The Death of Rhythm and Blues

by Nelson George

From Nelson George, supervising producer and writer of the hit Netflix series, "The Get Down," this passionate and provocative book tells the complete story of black music in the last fifty years, and in doing so outlines the perilous position of black culture within white American society. In a fast-paced narrative, Nelson George's book chronicles the rise and fall of "race music" and its transformation into the R&B that eventually dominated the airwaves only to find itself diluted and submerged as crossover music.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, African American, Cultural

222 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 1988

About the author

Nelson George is an author, filmmaker, television producer, and critic with a long career in analyzing and presenting the diverse elements of African-American culture.

Queen Latifah won the Golden Globe for playing the lead in his directorial debut, the HBO movie 'Life Support'. The critically acclaimed drama looked at the effects of HIV on a troubled black family in his native Brooklyn, New York. He recently co-edited, with Alan Leeds, 'The James Brown Reader (Plume)', a collection of previously published articles about the Godfather of Soul that date as far back the late '50s. Plume published the book in May '08.

He is an executive producer on two returning cable shows: the third season of BET's American Gangster and the fifth airing of VH1's Hip Hop Honors. George is the executive producer of the Chris Rock hosted feature documentary, Good Hair, a look at hair weaves, relaxers and the international black hair economy that's premiering at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.


Nelson George serves as host of Soul Cities, a travel show that debuted in November 2008. on VH1 Soul. Nelson visited Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Memphis, New Orleans and the Bay Area. He eats food, visits historic sites, and hears lots of music. LaBelle, Robin Thicke, Babyface, Rafael Saadiq, Angie Stone and Jazmine Sullivan are among the many artists who talked with Nelson and perform. The second season starts shooting in Spring 2009.

Throughout the '80s and '90s George was an columnist for Billboard magazine and the Village Voice newspaper, work that led him to write a series of award winning black music histories: 'Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound'; 'The Death of Rythm & Blues'; and 'Hip Hop America'. He won a Grammy for his contribution to the linear notes package on the James Brown 'Star Time' boxed set. George co-wrote 'Life and Def', the autobiography of his old friend Russell Simmons. He's also had a career writing fiction, including the bestselling 'One Woman Short', and the story, 'It's Never Too Late in New York', which has been in several anthologies of erotica.

As a screenwriter George co-wrote 'Strictly Business', which starred Halle Berry, and 'CB4', a vehicle for Chris Rock. His work with Rock led to his involvement with 'The Chris Rock Show', an Emmy award winning HBO late night series. He was an executive producer of Jim McKay's film, 'Everyday People', which premiered at the Sundance festival, and Todd Williams' Peabody award winning documentary 'The N Word'. In 2009 Viking will publish his memoir, 'City Kid', a look at the connections between childhood in Brooklyn and his adult career in Manhattan, Los Angeles and Detroit.

Reviews

[Edward Champion · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Nelson George's best books. George is succinct. He doesn't pull his punches. He sticks up for the numerous Black musical innovators who were exploited by white grifters. He's also somehow good enough to get away with inserting a very pronounced first person perspective in a book of music history. And the results here are quite vital. George is a master of showing interconnectedness through vital contextual moments (B.B. King started off in radio, for example, and this comes not long after George makes a strong case for the role that Black radio played in helping any number of vital musicians have careers). This is a must read for anybody interested in 20th century music.

[Eric Neffke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brief look at the history of Black music in America, and the outside forces that molded it. It was fascinating to discover how many of the great R&B DJs of the late 20th century worked at/got their start at WUFO in Buffalo, NY, my hometown.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent one-of-a-kind book on Black philosophies of self-reliance vs. assimilation, business, and music.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given that I am a long-time Nelson George fan, it's a wonder it took me so long to get to this one--arguably his most important book. An excellent work of criticism, history, and polemic all at once, George shows changes in aesthetics and material contexts for African American popular music from the 1940s to the present. Spirited and informative throughout. An excellent read.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully, clearly written and only briefly bogged down by long lists of artists and song titles. I loved how it chronicled social change in the black community through music from the beginning of the blues until the emergence of hip-hop.

[Michael Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nelson George really made me think about the music people consume. As a person growing up during the music years he reflects upon, I can gain footing on new perspective of things that were in the background of my childhood.

[Nikki McKnight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Music Is Where It’s At!

By far the best black music history lesson I’ve received in my forty plus years of loving the art. All we had/have to do is preserve our culture. I love us! Thank You Nelson for this history lesson. I’m gonna tell everyone I know about this book.

[Keith Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant examination of the history and demise of R&B. George's conclusion is that the R&B's demise is the result of black success (good) and need for assimilation (bad) is compelling. The number of mediocre black R&B performers from the 80s is evidence enough of the death of rhythm and blues. George wrote this in 1988 and I hope he revises the book sometime in the near future. Black music has changed radically in the (near) 30 years since it was first published. To read his take on what has happened in the mean time would be fascinating.

[RA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great detailed, referenced work, concerning the history of rock 'n' roll combining with R 'n' B; and the trends, deejays, producers, programmers, record execs, record companies & their owners, record labels, artists from the 40s through 1988, when this was published.

