Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music

by Arthur Kempton

Boogaloo—the synonym of choice among the cognoscenti for rhythm and blues—is a stylish and profound meditation on the art, influence, and commerce of black American popular music. At once deeply knowing and keenly observant, Arthur Kempton reveals the tensions between the sacred and the profane at the heart of “soul music,” and the complex centrality of “Aframericans” in the evolution of our mass musical culture. What that culture is all about, who owns it, and who gets paid—these are issues of moment in his epic narrative.

Kempton brilliantly traces the interconnections among a century’s worth of signal personalities, events, and achievements: from Thomas A. Dorsey, the so-called Father of Gospel Music, whose career (“Got to Know How to Work Your Show”) sheds light on Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown, among
others, to the rise of that “handsome Negro lad,” Sam Cooke (perhaps the greatest of soul singers) and his definitive crossover dreams; from Berry Gordy Jr.’s infatuation with Doris Day and his sharp business plan to capture and exploit the sounds of young America through Motown (“It’s What’s in the Grooves That Counts”) to the founding of Stax Records and Memphis Soul by a white farm kid who grew up dreaming of being a country fiddler; from the visionary funk of George Clinton to the ascendancy of hip hop (“Sharecropping in Wonderland”), the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, and the story of Death Row Records.

Boogaloo is a monumental work, informed by a rare fierceness of intellect, which debunks many a myth and canard about our popular music heritage even as it enlarges our understanding of its quintessence.

Genres: Music

512 pages, Hardcover

First published June 3, 2003

Reviews

[Ralphz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is about black music in America, from blues, soul and gospel to funk and hip-hop, but it doesn't really reveal anything new - at least not in the first 100 or so pages. That made it a DNF for me.

The writer has a B.A. in English, according to the book jacket, but writes like it's his second language. It's difficult to read, and so it's difficult to get into the story.

The writer seems in love with his own intellect, and acknowledges that he's his own primary source for his writing. So it's all his own conclusions, and they're frankly impenetrable.

Throw in such weird things like his use of "Aframerican" again and again, and it was just tough to read.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kempton is a writer I haven't encountered before, an African-American who fell in love with soul music as it was taking the essence of Gospel performance and turning it into a multi-million dollar business. His opening description of a Billy Stewart concert in 1965 is enthralling. The book traces the rise of the business and some of the ways the art developed from Thomas Dorsey to Sam Cooke to Motown and Stax to George Clinton to Suge Knight and Tupac. Kempton's ability to describe the music is very good, and his opinions are distinct enough from mainstream criticism to really make me think. Heck, now I understand why I always kinda liked "Rainbow 65" by Gene Chandler more than that Sam Cooke live album. By telling the story the way he does, Kempton makes me realize the game has changed multiple times in ways I don't think of when I just concentrate on the music. The business side has grown exponentially over the years. Thomas Dorsey started out as a songwriter working to make money from his own ideas, and copyright law gave him a perennial income. Suge Knight was purely a businessman who found ways to make unfathomable money in a short time by exploiting the talent, who came up with music that would never provide evergreen publishing royalties because nobody else would ever record the songs. Kempton does jump around a bit too much, and skims over details here and there to concentrate on what interests him, but it's an enjoyable, thoughtful, well-written work that I can't believe I never even heard of until I found it in a thrift store last week.

[Bernadette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently picked up ths book from the library because it looked interesting and it had Otis Redading on the cover so I knew it was going to be about music. Anyway I thoguht the book was pretty good. I got to learn more about how R&B music came to be and how many famous record companies like Motown, Stax and Atlantic started from nothing to being some of the biggest companies in American music. What I found interesting was the fact that the author was able to connect all these different producers, songwriters and artists with each other.

[George · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have almost nothing good to say about this book and I read the whole thing. I recommend reading anything else about soul music before you ever even consider reading this. His tone is dismissive and often times insulting. Pair that with completely spotty coverage, only passing reference to Ray Charles, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and a million others and you have yourself a pretty curious read for a book that purports to be about soul music. If I could give it less than one star I would.