R&B ?

[jenky]

Show your age - What does "R&B" mean to you?

[andytreble99]

the sh!te Radio 1 seem insistant on playing every second of every day

[OBonio]

Rhythm and Blues

[OBonio]

Or The Who. Nothing to do with the soul stuff they seem to have rebranded as R&B.

[jenky]

That's what I mean - when did the term get hijacked?

[j2buttonsw]

OBonio, wasn't it maximum Rhythm and Blues?

[j2buttonsw]

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/rhythm_an d_blues.html

[OBonio]

No idea. Over the last 4 years or so. I think the Who and the like seem to have been rebranded into some category of rock aswell.... Prog Rock or just 60s/70s rock.

[jenky]

just read j2button's link and it makes sense, going all the way back to the thirties but only gets as far as the Beatles!

[EliPledge]

Wouldn't call the Who R&B - like most Brit bands of the time they covered American R&B songs - although the Stones made more of career out of it. I would call R&B the more uptempo, rhythmic, danceable but still gritty blues that emerged in the 50s and 60s in Black America - well known examples would be Hi Heel Sneakers, Sugar Pie Desanto - Soulful Dress, Running for My Life by Roscoe ... someone. Later still this music became slicker and often had orchestration and became known as soul. If Dave Godin reads Answerbank I'm sure he'd give us a much fuller answer!

[jenky]

So R&B evolved into soul - then where did the modern R&B get it's name?

[andy hughes]

The Stones, and black artists making the original R 'n' B is the meaning to me - i prefer to term modern dance music as 'urban' to save the confusion.

[jenky]

ah Andy - I was hoping you'd pop along. Would you not regard most of it as simply pop? A label other than pop implies some level of credibility so when something is clearly as contrived as Steps but manages to market itself as urban/R&B etc, it gets respect it really doesn't deserve.

[WoWo]

R&B is said to stand for Rhythm and Beats.

[hal]

Definately Rhythm and Blues - its been hijacked!

[Cetti]

The Yardbirds, early Paul Jones with Manfred Mann and the Animals. These were some of the bands that epitomised R&B in this country - not the Who. It mingled with the American music from John Lee Hooker (more Blues I know!), Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, Bob and Earl etc. I suppose it has a special meaning to every generation, and no-one is right or wrong as it's an amalgamation of styles - and I love it!!

[Doolallygirl]

Rhythm and Blues. But R&B seems to now cover any new music out, from garage to old skool to rap. Music is all about evolution anyway and this music all evolved from R&B (the original type) so stop calling it R&B, use the proper titles please! Grrr, gets my back up!

[thewillow]

Every time my husband sees some skinny seventeen-year-old on the televison being described as an R&B act, he goes "Is that what they're calling rhythm & blues these days?" He should be a High Court judge.

[jenstar]

I suppose what "R&B" means to me is men in their forties and fifties moaning endlessly about the term being hijacked...

[andy hughes]

Hi jenky, yes I would refer to modern dance-based pop as 'pop', and the more hardcore rap and dance sounds currently marketed as 'r 'n' b' to be 'urban', not because I love to stick labels on things, but simply to make a distinction so that it's clear which type of music we are discussing.

[Greedyfly]

R&B these days is the term generally used for music from black origin - although everone tends to try and jump the band wagon. It is a massive genre and is a very good seller, I know in York it is very popular - some I don't mind but it does tend to sound very samey samey at times.