It’s been a while since I’ve cried over the passing of an artist but this week, we lost an icon, and I was shook.
We throw the term “musical genius” around far too often but in this case, it fits to a tee. When Sly and the Family Stone, foundational, revolutionary, influential, heady, inclusionary and downright funky hit their stride in the late 1960s, no one had heard anything like them. Our nation’s whole discography immediately veered in an altogether different direction, traveling at light speed, the ripples of which would be felt for decades to come. Sly changed both the way we listen to music and the way artists create it.
Sylvester Stewart blended various musical styles, funk, soul, rock, pop, psychedelic and blues to create a sound uniquely his own and a catalog of songs that stand to this day, both musically and lyrically.
Interviewer: Were you conscious of people searching for a different type of music?”
Sly: “I was conscious that I was searching for a different type of music. I just dug Dylan, and Charles, and Aretha Franklin and the Staples Singers and the Beatles. It’s all music and it should be together somewhere. And I decided if I’m going to do music, it’ll be my music.”
I’m not here to recite Sly’s entire history. Two documentaries you should watch if you’re interested in his work (and you should be, for its our nation’s history) are Questlove’s “Sly Lives,” specifically about him, his life, his band and his impact, and “Summer of Soul” about a concert event where Sly and his Family Stone changed not only countless lives but the way people think about music, what it stood for and how it could affect us all.
One unforgettable soundbite from “Summer of Soul” best explains Sly’s impact on an entire generation, and those that followed. It came from an interview with a kid, now an adult, who saw Sly for the first time at that live show in 1969.
“Me and my friends were suit and tie guys. We knew all the moves. We were huge Motown fans. After we saw Sly and the Family Stone, we were no longer suit and tie guys. The change was in effect.”
I won’t bore you with the fact that Sly’s band was the first multi-racial, cultural and gendered band to generate meaningful, chart-topping hits, or the impact this had on all those listening at the time, or how Larry Graham’s bass guitar brought the instrument to the forefront. These are all facts that you probably already know or will at least learn the importance of once you watch these documentaries.
While Sly’s sound bombarded the charts when I was just a baby, his music was ubiquitous, contagious, and ever-present to this day. Who would dare follow up Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” one of the greatest, most socially conscious albums of all time, with a bold retort? Sly, that’s who. There’s a Riot Going On. My only weapon is my pen and the state of mind I’m in.
I logged a LOT of hours listening to Sly and the Family Stone, his beats his own, his lyrics and song titles still relevant. Everyday People. Everybody Is a Star. You Can Make It If You Try. Remember Who You Are. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again). Stand. Lyrics simultaneously simple and profound, direct and abstract, playful yet serious, undeniably inspirational.
By the time hip-hop started to get experimental in the early 90s, Sly’s loops could be re-heard everywhere. Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Arrested Development, LL Cool J, Janet Jackson, Big Daddy Kane, De La Soul, Outkast, A Tribe Called Quest and so many others not only borrowed heavily from Sly but were profoundly influenced by his work. It was as if by creating their own sound, they wanted to show you what Sly meant to them and how they wanted him to be an integral part of what they’d created, the sincerest form of flattery. And of course, there is no Prince without Sylvester Stewart. Not by a longshot.
Listening to Sly in the nineties alongside all the hip hop loops he spawned was like solving a jigsaw puzzle, where our life’s soundtrack came into full view, the tapestry he’d created being recreated by those who respected and adored his music, an entirely new generation, borrowing and spinning his sound into their own.
From 1968 to 1974, music was changing along with our nation and Sly was among those leading the way. Sly was so cool, he was light years ahead of cool. Few artists were as forward-thinking, as brilliant or as troubled. Few artists have affected me as such.
For that, I am as grateful as anyone else who cherished his music.
Thank you for the party.
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A beautiful tribute and powerfully written Sportschump. So hard to lose these greats. I understand. But I learned a lot from yr post and of course share yr love & respect for this incredibly talented soul. They don’t make ‘erm like that anymore.