<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>原留言人 Merlin: R&B 倒底是什麼？常看到也應該聽過，也知到是 rhythm and blues，就是搞不太清楚。 有哪些團或藝人是各年代的代表呢？有沒有人喜歡這種類別？<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> RnB, a division of M&M's. It was born in the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. First sold to the public in 1941, As America entered the 1950's, it was becoming a household word, particularly with the growth of television. In 1954, "M&M's"® Peanut Chocolate Candies were introduced to the brand's portfolio, and the sales of both varieties continued to grow. That same year, the universally loved "M&M's"® Brand Characters and the famous slogan, "The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand,"® debuted in the brand's initial TV advertising. In 1960, M&M's added three new colors to the mix: red, green and yellow were added to the original brown color. In 1972, the first appearance of the "M&M's"® Brand Characters on packaging reinforced brand awareness, as the characters became increasingly known through print and TV advertising. In 1976, the color orange was added to the "M&M's"® Peanut Chocolate Candies color mix. In 1981, M&M's were chosen by the first space shuttle astronauts to be included in their food supply. they are now on permanent display at the space food exhibit of the National Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. A special holiday line of "M&M's"® products was launched in the early, 80's. These new seasonal color blends included red and green "M&M's"® Chocolate Candies for Christmas and pastel colors for Easter. Also during the 1980's, the company accelerated its international expansion, primarily entering European markets. 1987 was a very important year in the history of the M&M's. Red was added back into the traditional color blend as a result of overwhelming requests from consumers. The 1990's brought two new products into the M&M's family: M&M's Peanut Butter Chocolate Candies and Almond Chocolate Candies. In 1995, over a half-century after the candies were introduced, consumers across America helped write a new chapter in the history of the brand. A "mega" marketing event asked Americans to vote for a new color to appear in the traditional "M&M's"® Chocolate Candies mix. The choices included blue, pink, purple, or no change. Blue won by a landslide with 54% of the more than 10 million votes cast. Also, in 1995 "M&M's"® Mini Chocolate Baking Bits were introduced—adding colorful chocolate fun to the world of baking. 1996 will be remembered for many exciting brand events. The advertising campaign for the M&M's Brand utilizing the characters catapulted to the #1 position among more than 60 campaigns rated by USA Today. And the new characters became a hit with consumers—surpassing the popularity of Mickey Mouse or Bart Simpson. (Source: Marketing Evaluation, Inc.) Also in 1996, the brand introduced M&M's MINIs Milk Chocolate Candies in re-closable plastic tubes in six different colors. In another major breakthrough, the "M&M's"® Brand Characters went "Virtual Hollywood" across the Internet with the opening of the "M&M's"® Studios® (http://www.m-ms.com). Visitors to the site found themselves within the star-studded, glamorous world of the "M&M's"® Brand spokescharacters. This parody of a Hollywood studio's Web site was as colorful as the M&M's Stars themselves. The brand also introduced M&M's COLORWORKS®—a kaleidoscope of over 20 brilliantly colored M&M's Milk Chocolate Candies. Lovers of M&M's® could create, for the first time, their own personalized color blends to add their unique touch of color to every special occasion. The historical moment in 1997 was the debut of Green, the first female M&M's® Character. This multifaceted '90's woman and author starred in a number of popular commercials. Green toured the U.S. promoting her autobiography, I Melt For No One, and she quickly achieved the celebrity status of her male colleagues-the Red, Yellow and Blue M&M's® Characters. M&M's® Chocolate Candies also charted new "chocolate" waters in late 1997 with the grand opening of M&M's ® World™-the brand's very own retail store on the Las Vegas strip. This unique shopping experience features all the color and fun of M&M's® Chocolate Candies with one-of-a-kind branded merchandise ranging from T-shirts and designer jackets to designer dresses, jewelry and furniture. In early 1998, the M&M's® Characters proclaimed themselves the "Official Spokescandies of the New Millennium." Since MM means 2000 in Roman numerals, the M&M's® Brand is the only candy that can make that connection. The Red and Yellow M&M's® Characters love to be in the limelight, and they decided to milk it for all it was worth by kicking off the Millennium celebration in 1998. And in November 1998, the M&M's® Characters starred the brand's first feature film when their new 3D movie attraction opened at the Las Vegas "M&M's"® World™ store. 