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Popular Music Genres
Popular Music Genres
An Introduction

Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy

Edinburgh University Press

 C[J Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, 2004

Transferred to digital print 2012

Edinburgh University Press Ltd

22 George Square, Edinburgh

Typeset in Ehrhardt
by Hewer Text Ltd, Edinburgh, and
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7486 1744 2 (hardback)

ISBN 0 7486 1745 0 (paperback)

The right of Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy

to be identified as authors of this work
has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
 Contents

Illustrations Vll
Acknowledgements lX

Introduction 1
Soul: from gospel to groove 5
2 Funk: the breakbeat starts here 23
3 Psychedelia: in my mind's eye 42
4 Progressive rock: breaking the blues' lineage 61
5 Punk rock: artifice or authenticity? 77
6 Reggae: the aesthetic logic of a diasporan culture 98
7 Synthpop: into the digital age 119
8 Heavy metal: noise for the boys? 138
9 Rap: the word, rhythm and rhyme 156
10 lndie: the politics of production and distribution 176
11 Jungle: the breakbeat's revenge 197

Glossary 221
Bibliography 230
Index 241
 Illustrations

Dexy's Midnight Runners © Harry Goodwin/Redferns Music

Picture Library. 19
George Clinton © Richard E. Aaron/Redferns Music
Picture Library. 35
Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane © Richard E. Aaron/Redferns
Music Picture Library. 43
The Slits © Ian Dickson/Redferns Music Picture Library. 91
Bob Marley and The Wailers © Ian Dickson/Redferns Music
Picture Library. 113
New Romantics © Virginia Turbett/Redferns Music Picture
Library. 133
Flavor Flav and Chuck D (Public Enemy) with Ice-T © Sam
Spurgeon/Redferns Music Picture Library. 158
Jungle raving © Paul Bergen/Redferns Music Picture Library. 213

All reproduced with permission www.musicpictures.com

 Acknowledgements

Ron Moy would like to thank- my parents and my brother and sister,
Virginia and Nick, for their part in encouraging an unhealthy fixation
with popular music from a very early age. Other members of my extended
family, particularly my cousins Alan and Vanessa, also did much to foster
an awareness in the power and potential of pop. A number of long-
standing musical friendships have been very influential: I would like to
particularly thank David Buckley, Brian Dunne, Ian Runeckles and Brian
Sharp. Many of my colleagues at Liverpool John Moores University have
helped encourage my teaching and research in the subject field, including
Phil Markey and Nickianne Moody. I would also like to thank the
contributions made by countless students taking popular music modules
since 1992. Mike Brocken brought his great archival expertise to bear,
particularly with regard to the chapters dealing with soul and psychedelia,
and helped improve my knowledge. I would also like to thank Sheena
Streather, the Media librarian at Liverpool John Moores University, and
the staff of Northwich public library for their assistance with research
sources. My final thanks go to my partner, Anne, and our children, Byron
and Elena, for indulging my musical obsessions, and latterly actively
contributing to an environment that denies me the opportunity to fall
back on tired ageist cliches relating to the nature of contemporary music
and 'the good old days'.

Stuart Borthwick would like to thank - Rachel Tolhurst, for support

beyond the call of love or duty, particularly while ill during the comple-
tion of this book - 'Keep that breathless charm' my sweetheart. My
mother and father for supporting my endeavours in higher education,
both morally and financially. Colleagues at Liverpool John Moores
University for their help, assistance and guidance, especially the Media
and Cultural Studies teaching team. My line managers- Phil Markey,
Nickianne Moody and Tamsin Spargo. All those students who have
X POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

contributed, unwittingly or not, to my ideas around music. Mike Brocken,

Mike Holderness, Paul Meme, Twist and John Eden for comments on
early drafts. Hillegonda Rietveld for her continuing support. Everyone at
www.uk-dance.org for their continued support, friendship and inspira-
tion (especially the Raya crew). Those in the Liverpool music industry
who have offered me their advice, especially Jules and Danny at Invicta
HiFi/Liquidation. Jamie Reid and his management. The Merseyside
Music Development Agency. Staff at the Institute of Popular Music at
the University of Liverpool for early inspiration. Phil and Neil at The
Picket venue (long may it continue). A final special thanks must also go to
Dexy's Midnight Runners for their tour of 2003. These astounding gigs
gave me a lifetime's inspiration in a few precious hours. Don't stop the
burning.
 Introduction

In the past ten years, there has been a significant expansion m the
provision of academic programmes and units (discrete courses within
modular degrees) that deal with the study of popular music. This
expanded area of study encompasses work at undergraduate and post-
graduate level within disciplines as diverse as sociology, media studies,
cultural studies, marketing, English and literary studies, history, and
musicology. Despite this expansion (or possibly because of it), no single
discipline has managed to claim 'ownership' of the field, and the study of
popular music relies upon theoretical perspectives and methodological
tools that are often seen as being contradictory.
What this contradictory situation tells us is that there is no correct or
true method of examining popular music. However, within this hetero-
geneity of approaches, there are methodological positions that can be
rejected. A purely musicological approach will tell us a great deal about
the 'inner meanings' of particular pieces of popular music, but due to the
'textualism' of this approach, traditional musicology cannot tell us much
about the relationship between musical texts and the cultures and
societies in which they are situated. Equally, an approach that draws
exclusively upon a historical method can tell us a great deal about the
position of popular music in the societies in which it is situated, but it
cannot tell us much about what individual pieces of music or specific
musical genres actually mean.
This book rejects such a 'unidisciplinary' approach to the study of
popular music and promotes an examination that is situated in the
interdisciplinary space between a range of separate academic fields of
enquiry. By using theoretical positions and methodological tools drawn
from a range of disciplines, our approach becomes contextual, rather than
textual or intertexual. While we are interested in musical texts, this
interest is framed by an examination of the relationship between musical
texts and their social, cultural, political and economic contexts. We firmly
2 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

believe that an examination of the relationship between musical texts and

their various contexts tells us far more about music and its importance to
the societies in which it is situated than a purely musicological approach.
Equally, we believe that the story of popular music cannot be told through
charts and statistical data, and we also believe that one should not be
overly reliant upon music press hyperbole for source material. While
charts and statistics avoid the analysis of how ideological domination and
power are reproduced through and in the consumption of music, to be
overly reliant upon the music press for source material would be to make
us complicit in the reproduction of those ideological discourses that the
music press relies upon.
Our approach is therefore dialectical, critical and discursive. It is
dialectical because it is rooted in the belief that the meaning of popular
music is to be found in the interrelationship between text and context. It
is also dialectical because it addresses issues related to the reproduction of
social relations. Our approach is critical because it employs theoretical
positions that enable the academic to move beyond the mere description
of musical phenomena, towards an examination of why and how music
means what it does. Our approach is discursive because of our belief that
music is a language system where texts are 'made to mean' through the
use of representational techniques that predate the production of in-
dividual texts. Our approach also addresses contemporary debates con-
cerning discourse, in that our method is informed by the belief that
meaning systems such as music 'are and always have been subjected to the
historical developments and conflicts of social relations in general'
(Hartley 1994: 93), and that 'the potentially infinite senses any language
system is capable of producing are always limited and fixed by the
structure of social relations which prevails in a given time and place,
and which is itself represented through various discourses' (94).
While suggesting that our approach is contextual, dialectical, critical
and discursive rather than textual or musicological, we are aware of the
potential dangers of such an approach. One such long-standing danger,
originally highlighted by Simon Frith in 1983, is that the analysis of
context is completed at the expense of textual analysis (Frith 1983: 13).
Roy Shuker agrees, suggesting that this problem is not limited to
academics, but can also be fimnd in more general criticism: 'Rock critics
remain essentially preoccupied with sociology rather than sound, and
there has been too ready a willingness to dismiss musicology as having
little relevance to the study of rock' (Shuker 1994: 136). In our approach
to the study of eleven music genres, we do find time to focus on musical
texts themselves. However, this textual analysis is tempered by analyses of
 INTRODUCTION 3

historical roots and antecedents, social and political contexts, visual

aesthetics and generic developments. In rigidly applying this analytical
formula we are not suggesting that this is the 'correct' way of examining a
musical genre, merely that examining these areas can lead to an appro-
priate balance between the study of text and context, thereby providing an
analysis of the production, distribution and consumption of texts in
specific social, cultural, political and economic contexts. We feel that this
approach is particularly suited to the interdisciplinary nature of the
undergraduate study of popular music.
Key to all these contexts, and key to the relationship between text and
context, is the notion of genre, and it is this concept that sits at the centre
of this book. In using the term genre, we are attempting to categorise
musical styles within certain broad textual and extra-textual parameters.
Of course, this approach is schematic and not without its limitations. Our
assignation of generic terms to certain key works and movements will not
be definitive or beyond dispute. Indeed, dispute is central to genre-based
study. For instance, one of the most commonly employed generic terms in
contemporary usage is R&B. However, if we look at the disparity of
musical performers and styles all included under this heading, the term
ceases to have any clear definition.
In examining genre, we would argue that such an analysis must be
historically grounded and tightly categorised. Whereas 'overarching'
metagenres such as rock or pop transcend historical epochs, others, such
as progressive rock or Britpop, do not. Such genres (or subgenres) are
intrinsically tied to an era, a mode of production, a Zeitgeist and a set of
social circumstances that effectively ensures their demise, or at least
mutation into other forms. Genres have a degree of elasticity, but there
invariably comes a point when they split under the pressure of some force
or another - be it musical, technological, commercial or social. Within
each of the chapters that follow we will trace the roots and antecedents of
each of our chosen genres, their defining characteristics, and how the
genre develops and shifts once a split - sometimes rapid and cataclysmic,
sometimes organic and almost imperceptible - occurs.
Having made the above points concerning methodology, this book is
not intended to be an overview of the different approaches that can be
taken in studying popular music. Other writers have produced more
suitable works that introduce students to a variety of different ways of
studying pop (most notably Frith 1996, Longhurst 1995, Middleton 1990,
Negus 1996, Shuker 1994 and Shuker 1998). This book should not be
used as a substitute for reading these theoretically rigorous tomes. First
and foremost, this book is concerned with analysing eleven specific
4 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

popular music genres, rather than reflecting critically upon the different
approaches that can be taken to study these genres. Our book is intended
to serve as an introduction to the study of soul music, funk, psychedelia,
progressive rock, punk rock, reggae, synthpop, heavy metal, indie, rap
and jungle. While we engage with key terms and concepts that can be
applied to these genres, our approach is not wholly inclusive and should
only serve as an introduction to the study of these genres.

