Born in Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood in 1952, Carl Carlton spent his childhood in a city that was on the verge of a new musical revolution. When Motown was founded in 1959, the signature “Motown sound” soon became a model for what everyone aspired to sound like. Carl Carlton began singing and recording in the Read More
Author: Lindsay Parrish
Smooth Soul Vibrations
Eric and the Vikings added soulful flavor to the Detroit music scene via Soulhawk records in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Soulhawk label was owned and operated by Richard “Popcorn” Wylie, who had been influential with Motown from the beginning and now operated as a producer, songwriter, and supporter of Northern Soul. Members Eryke Read More
We Love The Contours
Originally formed in Detroit in 1958, The Contours started out as a quartet consisting of lead singer Billy Gordon, Billy Hogg, Joe Billingslea and Sylvester Potts. Their original name was The Blenders, but after the addition of guitarist Huey Davis and Hubert Johnson (cousin of Jackie Wilson), they became The Contours and auditioned with Berry Read More
Having Big Fun on the Dance Floor with Inner City
Throwback Thursday on our site honors the originators and innovators who paved the way for other contemporary Detroit artists to explore their sound and vision, and thanks to true visionaries like Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson, Detroit has a signature techno sound that has reverberated throughout the music world. Kevin Saunderson met his Read More
The Just Brothers Give Us Northern Soul
Jimmy and Frank Bryant were two brothers from Detroit who worked as session musicians and created a dance-floor hit so groovy, it has been sampled over the years by the likes of British DJ hit-maker Norman Cook (known by most as Fatboy Slim) to create an iconic Northern Soul sound that people for decades have Read More
Freda Payne : Detroit Gold
Freda Payne was born in Detroit in 1942 with Motown soul in her genes — both Freda and her sister, former Supreme Scherrie Payne, were blessed with the gift of vocal prowess. Freda Payne attended the Detroit Institute of Musical Arts when she was younger and grew up with the influence of female jazz vocalists. Read More
A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City
The Eastown Theatre went from being an opulent, family-friendly movie house in Detroit around the 1930s, to a rough-and-tumble rock-and-roll rave spot plagued by bad luck in the 1960s. After being shut down for a brief period in the early ’70s, the Eastown was renamed the Showcase Theatre and opened up for another run in Read More
A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City
New Bethel Baptist Church, located on Linwood St. and previously located on Hastings, was founded in 1948 by the Reverend C.L. Franklin. In the 1960s, Franklin was recording sermons from New Bethel Baptist on the gospel label Chess Records, becoming one of the first ministers to do so. He was known as the man with Read More
Back To The 80s With Angry Red Planet
In the 1980s, in Michigan and elsewhere, the punk and hardcore music scenes were developing heavily thanks to a relentless group of bands who were forming and playing in any venue that would host their style of music. In 1981, Angry Red Planet was formed by brothers Tim and John Pakledinaz and Vince Delisi, and Read More
An Interview With Saxappeal
When Detroit Sounds Like This sat down with LaDarrel Johnson for an interview, one of the first things to happen was a show-and-tell about his instrument, custom made and engraved with his ‘Saxappeal’ emblem. A wealth of pride was evident on his face as he carefully handled his saxophone with loving attention and beamed with Read More
A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City
Did you ever hear the one about Paul McCartney dying and being replaced by a doppelganger in 1966? The “Paul Is Dead” controversy than began as The Beatles were in their final years as a band together was fueled right here in Detroit, MI. Russ Gibb, WKNR-FM Detroit DJ and Grande Ballroom Godfather, received a Read More
Bob Seger’s First Big Hit
The raspy-voiced renegade from Lincoln Park, Bob Seger, has a thousand tracks we could feature for Throwback Thursday on Detroit Sounds Like This, but we’ve chosen the first track off of his debut album for not only putting Bob Seger’s name on the map, but also for it’s energy, authenticity, and organ riffs. The Bob Read More
A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City
The Who are a legendary band in rock and roll history known for their contributions to the music world just as much as, like most significant rock bands, they are also known for their antics and debauchery. There was no member of The Who more notorious than original drummer Keith Moon, and on his 21st? Read More
A Psychedelic Classic by Tommy James and the Shondells
The 1968 sweeping psychedelic opus we’re going back to for this week’s Throwback Thursday is ‘Crimson and Clover,’ from a Michigan band who started off their careers singing snappy bubblegum hits which transitioned to influential psychedelic soul when the band took creative control over the sound of their music. Tommy James and the Shondells are Read More
A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City
If you were a kid who spent most of their TV watching time obsessed with the old Nickelodeon lineup, you most likely made the tune-in for ‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete,’ a classic which harbors a laundry-list of cameos and guest starring roles, including Donovan, Debbie Harry, LL Cool J, Michael Stipe, and more. Read More
The Reflections’ Blue-Eyed Soul
