Make Your Way 6, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

In the early seventies, a new music could be heard coming from the black districts of cities such as New York, Washington DC and Philadel- phia – a strong rhythmic music with the empha- sis on the vocals. For several years, rap as it was known remained in the ghettos, but in 1979, the huge success of “Rapper’s Delight” by New York’s Sugar Hill Gang attracted the interest of the major record labels, and rap found a wider audience. New York remained at the forefront, with artists such as Run DMC, Public Enemy and Ice-T becoming some of the most popular artists in the country. Rap has never been scared of creating controversy. Strong lyrics about the difficulties of ghetto life, drugs and violence have not always pleased conservative America. However, rap has survived and, along with the closely related hip-hop, remains one of the most popular kinds of music in the world. In the mid- 1980s, a musical movement was developing in one of America’s less fashionable cities, Seattle, Washington. A combination of guitar rock with punk and metal, this movement would soon be known as grunge. Although it had been started a few years earlier by bands like Melvins and Mudhoney, grunge was launched onto the world stage in 1991 with the release of a CD called “Never- mind” by a band called Nirvana. For the next three years, Seattle bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam dominated the independent music scene in the US and became hugely popular abroad. Then, on 8 April 1994, the lead singer of Nirvana and spiritual leader of the movement, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide. Although grunge would never again be so popular as it had been, there are few people who would argue against the influence it has had on much of today’s music. Country music is arguably the original American music. But from its humble beginnings in the 1920s to the multi-million CD selling industry of today, it has seen a lot of changes in its sound from folk to honky-tonk to rockabilly. Country music found its permanent home in Nashville, and just as would-be actors and actresses will make their way to Hollywood, so hopeful country singers head off to Nashville. It was during the 1960s that Nashville started to produce some of music’s biggest stars, including Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly and Kitty Wells. Later, names such as Kenny Rodgers, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash helped establish what has become known as the Nashville sound. For years, Detroit was known for one thing – the cars manufactured there. However, in the late 1950s, an ex-professional boxer and jazz lover called Berry Gordy started a record label that would put Detroit on the map for a com- pletely new reason. Motown was more than a record company – it was a sound of black America that would soon be famous all over the world. During its heyday in the 1960s, Motown pro- duced artists such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas and Marvin Gaye. In the early 70s, it helped launch the careers of Diana Ross and The Jacksons. During the early 1980s, the label struggled and saw a lot of its top artists sign up with rival companies, and in 1988, Berry sold the company to MCA. However, Motown, perhaps like no other label before or since, helped define a musical sound that has influ- enced so many of today’s R & B artists. 113 5 Extensive unit 5: Route 66 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv