Was R&B after the 1980's really evolution?
 

I like the SOS band,Freddie Jackson,Luther Vandross,Whitney Houston,Teena Marie,but I really more prefer 70's soul/funk like Earth wind and fire.In the late 1980's people like Bobby Brown and Teddy Riley wanted to make R&B more "street" although it wasn't really street but I would have rather it stay in more traditional soul style and let hip hop be hip hop.Well the 1980's was the last decade when music actually was progressing very wll but 90's music especially R&B was mostly samples and trying to use more overty sexual lyrics.No one was complaining in the 1980's it was only until the 90's and 2000's people started complaining about evolutions of music.

Give up trying to figure out what went wrong in the 90's & 00's. Just be happy that the 70's happened and enjoy the fact there was awesome music back then.

The problem is this.

1. Its become more marketable. So most acts aren't looking to change things up if moneys coming in.

2. Any real, credible artist can't come up in the R&B world, they'd need to rise up through (imo) indie markets.

3. Most people trying this are fraudulent ****s. Even artists I listen to are generally ripping off ideals from the 70's. Even if it had never gone commercial, it wouldn't sound the same as it did in the 70's, so honestly, Cee Lo might be what it sounded like 45 years on.

In the early 1980s, soul music became influenced by electro music. It became less raw and more slickly produced, resulting in a style known as contemporary R&B, which sounded very different from the original rhythm and blues style.

See, I don't agree with that. Over time music tends to evolve to the point of meshing other genres into each other and attempting to create a new sound for better or for worse.

I liked the direction that was taken in the 90s and enjoyed R&B from that time.

If you want to hear something newer that is more alone the soul style, there are numerous Neo-Soul artists out there. I would consider John Legend, Erykah Badu and Maxwell Neo-Soul. I could be wrong but that's what I feel like they are.

RnB and funk evolved into hip-hop didn't they? And evolve doesn't mean get better, it just means changes.

yes evolve means changes but most of the time people that are so in love with the old school way of things think that the change is for the worse meaning they don't like the changes that have occurred.

British Soul artist like George Michaels & Sade made an impact in the states during the '80s, adding sophistication to R&B/Soul music in my opinion. George Michaels '87 release of the album Faith, is one of my favorite from that era, along with Sade's music too.
New Wave artist, had some nice basslines to their music during the 80s, and produced a lot of "one hit wonders", and good music like "A Ha's-Take On Me" for instance, which implicated contemporary R&B in their music.
I would suggest in my opinion, that R&B/Soul evolved in a big way during the '80s.(Wouldn't evolution in music be a constant ongoing process)? And best defined by music genealogy.

There can definitely be a soulful side to British music in the 80s. Some things may be one hit wonders in America but they may be more than that elsewhere of course.

I will suggest the band Depeche Mode, as being a good example of that.