“WHERE THE MIX IS PERFECT”: VOICES FROM THE POST-MOTOWN SOUNDSCAPE by Carleton S. Gholz B.A., Macalester College, 1999 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 2007 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2011 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Carleton S. Gholz It was defended on April 11, 2011 and approved by Professor Brent Malin, Department of Communication Professor Andrew Weintraub, Department of Music Professor William Fusfield, Department of Communication Professor Shanara Reid-Brinkley, Department of Communication Dissertation Advisor: Professor Ronald J. Zboray, Department of Communication ii Copyright © by Carleton S. Gholz 2011 iii “WHERE THE MIX IS PERFECT”: VOICES FROM THE POST-MOTOWN SOUNDSCAPE Carleton S. Gholz, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2011 In recent years, the city of Detroit’s economic struggles, including its cultural expressions, have become focal points for discussing the health of the American dream. However, this discussion has rarely strayed from the use of hackneyed factory metaphors, worn-out success-and-failure stories, and an ever-narrowing cast of characters. The result is that the common sense understanding of Detroit’s musical and cultural legacy tends to end in 1972 with the departure of Motown Records from the city to Los Angeles, if not even earlier in the aftermath of the riot / uprising of 1967. In “‘Where The Mix Is Perfect’: Voices From The Post-Motown Soundscape,” I provide an oral history of Detroit’s post-Motown aural history and in the process make available a new urban imaginary for judging the city’s wellbeing. To do this I utilize archival research and interviews in order to recover the life stories of a group of Detroiters in their struggle to change and be changed by Detroit’s soundscape during the post-Motown era. A diachronic study, my dissertation starts by revisiting Detroit’s role in the modern soundscape from musicians, dancers, promoters, and critics who experienced the city’s numerous ballrooms and clubs, listened to its charismatic radio DJs, and produced its studio-driven sound. However, as my dissertation proceeds, I pay special attention to the emergence of a new soundscape in the 1970s with a new set of heroes—club DJs—and an audience that both reflected and resisted the iv racial, sexual, and class hierarchies of the period. Detroiters experienced the impact of this subterranean population in the ensuing years as the genres of disco, hip hop, house, and techno emerged and the city’s residents mixed together as they had rarely done before or since. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................. XII 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 RABBIT REDUCE: KEEP DETROIT BEAUTIFUL OR HIT ERASE BUTTON? ............................................................................................................................. 5 1.2 SOUND, SCENE, SOUNDSCAPE ..................................................................... 8 1.3 MIXING OUT THE FACTORY ...................................................................... 12 1.4 FROM THE FACTORY FLOOR TO THE DANCE FLOOR ..................... 14 1.5 MIXING EDM AND HIP HOP ........................................................................ 17 1.6 DEFINING THE INTERZONE AND QUEERING THE ARCHIVE ......... 19 1.7 ORAL HISTORY .............................................................................................. 21 1.8 NATURALISITIC INQUIRY .......................................................................... 27 1.9 PROJECT OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 29 2.0 IMPROVISE: INVENTING A RENAISSANCE SCENE, 1967-1976 .................. 35 2.1 BEFORE MOTOWN ........................................................................................ 41 2.2 THE TRANSITION........................................................................................... 50 2.3 TRIBE ................................................................................................................. 54 2.4 RENAISSANCE ................................................................................................. 63 2.5 TRIBE REDUX .................................................................................................. 69 vi 3.0 BLEND: THE SOUNDSCAPE AND THE CLUB DJ, 1975-1981 ......................... 73 3.1 GAYLY SPEAKING ......................................................................................... 77 3.2 THE PARTY BOX ............................................................................................ 82 3.3 D.R.E.A.D ........................................................................................................... 93 3.4 NEW BREED ..................................................................................................... 96 3.5 THE KICK DRUM .......................................................................................... 100 4.0 MIX: COUNTERCLOCKWISEOLOGY 1979-1989 ........................................... 104 4.1 THE EDUCATION OF A WIZARD ............................................................. 109 4.2 THE SCENE ..................................................................................................... 115 4.3 THE JUMP OFF .............................................................................................. 122 4.4 SPREADING THE NEWS .............................................................................. 125 4.5 WHERE THE MIX IS PERFECT ................................................................. 132 4.6 MIX: KAOS ..................................................................................................... 136 4.7 HALL OF FAME ............................................................................................. 141 5.0 REMIX: JOURNEY THROUGH THE HARDCORE, 1989-1998 ..................... 144 5.1 ONE NATION UNDER RAVE ...................................................................... 147 5.2 “THIS IS OUR CREED” ................................................................................ 154 5.3 BUST ................................................................................................................. 164 5.4 UNDERGROUND NATION .......................................................................... 166 5.5 THE SOURCE ................................................................................................. 175 5.6 THE PRESSURE IN HEAVEN ..................................................................... 179 5.7 CONCLUSION: FAMILY FUNKTION ....................................................... 182 6.0 SYNC: THE PLACE IS HERE. THE TIME IS NOW, 1999-2011 ..................... 185 vii 6.1 REMAKE/REMODEL .................................................................................... 189 6.2 MOTOR ............................................................................................................ 192 6.3 EMINEM .......................................................................................................... 195 6.4 THE LIMIT OF IMAGINATION ................................................................. 200 6.5 HIGH-TECH KIDS ......................................................................................... 203 6.6 SYNK ................................................................................................................ 205 6.7 CODA ................................................................................................................ 213 7.0 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 222 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................ 224 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 227 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2-1. The “blind pig” July 1967. ...................................................................................... 37 Figure 2-2. Detail from photo of Urban Community and Civic League July 1967. ............. 39 Figure 2-3. Joe Von Battle. ......................................................................................................... 47 Figure 2-4. Jack Surrell right. ................................................................................................... 47 Figure 2-5. Tribe November 1972. ............................................................................................. 60 Figure 2-6. “Look Into the Tribe” 1973. ................................................................................... 61 Figure 2-7. The Grande Ballroom in 2011. Photo by Andrew Jukes. .................................... 65 Figure 2-8. Wendell Harrison with Carl Craig, May 2008. Photo by author. ...................... 71 Figure 3-1. Advertisement for the Iron Hinge, Detroit Gay Liberator 1, no. 2 (Friday, 22 May 1970). ........................................................................................................................... 78 Figure 3-2. Full page advertisement for “Gayly Speaking” radio show from Detroit Gay Liberator, no. 33