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Originally Posted by Rainard Jalen
Now THAT I'll dispute. The songs in general use neither blues progressions nor blues-inspired melodies. And generally they don't sing about being "blue", either, any more than any other genre of music. In fact the lyrics are usually about topics the pretty damn opposite of being "blue".
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Looking at the first list I found (
http://www.onlylyrics.com/g_rnb1.php) which was the first one I saw.... There are some who do use a lot of blue (note: blue, not traditional 'blues') notes and themes and some who don't. The ones who don't are the same ones that would be straight in the 'pop' section over here anyway.
Now, I'm suggesting here that the majority of western music uses melodies, scales and harmonies which can be roughly categorised as:
Classical (straightforward major or minor scales and chord structures)
Folk (modes)
Jazz
Blues
In which most pop acts fall on the classical side, using the major or minor scales in a pretty straightforward way. From memory, the melodies for songs like 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' (Britney) and 'You And Your Hand' (Pink) wouldn't sound very out of place as the theme to some Rimsky Korsakov Russian nationlist stomper, in that they make very clear use of minor scales and are very on-note.
Back to the list,
some of the singers just sing pop music. It's major of minor melodies, maybe it has sad themes but then so does lots of non-blues music:
Monica (from what I remember hearing)
Jamelia
Kelly Rowland
Are all, from the music I've heard in the last few years, just pop. I'm pretty sure they are in the pop section in shops over here, not R'n'B. Either way, that's where I'd put them.
On the other hand.
Ashanti
Kelis
Amerie
Lemar
Beyonce
John Legend
Amy Winehouse
Corinne Bailey Rae
Mary J Blige
All have lots of blue notes and in their music. I'm not claiming they have BB King solos, sing about shootin' their woman or meeting the devil at the crossroads. But why would they? Most of the singers are women who live a long way from any rural intersections. A lot of the harmonies, rhythms and melodies ARE derived from blues* ... if they're not from there then where ARE they from?
*Ok, gospel too, which may be more classical than blues.
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Even if your argument in that respect holds, it fails to explain or justify the application of the term as it is frequently used: i.e., as an umbrella term to cover ALL music that have singing (as opposed to rap) over hip-hop drum beats.
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If it's got rhythm (the drum beats) and it's got blues inspired singing (with which gospel-inspired vocals end up being grouped largely because the singers are also black) then the name R'n'B, I repeat, is not an unrealistic name to give it. Yes, I expect there are better names that it could have and some people have issue with the current name. But R'n'B is the name that has stuck and it's not a completely innacurate one.