1999 also brings news for the world's largest confectionery brand. In January, "M&M's"® Crispy Chocolate Candies were introduced to consumers for the first time. Response to the new product was overwhelming. 2000 was another exciting year for the "M&M's"® Brand. In May, "M&M's"® MINIs™ Mega Tubes were introduced: the first chocolate king-size item just for kids. This is a new larger-size tube now available in addition to the single-size tube which was introduced back in 1996. Now there are two different-size tubes for kids to enjoy and collect. Another historic moment occurred in the summer of 2000. It was finally decided, after all these years, that "M&M's"® Chocolate Candies were just too good to be called "Plain," and all of the packaging underwent a name change from "M&M's"® Plain Chocolate Candies to "M&M's"® Milk Chocolate Candies. The announcement was made by the outspoken "M&M's"® Red Spokescandy because he claims he was the one lobbying for this change for a long time and finally convinced everyone at M&M/MARS to make the change. Since 1999, the singer Brian McKnight(who was grown up in the first M&M's factory). He introduced the new style of singing, because of his home town. People start calling him the god of RNB, and RNB officially became a division of M&M.
小弟對音樂的分類也不是很瞭，但是EnglishTeacher對R&B的解釋好像說太過去。 一整篇講的是M&M 各種巧克力顏色的發展史，文章也有點像M&M的網站內容 應該和所謂的R&B或是一般人談論的R&B藝人差別很大吧？ 一各個是巧克力，一個主要是黑人和流行音樂的樂風，就算有一點發展上的關聯 和所謂"什麼是R&B或現在R&B的主要藝人"應該差很多吧？ 有一些流行的R&B 藝人是像: Jaguar Wright Oleta Adams Sade Brian Mcknight則有不少專輯可參考像: Superhero Back At One Bethlehem I Remember You R&B一詞被用的很廣，很多人都自稱或被冠上R&B樂風。 以上純屬個人言論。
找來找去還是 CD NOW網站的分類解釋比較清楚: CDNOW 基本上把 R&B (也有人用RnB) 分為 Funk, Soul 及 Urban 3類, 而且3類都有詳盡的解釋: Quote: FUNK Named after a slang word for "stink," funk was indeed the rawest, most primal form of R&B, surpassing even Southern soul in terms of earthiness. It was also the least structured, often stretching out into extended jams, and the most Africanized, built on dynamic, highly syncopated polyrhythms. As such, it originally appealed only to hardcore R&B audiences. The groove was the most important musical element of funk -- all the instruments of the ensemble played off of one another to create it, and worked it over and over. Deep electric bass lines often served as main riffs, with an interlocking web of short, scratchy guitar chords and blaring horns over the top. Unlike nearly every form of R&B that had come before it, funk didn't confine itself to the 45-rpm single format and the classic verse/chorus song structure. Funk bands were just as likely to repeat a catchy chant or hook out of the blue, and to give different song sections equal weight, so as not to disrupt the groove by building to a chorus-type climax. In essence, funk allowed for more freedom and improvisation, and in that respect it was similar to what was happening around the same time in blues-rock, psychedelia, and hard rock (in fact, Jimi Hendrix was a major inspiration for funk guitar soloists). The roots of funk lay in James Brown's post-1965 soul hits, particularly "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1965) and "Cold Sweat" (1967). Sly & the Family Stone, who started out as a soul band influenced by rock and psychedelia, became a full-fledged (albeit pop-savvy) funk outfit with 1969's Stand!. However, the record that officially ushered in the funk era was James Brown's epochal "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine." The arrangement was spare, the groove hard-hitting, and Brown's lyrics were either stream-of-consciousness slogans or wordless noises. Brown followed it with more records over the course of 1970 that revolutionized R&B, and paved the way for the third artist of funk's holy trinity, George Clinton. Clinton's Parliament and Funkadelic outfits made funk the ultimate party music, not just with their bizarre conceptual humor, but their sheer excess -- huge ensembles of musicians and dancers, all jamming on the same groove as long as they possibly could. Thanks to Sly, Brown, and Clinton, many new and veteran R&B acts adopted funk as a central style during the '70s. Funk gradually became smoother as disco came