Further reading
Frith, S. (1983) Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock 'n' Roll.
London: Constable.
Frith, S. (1996) Performing Rites: Evaluating Popular Music. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Longhurst, B. (1995) Popular Music and Society. London: Polity Press.
Middleton, R. (1990) Studying Popular Music. Milton Keynes: Open University
Press.
Negus, K. (1996) Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. London: Polity
Press.
Shuker, R. (1994) Understanding Popular Music. London: Routledge.
Shuker, R. (1998) Key Concepts in Popular Music. London: Routledge.
 CHAPTER 1

Soul: from gospel to groove

An overview of the genre

In commercial terms, the genre that by the early 1960s became known as
soul was the most successful of all the 'crossover' styles until its partial
eclipse by disco in the mid-1970s. Developing from styles largely aimed at
(but not necessarily consumed by) the African-American community,
such as gospel, jazz and blues, soul succeeded in breaking through into the
mainstream pop market in both the US and Europe. In the main but not
exclusively an African-American phenomenon, soul's success was as
much due to a number of labels, so-called 'house sounds', and little-
known studio bands, as it was to specific performers or songwriters.
The most successful and high profile of all the soul labels was a
collection of titles that we can gather under the name Tamla Motown and
were most closely associated with its founder Berry Gordy Jnr (see Abbott
2001). Although Motown achieved its international breakthrough once it
signed a distribution deal with EMI in the UK in 1963, its degree of
creative autonomy throughout the 1960s does bolster its claim to be
thought of as an independent label. Indeed, Motown was the most
successful independent label of any era, if we look at its international
profile, its sales and the ratio of hits to misses (Ward 2001: 47).
Before the great soul labels of the 1960s became established, important
groundwork had been laid by performers such as Ray Charles (Ray
Charles Robinson) and Sam Cooke. Charles had his greatest period of
success between the mid-19 50s and mid-1960s, working in areas as
diverse as jazz, blues, gospel, soul and country. In common with so
many in the soul field, Cooke came from a gospel background. After
leaving his group, The Soul Stirrers, in 1956, Cooke crossed over into the
secular market, achieving a string of pop hits between 1957 and 1964, the
year of his early death. More importantly, he set the tone for both the
autonomous creative artist and the smooth 'lover man' persona and
6 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

performance style later adopted by the likes of Marvin Gaye (Marvin

Pentz Gay), AI Green, Teddy Pendergrass and Alexander O'Neill.
At around the same time that Motown was emerging in the industrial
heartlands of Detroit, Jim Stewart was launching Stax records in
Memphis. In 1959, the Atlantic organisation- long associated with jazz
and R&B- began its long and fruitful distribution relationship with Stax.
This was later bolstered by having Atlantic artists such as Aretha Franklin
and Wilson Pickett recording in the deep south with Stax musicians and
local house session musicians such as Booker T and the M.G.'s, the
Muscle Shoals, and the Mar-Keys rhythm section. From 1965 to 1968,
the Stax/ Atlantic combination was responsible for what many considered
the perfect 'rootsy', rural antidote to the 'showbiz' trapping of Motown
soul, although it is significant that what became known as the subgenre of
southern soul was far more racially mixed than its northern counterpart.
Crucial contributions to the sound were made by the likes of white
musicians such as Steve Cropper, Donald 'Duck' Dunn and Spooner
Oldham, and white producers such as Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd. As
Robert Palmer has stated, these anomalies and ironies included

The 'blackest' of singers - with a whiteface mask of Alabama dust. The funkiest
kind of down-home dance record - with a backing band of white southern crackers.
These are the sort of ironies that virtually defined the soul-music era - and,
arguably, the entire history of rock and roll. The issue of race seems so evident and
straightforward, so close to the surface in rock and roll, and particularly soul music;
but things are not always what they seem. (Palmer 1995: 80-1)

In 1967, Otis Redding J r was voted top male singer by the most
prestigious British popular music journal, Melody Maker, in its readers'
poll. This was the first time in a decade that Elvis Presley (Elvis Aaron
Presley) had not won the award and showed the huge amount of
international acclaim being afforded soul music by that period.
In opposition to the working processes of Stax in Memphis - dubbed
'Soulsville USA' - Gordy, utilising production line methods of manage-
ment, promotion and quality control, oversaw a label he dubbed 'The
Sound of Young America', based in a small studio that bore the logo
'Hitsville USA'. It was one that in tone and delivery was unthreatening to
mainstream white society, and one that had crossed over from R&B/black
charts into the pop charts by 1964. It was also significant that by 1970,
half of Motown's vice presidents were white (Brown 1982: 701 ). Motown
artists were among the few American chart-based artists to thrive during
the Beatles/British beat invasion of 1964-6. Indeed, The Supremes in
particular had huge success in Britain at the height of Beatlemania.
 SOUL 7

Towards the end of the 1960s, Gordy's autocratic style and the
perceived inequalities regarding royalties and credits led the organisation
to fragment. Many artists and writers left the label, including the Isley
Brothers and Holland, Dozier and Holland. In addition, Gordy's decision
to relocate to California in the early 1970s, together with his largely
unsuccessful attempt to promote Diana Ross (Diane Ross) as a major film
star at the expense of record releases, lost the label its impetus and market
role. Stax, after reaching a crossover high point with the huge Wattstax
concert and film in 1972 (Maycock 2002: 30-5), collapsed soon after in
financial disarray. The decline of Motown and Stax contributed to the
rise of Philadelphia International, the last great soul label and one based
shamelessly on Motown's sophisticated pop sensibility and crossover
style.
Countless smaller, often regionally based labels contributed to soul
music. Many of the more rare items became the basis of the 'Northern
Soul' club scene in the UK, a precursor to later disc and DJ scenes such as
rare groove and acid house (Rimmer 2001: 220-1). In particular, mention
should be made of Chess in Chicago, and Hi records, responsible for Al
Green's hits in the early 1970s. Much of Curtis Mayfield's work, either
solo or with the Impressions, was released on small labels such as Vee-Jay,
ABC and Curtom. Mayfield's delicate falsetto and gospel-based compo-
sitions emphasised optimism and racial harmony, but his early material,
such as Keep On Pushing and We're A Winner also promoted energy and
fortitude. Later, his soundtrack for the movie Superfly exhibited a keen
social awareness of the worsening state of social conditions, particularly in
the ghettos.
Although the US was very much the home of soul, Britain did
produce successful performers working in the genre, such as Dusty
Springfield (Mary O'Brien), Chris Farlowe and Cliff Bennett. How-
ever, the 'house band' and studio sound so central to soul was never
duplicated in the UK, neither was there a songwriting/production
process to match the likes of Holland/Dozier/Holland at Motown, or
Isaac Hayes and David Porter at Stax. Soul singers such as Springfield
and Kiki Dee (Pauline Matthews) made the move to the US for a period
in the late 1960s, with mixed results. Other singers comfortable within
the vocal idiom, such as Tom Jones (Thomas John Woodward), Lulu
(Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie) and Rod Stewart (Roderick
David Stewart), concentrated their attentions on different rock and pop
fields. One act that did achieve great success in the mid-1960s was
Geno Washington and The Ram Jam Band, a white British band
fronted by a black American. As well as having a great reputation as a
8 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

live act, they also achieved success in the album charts -a great rarity
for soul acts before the 1970s.
Soul had a huge impact upon other genres, such as rock (the work of
Rod Stewart, for example) and reggae, which will be explored elsewhere
in this book. In the hands of early 1980s 'new pop' acts such as Culture
Club, Wham, the Eurythmics, Soft Cell and ABC, soul and Motown were
given an electronic makeover while still clearly being approached as a
direct homage. Equally, soul was prepared to absorb musical elements
and production techniques from other pop genres, such as psychedelia
and hard rock in late 1960s releases. Conceptual albums, such as Marvin
Gaye's What's Going On, also reflected the increasing complexity of the
format that rock had been exploring since the late 1960s.
However, in overall terms, soul was predominantly a singles form,
typically mainstream in terms of its lyrical subject matter and structure,
but it did much to prepare the market for more experimental and lyrically
challenging forms such as funk and rap. In the era before 'Dance' became
a metagenre rather than just an activity, soul music, in all its guises, was
one of the dominant forms in the burgeoning discotheques, as well as a
staple of the live circuit, particularly in the form of 'revues' or label
packages. These toured to huge acclaim in Europe throughout the 1960s.

Historical roots and antecedents

For Ashley Brown, soul comes from three principal sources: jazz, blues
and gospel. He describes these styles, not without a degree of accuracy, as
the art music, the social music and the religious music of black America.
'Jazz and blues provided form and the beat; gospel gave soul its voice'
(Brown 1982: 321). No mention of soul's precursors would be complete
without reference to the metagenre of rhythm and blues (R&B). R&B
developed alongside the mass emigration of rural blacks to the industrial
north (Chicago, Detroit) and to California in the 1930s and 1940s. R&B
was an up-tempo, 'urbanised' form of blues, utilising amplification and
electrified instruments (the solid-bodied electric guitar was popularised
by the Fender company in 1950, followed by a similar bass model in 1951,
although the acoustic stand-up bass was the staple until the late 1950s:
Burrows 1998). R&B was a commercial success throughout the postwar
era. The 'jump blues' recordings of a group such as Louis Jordan and the
Tympani Five, built upon twelve-bar blues progressions, 'boogie-woogie'
style piano and vernacular, wisecracking vocals, provides us with a clear
model for both rock 'n' roll and R&B.
Although it does not fit into the black 'authenticity' paradigm so
 SOUL 9

prevalent among white social commentators, we might also add the

importance of 'mainstream' forms of popular music, whether urban -
such as doo-wop, Hollywood and Broadway show tunes (or 'Tin Pan
Alley'), or rural forms such as country and folk. Many soul writers and
players, particularly those from the southern states, have testified to the
seminal influence of both gospel and country upon their musical educa-
tion.
By the late 19 50s, jazz had already mutated into a large number of
subgenres. A number of its most critically acclaimed offshoots, such as
bebop and 'cool jazz', were too esoteric and intellectual to appeal to a
mainstream audience. Indeed, this move away from the form's roots in
blues and ragtime led to the retro 'trad boom', which was hugely popular
among sections of the British music scene around 1960. Soul can be seen
in a similar light to trad jazz, as a rejection of jazz's more avant-garde
complex tendencies in favour of a more direct approach drawing upon the
simplicity of blues and gospel structures. This was combined with
something of the electrified drive of R&B to provide the soul or 'funk'
-adjectives coming into use to refer to the 'swing' or 'groove' in a song or
arrangement. This simplicity of approach led to the song being the most
important aspect in soul, rather than the technique. Soul music was
strong on ensemble playing, but virtuoso soloing was largely absent.
Most soul music was vocal-led, often featuring a lead vocalist backed by
a harmony section. In some cases this vocal tradition owed as much to the
broadly a capella secular style known as doo-wop (for instance, early
Miracles songs such as Got A Job, and Shop Around, or The Supremes' A
Breathtaking Guy), as it did to the call and response of the Baptist or
Pentecostal congregation. Many soul group members were not instru-
mentalists or songwriters. Their role was to interpret a lyric and record
over a pre-recorded backing track performed by the session musicians of a
house band. It should, of course, be noted that prior to the emergence of
The Beatles and the beat music boom of 1964, the self-contained writing
and performing group was almost unheard of throughout popular music,
so soul was only reflecting the strict divisions of labour operating in the
1950s and early 1960s.
Soul vocals were varied, but often made great play of 'call and
response', or antiphonal singing associated with but not confined to
gospel styles. In the case of much southern soul, harmonies or vocal
responses were handled by a brass section 'answering' the main vocal
melody. Certainly, in terms of implied soulful emotion and affect, gospel
was, again, a major contributor, going as far as to give the genre its name
and doing much to create the mythologies of the form. Much use was
10 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

made of melismatic singing, where a single syllable will be stretched over

several notes in a sliding style. While many have read this technique as
typically 'black', great use of melisma is also used in traditional and
updated forms of European folk music (listen to the vocal style of Joseph
Taylor, on one of the earliest 'field recordings' of 1908, for example).
Equally, the prominence of the tambourine in soul music does not simply
connect with black gospel church practices. The tambourine was also
central to white nonconformist religious organisations such as the Salva-
tion Army.

Social and political context

The role of the nonconformist church in both American (particularly
southern American) society and upon soul cannot be underestimated.
Openly celebratory, unrepressed, 'ecstatic' forms of worship and singing
were the vocal firmament for many soul singers (Werner 1999: 28-31).
Restraint and formal accuracy were not prized, and the traditional
western establishment's 'well-tempered' reliance upon precise pitching
and intervals were at least partially dispensed with. This declamatory
experience can be observed, to varying degrees, in many soul singers'
deliveries. However, the point at which notions of emotion and authen-
ticity become reified as mere technique or a set of generic conventions is
deeply ideological in affective and interpretative terms. As we will explore
throughout this book, concepts such as 'emotion' and 'honesty' in popular
music are 'negotiated' between performers, mediators and audiences- not
inscribed within the musical texts themselves.
Despite its overall conservatism, soul also came to symbolise certain
radical dimensions in what became known as the civil rights movement,
particularly for members of the African-American community. The
postwar period saw some advances for African-Americans within main-
stream society. Segregation in schools, restaurants and public amenities
diminished, although it did not end. In 1954, the US Supreme Court
ruled that segregation in educational facilities was 'inherently unequal'
(Morse 1982: 781 ). Martin Luther King first came to international
prominence in 1963 when his advocacy of non-violent direct action
against segregation in Alabama bore fruit (Morse 1982: 782). In 1966,
activist Stokely Carmichael coined the phrase 'black power', and the
Black Panther party was founded in California - a more radical organisa-
tion reflecting a worsening of race relations throughout the US towards
the end of that decade (Morse 1982: 783). Major race-based riots became
a common feature in several US cities in the late 1960s, beginning with
 SOUL 11

the disturbances in the Los Angeles area of Watts in 1965, which led to
4,000 arrests and thirty-four deaths (Maycock 2002: 32).
All elements of American society benefited from a general rise in
prosperity throughout the 1950s and 1960s. On a basic level, the reality of
mixed-race acts, such as Otis Redding/Booker T and the M.G.'s and the
Californian soul-funk act Sly and the Family Stone, sent out its own
powerful message of ethnic cooperation and equality. In addition, the
major soul labels all proved that ethnic minorities could successfully
pursue entrepreneurial goals. In addition to Motown's (initially) largely
black management team, Stax's vice president, AI Bell, was black, the
Chess label was run by a family of Polish descent and Atlantic had been
run by Turkish immigrants Ahmed and Neshui Ertegun since the late
1940s.
Prominent soul writers and performers, such as Curtis Mayfield,
achieved great success with sweet but impassioned pleas for tolerance
and empowerment. The lyrics of a song such as Otis Redding's Respect
can be read through a gender-based frame as an almost macho exclama-
tion of sexual politics. Equally, it can be read as a cry for black civil
rights. In the hands of its best-known cover version, by Aretha Franklin,
a feminist reading is also made available. Many songs became rallying
cries for a community via a genre that had moved on from the often self-
pitying defeatism of the blues and the stoic acceptance of the secular
status quo in gospel songs, to one that was proud, forward looking and
willing to make changes before the judgement day. As the golden age of
Motown and the optimism of the 1960s drew to a close, the Tempta-
tions' renditions of the songs and productions of Whitfield and Strong
provided a different sort of radical content. Cloud Nine and Ball Of
Confusion reflected upon the debilitating effects of hard drugs moving
into the black community, the huge casualties suffered in Vietnam, the
deaths of prominent black leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin
Luther King, and the general disillusionment suffered in the wake of the
aforementioned race riots.
In Britain, systematic immigration from the Commonwealth began in
the late 1940s and accelerated through the 1950s. However, people of
African descent had relatively little impact upon the British soul scene,
either as musicians or audiences. This was to change as the second
generation of black Britons, born in the UK, came of age in the 1970s. In
the mid-1960s acts such as Liverpool's The Chants were doubly dis-
advantaged through both their colour and being 'out of line' with the
dominant genres of Merseybeat and R&B. Soul music's chief impact in
Britain in the 1960s came about as a result of both its mainstream chart
12 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

success, but also through its significance to one of the key white
subcultures of the period - mod.
The mod subculture (initially 'modernist'), at least in its early 'under-
ground' stage around 1959-63, was overtly elitist and intentionally
oppositional to mainstream youth culture (Macinnes 19 59). One of
the ways this was expressed was through the mod allegiance to then
little-known musical forms and performers, in particular in the fields of
R&B and modern jazz. As part of the movement's infiltration into the
mainstream, mods began to seek out imported US soul, particular
favourites being Otis Redding, Motown acts, Booker T and the
M.G.'s and later Geno Washington. The early mod scene was as much
based upon clubs and records as it was upon attending live performances.
Particularly important was the Scene club, where Guy Stevens played
obscurities from the US and his own Sue label (Gorman 2001: 56).
Mythology has the mods championing hard-driving British R&B from the
likes of The Who, Small Faces, The Kinks and The Action and wearing
American army parkas. While the link between such acts and the
subculture should not be denied, neither should it be over-emphasised.
Much of the music of these bands was considered too raucous, unso-
phisticated and, above all, 'uncool' for the sharpest mod. As we will
observe throughout this book, there is a long lineage of marginal, often
white subcultures looking abroad, or to black musical forms, for their
musical allegiances (see Jones 1988).

The musical texts

Motown and southern soul
As previously indicated, soul music emphasised song over technique, and
ensemble playing over virtuoso soloing. In terms of structure, this often
meant a standard twelve-bar blues progression (in musicological terms
chords 1-IV-V, or tonic-subdominant-dominant). This very traditional
structure was the bedrock for much southern soul - most up-tempo Otis
Redding tracks were twelve-bar blues- but less so for Motown, where the
blues structure was less prominent (although still present, for example on
Barrett Strong's Money or Marvin Gaye's Can I Get A Witness). The
Motown house musicians and session players came from a jazz or pop
background as, to an extent, did Berry Gordy himself. Typically, Motown
productions have a pop structure more closely connected to the AABA
pattern of 'Tin Pan Alley' or vocal jazz/swing.
In terms of instrumentation, soul typically drew upon a small, am-
plified combo (bass, rhythm guitar, drums and percussion), often aug-
 SOUL 13

mented by a brass section. In addition, keyboards such as the electric

piano and organ, and subsequently a string section, came to be employed.
By 1967, some Motown releases featured such esoteric items as the
Theremin, harpsichord and piccolo, alongside the more generically
typical saxophone and trumpet.
Much has been made of the 'Motown Sound'. While it is true that
many of its most successful releases are instantly recognisable to any
devotee of popular music, the degree of uniformity has been over-
emphasised. Some Motown artists such as Junior Walker and the All
Stars and The Contours had hits with driving R&B and gospel-based
material, relatively raucous and 'unpolished'. Others such as Mary Wells
and The Supremes occupied a sweeter, almost mainstream pop terrain.
Equally, an artist such as Marvin Gaye would tackle a hugely disparate
range of material, from jazz-tinged crooning ballads reminiscent of Tony
Bennett (Anthony Benedetto) and Nat King Cole (Nathaniel Adams
Coles), to blues-based dancefloor grooves.
Another debatable mythology is the widely held assumption that the
'house sound' and Motown backing tracks emanated from one small
studio in Detroit. It has been widely assumed that such tracks were the
work of a small group of black musicians who became known as the 'Funk
Brothers'. Although players such as James Jamerson, Earl Van Dyke,
Benny Benjamin and Ronald White were central to Motown in the 1960s,
a sizeable percentage of backing tracks were actually recorded in Cali-
fornia by session musicians, several of whom were white. In particular, it
has now been documented that many basslines accredited to Jamerson
were actually composed and played by Carol Kaye, a white mother of two
(Abbott 2001: 93-100).
Nevertheless, as a body of work, the Motown releases- particularly in
the 'classic' period from around 1964 to 1970 - do possess certain
common elements. Most incorporated a small orchestra or at least a
string section. Many were deliberately mixed for the transistor radio
speaker, with treble frequencies from tambourines, xylophones and hi-
hats well to the forefront. While many up-tempo Motown releases (often
paced at or above 120 beats per minute) share many common rhythmic
characteristics with other soul and pop styles, they also differ in the
relative underuse of blues chord progressions. In addition, basslines
rarely employ the 'walking bass' style (moving from, and returning to,
chordal root notes via crochet intervals), being less tied to root notes and
instead adopting a jazzier role, full of flourishes and an almost improvisa-
tional feel at times. The drumbeat would often invert the standard kick-
snare relationship, with the snare metronomically following each crochet
14 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

beat in the bar rather than the second and fourth beat, while the kick
would punctuate the groove more sporadically. The rhythm guitar would
further emphasise alternate snare beats by utilising a 'chop' style similar
to the classic reggae 'skank' stroke, although invariably on the on-beat.
Examples of all these characteristics can be heard on tracks such as The
Four Tops' I Can't Help Myself
A typical example of southern soul, such as Wilson Pickett's In The
Midnight Hour, was more deliberately paced, at around 112 beats per
minute, and in terms of instrumentation and mix much sparser than the
Motown model. It is hard not to construct a symbolic opposition between
Motown and Stax recordings based upon location or the connotations of
urban versus rural characteristics. Equally, southern soul performers such
as Otis Redding were born and bred in the southern states, with his rural
Georgia accent being identifiable on many occasions (pronouncing ask as
'aks', for example). The Pickett recording was built upon a standard
rhythm section and a small brass section, which both underpinned the
vocals and offered an ensemble solo during the bridge section. Motown
would often conversely employ a solo brass instrument, such as the
baritone saxophone, in the break or bridge. The rhythm guitar offered the
same 'chop' stroke as found on many Motown tracks, but the bass was
much more rooted to a crochet and quaver foundation role. Bass and
drums functioned in a pedestrian role, although not in the pejorative
sense. The production was also 'flat', with little of the claustrophobia and
urgency engendered by the trebly, cluttered mix used by Motown. In
particular, the Stax drum sound, much like that found on Al Green's later
recordings, situates the listener further from the instrument, and in an
acoustically 'dead' space compared to the 'close-miked', echoed Motown
drum sound that places us in the midst of a resonant and reflective
ambience. On many recordings, the groove of southern soul lies in its
restraint and 'playing the gaps', leading to the tension and anticipation
also found in much relatively slow and sparse funk. Even in comparing
tracks of similar drive and tempo, such as The Supremes' My World Is
Empty Without You to Redding's Love Man, the Supremes' track
connotes an urban sense of edge and tension, the Redding track a rural
swing with elements of country twang still in the mix.

Small-label soul
As an indication of both the variety of soul styles, and the importance of
small, regional soul labels - particularly as a source of songs for British
acts of the early 1960s - a few examples of relatively obscure (original)
recordings need to be analysed.
 SOUL 15

Tracey Dey's Jealous Eyes barely falls into the genre of soul at all, being
an up-tempo waltz built upon a bed of strings and lush 'barber-shop style'
backing vocals. The lead vocals have the enunciation more closely
associated with the 'torch ballad' style - one not specifically associated
with black singers, although at certain points the singer is emoting and
almost sobbing out the lyrics in a manner closer to the 'classic' soul
delivery. The track is most interesting as an example of how a small label
would not necessarily always want to provide a 'roots' or raw antidote to
the offerings of the major labels. The production values and crossover
appeal are similar to those found in the industry mainstream of the time.
Another example of female soul, much closer to the musical terrain now
thought of as typical of the genre, is Betty Everett's You're No Good. This
features a prominent bass and piano-led rhythm section, interspersed
with brass stabs and featuring a short electric guitar lead break. The vocal
style, particularly in the lead-out sections, makes greater use of melisma in
the 'soulful' upper register. The song is noticeably sparser and more
groove-based than Jealous Eyes.
Despite its successful incorporation into British Merseybeat in the
hands of the hit cover performed by The Swinging Blue Jeans in 1964,
You're No Good falls marginally into the soul genre stylistically, although
still possessing strong connections to the sounds and conventions of
mainstream pop. This dimension is also present in Evie Sands' I Can't
Let Go, which was successfully covered by The Hollies in the UK. This
track has something of the swagger and sonic depth of Phil Spector's
(Harvey Phillip Spector) girl group recordings, with the call-and-response
vocals split between a pop-flavoured backing group countered by the
antiphonal soul emoting of Sands moving the track almost into the realms
of gospel on occasions. On Linda Jones' Fugitive From Love, the terrain is
unmistakably that of gospel, with few of the constraints or polite polish of
mainstream pop, and some of the more powerful vocal sounds over-
whelming the microphone's dynamic capabilities. As with so many ele-
ments in popular music, whether this 'error' is an intended stylistic device
or the result of technological or economic restrictions is unknown- but the
resulting sounds trigger the same generic signals, whatever the reason.

Visual aesthetic
The performers
In common with almost all popular music styles prior to the psychedelic
period of 1966-8, dress codes within soul tended to be smart, or at the
very least 'smart-casual', for performers. It must be remembered that
16 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

custom-built venues for amplified music developed concurrently with the

'rock boom' during the late 1960s. For the most part, soul acts played
label package tours either in clubs (often set up for cabaret-type en-
tertainment), or, at best, theatres or concert halls. Barry Dickins, a
promoter for Stax/Volt tours in 1966 and 1967 described the venues
as 'ballrooms ... It wasn't in the days when you played the Albert Hall
and places like that' (quoted in Brown 2001: 119). This factor encouraged
a certain formality in dress and appearance, and reflected upon the
audience's largely working-class values and expectations relating to
'dressing up'.
Backing groups would usually be attired in sober lounge suits or
evening dress, with the lead vocalist(s), if male, sometimes dressed more
flamboyantly, but still the suit or jacket and tie was de rigueur. Female
performers would invariably be attired in the 'party frock' or evening
gown; hair straightening or wigs for black performers would attempt to
tone down the 'black' elements in the performers' appearance. Motown,
in particular, promoted a palatable cabaret appearance and stage demea-
nour for most of its acts, a famous publicity shot from the mid-1960s
showing the touring package resplendent in their so-called 'ice-cream
toned' suits and dresses, colour-coded for each act (Palmer 1995: 86).
This aspect of Motown was imbued through the 'finishing school'
mentality, whereby acts were taught how to dress, move and talk in a
'sophisticated manner'. As Werner commented: 'If the opportunity to
dine at the White House arose, Motown's acts would know which fork to
use' (Werner 1999: 19). For The Supremes and The Four Tops, cabaret
spots at the Copacabana or the Talk of the Town were a natural
progression in the Gordy plan to appeal to all sections of the entertain-
ment mainstream.
Even those not party to the Motown grooming process, whose image
was more about sweat than poise, such as The Contours, Otis Redding
and Geno Washington, still clearly 'dressed up' in the mid-1960s. Soul's
visual moves towards nonconformity, flamboyance and radical stage garb
occurred later in the decade, and very much in the wake of rock's move to
embrace and adopt the visual mores of the counter-culture and under-
ground.
By 1970, acts such as The Temptations had eschewed the uniformity
and optimistic smiles of their earlier promo-shots and stage costumes in
favour of an altogether moodier and individualistic brand of what we
might call 'hustler chic'. This was underpinned by a few psychedelic
flourishes, with them sporting wide-brimmed fedoras and bandannas -
suede and denim replacing satin and velvet. A group shot of Booker T and
 SOUL 17

the M.G.'s from around the early 1970s shows the members reflecting the
bearded and low-key 'back to the country roots' look championed by the
likes of The Band and The Byrds. 'Blaxploitation' movies such as
Superjly, Shaft and Trouble Man and other films such as Bonnie and
Clyde had a huge impact upon both ethnic and mainstream dress codes in
the subsequent period.
For soul elements uncompromised by the demands of the record
company or the mainstream market, just as white musicians in the rock
genre let their hair hang down, so black musicians grew 'Afros'. Female
performers became less tied to notions of feminine dress and decorum,
adopting more casual or 'unisex' modes of dress. The performers at
Wattstax in 1972 reflected many of these visual shifts. Isaac Hayes took
the stage in peach-coloured leggings, chain mail and a multi-coloured
cape, with the legend 'Black Moses' flashing on a projection screen behind
him.
It is fair to say that many of the wilder excesses of costume lay outside
of mainstream soul, but certainly the visual appearance of its performers
did radically change in the late 1960s. In addition, British mod or soul-
influenced acts such as The Action and the Small Faces were white and
associated with a specific youth subculture, which allowed them the
licence to break away from the 'showbiz' trappings that influenced much
of soul's visual aesthetic in the early 1960s. However, strong echoes ofthe
aspirational 'dressing-up' ethic found among the US soul fraternity are
found among UK mods. The Small Faces' Kenney Jones symbolised this
dimension when he commented:

We'd grown up in the post-war era when everything in the East End was black and
white ... When I was 12 I went out and bought a bright jumper and pink jeans
and, bang, I was a Mod. Hush Puppy shoes, short trousers to show your socks,
backcombed hair, Mod Macs ... wonderful. (Gilbert 2003: 50)

Audiences
As previously indicated, prior to its crossover into the mainstream in
around 1964, soul music was one of the musical genres closely associated
with the subculture of mod in the UK. Although, on balance, proletarian
and obsessed with notions of'cool' and 'style', mod did signal a departure
from many established values of youth dress and behaviour. Mod males
broke with the norms of the 1950s rock 'n' roll/Teddy boy scene by
favouring the neat 'French crop' hairstyle or backcombed semi-bouffant
over the greased 'DA' and quiff of the teddy boy. Mod was also
narcissistic and less about dressing to attract the opposite sex than other
18 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

subcultures. Similarly, biker garb, or the fabric excesses of the Teddy boy
drape suit were replaced by the Ivy League or Italian-style suit. Despite
its overall style ethos, mod was also particularly concerned with rapid
change - within the space of a couple of weeks, corduroy would be in,
then out, cycle shirts and Fred Perry shirts would replace the button-
down, or ski pants for females would be replaced by straight skirts and
white stockings (Fowler 1982: 801-3).
The air of assumed exoticism and sophistication exuded by much soul
music (or interpreted as such by British mods) fitted perfectly into this
hedonistic and fashion-obsessed scene. As is ever the case, many elements
of underground mod were adopted and adapted by the mainstream pop
audience in the mid-1960s, abetted by the explosion of interest in
designers such as Mary Qpant, Michael Fish, Justin de Villeneuve,
Courreges, John Michael and shop chains such as Lord John and Take
Six (Gorman 2001: 50-63, Gilbert 2003a: 50). The constructed 'Swinging
London' /Carnaby Street scene of the mid-1960s, including the growth of
youth television programmes such as Ready, Steady, Go (one episode of
which was an important early showcase for Motown, compered by Dusty
Springfield), provided a social context for the marriage of music genres to
youth subcultures that is such a characteristic of post-1945 Britain.
Twiggy (Leslie Horbie), the proto-supermodel who grew out of mod
subculture, claimed that the programme and its presenter Cathy McGo-
wan were 'essentially a mod thing- mod dance, mod clothes' (quoted in
Gorman 2001a: 57).
Certainly, the overall paradigm shift from the rock 'n' roll-influenced
modes of dress and gender-based codes of behaviour that had held sway
for several years prior to the soul and beat boom of 1963-5 was huge and
significant. Just as commercial soul became mainstream dance-pop by
1966, modernist elitist subculture mutated into a mainstream form of mod
dress and music and the notion of youth 'style' made a similar impact,
before both were inevitably challenged by the rise of new musical forms,
social conditions, and modes of dress and behaviour around 1967. These
will be investigated in the chapter dealing with psychedelia.

