Claudrena N. Harold
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043574
- eISBN:
- 9780252052453
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043574.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter explores the music of the Winans, the Clark Sisters, and Commissioned. These Detroit-born artists pushed the sonic, theological, and political boundaries of urban contemporary gospel ...
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This chapter explores the music of the Winans, the Clark Sisters, and Commissioned. These Detroit-born artists pushed the sonic, theological, and political boundaries of urban contemporary gospel more aggressively than any of their peers. Embracing the rhythms of the secular and sacred worlds of black music, they forged a captivating sound with strong emphasis on craft mastery and innovative production techniques. Their bold approach was not limited to the sonic realm. On their recordings, strong critiques of racism and economic inequality intermingled with Moral Majority–influenced narratives attributing society’s decline to the breakdown of the nuclear, heterosexual family. Their music reflected the energy of a generation in the throes of social change along with the coexistence of liberal and conservative viewpoints within the black church.Less
This chapter explores the music of the Winans, the Clark Sisters, and Commissioned. These Detroit-born artists pushed the sonic, theological, and political boundaries of urban contemporary gospel more aggressively than any of their peers. Embracing the rhythms of the secular and sacred worlds of black music, they forged a captivating sound with strong emphasis on craft mastery and innovative production techniques. Their bold approach was not limited to the sonic realm. On their recordings, strong critiques of racism and economic inequality intermingled with Moral Majority–influenced narratives attributing society’s decline to the breakdown of the nuclear, heterosexual family. Their music reflected the energy of a generation in the throes of social change along with the coexistence of liberal and conservative viewpoints within the black church.
Claudrena N. Harold
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043574
- eISBN:
- 9780252052453
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043574.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
When Sunday Comes charts the explosive growth of the gospel music industry between 1968 and 1994. It contextualizes the genre’s sonic innovations, theological tensions, and political assertions ...
More
When Sunday Comes charts the explosive growth of the gospel music industry between 1968 and 1994. It contextualizes the genre’s sonic innovations, theological tensions, and political assertions within the larger framework of the socioeconomic and cultural transformations taking place in black America during the post–civil rights era. Through an examination of such gospel legends as James Cleveland, Andraé Crouch, Shirley Caesar, the Clark Sisters, the Winans, Al Green, and Kirk Franklin, among others, the book explores the ways in which gospel music has provided an outlet for African Americans to express their spiritual, cultural, and regional identities. Organized chronologically, When Sunday Comes pivots around six principal questions: What were the major sonic transformations in gospel music between 1968 and 1994, and to what extent were those transformations reflective of creative shifts within other musical genres, particularly R&B, soul, funk, disco, and hip-hop? In what ways were gospel artists shaped by larger political developments in the United States, i.e., the rise and fall of the Black Power movement as well as the growing influence of the Moral Majority? To what degree were the soundscapes of gospel music reflective of regional dynamics? How did the political economy of the entertainment industry affect gospel artists’ commercial opportunities? And did the end of de jure racial segregation alter black artists’ relationship with the predominantly white contemporary Christian music industry?Less
When Sunday Comes charts the explosive growth of the gospel music industry between 1968 and 1994. It contextualizes the genre’s sonic innovations, theological tensions, and political assertions within the larger framework of the socioeconomic and cultural transformations taking place in black America during the post–civil rights era. Through an examination of such gospel legends as James Cleveland, Andraé Crouch, Shirley Caesar, the Clark Sisters, the Winans, Al Green, and Kirk Franklin, among others, the book explores the ways in which gospel music has provided an outlet for African Americans to express their spiritual, cultural, and regional identities. Organized chronologically, When Sunday Comes pivots around six principal questions: What were the major sonic transformations in gospel music between 1968 and 1994, and to what extent were those transformations reflective of creative shifts within other musical genres, particularly R&B, soul, funk, disco, and hip-hop? In what ways were gospel artists shaped by larger political developments in the United States, i.e., the rise and fall of the Black Power movement as well as the growing influence of the Moral Majority? To what degree were the soundscapes of gospel music reflective of regional dynamics? How did the political economy of the entertainment industry affect gospel artists’ commercial opportunities? And did the end of de jure racial segregation alter black artists’ relationship with the predominantly white contemporary Christian music industry?
