Dave's Music Hall of Fame: Album Inductees (August 2023)

The Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums Originally posted 8/22/2023. January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the nineteenth group of album inductees. These are taken from are taken from the DMDB’s top R&B albums of all time list. The focus of this set inductees is only on those R&B albums from the ‘60s through ‘80s. Previous inductees to fit this category are James Brown’s Live at the Apollo Volume 1, Ray Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Bad, Prince’s Purple Rain, Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life, and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. See the full list of album inductees here.

Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

The Queen of Soul deserves her nickname on the strength of this album all by itself. She released nine albums with Columbia Records from 1961 to ’67. It wasn’t until she left for Atlantic Records. On this album, her first with the company, she’s allowed to fully embrace her soulful side on the title cut, “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” and – the greatest anthem of empowerment of all time – “Respect.” Read more.

Aretha Franklin Lady Soul (1968) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

If anyone questioned Aretha’s ascendency to the throne as The Queen of Soul on I Never Loved a Man, this album erased all doubt. AllMusic.com’s John Bush called her take on Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” “one of the landmark performances in pop music.” She also shows she knows how to groove o “Chain of Fools.” That song and “Since You’ve Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)” both reached #1 on the R&B chart and the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Read more.

Whitney Houston Whitney Houston (1985) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

Whitney Houston’s debut album was a blockbuster, spending 14 weeks atop the Billboard album chart and selling 25 million copies worldwide. Like many of her ‘80s contemporaries, she pulled off the task with an album that had one foot in pop and one in R&B. “You Give Good Love,” “Saving All My Love for You,” and “How Will I Know” all topped the R&B charts. The latter two along with “Greatest Love of All” were #1s on the Billboard Hot 100. A fully-formed R&B diva had arrived. Read more.

Janet Jackson Control (1986) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

Janet Jackson’s first two albums gave her a pair of top-ten R&B hits, but no one remembers them. It was her third album, Control, and teaming with the songwriting and production duo of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis that made Janet into a star. She fully embraced a message of empowerment in her songs that were defiant both in their lyrics and their inescapable beats. Four songs from the album were #1 R&B hits. A fifth song, “When I Think of You,” hit #3 – and became her first chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100. Read more.

Michael Jackson Off the Wall (1979) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

Michael Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller made him a mega superstar, but it was Off the Wall that established him as a force to be reckoned with beyond the work he’d done with his brothers in the Jackson 5. Off the Wall was only the second album in history (after Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours) to generate four top-ten hits. AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album “one that remains vibrant and giddily exciting years after its release.” Read more.

Prince Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

In 1984, Prince showed he could conquer the pop world with Purple Rain. In 1987, he showed he still knew how to command the pop charts with top-ten hits “Sign ‘O’ the Times,” “U Got the Look,” and “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man,” but as a whole, Sign ‘O’ the Times was something more – it reminded the world that when it came to flat-out funk, Prince had no equal. Time magazine’s Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light called it “the best album of the ‘80s.” Read more.

Otis Redding Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

Blender magazine called this “a virtual template for soul music.” Otis has the chutzpah to tackle songs that others made into classics – “A Change Is Gonna Come,” “My Girl,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” among them. He also gave the world a pair of essential originals. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” is a song of achingly soulful yearning and “Respect” would become one of the all-time most important anthems of empowerment in the hands of Aretha Franklin. Read more.

Lionel Richie Can’t Slow Down (1983) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

Lionel Richie had a career trajectory similar to fellow Motown label mate Michael Jackson. He became the face of a hugely successful soul-meets-pop group in the ‘70s (Commodores) before striking out on his own as a solo artist. His first album, 1982’s Lionel Richie, gave him three top-five pop hits. Can’t Slow Down was even bigger. The album spawned five singles which reached the top 10 on both the R&B and pop charts. It also won the Grammy for Album of the Year and sold 21 million copies worldwide. Read more.

