Plastic soul
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"Plastic soul" is a phrase coined by an unknown black musician in the 1960s, describing Mick Jagger as a white musician trying to sing soul music.
[edit] Inspiration for Rubber Soul title
Paul McCartney heard the comment and later said that the name of the Beatle album Rubber Soul was inspired by the phrase "plastic soul".[1] In studio conversation recorded on 14 June 1965 after take 1 of "I'm Down", McCartney says "Plastic soul, man. Plastic soul." The take—comment included—was released on the Beatles' Anthology 2 CD.[2]
[edit] David Bowie in the 1970s
David Bowie described his spate of funky, soulful songs released in the early-to-mid 1970s as "plastic soul". The best-known songs from this period are Young Americans, Fame, and Golden Years. During this time, Bowie assumed the public persona of the Thin White Duke, and eschewed his glittery and androgynous dress in favor of formal wear. He cited Frank Sinatra as the model for his new identity. Bowie's experimentation with soul music was generally well received; the singles sold well and Bowie notably became one of the very few white performers to be invited to perform on the television program Soul Train.[3]
Bowie himself, however, saw his new persona and style as absurd and did not take it seriously. The term plastic soul was used by Bowie himself to suggest that his dabbling with the genre was just that: a lark, and a thoroughly risible attempt by the whiter-than-white Bowie to try his hand at a traditionally black genre. In a 1976 Playboy interview with future director Cameron Crowe, Bowie described the album Young Americans, with its much-played title track as well as Fame, as "I would say, the definitive plastic soul record. It's the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak, written and sung by a white limey."[3]
Bowie also described his Ziggy Stardust persona as the height of "plastic rock". In the same 1976 interview, Bowie told Crowe that "what I did with my Ziggy Stardust was package a totally credible, plastic rock-'n'-roll singer--much better than the Monkees could ever fabricate. I mean, my plastic rock-'n'-roller was much more plastic than anybody's. And that was what was needed at the time. And it still is."[3]
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 194. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8.
- ^ Anthology 2, (1996), The Beatles, notes from: booklet. Apple Records, London: 34448.
- ^ a b c Interview with David Bowie. Playboy (September 1976).