Subsequent generic developments

Soul mutated into many subgenres, such as psychedelic soul or Latin
soul. Many of the mod sounds and fashions mutated into 'hard mod' or
proto-skinhead styles, with mod reggae having an impact. Many obscu-
rities from small soul labels formed the basis for the northern soul
dancefloor-based subcultun~ of the 1970s, which has been successively
 SOUL 19

Dexy's Midnight Runners spearheaded the search

for a new soul vision for the 1980s.

revived since that period. Most significant for popular music as a whole
were the two developments of funk and disco. Funk can be seen as a
radical departure from soul, particularly in terms of its structure, use of
instrumentation and vocal message. For this reason, as well as its huge
impact upon subsequent forms such as rap and various dance subgenres,
funk will be dealt with in detail in a subsequent chapter. At this point, it
should be stated that while much funk is built upon elements of soul, and
while much soul is, indeed, 'funky', we will be making a crucial distinc-
tion between the adjective 'funky' and the noun 'funk'. Of course, there
were considerable crossovers, but also some crucial distinctions between
soul and funk.
As well as the fact that the two genres were both mainly African-
American in origin, both soul and funk shared a similar if not identical
relationship to notions of 'groove'. In formal terms groove refers to the
degree of implicit or, more often, overt syncopation within the music,
whereby elements anticipate or drag behind the underlying pulse. This
means that if we divide a four-beat bar into sixteen measures, rhythmic
stresses will be happening at three or five or seven, rather than just on the
20 P 0 PULA R MUSIC G EN RES : AN IN T R 0 DUCT I 0 N

semi-quavers of two, four, six or eight within the bar. In affective terms,
funkiness encourages informal, rhythmic dancing wherein we metaphori-
cally 'fall in' to the tension points created by anticipation or dislocations in
the common metrical pulse. Almost all music, regardless of factors such as
genre, race or ethnic origin, has a degree of syncopation; the distinctions
lie in the emphasis and the structural and sonic prominence afforded this
element. It could be argued that within soul, the prominence of groove
was higher than in forms such as rock 'n' roll or beat music (although such
conclusions are highly subjective). Furthermore, this prominence was
then further emphasised within funk until groove became, in some cases,
the most important constituent, sometimes overwhelming elements such
as melody or lyrical content.
Unlike funk, disco, although hugely popular and influential in the
period 1976-80, does not merit its own chapter in this book, being in
overall terms a refinement of soul (in terms of affect and message) rather
than a radical departure. This refinement can be mapped through many
of the releases on the commercially successful Philadelphia International
label ('Philly'), associated with the Sigma studio, and the writing and
production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Although Philly
shared many characteristics with the Motown sound, its releases in the
early and mid-1970s were more systematically aimed at the demands of
the urban discotheque, with the drums in particular eschewing the
improvisational tom-tom fills and jazz feel of Motown for a more stripped
down 'four-to-the-floor' metronomic style, making great use of the open/
closed hi-hat rhythm central to the disco genre. Equally, the disco sound
was very much studio-based, often giving little impression of ensemble
playing or a live ambience.
Holland/Dozier/Holland, after leaving Motown, had great if short-
lived success with their Invictus label, releasing huge hits for Freda Payne
and Chairman of the Board. As with numerous other small labels,
Invictus foundered partly on not being able to compete with the business
infrastructure and distribution networks of the major or major-affiliated
labels. However, the products of these small labels did, as previously
mentioned, continue to achieve dancefloor and cult success in specialist
markets such as the northern soul scene - remnants of which survive to
the present day.
Mention should be made of prominent white musicians such as Daryl
Hall and John Oates, Boz Scaggs (William Royce Scaggs) and David
Bowie (David Robert Jones). Bowie moved into, or returned to (some of
his earliest steps in popular music came from playing sax in a soul/R&B
outfit in 1963; see Du Noyer 2002: 81) the genre of soul, or 'plastic soul',
 SOUL 21

with some success in 1974-5 (Buckley 1999: 235-57). The Sigma studio
recordings of the Young Americans album and Bowie's subsequent work
with prominent American soul-influenced musicians did much to
'rescue' soul's status among those sections of the pop audience who
found its 'showbiz' trappings too off-putting. Equally, Rod Stewart's
music moved - metaphorically and geographically - to the US in
the early 1970s. On albums such as the aptly named Atlantic Crossing,
Stewart moved (or again, returned) from the country rock of his
earlier career to the smooth soul style of one of his musical heroes,
Sam Cooke. In the early 1980s Kevin Rowland and Dexy's Midnight
Runners skilfully updated many elements of the soul sound palette
and stage performance with albums such as Searching For The Young
Soul Rebels and tours such as the Projected Passion Revue. However, it
was funk, rather than soul, that provided the bedrock for the many
rhythmic explorations of white musicians, particularly in the post-punk
era.

Recommended reading
Abbott, K. (2001) Calling Out Around The World: A Motown Reader. London:
Helter-Skelter.
Barthes, R. (1977) 'The Death of the Author', in Image, Music, Text. London:
Fontana.
Brown, G. (2001) Otis Redding: Try a Little Tenderness. Edinburgh: Mojo.
George, N. (1986) Where Did Our Love Go? London: Omnibus.
George, N. (1988) The Death of Rhythm CS Blues. London: Omnibus.
Gorman, P. (2001) The Look: Adventures in Rock and Pop Fashion. London:
Sanctuary.
Gura1nick, P. (1986) Sweet Soul Music. London: HarperCollins.
Hirshey, G. (1985) Nowhere To Run. London: Pan.
Jones, S. (1988) Black Culture, White Youth. London: Macmillan.
Palmer, R. (1995) Rock and Roll: An Unruly History. New York: Harmony.
Ward, B. (I998)Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness
and Race Relations. London: UCL Press.
Werner, C. (1998) A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race and the Soul of
America. New York: Plume.

Recommended listening
(Note: Much soul is now best obtained via reissues and compilations,
rather than as original singles or albums.)
22 POPULAR M USJ C GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

Antecedents
Ray Charles (2002) The Essential Collection. Cleopatra.
Sam Cooke/Soul Stirrers (1992) Sam Cooke With The Soul Stirrers. Fantasy/
Specialty.
Mahalia Jackson (1998) Gospels, Spirituals and Hymns Vol. 1. Sony Jazz.

Generic texts
Four Tops (1992) Motown's Greatest Hits. Motown.
The Impressions (1997) Definitive Impressions. Essential.
Curtis Mayfield (1972) Superfly. Charly.
Wilson Pickett (1965) In The Midnight Hour [single]. Atlantic.
Otis Redding (1987) The Dock Of The Bay: The Definitive Collection. WEA.
Diana Ross and The Supremes (1986) Anthology. Motown.
Dusty Springfield (1969) Dusty In Memphis. Mercury.
Various Artists (1989) Motown Chartbusters Volume Three. Motown.
Various Artists (1999) Invictus Chartbusters. Sequel.
Various Artists (1999) This Is Northern Soul. Crimson.
Various Artists (2001) Tam/a Motown Big Hits And Hard To Find Classics,
Volumes 1-3. Motown.
Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band (1998) Geno, Geno, Geno. Sequel.

Subsequent generic developments

David Bowie (1975) Young Americans. EMI.
Dexy's Midnight Runners (1980) Searching For The Young Soul Rebels. Parlo-
phone.
Rod Stewart ( 197 5) Atlantic Crossing. Warner Bros.
Terrence Trent D'Arby (1987) Introducing The Hardline According To ...
Columbia.
 CHAPTER 2

Funk: the breakbeat starts here

An overview of the genre

As we have previously argued, in many respects funk was essentially a
development of soul rather than a distinctive genre in its own right.
However, the sheer radicalism of the sound offunk in terms of its explicit
challenge to popular music structure, instrumentation, lyrics and affect
means that the form merits its own chapter. In addition, its legacy on
musical genres of the past thirty years is almost immeasurable- the funk-
based breakbeat is one of the principal rhythmic building blocks in
contemporary pop, with wide utilisation in most major genres of popular
music. For this reason, and owing to the strong similarities between soul
and funk in areas such as social and historical background, this chapter
will be rather imbalanced, concentrating upon the musical texts and
subsequent developments at the partial expense of the other headings.
From its roots in gospel, soul and jazz (where the term, in its musical
sense, originates: see Palmer 1995: 238-9), funk began to carve a distinctive
niche in the late 1960s. This occurred in the hands of diverse musicians such
as James Brown and his band(s), Sly and the Family Stone, and the Meters,
and in specific locations such as Memphis and New Orleans.
Funk differed from soul in several ways:

• Funk was more concerned with the concept of a highly syncopated, relentless
'groove' rather than traditional song structures built upon a smooth 'pulse'.
• Funk employed an insistent riff more extensively than soul.
• Funk changed the role and emphasis of instruments within the sound mix,
bringing hitherto partially subsumed elements to the fore and 'relegating' lead
instruments to subsidiary, rhythmic duties.
• Funk often used vocals and lyrics as verbal 'punctuations' rather than melodic
deliverers of coherent messages, and it constructed polyrhythmic tracks full of
syncopated gaps, with intermeshed, often staccato 'stabs' of sound functioning as
part of a whole, rather than being significant as individual elements.
24 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