Sly & the Family Stone There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

With their fourth album, Stand!, Sly & the Family Stone hit the mainstream with the success of #1 single “Everyday People.” Their next album, There’s a Riot Goin’ On, was even bigger. It went platinum and topped the Billboard album chart, generating the #1 hit “Family Affair” and a couple more charting singles in “Runnin’ Away” and “You Caught Me Smilin’.” Blender magazine said it is “one of the great radical albums, and definitely the funkiest.” Read more.

Stevie Wonder Talking Book (1972) Inducted August 2023 as “Top Classic R&B (‘60s to ‘80s) Albums.”

This platinum-selling, Grammy Hall of Fame album established Stevie Wonder – all of 22 years old at the time – as more than just the Motown child prodigy. According to Time magazine’s Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light, it “secured his position as the reigning genius of his era.” “Superstition” and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” were both chart-toppers on the Billboard Hot 100 and were Grammy winners. Read more.

Sly & the Family Stone hit #1 with There’s a Riot Goin’ On

First posted 3/28/2008; updated 12/1/2020.

There’s a Riot Goin’ On Sly & the Family Stone

Charted: November 13, 1971 Peak: 12 US, 12 RB, 31 UK, 4 CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: R&B/funk

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Luv N’ Haight Just Like a Baby Poet Family Affair (11/6/71, 1 US, 15 UK, 1 RB, gold single) Africa Talks to You “The Asphalt Jungle” Brave and Strong You Caught Me Smilin’ (4/22/72, 42 US, 21 RB) Time Spaced Cowboy Runnin’ Away (2/5/72, 23 US, 17 UK, 15 RB) Thank You for Talkin’ to Me Africa Total Running Time: 47:15 The Players: Sly Stone (vocals, multiple instruments) Rose Stone (vocals, keyboards) Billy Preston (keyboards) Jerry Martini (tenor saxophone) Cynthia Robinson (trumpet) Freddie Stone, Ike Turner, Bobby Womack (guitar) Lary Graham (bass, backing vocals) Greg Errico, Gerry Gibson (drums) Little Sister (backing vocals)

Rating: 4.115 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings) Quotable: “One of the great radical albums, and definitely the funkiest.” – Blender Magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “It’s easy to write off There’s a Riot Goin’ On as one of two things – Sly Stone’s disgusted social commentary or the beginning of his slow descent into addiction. It’s both of these things, of course.” STE “Riotis one of the great radical albums, and definitely the funkiest” BL even as “Stone was teetering on the brink of self-destruction.” BL “His music never sounded more eclectic and expressive” BL and “civil disobedience never sounded like so much fun.” BL “Pigeonholing it as either winds up dismissing the album as a whole, since it is so bloody hard to categorize. What’s certain is that Riot is unlike any of Sly & the Family Stone’s other albums, stripped of the effervescence that flowed through even such politically aware records as Stand!. This is idealism soured, as hope is slowly replaced by cynicism, joy by skepticism, enthusiasm by weariness, sex by pornography, thrills by narcotics.” STE “Joy isn’t entirely gone – it creeps through the cracks every once and awhile and, more disturbing, Sly revels in his stoned decadence. What makes Riot so remarkable is that it’s hard not to get drawn in with him, as you’re seduced by the narcotic grooves, seductive vocals slurs, leering electric pianos, and crawling guitars. As the themes surface, it’s hard not to nod in agreement, but it’s a junkie nod, induced by the comforting coma of the music. And damn if this music isn’t funk at its deepest and most impenetrable.” STE “Every subsequent beat revolutionary, from De La Soul to Beck, owes him.” BL “This is dense music, nearly impenetrable, but not from its deep grooves, but its utter weariness.” STE “Sly’s songwriting remains remarkably sharp, but only when he wants to write – the foreboding opener Luv N’ Haight, the scarily resigned Family Affair, the cracked cynical blues Time, and You Caught Me Smilin’. Ultimately, the music is the message and while it’s dark music, it’s not alienating – it’s seductive despair, and that’s the scariest thing about it.” STE

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Sly & the Family Stone BL Blender Magazine’s 100 Greatest American Albums (10/08) STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide