and giving it the power to unite an entire
In 1958 an influential Australian pop group was formed, this band was known as the Bee Gees. Australia has a number of artists who are very influential and have shaped the music world but arguably none of them are as influential and well known as the Bee Gees. Through 1970's, the Bee Gees helped defined the disco era.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Rock N’ Roll made a steady influential climb into the blossoming generations’ norm. Elvis Presley, The King of Rock, debuted his first number one hit song “Heartbreak Hotel” and it climbed steadily to the top of the charts as the number one song in February of 1956. When Elvis’ popularity first grew, it sparked outrage through the previous generations in fears that his music would intertwine cultures. In the 1950s and 1960s, Rock N’ Roll was classified as “African American” music and those listeners who do not fit that class, would be frowned upon. Mr. Presley was a Nashville native, who sang hard driving rockabilly, Rock N’ Roll dance songs and ballads, and laid a foundation for other rock musicians to follow.
Every which way they turned someone was dropping out and couldn't handle their position no longer. The Temptations had a totally of 21 members who were once apart of the band. The first five members were Melvin Franklin, Otis Williams, Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks, and Elbridge Bryant. After some struggle with the first two singles, Bryant was the first to leave. Bryant after not contributing his full abilities to the band from his slacking off was finally fired right after a Motown Christmas party in 1966. Right after Bryant left, David Ruffin came aboard. His skills were seen right at the beginning, and with him the Temptations became known as the "classic 5," producing some of their best work. Although Ruffin seemed to be exactly what the group needed, their high likings soon disappeared. Ruffin became way too self centered and along with his drug addictions, and missing of not only rehearsals but concerts as well, Ruffin was then fired. Replacing him, Dennis Edwards originally from the Contours joined the crew, and became the new lead singer. Entering new and different styles of their music, things were going fine, until Paul's alcohol addictions started to become a big problem. As his breathes became shorter Richard Street, from the Monitors, filled in for him on days he couldn't perform. Though, after a fail of recovery, and right before Paul went solo, he committed suicide in 1973. Before Paul's problems started to
What lasting affect did loosing Buddy Holly, Little Richard joining the ministry, Elvis going into the military, and the many other problems with Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis have on American Pop Culture?
Elvis was born January 8,1935 in Tupelo Mississippi, he was suppose to be a twin, but his brother Jesse Garon was stillborn. He was raised by a loving, working class family, they had little money and moved frequently, he was devoted to his parents especially his mom and was raised to have a strong faith in God.
The Beatles was composed of four members: Paul McCartney (born June 18, 1942), John Lennon (born October 9, 1940), George Harrison (born February, 25, 1943), and Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey; July 7,
The emergence of Rock and Roll was one of the most pivotal moments of our nation’s history. The impact that this genre of music made is still evident in our culture. However, before this genre was able to gain momentum, it faced many cultural conflicts. The book, All Shook Up: How Rock ‘N’ Roll Changed America by Glenn C. Altschuler analyzes the impact that rock and roll music has made on American culture. It explores how the Rock and Roll culture was able to roughly integrate and later conflict with preceding cultural values. This is especially apparent in chapters regarding race and sexuality. Overall, Rock and Roll was extremely controversial amongst parents and educators. This new music genre was condemned by the previous generation as
The foundations of today’s popular music were built by an unlikely source: a poor white
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As America headed into the 1980s, two decades of social and political upheaval have left the nation rattled and the economy weakened. The Iran hostage crisis shook America's confidence and many looked for a new kind of leader to steer the country into the new decade. Ronald Reagan led America into a new era of prosperity leaving the soul-searching of the 60s and 70s behind. The nation was ready to enjoy itself and with plenty of new toys to play like VCRs and video games, Americans spent more time at home and soon something called cable TV would make it even harder to leave the living room. With the new innovation of the TV, one of the ideas for a channel was a marriage between music and television. This new idea for a channel devoted to something called music videos would end up revolutionizing and often scandalizing an industry that had no choice but to embrace the fact that music in the 1980s had to have a face with videos. By having these music videos, they would change the way we look at music and the way we look at the world. This cutting- edge idea was a new medium perfectly suited to a new generation and that idea was called, MTV. This leads to the question: How did MTV influence pop culture of the 1980’s? This topic is worthy of investigation because the coming of MTV has had a significant impact on the way people see pop culture. Before researching the topic, the writer had limited knowledge on MTV and only knew about the music itself. In the paper, the writer was
Perhaps the most celebrated and most known musical group ever known "The Beatles" changed the way the world viewed rock music for generations to come. Comprised of four members; John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, "The Beatles" rose to stardom in England. With hits such as "Love me do" The Beatles quickly grew a fan base in the United Kingdom. By the mid-1960s the Beatles were taking the world by storm and leading the British invasion of the United States ' music industry. Till this day the Beatles ' music is still being played around the world today.
The Beatles were one of the most influential music groups of the rock era. They were able to conquer and influence pop culture with their music. Initially they affected the post-war baby boom generation of Britain and the W.S. during the 1960s, and later the request of the world. Certainly they were the most successful group, with global sales exceeding 1.3 billion albums. During the sixties, The Beatles using revolutionary ideas in their music inspired a generation of young adults across the globe to look at life from their perspective.
The heavy metal band Judas Priest was known for being one of the most popular and most respected heavy metal bands on the planet. Even though they have had many members, they have made a huge impact in the heavy metal genre. They were hugely influenced by two of the most popular and well known heavy metal bands of all time.
The turning point for the new music came when the group Led Zeppelin was formed. As the book "Hammer of the Gods" points out, the members of this group were constantly high on every kind of drug imaginable. When they toured, they vandalized hotel rooms, throwing TV sets and furniture into the streets. Very young girls were tied up and sodomized, group members taking turns, and a photographer from Life magazine, assigned to photograph Led Zeppelin as they toured, was nearly raped by band members in a hotel room. Yet Led Zeppelin became the most popular group of its time. In fact, a whole generation was raised on its music. Throughout the 1970s, the music of Led Zeppelin was the anthem of American high school kids.