50 years ago: “Everyday People” hit #1

Everyday People Sly & the Family Stone

Writer(s): Sly Stone (see lyrics here) First Charted: November 30, 1968 Peak: 14 US, 12 CB, 11 HR, 12 RB, 1 CL, 36 UK, 2 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 7.1 video, 201.89 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Sylvester Stewart, aka “Sly Stone,” was musical from the start. He saw a recording studio for the first time when he was four years old, singing “On the Battlefield for My Lord” with his family’s gospel group the Stewart Four. In regards to growing up with music, he said, “That’s all I had to play with. No toys.” FB In high school, he recorded the song “Yellow River” as a member of the vocal quintet the Viscanes. In junior college, he learned music composition, which led to work with Autumn Records FB producing hits “Laugh Laugh” and “Just a Little” for white pop group the Beau Brummels RS500 and Bobby Freeman’s “Come on and Swim.” FB He then worked as a DJ in San Francisco saying of the time, “I was into everyone’s records. I’d play Dylan, Hendrix, James Brown back to back so I didn’t get stuck in any one groove.” RS500 That taste for diversity played out when he formed the racially-integrated Family Stone. In a time when jeans and tie-dye ruled the psychedelic scene in San Francisco, Stone’s stage act was marked by elaborate costumes, glitter, and stage movements. FB He found a wide audience with “Everyday People,” a song with a “gospel message of brotherhood, couched in dance funk” FB which preached that “everyone is essentially the same, regardless of race or background.” SF It is “one of the most beguiling and literate songs about racial harmony.” TC As he said, “What I write is people’s music.” RS500 That message was drilled home with the main line of the chorus: “I am everyday people,” a line sung by himself, his sister Rosie, his brother Freddie, and Larry Graham – echoing the idea that “each of them (and each listener as well) should consider himself or herself as parts of one whole.” WK The song’s diverse appeal is echoed by the wide range of acts to cover the song: Belle & Sebastian, Jeff Buckley, Aretha Franklin, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Peggy Lee, Dolly Parton, Billy Paul, Pearl Jam, the Staple Singers, the Supremes & Four Tops. In 1992, rap group Arrested Development had a top ten hit with an adapted version of the song called “People Everyday.” WK Musically, the song featured what member Larry Graham said was the first use of the slap bass technique, in which the player slapped the strings with his thumb so that they collided with the frets, which became a staple of funk. WK/sup> Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Sly & the Family Stone FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 251. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 532. RS500 Rolling Stone (2003). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 7/11/2023.

Arrested Development released their debut album

First posted 4/2/2008; updated 9/8/2020.

3 Years, 5 Months, & 2 Days in the Life Arrested Development

Released: March 24, 1992 Peak: 7 US, 3 UK, -- CN, 4 AU Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.3 UK, 5.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: rap

Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.) Man’s Final Frontier Mama’s Always on Stage People Everyday (8/15/92, 8 US, 2 UK, 2 RB, sales: ½ million) Blues Happy Mr. Wendal (12/19/92, 6 US, 4 UK, 6 RB, sales: ½ million) Children Play with Earth Raining Revolution Fishin’ 4 Religion Give a Man a Fish U Eve of Reality Natural (4/4/92, 90 RB) Dawn of the Dreads Tennessee (4/4/92, 6 US, 18 UK, 1 RB, sales: ½ million) Washed Away People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)

Rating: 4.200 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings) Awards:

About the Album: “Arrested Development was one of the genre’s most promising groups when it released” JD 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of..., named for “the amount of time that it took to secure a recording contract.” JD Critically, “its positive messages” AMG about “pleas for black unity and brotherly compassion, as well as a devotion to the struggle for equality” AMG “were the chief selling point for many rock critics” AMG and the band “claimed an armful of Grammy Awards, including best new artist and best rap group, in 1993.” JD On a commercial level “the band, shot to the top of the Billboard charts [and] sold 5 million albums worldwide.” JD “But it was pegged as…‘alternative hip-hop’ – rap’s equivalent to the alternative explosion then dominating the rock world – and that tag would come to haunt the outfit.” JD “Though the group successfully toured as part of Lollapalooza ‘93, rock radio turned a deaf ear. It was branded as ‘too black’ for the white music media, and ‘not black enough’ for many hip-hop outlets” JD due to the band’s “outspoken opposition to the glorification of drug dealing and the violent gangsta pose.” JD Instead, the band “addressed prejudice, the need for African-American unity, safe sex and the role of religion in bringing about social change. Speech advocated a revolution, but one that started not with guns, but changing the way that African-Americans think about themselves and their community.” JD “The issues the group was addressing had much more common in many African-Americans’ lives than the tales of violence delivered by other rappers.” JD “The group’s instrumental backings were fluid, grooving, absurdly catchy and grounded in a long tradition of soul, funk, R&B, gospel and rock ‘n’ roll.” JD “It’s determinedly down to earth, and that aesthetic informs the group’s music as well. Their sound is a laid-back, southern-fried groove informed by rural blues, African percussion, funk, and melodic R&B.” AMG “The artful craftsmanship of the backing tracks was well suited to Speech’s smooth, laid-back rapping – a mellow style that belied the potent urgency of his lyrics.” JD “All of it comes together on the classic single Tennessee, which takes lead rapper Speech on a spiritual quest to reclaim his heritage in a south still haunted by its history.” AMG The song, “which celebrates familial roots, is based on his teenage experiences visiting his grandparents in the town of Henning, Tenn.” (DeRegotis). “Mr. Wendal is a moving portrait of a homeless man encountered on the street, and Give a Man a Fish is a call for positive thinking as the road out of the ghetto.” JD “People Everyday was a sharp rewrite of Sly and the Family Stone's ‘Everyday People,’ and other tracks sampled Earth, Wind & Fire, Minnie Riperton, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Bob Dylan (a snippet of ‘Mighty Quinn’ appears in Arrested Development’s U).” JD “In retrospect, 3 Years... isn’t quite as revolutionary as it first seemed.” AMG “There’s a distinct political correctness – even naïveté – in the lyrics, which places the record firmly in the early ‘90s; it's also a bit self-consciously profound at times.” AMG Nonetheless, 3 Years... is “still a fine record that often crosses the line into excellence.” AMG In addition, the album “was a major influence on a new breed of alternative southern hip-hop, including Goodie Mob, OutKast, and Nappy Roots, and it still stands as one of the better albums of its kind.” AMG Also, “the influence of its music and its positive lyrical message live on in artists such as Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, the Roots and Common, many of whom are part of the so-called neo-soul or natural R&B movement.” JD

Resources and Related Links: Arrested Development’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry JD Jim DeRogatis, The Great Albums (1/25/04) AMG Steve Huey, All Music Guide