All of these individual dimensions can be found throughout popular

music. The use of groove or of syncopation can be applied in any genre of
music to bring a certain degree of'funkiness'. However, although funk is
always funky, funky music is not always funk (listen, by way of example,
to the diverse likes of Little Feat, Japan, Free or Captain Beefueart's
Clear Spot album, or more broadly dance music genres such as house and
techno, for music that is funky, but not 'the funk'). In addition, some acts
that worked within the genre have subsequently come to be placed within
a different critical terrain. The Commodores, now best remembered for
ballads such as Three Times A Lady and Easy, forged their success with
early funk tracks such as Brick House and Too Hot Ta Trot. The
subsequent solo career of Lionel Ritchie was not without its funky
moments (All Night Long), but his balladeer image - lacking funk
credibility - has seemingly erased his more up-tempo offerings from
collective and generic memory.
As a result of its musical characteristics and wider cultural connota-
tions, funk proved ideal as the accompaniment to screen narratives in the
form of soundtracks, or incidental music. It remains, to this day, one of
the most effective signifiers of urban life.
Although typically described in terms of its rhythmic urgency and
propulsive drive, much funk is essentially laid back, and even mellow,
both in terms of imbued feel and in terms of the actual beats per minute.
Much classic funk operates at between eighty and a hundred beats per
minute, as opposed to the 120 beats per minute (or higher) of much disco,
house, and contemporary dance music. But the result of the inherent
rhythmic tensions and contradictions within funk is an implied momentum
and restlessness, even in tracks as seemingly 'easygoing' as Bill Withers' Use
Me (around seventy-six beats per minute -listen to the huge gap left after
the bass riff drops out, mainly filled by a skeletal drum rhythm) or the
Meters' Look-Ka Py-Py (around eighty-eight beats per minute).
Funk became a transcending signifier, with musicians, audiences and
critics assigning holistic, even cosmic properties to the term and its
sounds: 'Funk is funkiness, a natural release of the essence within ...
Funk is at the extremes of everything . . . The Funk is a rush that comes
all over your body ... Funk is what you say when nothing else will do'
(Vincent 1996: 3). At the centre of much funk discourse was the concept
of 'the one', explained in terms of both a specific structural tendency
within the music, and as a communal concept wherein all the musicians,
listeners, audiences and, indeed, mythical nations were united 'under a
groove'. Both of these concepts will be explored in greater depth during
this chapter.
 FUNK 25

In a similar fashion to the binary opposition between pop and rock

that developed in the late 1960s, funk was seen to be, and promoted as,
the authentic sound of soul and R&B - elements of which had certainly
been assimilated into the pop mainstream in the hands of labels such as
Tamla Motown. Funk was the antidote to the showbiz trappings and
polite textures of much 'sweet soul'. An early example of the distinctive
genre of funk would be James Brown's Papa's Got A Brand New Bag,
from 1965. Although still built upon standard blues progressions, this
track burst out of its blues roots in startling ways, engendering the music
with a different feel built upon explicit challenges to instrumentation,
vocals, lyrics and structure. With Cold Sweat in 1967, Brown's music was
helping forge an ever more distinctive path, particularly in the promi-
nence afforded the instrumental break or bridge. A small section of the
break, scratched, sampled and looped into the breakbeat by DJs and
mixers, became instrumental in the development of rap in the 1970s and
1980s.
Another route for funk lay in the appropriation of psychedelic rock
playing and production techniques. The seminal mixed-race, mixed-
gender act Sly and the Family Stone achieved huge crossover success
with such a formula. Had it not been for huge drug problems in the
early 1970s, this band was poised to achieve both huge and long-lasting
success and critical status. In many similar respects, the importance of
Jimi Hendrix (Johnny Allen Hendrix) for 'the funk' should not be
overlooked. During the instrumental break of All Along The Watch-
tower, Hendrix fashions a solo fusing the sounds and techniques of rock,
psychedelia and funk. Indeed, with the Band of Gypsys, much of his
later work such as Dolly Dagger and I zabella is closer to funk than any
other musical genre.
As funk was played generally by African-Americans, it was seen as
uncompromised by the 'white' record industry, and came to embody the
struggle for civil rights and the radicalism of the black power movement.
Many saw funk's radical dimensions as endemic and symptomatic of the
worsening race relations and social conditions in the US following the
death of Martin Luther King in 1968 (Palmer 1995: 95). Certainly, Sly
and the Family Stone's later work, such as the brooding There's A Riot
Coin' On from 1971, bears out this scenario. However, funk was too
diverse a form to be 'contained' by one set of social conditions. In the
1970s, acts associated with bandleader George Clinton (principally
Parliament and Funkadelic) fashioned a more escapist and irreverent,
if still political, take on aspects of race and equality (listen, for instance, to
Parliament's Chocolate City). For other funk outfits, such as Earth, Wind
26 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

and Fire, cosmology and spectacle were welded to the funk groove. The
Ohio Players and Kool and the Gang had no 'master plan', and their take
on funk leads us almost seamlessly on to the absorption of certain
elements of funk into disco and jazz funk in the mid-to-late 1970s. These
latter developments were funky, but not purely 'the funk' in most cases.
In a similar fashion to soul, funk was perceived as a largely American
phenomenon, and acts outside the US found it hard to gain an audience or
any degree of critical credibility. Scottish outfit the Average White Band
did gain some success, but as exceptions to the rule. Disco and jazz funk,
with little of the attendant baggage of authenticity or 'ethnic essence',
offered a more lucrative career path for the likes of non-Americans such as
The Real Thing, Boney M, Imagination and Shakatak.

Historical roots and antecedents

As with soul, the historical roots of funk lay in the long-established
'staples' of the largely African-American music scene: jazz, blues and
gospel. However, some important distinctions need to be made in terms of
how funk draws upon different elements from these musical antecedents.
Many would see funk as taking the more challenging elements of these
genres as their blueprints in order to fashion a sound based upon the
demands of a more esoteric or avant-garde or purist (read 'non-crossover'
or 'non-commercial') audience. For Ricky Vincent, experimental jazz
forms such as bebop and hard bop played a role, both musically and
spiritually, with many musicians such as Thelonius Monk, Archie Shepp,
Miles Davis (Miles Dewey Davis III) and Art Blakey (Abdullah Ibn
Buhaina) exploring polyrhythmic styles and percussion-led outfits draw-
ing upon a 'black roots' or African heritage (Vincent 1996: 42-3). The
relationship between African music and Western forms can never be
mapped out in any objective sense and is riven with controversy and
contentious value judgements. A good example of this would be Vincent
claiming that the innovative rhythm guitar role associated with funk was
'later' learned by James Brown to be 'African in origin' without providing
any substantiation to this finding (Vincent 1996: 35). More important
than the notion that funk was essentially African was the perception that
this was the case, regardless of'hard evidence'. This willing into existence
had a huge impact upon the music, ideology and iconography of funk.
The subsequent impact of funk upon African styles such as soucous and
high life and performers such as Fela Kuti and Manu Dibango would be
seen by some as an example of a musical circle being completed.
Certainly, much Afrobeat or so-called world music that has made the
 FUNK 27

biggest impact in the West over the past few decades has incorporated a
funky element, with James Brown's influence in Africa almost rivalling
that of Bob Marley (Robert Nesta Marley).
More directly, clear links can be made between soul and funk, whether
emanating from the production line of Detroit or southern centres such as
Memphis, Atlanta and New Orleans. One tonal distinction between soul
and funk that does largely ring true is that whereas soul was often smooth,
funk was invariably staccato, both rhythmically and vocally. This pro-
vided artists such as Wilson Pickett, Booker T and the M.G.s, Shorty
Long (Emidio Vagnoni), Rufus Thomas, the Meters and Edwin Starr
(Charles Hatcher), to name but a few, with the opportunity to deliver a
'funky take' on soul music while still remaining, historically and etymo-
logically, within the soul genre. Too constrained by Gordy's Motown
template, The Isley Brothers left the label (and the traditional soul 'vocal
group' style) to gain artistic and economic autonomy, resulting in a string
of successful soul/funk albums on their T-Neck label. Another hugely
successful performer who stayed with Motown but obtained creative
autonomy was Stevie Wonder (Steveland Hardaway Judkins Morris).
Although never specifically a funk artist, some of Wonder's most popular
tracks (such as Superstition and Ain't Gonna Stand For It) do conform to
the style indicators of the genre. In addition, the funky jazz influence on
tracks such as Sir Duke, I Wish and Do I Do returns us to one of funk's
prime influences.
The point at which soul becomes funk is moot, and is a matter of
historical era and definition as much as style. James Brown was known as
'Soul Brother Number One' long into the period when his music was no
longer being defined as soul. Indeed, he claimed in 1986 to have never
even been an R&B act, although usually classed as one. 'My music came
from gospel and jazz, which is called funk and soul. You see funk and soul
is really jazz' (Vincent 1996: 73). Nevertheless, funk was a recognisable
tendency within soul, years before it got its own generic term, particularly
as jazz, as a term, shifted radically during the 1960s and 1970s. For the
purposes of simplicity, a cut-off line between funk-in-soul and funk
existing in its own right could be drawn at around 1968, thanks to the
ground-breaking work of performers to be explored later in this chapter.
Funk can also be associated with timbral and technological develop-
ments more usually associated with the experimental or psychedelic rock
field. Fuzz-bass, phasing, stereo cross-fading and the incorporation of a
broader sound palette - all elements associated with the mid-1960s' 'rock
explosion' - began to be employed by some elements of the funk genre by
the late 1960s. George Clinton moved in the same musical circles as
28 P 0 PULA R MUSIC GENRES : AN IN T R 0 DUCT I 0 N

Detroit hard rock acts such as the Amboy Dukes, the Stooges and MC5
and learned much about high amplification and stadium presentation as a
consequence (see Corbett 1994: 150). In Clinton's own words, 'we had
Marshalls all over the place . . . so we became the loudest black band in
the world, Temptations on Acid' (Corbett 1994: 148). Such geographic
cross-generic influences aided other Detroit acts such as The Tempta-
tions to move away from their sweet-soul and gospel roots into a terrain
closer to funk, as witnessed by tracks such as Papa Was A Rolling Stone,
Law Of The Land and Psychedelic Shack. As well as tonal, structural and
rhythmic shifts, such tracks dealt with social issues through a lyrical
explicitness far removed from most standard Motown soul tracks. The
Temptations were also effectively the musical mouthpiece of production
auteurs such as, in their case, Norman Whitfield. This matched the shifts
in creative status that had occurred in rock, and was duplicated by the
growing impact throughout funk of other auteurs such as James Brown,
Allen Toussaint, George Clinton and Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart).
Brown, in particular, as writer, producer and label and radio-station
owner (among many other business interests) was symbolic of the shifts in
status engendered by both the times and the genre, elements of which
were clearly evidenced by the mood and content of the music itself.
In retrospect, Latin-American music and stylistic tendencies can be
seen to have had an often overlooked influence upon funk. In the 1950s,
there was a near global upsurge of interest in dance-led forms of Latin
music such as the mambo, bossa nova and samba. Shuker claims that salsa
(meaning 'sauce' or 'spice'), a term for describing Latin styles, 'has been
used in relation to music since the 1920s in a similar fashion to funky'
(Shuker 1998: 265). Such styles featured the extensive use of percussion
elements (bongos, congas, woodblocks, claves) and extremely propulsive
and syncopated brass sections and keyboards, and was popularised by
'Mambo Kings' such as Tito Puente. In addition, many forms adopted an
even-measured underlying pulse (as opposed to the common triplets or 6 :
8 time of rock 'n' roll), then countered by a highly mobile bass style not
tied to root notes or intervals. Some of these traits filtered into main-
stream pop, particularly the work of composers Lieber and Stoller as
performed by the likes of the Drifters (Under The Boardwalk, Save The
Last Dance For Me). Something of the crisp syncopation of Latin music
shines through these sophisticated pop productions and can be found in
later, more hybridised funk narratives (Stevie Wonder's Don't You Worry
'Bout A Thing, War's Low Rider).
 FUNK 29

