Hot Black: 1980s
The chart name Hot Black replaced the Hot Soul chart on June 26, 1982. Perhaps this term was a way for the music industry to stay abreast and affirm African Americans' and others' comfort in referring to African Americans as Black. In any case, like in the 1970s, when Hot Soul replaced the chart name Rhythm and Blues, so too Hot Black replaced, in essence, Rhythm and Blues or Black-sounding music.
This section will focus on the songs, regardless of the style, and their respective artists, that continued the rhythm and blues and soul tradition, now titled "Hot Black." Famous solo artists marketed included Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Billy Ocean, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, and Dionne Warrick.
Like the previous section on soul music, the Hot Black chart entailed songs of different styles, thus making the chart more market-driven than a stylistic chart. The table on the next page includes various popular songs, years, artists, and styles on the Hot Black chart from June 26, 1982, to the 1990s. Although we have purposely included as many different artists as possible, there are many of the same artists as in previous tables with numerous popular songs. Some of these include Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Lionel Richie, to name a few.
As you will see in the table on the next page, popular African American music styles in the 1980s included soul, funk, and disco. Most of the listed songs contained music features of one of these styles. When two styles appear, the first one is the primary style, while the second uses some music features of the listed type. For example, the song " Early in the Morning " by The Gap Band features funk characteristics such as sound effects (a crowing rooster at the beginning), a synthesized bass (at 00:16), and bass and piano riffs (at 00:21). On the other hand, four-on-the-floorWhen the kick drum in a drum set plays on every count of the measure, which is usually four counts. (at 00:21) makes this song disco and thus danceable. The fact that a song uses both soul and funk, such as " Sexual Healing " by Marvin Gaye, implies the vocal presentation is reminiscent of soul music. In contrast, the funk characteristics include synthesized instruments (such as drums), bass and guitar riffs, synthesized strings at times, and the instruments, though no louder than the singer, are still more active than a typical soul song (all of these occur throughout the song).