One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture [Paperback]

Gerald Early (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1996

In its heyday Motown Records was a household word, one of the most famous and successful black-owned businesses in American history, and, arguably, the most significant of all American independent record labels.

How it got to be that way and how it changed the face of American popular culture are the subjects of this concise study of Berry Gordy's phenomenal creation. Author Gerald Early tells the story of the cultural and historical conditions that made Motown Records possible, including the dramatic shifts in American popular music of the time, changes in race relations and racial attitudes, and the rise of a black urban population. Early concentrates in particular on the 1960s and 70s, when Motown had its biggest impact on American musical tastes and styles.

With this revised and expanded edition, the author provides an up-to-date bibliography of the major books that have been written about Motown Records specifically, and black American music generally. Plus, new appendices feature interviews with four of the major creators of the Motown Sound: Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Marvin Gaye.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this elegant, far-ranging essay, African American studies professor Early (The Culture of Bruising) offers a portrait of the revolutionary as a decidedly bourgeois family man and businessman-Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr., stage manager of "the most shining moment of the American black in popular culture." Borrowing crossover boxing hero Joe Louis's gloves and Booker T. Washington's bootstraps, Gordy combined black and American identities in a music "that neither bleached nor blackened," even if it was created, produced and-most significantly-popularized entirely by blacks. Readers hoping for a complete history or a critical equivalent of The Big Chill soundtrack will be disappointed; Early is less interested in particular songs or artists than in the overarching, if never fully described, "Motown sound" authored by Gordy himself with the help of in-house songwriters and producers. (Artists were never permitted to write songs or produce, and even diva Diana Ross was never allowed to become more than just the most exalted member of the Motown "family.") This is a heady mix of cultural studies and nostalgia, only occasionally bogged down in a slight mist of academicism.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Early has gained quite a reputation from his participation in the Ken Burns baseball documentary on PBS, winning the 1994 National Book Critic Circle Award for best work of criticism with The Culture of Bruising, a work on the brutal sport of boxing, and his frequent commentaries on National Public Radio. He continues his analysis of popular culture with this brief study of Motown, an African American record company that has had a tremendous influence on popular music. Smoky Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, the Temptations, and so many other pop groups got their big chance with Motown, and their music is fairly pervasive in American culture. Early begins his commentary with the career of Frank Sinatra, skipping and bounding about with a profusion of insights before tackling the tremendous development of Motown. Although it takes a bit of reflection to draw together seemingly disparate points, the book offers a useful discussion of the origins of black rhythm and blues music and how Motown moved it into the mainstream and carved a wildly successful business out of that connection. Bonnie Smothers --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ecco Pr; First Edition edition (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880014725
• ISBN-13: 978-0880014724
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,281,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What?, April 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture (Hardcover)

I found this book a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience, particularly when it mentioned the exploitation Berry Gordy put his own artists through, and the hit-factory system he created. If one wants to talk about 'exploitation' then one should look no further than Gordy himself.

I don't know what the boneheaded reader below was supposed to think this book was, but I found it too be fairly balanced and not subject to the all the racist hyperbole that he seems to be looking for.

5 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an interesting book, more or less..., May 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture (Paperback)

I'm afraid Mr. Early does not wish to expand to any depth the problems which Black musical artists continue to face from this thorougly racist culture. To discover more pertinent investigations of this ongoing white male-centered racism, one needs to go to the astonishingly brave and insightful bell hooks, and other writers. I would also recommend a book by a white writer, Russell Potter, called 'Spectacular Vernaculars', where he writes about white racism perpetrated against Black musical artists.