Social and political context

In terms of associating social and political contexts to musical genres,
widely held perceptions or moods rather than the specifics of events or
government policy shifts are often more historically persuasive when
determining a Zeitgeist, or spirit of a time. Despite all the inconsistencies
that such perceptions efface or deny, it is indisputable that the widely held
retrospective perceptions of the 1960s as a time of increased liberalism,
optimism and better race relations do ring true, simply because they were
held to be true at the time.
Within this timeframe, funk's period of greatest artistic and commer-
cial success (stretching from the end of the 1960s to the end of the 1970s),
can be seen to parallel both a general mood of pessimism and disillusion-
ment with the 'end of the dream'. Funk's era also encompasses more
quantifiable occurrences. These include the protracted defeat of the
American forces in the Vietnam War (and the huge fallout for the black
community, statistically over-represented in the armed forces), economic
and energy crises, the polarisation of urban America into 'vanilla' suburbs
and 'chocolate' inner cities, and the influx of harder and more socially
destructive drugs into the North American ghetto. The decline of Sly
Stone from a gifted composer, bandleader and multi-instrumentalist to
the sad character addled by years of poly-drug abuse is symbolic of these
changes (see Selvin 2001: 80-90). As a counter to these negative dimen-
sions, many commentators would also point to the increasing visibility
and economic power held by many within the 'black music industry' -
leading to the incorporation (or 'absorption') of largely black musical
forms such as funk into the mainstream market, with both positive and
negative implications.
The film subgenre known as 'blaxploitation' exemplifies both the
positive and negative dimensions engendered within black culture during
the period of funk's greatest impact. Films such as Shaft (1971) (and its
sequels), Trouble Man (1972) and Superfly (1972) all achieved mainstream
success. This was due, to no small degree, to the accompanying sound-
tracks (produced by Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield,
respectively). Mayfield's music for Superfly spawned two hit singles and a
number one hit album in the US, with sales of over two million (Edmonds
2002: 62). However, this success was achieved at the cost of reproducing a
stereotypical view of the black-urban experience built around archetypes
of pimps and whores, gangster chic, coolness and macho sexuality, partly
preparing the terrain for the later 'gangsta rap' genre (see Chapter 9).
Thus mainstream culture paid lip service to notions of 'incorporation/
30 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

absorption', while still marginalising and reifying black culture's per-

ceived essences. Furthermore, the blaxploitation genre - as the name
suggests - was very much a short-lived fad, with many ill-conceived
examples besmirching the few films of quality that resulted. The asso-
ciated music, although not free from cliche and standardised elements,
has fared much better in terms of longevity and influence.
For many working within the genre, the concept of 'escape' proved a
viable, alternative terrain of symbolic power. This escape could be
manifested in a variety of ways - lyrically, musically, iconically, even
philosophically. John Corbett argues that figures such as George Clinton

constructed worlds of their own, futuristic environs that subtly signify on the
marginalization of black culture. These new discursive galaxies utilize a set of
tropes and metaphors of space and alienation, linking their common diasporic
African history to a notion of extra-terrestriality ... imagining a productive zone
largely exterior to dominant ideology. (Corbett 1994: 7-8)

Despite several crossover successes for his outfits between the early and
late 1970s, the logistical and economic costs of touring and staging the
elaborate spectacles stymied Clinton's long-term plans, resulting in
bankruptcy and loss of musical impetus. As is so often the case, the
harsh realities of an economic power base exerted a constrictive grip upon
the possibilities offered by the symbolic power of a creative super-
structure.

The musical texts

James Brown and his band(s)
Terms such as 'ground-breaking' and 'revolutionary' are overused in
historical analysis, and are particularly prevalent in pop journalism and
fan-based biographical accounts. Nevertheless, it is hard to deny the
appropriateness of such superlatives when overviewing the contribution
of James Brown and associated musicians to the fabric of popular music,
particularly between around 1965 and the early 1970s.
Brown did much to popularise a seismic reappraisal of the role and
status of instruments. His music also detached concepts such as swing and
groove from their blues and soul foundations and placed them in a more
contemporary, yet more primal, setting. This setting often eschewed
chord progressions, pop arrangements and conventional subject matter in
favour of an unrelenting mesh of elements, many of which only achieve
impact in direct contrast to those other components against which they
 FUNK 31

seem to struggle. In this terrain, instruments' percussive and staccato

abilities are emphasised. On Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, a track still
rooted in blues progressions, the expected drum roll signalling the end of
the verse/refrain section is played by rhythm guitar - a small, yet
unexpected change prefacing the more radical reworkings of the late
1960s. Brown's music turned its back on sustain, full chords and 'washes'
of sound. The brass section would play 'stabs' rather than riffs, the
rhythm guitar would 'chop' beats while de-emphasising all melodic
tonality. The bass, freed from chord root notes or 'following the changes',
would typically establish its position with a strong entry on 'the one' at the
beginning of the bar, before embarking on a free, highly syncopated
journey around the fretboard before its return at the start of the next
'one', where it would again gel with the kick drum- similarly freed for the
rest of the pattern to push and drag against the underlying pulse. In a lot
of funk, the pulse is implied through absence, rather than emphasised, as
in most other forms of popular music.
Although invariably credited as sole composer and producer, Brown's
tutelage of his bands, evidenced by both recordings, out-takes, and the
testimonies of collaborators, matched the radicalism of the resulting
tracks. During the 1960s, Brown would sing, grunt and even dance
his ideas for grooves to bandleaders such as Nat Jones and later Alfred
'Pee Wee' Ellis, who would then translate these ideas into a more formal
mode for the rest of the band.

He grunted the rhythm, a bassline to me. I wrote the rhythm down ... there were
no notes. I had to translate it ... You got a musical palette from hearing him, from
seeing his bodily movement and facial expression, seeing him dance ... So you get
a picture of that, and you write it. (Ellis, quoted in Weinger and Leeds 1996)

The resulting music does aptly realise such unfettered composition

techniques. In that most oxymoronic of phrases, it is 'loose but tight'.
When hearing Brown become a 'human beat box' to exactly demonstrate
how he wants the groove to be on an out-take 'false start' of Cold Sweat
the paradox is made evident - these unfettered and free grooves are
'composed', and this most polyrhythmically complex music seems to be
the translation of one man's radical will. As David Brackett suggests,
Brown's take on funk, as well as upsetting the accepted musical fabric of
pop, also upsets any 'easy assumptions' (Brackett 2000: 154) relating to
the constructed oppositions of planning or improvisation, looseness or
precision. However, in overall terms, the fact that Brown's autocratic
nature resulted in him shedding and replacing musicians with regularity,
32 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

but still maintaining the music's essence and singularity of purpose, pays
testament to assumptions of creative planning, vision and will.
In 1970, a new band, the JBs, was brought in to replace a group of
sacked musicians. Foremost in this band was the virtuoso bassist William
'Bootsy' Collins. Brown's ability to mould new players without suppres-
sing their creativity was another great attribute. Brown's statement
exemplifies this tendency and the underlying impetus of funk:

I think Bootsy learned a lot from me. When I met him he was playing a lot of bass-
the ifs, the ands, and the buts. I got him to see the importance of the one in funk -
the downbeat at the beginning of every bar. I got him to key in on the dynamic parts
of the one instead of playing all around it. Then he could do all his other stuff in the
right places -after the one. (Brown, quoted in Vincent 1996: 81-2)

Sly and the Family Stone

In contrast to the singular take on funk fashioned by James Brown and
band(s), the funk of Sly and the Family Stone was very much a crossover
sound, with rock timbres of sustain, fuzz and distortion contributing to a
much 'thicker', often riff-based palette. In addition, the early part of their
career (1967-70) embodied many aspects of the hippie and psychedelic
subcultures in terms of iconography, race, and gender aspects, and the air
of optimistic self-fulfilment embodied in tracks such as Everybody Is A
Star, Stand, Everyday People and Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf
Again). These elements all contributed to their huge commercial success,
in contrast to Brown, whose success in the R&B charts was rarely equalled
in the pop market. However, despite the less purist nature of their music,
Sly and the Family Stone stand as a classic example of a broadly based
funk act whose impact upon subsequent acts was huge.
A large part of this impact rested on the sound and style of bassist
Larry Graham. Graham did much to popularise the slap bass style, which
was central to much subsequent funk, disco, jazz funk and mainstream
pop in the 1980s. In slapping or hammering the bass strings, Graham and
others brought the instrument's percussive timbres to the fore, resulting
in a 'dirtier' sound. Graham also employed a fuzz unit on tracks such as I
Want To Take You Higher and Dance To The Music that gave these tracks
some of their psychedelic feel.
During the latter part of their career, when drugs had done much to
fracture the unity of the band, Sly Stone began replacing the drumming
of Greg Errico with a rudimentary drum machine on some tracks. In
1971, this was an almost unprecedented move for a 'commercial' dance
act. On the There's A Riot Coin' On album this mechanical 'anti-funk'
 FUNK 33

component, juxtaposed with archetypal funk elements, does much to

contribute to the air of tension and fractured paranoia that so many have
drawn from the work (see Selvin 2001: 80--90). This juxtaposition of'hot'
and 'cold' timbres proved to be the aesthetic blueprint for much experi-
mental music in the post-punk field.