Anyone interested in/listening to/obsessed with "Black Music" will be enlightened by this.

Nice reference to the "DJ" culture that helped spawn the birth of rap.

[Marva Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book cause I love historical books. This is an important read, even if you aren't interested in the foundation and development of the contemporary music industry or baseball or the roots of systemic racism in industry.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise and well written, but there's nothing in here that you couldn't get from reading Peter Guralnick's "Sweet Soul Music," which is a longer and more deeply-developed study of soul music as a genre and cultural movement.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not an area that I have a lot of familiarity with but it was written with both love for the genre of music and with scholarly insights. Enjoyed it.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended if you like any form of popular music today, since black music has had (and continues to have) a huge influence. George traces the evolving forms of black music and their related social issues. I was a little off-put by the beginning, since it seemed to mostly concerned with social issues instead of music. However, as the narrative continued, the point was established that the music and social issues were intimately connected. There still wasn't enough emphasis on the actual music in my opinion. Too often he falls back to describing an artist's popularity by means other than the music.

This book was published in the late 1980s, right near the beginning of rap/hip-hop. It was interesting to read his opinion on the then burgeoning genre and thoughts on its future. He was hopeful that it would remain an outside voice and not be exploited by white music corporations. The last 20 years show otherwise.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a very basic review of the history of black music, this book has some merit. However, George very much (and is kind enough to state this in his introduction) infuses the book with his own opinion and thoughts on various musicians and methods, as well as his interpretation of how the black community would be best served. What makes this problematic is that opinions are generally shaped by personal experiences, culture, and upbringing - and without knowing where George is coming from, his assertions in the book are prone to sweeping generalizations. What also really weakens this book is his lack of inclusion of the role of black women - they're given a few sentences here and there, but are largely not present in his book.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1988, with hiphop breaking through and Michael Jackson promoting Bad, this survey begins with the radical black thinkers of the 1900s and moves through jazz, rock'n'roll, funk and soul. Penpics dot each page, as does a sense of frustration as black record stores, theatres and radio stations all fade from prominence. Take-home point: when an act is 'universal', they mean 'no longer appealing to black listeners'.

[Malcolm Balster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written from an angry perspective. I agree that the black artists got a really bad deal in dealing with the agents and big corporations that were majority white controlled. This was written in the 1980s and I get the feeling the author was an angry young man at the time.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a definite POV, but what a treat.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but meh.

[Savannah Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nooo rhythm and blues, don’t die…you’re so sexy haha

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I began my radio career at KZSU Stanford while also pursuing a PhD in English renaissance Literature. I tried to improve my already burgeoning personal popular music library. One of my favorite books from this period was Nelson George's tome on 50 years of black music. An interesting antidote to some of the more strained arguments in Leroi Jones'(Amiri Baraka if you must) still excellent Blues People. As the music Nelson writes about lies at the heart of my consciousness (not for nothing Freda Payne's "Band of Gold" has been been my favorite song since I first heard it in 1970 replacing my earlier choice, The Beatles' "She's Leaving Home." I have a soft spot for certain 1970s soul and R&B, especially Stax-Volt and my absolute fave record label, Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records.

George's book has served as a model for me in the writing I have done about music, though much of it has been on other genres. I look forward to digging into his new Soul Train joint soon having just finished Robert Gordon's elegant new history of Stax. Perhaps I should also read ?love's Soul Train book and the Mo' Beta Blues thing concurrently.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this is a twenty-five-year-old book and could perhaps use some updating. But much like its rough contemporaries, Mansion on the Hill and Hit Men, The Death of Rhythm & Blues stops at approximately the point at which I cease to really care about the music under discussion, so its age isn't necessarily a bad thing.

It's been a decade since I've read those other music-biz classics, but I'm amazed at how much I thought of those books as I read this one. They certainly don't focus strictly on white music, at least not in the way The Death of R&B does on black music, but it's kind of shocking how little I remember Goodman and Dannen overlapping with George. (Exceptions: Atlantic Records and disco.) I appreciate, too, how ideologically-oriented and not gossipy George's book is in comparison. There's a sense of urgency here that makes every act of discrimination sting, and in that way, this book is more a work of criticism than a straight-forward history.

[Clauderocks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some very good moments, but if you are uninterested in the very very intimate details of the deejay world it is a bit overwhelming. There are some great points to this book that cover the integration of blacks and whites and the cross-over appeal/shakedown of the music industry as well as making blacks colorless to attract the white audience. This part of the book fascinated me.

Overall a good read, but I would recommend only to the dedicated music lover.

[Crowey]

A really well researched and argued book. This book really goes to the history of black music post-wwII, and the cost to their community of integration/assimilation. I feel like I understand a LOT more about the role of blacks in the history of rock & roll and popular music after it. I'm sure that this will be one that I will return to as a reference often.

[Altonmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Music is in George's view merely a metaphor for sociological analysis of race. If music is your interest find an author for whom music as music is sufficient unto itself. Tedious and pretentious.

[Valencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only insightful with the narrative of the music but history lessons as well.