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Kool & the Gang is an American R&B, soul, and funk group formed in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964. Its founding members include brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell aka "Khalis Bayyan", Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, Sir Earl Toon, Woodrow "Woody" Sparrow, and Ricky Westfield. They have undergone numerous changes in personnel and have explored many musical styles throughout their history, including jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, disco, rock, and pop music. The group changed their name several times. Settling on Kool & the Gang, the group signed to De-Lite Records and released their debut album, Kool and the Gang (1969).
Popular music of the United States in the 1980s saw heavy metal, country music, Top 40 hits, hip hop, MTV, CMJ, and new wave as mainstream. Punk rock and hardcore punk was popular on CMJ. With the demise of punk rock, a new generation of punk-influenced genres arose, including Gothic rock, post-punk, alternative rock, emo and thrash metal. Hip hop underwent its first diversification, with Miami bass, Chicago hip house, Washington, D.C. go-go, Detroit ghettotech, Los Angeles G-funk and the "golden age of old school hip hop" in New York City. House music developed in Chicago, techno music developed in Detroit which also saw the flowering of the Detroit Sound in gospel. This helped inspire the greatest crossover success of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM), as well as the Miami Sound of Cuban pop.
Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1980s built on the post-punk and new wave movements, incorporating different sources of inspiration from subgenres and what is now classed as world music in the shape of Jamaican and Indian music. It also explored the consequences of new technology and social change in the electronic music of synthpop. In the early years of the decade, while subgenres like heavy metal music continued to develop separately, there was a considerable crossover between rock and more commercial popular music, with a large number of more "serious" bands, like The Police and UB40, enjoying considerable single chart success.
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Post-disco is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1986, imprecisely beginning with the backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to civil unrest and a riot in Chicago known as the Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979, and indistinctly ending with the mainstream appearance of new wave in 1980. During its dying stage, disco displayed an increasingly electronic character that soon served as a stepping stone to new wave, old-school hip hop, Euro disco, and was succeeded by an underground club music called hi-NRG, which was its direct continuation.
This article includes an overview of the famous events and trends in popular music in the 1980s.
The Jackson 5, later the Jacksons, is an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. They were managed by their father Joe Jackson. The group were among the first African American performers to attain a crossover following.
Boogie is a rhythm and blues genre of electronic dance music with close ties to the post-disco style, that first emerged in the United States during the late 1970s to mid-1980s. The sound of boogie is defined by bridging acoustic and electronic musical instruments with emphasis on vocals and miscellaneous effects. It later evolved into electro and house music.
Komiko was a short-lived electronic music studio group signed to SAM Records, an independent label in New York City. According to Allmusic, Carol Williams was once a member of this group but the vocals are attributed to unnamed female personnel, most likely a guest vocalist. Their so-far only song "Feel Alright," written by Nick Braddy, was a collaboration between record producers Darryl Payne and Gary Turnier. Record sleeve note ascribes production credit to Totally Funked Up Productions, Inc. which is a company based in Delaware.
Vicky "D" was a short-lived New York City-based post-disco/garage house group best known for their club hit "This Beat Is Mine". Released in late 1981, the song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Club Play Singles chart in February 1982, and peaked at number 42 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1982.
References
- ↑ Nite, Norm N. (September 1, 1985). Rock on: the illustrated encyclopedia of rock n' roll : the video revolution, 1978-present . Harper & Row. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-06-181644-4.
- ↑ Radar Records CD compilation booklet.
- ↑ "Billboard Albums & Singles – Gary's Gang". AllMusic . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
- 1 2 "Disco Dance Music > The Beat Meets The Street". Billboard . No. 94. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. June 19, 1982. ISSN 0006-2510.
- ↑ Frank Broughton, Bill Brewster (2011). The Record Players: DJ Revolutionaries . Black Cat, 2011. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-8021-7089-7.
- ↑ "General News: Lifelines > Births". Billboard . Vol. 94. September 25, 1982. p. 84.