There are multiple musical groups that write and perform under the name, “The Reflections,” but there is only one of those groups with Detroit roots and a catchy hit from 1964 that remains the group’s signature number when they perform to this day. “(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet” was penned by songwriters Bob Hamilton and Read More
A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City
Music and boxing may not quite go together like peanut butter & jelly, but in Detroit’s long history of both, there is one figure who became a legend in music and fought on the same bill as a legend in boxing. Berry Gordy Jr. is the name that put Motown on the map and brought Read More
The Woolies Hit With A Bo Diddley Classic
In 1967, East Lansing natives The Woolies recorded a cover of the classic Bo Diddley tune, “Who Do You Love?” This would prove to be the group’s biggest hit, and with many covers of “Who Do You Love?” out there by bands like George Thorogood and the Destroyers and Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Woolies’ version Read More
A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City
In 1971 over a 72-hour period of time, a band comprised of 3 musicians from Flint, MI managed to completely sell out their show at Shea Stadium in New York City. Ticket sales from this event grossed over $300,000, and at the time, The Beatles held the record for the fastest sold-out show in the Read More
Laneway Festival Artist Profiles : Hip-Hop, Indie Rock, and In Between
One day away, friends! We’re up to the end of the week and that means tomorrow September 14 will be the event this has all been leading up to. St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival has landed on U.S. soil for the first time, and we as Michigan residents have to thank the festival organizers and promoters Read More
Laneway Festival Artist Profiles : Ladies Who Will Rock Laneway
Festival organizers are already busy at Meadow Brook Music Festival setting up for this Saturday. We are continuing to give our readers coverage on Laneway which profiles the artists on the bill and what you might expect to see from their sets on Saturday at St. Jerome’s first Laneway Festival USA. Today we look at Read More
The Heavy Metal Horror Show : Halloween
When the Motor City Metal record label released Don’t Metal With Evil by Detroit band Halloween in 1985, the glam and hair metal genres were just on the verge of exploding larger than too much hairspray near an open flame. Halloween had every quintessential element to make you love their 80s metal schtick…they had the Read More
Laneway Festival Artist Profiles : Aussies and Electro-Pop
Wednesday means the middle of the work week and the 3-day-away countdown to the St. Jermone’s Laneway Festival at Meadow Brook Music Festival. We have profiled the headliners of the festival as well as the electronic talents of the Movement/Ghostly Stage, and today we are taking a look at five artists who come from the Read More
Laneway Festival Artist Profiles : The Movement/Ghostly Stage
Today we continue to profile the artists you will be seeing at St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival this Saturday at Meadow Brook Music Festival in Rochester Hills. Movement, Paxahau, and Ghostly International are three names synonymous with electronic music in the Detroit area and known elsewhere around the world for their high standard of quality when Read More
Laneway Festival Artist Profiles : The Headliners
Saturday September 14 is in our sights, and the Australian-born St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival will be setting up at Meadow Brook Music Festival to bring some of the current apples of the indie music world’s eyes to our home base. This week at Detroit Sounds Like This, we will be taking a closer look-and-listen at Read More
A Slice of History from Detroit Rock City
Detroit is a city known for founding and popularizing many influential forms of music (Techno, Hardcore, Motown, etc.), but if you want to get technical, Detroit could also be considered the birthplace of both punk rock and heavy metal. Why? Because in 1969, Barry Kramer and Tony Reay started a rock and roll publication in Read More
Juan Atkins/Model 500 “No UFOs,” Original Detroit Techno
To say that Juan Atkins is an innovator in electronic music is like saying Beethoven wrote epic symphonies — it’s a hackneyed statement that becomes clearly obvious once you listen. Juan Atkins was the pioneer in an influential group of like-minded musicians (including also Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May) who dealt with the surrounding artifacts Read More
Dally In Midtown Detroit This Saturday
As the summer season winds down, the buzz is just beginning in the Cass Corridor. This Saturday thousands will pack the blocks stretching from 2nd to 3rd and Forest to Hancock, to celebrate another year of Midtown Detroit’s culture and talent. Right in the heart of the student center, the neighborhood’s bohemian essence creates an Read More
A Slice of History From Detroit Rock City
The Lourds were a group of high school kids from Detroit who formed in the very early 1960s, wanting to play some straight-up rock and roll. In 1964, The Lourds had the opportunity to enter a “Battle of the Bands.” When the group went on to perform, they played covers of the songs “High Heeled Read More
Edwin Starr’s “War” Tops The 1970 Billboard Chart
The song “War” has been through quite a battle itself — after the original Motown recording of the song by The Temptations was deemed too controversial for the group to release as a single (even after fans were writing to Motown asking for that very thing), the song was re-recorded at Hitsville USA Studio A Read More