Recognize Any? Detroit's Musicians Past and Present

"Drivin' Sideways in Detroit!" by Hurricane Duane Thomas



Im from Johnny + The Hurricanes. RED RIVER ROCK-ROCKIN GOOSE- CROSSFIRE- REVILLE ROCK- DOWN YONDER- TIMEBOMB- SHEBA- JA DA- BUCKEYE

This Week: Detroit's Musicians Past and Present.

The prominence of Detroit music began between the 1920's and 1940's in "Black Bottom" on Detroit's East side, a black community where traditional music of the south was enjoyed by a predominantly black audience. Everything from Big Band to Blues to Gospel was performed each week there, and in the ballrooms bars, speakeasys and nightclubs up and down the
Woodward Ave Corridor and streets of Detroit.

When John Lee Hooker hit the streets of Detroit in the 1940's, he along with Baby Boy Warren, Bobo Jenkins, Calvin Frazier and others transformed the acoustic blues music into an electronic conglomeration of instruments and styles to create a new sound not heard before.

This set the foundation for the Blues and Rock and Roll electric-sound of the future. And there was no turning back. With the coming of the Motown Sound, the Motor City streets and it's suburbs were flooded with 3, 4 and 5 part harmonies and garage and basement style rock and roll bands too numerous to count.

By the late 1950's and into the mid 60's, there were hundreds of
recording studios and labels, and music was everywhere in Detroit and its Suburbs. If I miss anyone here, I apologize. But this list is only a small sample of those great artists who called and still call themselves "Detroiters".

Some of our more famous that have called Detroit home are Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Jackie Wison, Bill Hailey and The Comets, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Grand Funk, The Four Tops, Glen Frey, Thymes, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Lamont-Dozier-Holland, Alice Cooper, Jamie Coe and The Giggolos, Aretha Franklin, Della Reese, Sippie Wallace, Kim Weston, Frijid Pink, Brownsville Station, Mary Wilson, Edwin Starr, Andre Williams, The Diablos, Reverend CL Franklin, Little Willie John, ? & the Mysterians, Marshal Crenshaw, Gallery, McKInney's Cotton Pickers, Don Redman, Rose Royce, David Ruffin, Oliver Green and the Detroiters, Marcus Belgrave, Jonathon Round, Suzi Quatro Jack Scott, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Junior Walker and the All-Stars, Tammi Terrel, George Clinton/Parliment-Funkedelics, Catfish Hodge, Kenny Burrell, Carolyn Crawford, Temptations,Tommy Flanagan, Wison Pickett, Little Tommy Tucker, Hank Ballard, the Commodores, and The Jackson Five. Even KISS called Detroit home.

The list grows even larger when we add Spyder Turner, Smokey Robinson, James Jamerson, Bootsey Collins, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Gladys Knight, Rare Earth (the Sunliners), Bob Babbitt, Popcorn Wylie, Tidal Waves, Del Shannon, the Royaltones, The Rockets, Darrell Banks, Eddie Willis, The Underdogs, George McGregor, The Velvelettes,
The Holidays, The Southbound Freeway, Cactus, The Flamingos, The Fantastic Four, Johnnie Mae Matthews, The Falcons, Emanuel Lasky, The Originals, Detroit Emeralds, The Mohawks, Chuck Jackson, Joe Hunter, John Sinclair, Ted Nugent, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Panera, The White Stripes, Dennis Coffey, The Reflections, The Romantics, The Spinners, The MC5, Was (Not Was), The Funk Bros, Contours, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Sponge, Shades of Blue, Anita Baker, The Knack and yes, even my old group Johnny & The Hurricanes.

In more recent years, The Insane Clown Posse, D-12, 50 cent, Eminem, Slum Village, Kid Rock, Twiztid, Uncle Kracker and the techno artists Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Carl Craig, brought a new sound of rap and electro-techno to Detroit and the rest of the world. Though there were many, many more, we cannot forget the contributions and tragic losses of Aaliyah and Marvin Gaye.

One mention I have to make is about a character-friend of ours to the local Ann Arbor-Detroit Michigan scene, "Shakey Jake" Woods. Each year when I see him at the Top of The Park Concerts there, I shake hands with this colorful man-of-mystery. He’s even played the famous Grande Ballroom. Reputed to be around 90 years old, he sings the blues on street corners and rides the buses with his guitar...always out of tune, in a plastic shopping bag with his ever-present pink sunglasses, straw hat, and zoot suit of a hundred different bright and psychedelic colors, and beads around his neck.

He hangs downtown all day, reaching into his shopping bag for tapes and c.d.s and photos of himself he sells for $5.00. When he's tired enough, he may take a cab if he’s made enough money hawking his stuff, or he jumps the last bus outta town, to parts unknown....but he's always back the next day, concert or festival...year after year. Shakey Jake symbolizes the freedom of expression here.

Though most of these artists have "jumped the rails' too so to speak, and taken their music to the world, it's here in Motown, the Motor City, that they honed their skills, talents and professionalism, and many still call “home”.

I've heard its the grit here, or the auto factories. Perhaps it's the river and Canada, a stones-throw across. Though many have written about our artists and our music and it's roots here, I'm not sure WHAT it is that breeds such great music and musicians.
Maybe it's the water...or the auto exhaust fumes!

Well folks...my tanks full, engine's revvin' up...so...always keep your hands on the wheel and your foot to the floor when you're...Drivin' Sideways in Detroit!.

Hurricane Duane Thomas
March 5th, 2007

Next Week: Detroit "Live".