Top 10 Favorite Recording Artists Poll - Soul Train Edition

YellowSnow · February 2017

It’s time for Round # 2 of my big, gay, name your Top 10 most favorite recording artists polls. Last time we covered white people (rock) music and this round will be the Soul Train edition.

List your personal, ten most favorite soul, R&B, funk recording artists. Don’t worry about jazz, blues, hip hop, reggae, etc., as we can hit these at a later date. Each group or artist in your top 10 gets a 1 vote and I will tally up the results one week from today.

Mine in no particular order:

- Sam Cooke
- Prince
- The Meters
- James Brown (and all associated spin off acts)
- Otis (my man) Redding
- Wilson Pickett
- Parliament
- Fela Kuti (could fall into jazz or world music but close enough)
- Dr. John (token white guy)
- Marvin Gaye

Honorable Mention: Ray Charles, Al Green, anything from Daptone Records (e.g., Sharon Jones, Budos Band, etc), Stevie Wonder, Allen Toussaint, Sly Stone, Rick James

dnc · February 2017

Say It Loud Brown
George Clinton
Boys II Men (ghey, I know, but they were the hitmakers when I was in middle school, still love most of their stuff)
Let's Get It On Gaye
Rick James Bitch
Ray Charles
Dock Of The Bay Redding
TLC (fuck off if you disagree, Creep is one of the most underrated songs of the 90s and even their overrated stuff is damn good)
John B (just kidding)
Chef Isaac Hayes

YellowSnow · February 2017

dnc said:
Say It Loud Brown
George Clinton
Boys II Men (ghey, I know, but they were the hitmakers when I was in middle school, still love most of their stuff)
Let's Get It On Gaye
Rick James Bitch
Ray Charles
Dock Of The Bay Redding
TLC (fuck off if you disagree, Creep is one of the most underrated songs of the 90s and even their overrated stuff is damn good)
John B (just kidding)
Chef Isaac Hayes

Chocolate Salty Balls is one of the great R&B tracks in relatively recent history.

PurpleThrobber · February 2017

Solo (no particular order):
Stevie Wonder
Prince
Marvin Gaye
Barry motherfucking White
Smokey Robinson
Bill Withers
Aretha
Chaka Khan

Groups:
Earth Wind and motherfucking Fire
Ohio Players (more on the funk side than R&B)
Commodores
Gap Bank
Temptations
Kool & The Gang
Jackson 5
Spinners
O'Jays

dnc · February 2017

PurpleThrobber said:
Solo (no particular order):
Stevie Wonder
Prince
Marvin Gaye
Barry motherfucking White
Smokey Robinson
Bill Withers
Aretha
Chaka Khan

Groups:
Earth Wind and motherfucking Fire
Ohio Players (more on the funk side than R&B)
Commodores
Gap Bank
Temptations
Kool & The Gang
Jackson 5
Spinners
O'Jays

2001400ex · February 2017

Boyz II men
DRS
Bell biv Devo
Micheal Jackson (before turning white)
New edition
TLC
Marvin Gaye
Prince
Kool and the gang
George Clinton

WilburHooksHands · February 2017

Need some Teddy P up in here.

GrundleStiltzkin · February 2017

WilburHooksHands said:
Need some Teddy P up in here.

Huh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8rCAKkkwc0

TierbsHsotBoobs · February 2017

#FreeHarv

YellowSnow · February 2017

WilburHooksHands said:
Need some Teddy P up in here.

He's even more seductive than Barry.

tenndawg · February 2017

Earth Wind & Fire
O'Jays
Spinners
Temptations
Sly & Family Stone
Supremes
Marvin Gaye
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Four Tops

GrundleStiltzkin · February 2017

Props to @YellowSnow for shoutout to Daptone Records. RIP Ms. Sharon Jones.
On the new soul tip, Amy Winehouse.
Leon Bridges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTrKkqE9p1o

Fitz & Tantrums. Not all fits (lolololololo) but this song does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ_BZM0GrD0

Ray LaMontagne, more folk-ass boring songs than soul, but love this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ3xTjvj9tw

Mynabirds - Numbers Don't Lie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VQ2sc31j1g

YellowSnow · February 2017

GrundleStiltzkin said:
Props to @YellowSnow for shoutout to Daptone Records. RIP Ms. Sharon Jones.
On the new soul tip, Amy Winehouse.
Leon Bridges.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTrKkqE9p1o

Fitz & Tantrums. Not all fits (lolololololo) but this song does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ_BZM0GrD0

Ray LaMontagne, more folk-ass boring songs than soul, but love this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ3xTjvj9tw

Mynabirds - Numbers Don't Lie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VQ2sc31j1g

I'm not all old dude music - there's still plenty of "newish" stuff out there that is solid as your recent @GrundleStiltzkin thread demonstrated - but it's hard for those artists to compete with the overall greatness of those showing up in these lists. Sharon Jones (RIP) and Charles Bradley, for example, are terrific, but they are not pioneers of these genres in the way the artists of the 50's - 80's were. So many of the best ideas have been all used up.

Swaye · February 2017

Otis Redding.