to prominence in the mid- to late '70s, and lost much of its distinguishing earthiness. However, it had a major impact on jazz (both fusion and soul-jazz), and became the musical foundation of hip-hop. Thanks to the latter, funk enjoyed a renaissance during the '90s, especially among white audiences who rushed to explore its original classics. SOUL Soul music was the result of the urbanization and commercialization of rhythm and blues in the '60s. Soul came to describe a number of R&B-based music styles. From the bouncy, catchy acts at Motown to the horn-driven, gritty soul of Stax/Volt, there was an immense amount of diversity within soul. During the first part of the '60s, soul music remained close to its R&B roots. However, musicians pushed the music in different directions; usually, different regions of America produced different kinds of soul. In urban centers like New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, the music concentrated on vocal interplay and smooth productions. In Detroit, Motown concentrated on creating a pop-oriented sound that was informed equally by gospel, R&B, and rock & roll. In the South, the music became harder and tougher, relying on syncopated rhythms, raw vocals, and blaring horns. All of these styles formed soul, which ruled the black music charts throughout the '60s and also frequently crossed over into the pop charts. At the end of the '60s, soul began to splinter apart, as artists like James Brown and Sly Stone developed funk, and other artists developed slicker forms of soul. Although soul music evolved, it never went away -- not only did the music inform all of the R&B of the '70s, '80s, and '90s, there were always pockets of musicians around the world that kept performing traditional soul. URBAN Also known as urban contemporary, Urban was the term given to the R&B/soul music of the 1980s and '90s. Like quiet storm and Philly soul, both strong influences, urban was very smooth and polished, but while its romantic ballads fit well into quiet storm radio formats, urban also had room for uptempo, funky dance tracks, which usually boasted the same high-tech, radio-ready production and controlled yet soulful vocals. That's why, in spite of its name, urban didn't usually have the earthy grit associated with the term "soul music," preferring to tone down the raw emotion in favor of a slick refinement. Up until the late '80s, most urban music was highly pop-oriented, often in melody but nearly always in terms of production. A number of artists -- like Janet Jackson, Billy Ocean, and Whitney Houston -- crossed over from the R&B charts to the pop charts, although there were others like Freddie Jackson, Luther Vandross, Stephanie Mills, and Levert whose R&B popularity never translated quite the same way. The urban landscape began to shift with the advent of hip-hop; producer and Guy member Teddy Riley crafted a fusion of the two, inserted occasional rap breaks, and dubbed it new jack swing. New jack made a superstar of Bobby Brown and proved greatly beneficial to his ex-New Edition mates as well. In addition to Riley, songwriting/production duos whose work straddled pop and R&B -- like Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson), Denzil Foster & Thomas McElroy (En Vogue), and Antonio "L.A." Reid & Babyface -- dominated urban music at the turn of the decade, with Babyface going on to a hugely successful singing career in his own right. Urban and hip-hop continued to cross-pollinate during the early '90s, eventually resulting in a new hybrid tagged "hip-hop soul." Hip-hop soul was rooted in new jack swing, but the beats were funkier, more elastic and unpredictable; while hip-hop soul was still slickly produced, it had a grittier, more soulful feel than new jack. There was still a side of urban that retained roots in quiet storm and adult contemporary, though, and regardless of which side of the spectrum they fell on, the songs were increasingly becoming showpieces for elaborate vocal technique. Partly owing to the steep decline of mainstream pop/rock in the wake of alternative, urban more or less dominated the pop singles charts for the latter half of the '90s, with major acts including Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, R. Kelly, Boyz II Men, SWV, Blackstreet, Jodeci, Monica, and Brandy, among others. --------------------------------------------- 除了C提到的 Jaguar Wright, Oleta Adams, Sade , Brian Mcknight 之外, 像最近很紅的 Pink, 得獎的 Alicia Keys, 還有Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu 都是 RnB 樂風中鼎鼎大名的人物喔!
