One thing I always loved about Sly and The Family Stone is their music always seemed to have a beat and tone to them that you made you want to sing along and dance to it.
AllMusic famously stated, “James Brown may have created funk, but Sly Stone perfected it.” On June 9, Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, passed away at the age of 82 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
In the late 1960s as music was changing, the group had hits with “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People,” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).” But as Epic Records demanded the band make more marketable songs, the Black Panthers demanded they make more militant songs. Also, band members Greg Errico and Jerry Martini, who were white, were forced by the Black Panthers to be replaced by black musicians.
Add the rising drug use of the era to the band’s in-fighting and you have a perfect storm of disaster. Record sales dropped and audiences at concerts dwindled. Even though he was one of the pioneers of the funk music era, by the end of the 1970s, Stone was struggling.
And he spent the rest of his career on unsuccessful solo projects and rarely performed on stage. But his legacy and his music lives on. The sitcom Diff’rent Strokes took its title from a line in “Everyday People.” During The Pee-wee Herman Show, Paul Reubens and other Groundling members performed his music.
Prince and Rick James would building on the style that Stone showed on stage. His music became used as hook-laden samples in the works of The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Fatboy Slim and Public Enemy.
What’s your favorite song of his? Please comment.
Zane Says 