Done. It gets no better.

YellowSnow · February 2017

Swaye said:
Otis Redding.

Done. It gets no better.

Definitely had one the best backing band of a 60's soul singer- i.e., Booker T and the MGs.

Tequilla · February 2017

Otis Redding
Ray Charles
Boyz II Men
Alicia Keys
Commodores/Lionel Richie
Smokey Robinson
The Four Tops
Whitney Houston
Michael Jackson
The Temptations
Bill Withers

I can't really knock anybody off my list ... 11 it is

PurpleThrobber · February 2017

YellowSnow said:

Swaye said:
Otis Redding.

Done. It gets no better.
Definitely had one the best backing band of a 60's soul singer- i.e., Booker T and the MGs.

There's a documentary on either Amazon or Netflix about The Funk Brothers, the studio musicians on all the great Motown songs. Very cool.

There's another doc on The Wrecking Crew, the studio musicians on all the great tunes out of LA in the 60's and 70s. Good watch.

89ute · February 2017

Temtpations
Sly and the family stone
Smokey Robinson
Aretha Franklin
Stevie Wonder
The Jackson 5
Ray Charles
Otis Redding
Earth Wind & Fire
Prince

BearsWiin · February 2017

Dusty Springfield

Dude61 · February 2017

Earth, Wind & Fire
Tower of Power
Marvin Gaye
O Jays

YellowSnow · February 2017

BearsWiin said:
Dusty Springfield

Too token white chick

RaceBannon · February 2017

Gap Band - best live show ever. Snoop's daddy in law

Dazz Band - Let it Whip

Marvin Gay

Teddy Pendergast

Sly and the Family

Diana Ross and the Supremes - to rep Motown

Patti Labelle

Tower of Power

Ah, the name is Bootsy baby for the funk masters

The Godfather of Soul

Doog_de_Jour · February 2017

I missed the first round unfortunately - thank you @YellowSnow for putting this together. This was surprisingly difficult.

Here's my list (no particular order):

- James Brown
- Aretha Franklin (her appearance in The Blues Brothers is one of my favorite parts of the movie)
- Prince
- Whitney Houston
- The Supremes (I would also be willing to sub the solo Diana Ross)
- Jackson 5
- Janet Jackson (Miss Jackson if you're nasty)
- En Vogue (I loved them in middle school - pure nostalgia pick)
- Issac Hayes (YA DAMN RIGHT!)
- Michael Jackson

BTW @dnc - I'll co-sign on TLC love - though I'll save them for the hip-hop list

dnc · February 2017

Doog_de_Jour said:
I missed the first round unfortunately - thank you @YellowSnow for putting this together. This was surprisingly difficult.

Here's my list (no particular order):

- James Brown
- Aretha Franklin (her appearance in The Blues Brothers is one of my favorite parts of the movie)
- Prince
- Whitney Houston
- The Supremes (I would also be willing to sub the solo Diana Ross)
- Jackson 5
- Janet Jackson (Miss Jackson if you're nasty)
- En Vogue (I loved them in middle school - pure nostalgia pick)
- Issac Hayes (YA DAMN RIGHT!)
- Michael Jackson

BTW @dnc - I'll co-sign on TLC love - though I'll save them for the hip-hop list

Yeah, they kinda straddle that R&B/hip hop line. They're worthy on either list IMO.

allpurpleallgold · February 2017

Justin Bieber.

PurpleThrobber · February 2017

RaceBannon said:
Gap Band - best live show ever. Snoop's daddy in law

Dazz Band - Let it Whip

Marvin Gay

Teddy Pendergast

Sly and the Family

Diana Ross and the Supremes - to rep Motown

Patti Labelle

Tower of Power

Ah, the name is Bootsy baby for the funk masters

The Godfather of Soul

I like me some Bootsy a lot.

YellowSnow · February 2017

PurpleThrobber said:

YellowSnow said:

Swaye said:
Otis Redding.

Done. It gets no better.
Definitely had one the best backing band of a 60's soul singer- i.e., Booker T and the MGs.
There's a documentary on either Amazon or Netflix about The Funk Brothers, the studio musicians on all the great Motown songs. Very cool.

There's another doc on The Wrecking Crew, the studio musicians on all the great tunes out of LA in the 60's and 70s. Good watch.

The Wrecking Crew documentary is great. Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy has some great scenes in the studio with the Wrecking Crew.

GrundleStiltzkin · February 2017

Doog_de_Jour said:
I missed the first round unfortunately - thank you @YellowSnow for putting this together. This was surprisingly difficult.

Here's my list (no particular order):

- James Brown
- Aretha Franklin (her appearance in The Blues Brothers is one of my favorite parts of the movie)
- Prince
- Whitney Houston
- The Supremes (I would also be willing to sub the solo Diana Ross)
- Jackson 5
- Janet Jackson (Miss Jackson if you're nasty)
- En Vogue (I loved them in middle school - pure nostalgia pick)
- Issac Hayes (YA DAMN RIGHT!)
- Michael Jackson

BTW @dnc - I'll co-sign on TLC love - though I'll save them for the hip-hop list