Dear Merlin: I'm sorry. My Chinese ability is very limited. I'm sure many people here can answer this question more professional than I just did. Here's my suggestion: You should find a PUBLIC FORUM(in Chinese of course) which have many members participating ACTIVELY and join them. You'll never find what you want from an INACTIVE FORUM. (I'd say this is an active forum since you and me still talk actively). PEACE!
我知道的R&B 其實是唱片公司為了促銷黑人唱片才有的名詞 因為早期他們幫muddy waters這些藍調藝人錄音,出版唱片,那時候被稱做race records也就是"種族唱片"這個名字帶有歧視的味道 後來沒想到這些黑人唱片賣得很好,又加上有排行榜出現,於是唱片公司為了進一步促銷黑人音樂,就通通把這些黑人流行音樂叫做"rhythm and blues"啦 結果隨著時間演進,這些黑人的流行音樂不一定全都是藍調,也融入了像是鄉村.爵士,放克....等等,甚至像80年代還有RAP這些啦,所以現在的R&B 講得很廣,不一定是說哪一種風格,但通常都是黑人為主就是了.... 不曉得是不是因為這樣才有人把它和巧克力聯想在一起??
R & B is dead! 我想太多泛商業化的炒作行為讓 R & B 這個名詞 早就被做死了! 早期的Jazz 像 John Coltrane 就有 R & B 的演出, 不過是屬於草根性的R & B, 不是 business like, 然而, 隨著美國 Soul Train 的節目撥出, 一種商業型態的 R & B 出籠了, 比方說 Marvin Gray. Stevie Wonder, 昆西瓊斯, 但是, 到了 UB40, C&C music factory... 之後, 就氾濫成災了, 連瑪丹那都可以用上 R&B 的字眼, 真是...! 我想, 自從媒體的技術進步到突破電視台的範疇 之後, 太多的過分商業行為強暴了音樂原本初衷 的樂趣與享受! See you! Sincerely, Bossa Flute PS. 歡迎來信指教! BossaFlute@yahoo.com.tw
R&B... 節奏藍調...(現在沒有純的R&B了) 或許很多人聯想的是電子音樂 但是在許多年以前黑人要出唱片時 唱片公司為了省錢省時間 用當時很便宜的配樂方法 電子式的配樂 沒有用傳統的樂手演奏方式下去做唱片 但是好死不死唱片大賣 變成現在人對R&B的直覺觀念了
如果說喜愛R&B音樂的話,瞭解一下其演變是重要的啦!! Blues: 一開始的黑人音樂,其代表人物如 B.B.King. Jazz: 大樂團的音樂,如Buddy Rich, John Coltrane. Soul: 靈魂樂教父James Brown 其節奏感至今仍影響流行樂.許多hip-hop藝人,在他們音樂中,或多或少都取樣(sample)James Brown. Funk: 從Soul成功演變過來的如Isley Brothers.這年代有許多傑出代表作.後來影響之後的許多樂團.可以說他們的音樂已經''超越他們的年代''. Dyke & The Blazers, Charles Wight & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. Sly & The Family Stone, Average White Band, The Spinners................ Hip-Hop: Babyface, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston... Hip-Hop是最新的進化過的音樂... 很多人把Hip-Hop跟R&B混淆.其實R&B就是以上所有的音樂類型的通稱.... 簡單來說就是很黑的音樂..... 因為大多數都是黑人在玩的.....
Even Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys was exploring towards the R&B direction comparing to the rest of his works with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. But the term R&B is used widely today, for example......anything from TLC to babyface to R. Kelly, etc.....not really being specific.