The Meters
Although a self-contained recording and touring act, the Meters also
functioned as a 'house band' for a large variety of acts based in New
Orleans (Lee Dorsey, Aaron Neville/Neville Brothers, Ann Sexton)
and were closely associated with the auteur Allen Toussaint. The
enduring appeal of the Meters' takes on funk rests on the sparseness
of their sound, or in 'playing the gaps'. In common with reggae, funk is
more reliant upon this aspect than any other genre of popular music.
Slow-paced and largely instrumental tracks such as Tippi Toes, Chicken
Strut and Look-Ka Py-Py are masterpieces of implied, understated
groove, built upon insistent bass riffs, often doubled on skeletal rhythm
guitar, intermeshed with organ stabs and trills. Vocal elements are often
little more than interjections or percussive examples of 'scatting'. As
with so much funk, when taken in isolation, none of the individual
elements are in any way strikingly original or virtuoso, but as a complete
track, the dialogue between instruments, stretching and pulling the
common time pulse into a state of rhythmic disarray, exemplifies funk's
ability to upset and disturb in the most pleasurable and seductive
fashion.
As with so much classic funk, the kind of rhythmic jolts central to such
tracks engenders a sexually charged element to the genre, putting
listeners/dancers in touch with their bodies in a manner perhaps un-
equalled in popular music as a whole. This sexual dimension also accounts
for the myriad examples of funk lyrics that do little more that exhort the
listener to move, groove or get on down. The use of these, or any other
phrases exploiting the dance/sex ambiguities, are widespread throughout
pop, and indeed pre-date any form of commercially recorded popular
music, but funk typically took this dimension to new levels of explicitness
and intensity.

P-Funk
The music of Parliament, Funkadelic and linked acts such as Bootsy's
Rubber Band was prolific and varied. Typically, Parliament offered a
more conventional take on funk whereas Funkadelic, as the name
suggests, incorporated fusion elements of psychedelic rock into the
34 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

mix: 'Parliament is more groove-oriented and song-driven, where Fun-

kadelic is more loose, jam-oriented, with lots of guitars' (Clinton, quoted
in Vickers 1995: 4).
In reality, any objective distinctions between the outfits are blurred,
although Parliament made extensive use of a brass section (as on Bop
Gun), while Funkadelic preferred rock textures from distorted lead
guitars (as on the polemical Who Says A Funk Band Can't Play Rock?).
The collective known as P-Funk was a chaotic mix of styles, icons,
structures and alter egos. Although clearly indebted to earlier funk
models, P-Funk made far more use of the metronomic four-to-the-floor
drum styles, thus linking their funk to disco and jazz funk. However,
unlike disco, P-Funk always sounded 'played', with little of the produc-
tion-line precision of disco and post-disco dance forms.
Nevertheless, to modern ears reared on the timbral excesses and
accelerated beats per minute of post-house forms of dance music, P-
Funk sounds relatively mellow, even laid-back. Clearly, the overall live
package - with elaborate props and costumes and a small army of
musicians and dancers on stage - cannot be adequately symbolised by
the musical texts in isolation. As with James Brown's backing tracks, P-
Funk was one of the most favoured musical sources for subsequent rap
producers. Clinton later went as far as to provide sampler CDs full of
usable musical snippets, together with 'four point instructions for obtain-
ing permission' (Corbett 1994: 152).

Visual aesthetic
A clear homology existed between many of funk's more radical musical
departures and the sartorial wildness of many funk performers. James
Brown, although never taking costume to the cosmic limits, signalled the
funk ethos through hairstyle changes during his period of greatest success.
In 1968, when visiting US troops in Vietnam, Brown was still modelling
the slicked and straightened hairstyle redolent of crossover/showbiz
values (see Maycock 2003: 66-74). This also reflects upon the peculiar
mix of radicalism and conservatism that is found throughout Brown's
career and work. Ward states that

in March 1968 ... Brown dismissed the wearing of natural, unprocessed hair as an
irrelevant symbol of racial pride ... and, of course, in a sense his songs had proudly
worn a metaphorical musical Afro for years before he finally succumbed to public
pressure and allowed his artificially relaxed coiffure to coil into a natural. (Ward
1998: 390)
 FUNK 35

George Clinton exemplified the visual excesses of 1970s' funk.

This 'natural', or Afro, became a key signifier for 'unfettered' funk and
African-American identity in the early to mid-1970s. It thus mirrored
historically the period of greatest excess in post-hippie long hair. The
Afro was still widely adopted during the disco era, but has not been
deemed suitable as the visual accompaniment to subsequent 'reality'
forms of dance or funky music such as rap or jungle.
P-Funk was never visually restrained by any of Brown's sartorial
values. Clinton, himself a former hairdresser, promoted a completely
laissez-faire, almost cartoon-like philosophy to hair and costume, encom-
passing long blond wigs, fluorescent dyes and all manner of braids.
Members of P-Funk were as likely to take the stage in a nappy or a
loincloth or dress as a superhero, a prisoner in stripes, or an extra-
terrestrial.
This exaggerated 'other-wordly' visual dimension was emphasised by
P-Funk's album cover art. Funkadelic's early album covers (the epony-
mous 1970 album, followed by Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
and Maggot Brain, both from 1971) are built upon relatively straightfor-
ward photographic representation. However, from 1972, the design was
taken over by Pedro Bell, whose graphic 'scartoon' or 'sketchadelic' style
of drawing, incorporating a myriad range of archetypes ranging from
spacemen and gothic demons to African maidens, aptly matched the traits
36 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

of escape and lunacy symbolised by both the music and the philosophies
of the band(s) in this period. Clinton also employed a group of graphic
artists to work on costume and stage design. For P-Funk, 'the one' was
less of a musical touchstone than a symbol of a totally 'planned', yet
chaotically alternative, way of life. This existence enveloped different
personae, and even a parallel mode of verbal expression (pseudonyms
abounded in P-Funk, as we find in so many other largely black genres
such as blues, reggae, and rap). As within other examples of African-
American creativity, it is hard not to view this move into a 'magical'
surreal terrain as a necessary retreat from a reality that denied much
actual socio-economic power or status.

Subsequent generic developments

As previously indicated, many elements of funk helped form the basis for
dance subgenres such as disco and jazz funk. Such styles proved hugely
popular with a mainstream audience, fuelled in part by the success of the
film and soundtrack compilation Saturday Night Fever. The importance
of the Latino take on funk should not be overlooked. Early disco
dancefloors were heavily populated by both African-Americans and
Hispanic-Americans, with acts such as The Gibson Brothers drawing
upon both their Cuban roots and funk elements. This hybrid sound
continued to prove successful with acts such as Gloria Estefan/Miami
Sound Machine in the 1980s.
Some of pop's biggest global superstars, such as Michael Jackson and
Prince, drew extensively upon funk idioms throughout the period of their
greatest commercial successes. In particular, Prince (Prince Rogers
Nelson) stands as a classic exemplar of a postmodern pop artist who
blatantly incorporates prior musical styles and images in a collagist
fashion. However, despite his musical eclecticism, it is funk that has
provided the most constant foundation to his work, with some of his most
influential tracks, such as Sign 0' The Times and Kiss, being classic
examples of the genre. Tracks such as Housequake are almost uncannily
close to their creative influences, in this case James Brown, but Prince was
equally happy updating the psychedelic funk of Hendrix (the guitar work
on When Doves Cry, for example). In addition, Prince did much to copy
the example of Sly and the Family Stone's visual aesthetic, as well as
promoting the same blend of races and genders within his bands, most
notably with The Revolution in the middle of the 1980s.
Another crossover take on funk was fashioned by reggae artists, who
worked upon the huge similarities in pacing, dynamics and 'playing the
 FUNK 37

spaces' to good effect. The work of Third World and Grace Jones (Grace
Mendoza) is a good example of this hybrid. On tracks such as Bill
Withers' Use Me and Walking In The Rain, Jones, backed by reggae's
'superstar' rhythm section Sly and Robbie (Lowell Dunbar and Robbie
Shakespeare), and Level 42's Wally Badarou, emphasises the parallels
between reggae, disco and funk.
As previously indicated, the funk accompaniment to any screen
narrative with pretensions towards the representation of 'urban realism'
was de rigueur for much of the 1970s and 1980s. In television dramas such
as Starsky and Hutch and later Miami Vice, stereotypical funk elements
did much to engender 'edge' and physical urgency, and this phenomenon
was still proving successful with films such as Beverley Hills Cop (1984).
The Theme From Axel F, its accompanying hit single, replete with 1980s'
synthesisers and electronic drums, was as much a sonic signifier of its era
as was the wah-wah guitar pattern of Isaac Hayes' Theme From Shaft of
an earlier point in funk's development.
The funk offshoot of disco was much vilified by both the rock and funk
fraternities, but as is ever the case, the subgenre contained much music of
worth, with some of it indisputably funky. Where disco differed funda-
mentally from funk was in its almost total reliance upon the soon-to-be-
standardised 'four-to-the-floor' drum pattern, which had the effect of
providing a rhythmically comforting metronomic pulse. However, as
already noted, a fair proportion of funk (some Parliament/Funkadelic
tracks, for example) also adopted the disco beat. Disco's construction of a
hegemonic beat did result in a certain degree of blandness in overall
terms, but acts such as Chic, later Kool and the Gang, the Jacksons,
Shalamar and Sister Sledge built successfully upon such rigid bases. In
particular, the music and production team of Bernard Edwards and Nile
Rodgers would have comfortably slotted into many a 'hard funk' outfit;
Edwards' basslines on Chic's Good Times and Chic Cheer and the rhythm
guitar of Rogers on Diana Ross' I'm Coming Out and Upside Down are
classic funk components. Rodgers' influence as producer also helped add
the funk/dancefloor component to acts such as Madonna (Like A Virgin
album) and David Bowie. Bowie moved from the Philly soul pastiche of
Young Americans to a harder funk terrain with Station To Station, aided
by the guitar interplay between Earl Slick and rhythm guitarist Carlos
Alomar. After an experimental series of albums with Brian Eno (Brian
Peter George St John de Baptiste de la Salle Eno), Bowie turned to
Rodgers as producer and the resulting album, Let's Dance, was one of the
biggest successes of Bowie's career, and was built upon funk grooves.
Jazz funk was very much the 'acceptable' face of dance music in the late
38 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

1970s. Jazz funk took its lead from both the jazz rock of Miles Davis' electric
period and the small ensembles ofWeather Report and The Jazz Crusaders,
but also drew upon soul and funk in fashioning a sound aimed less
exclusively at the dancefloor than disco. However, as with disco, it could
not escape criticisms relating to its politeness, and the sounds of Shakatak
and Level 42 did eminently suit the wine-bar culture of the 1980s' yuppie
even if the bass work ofLevel42's Mark King did take the slap-bass style to
new heights of speed and virtuosity. Herbie Hancock (Herbert Jeffrey
Hancock), another emigre ffom jazz and disco, incorporated electro ele-
ments into the classic jazz funk of hits such as Roc kit. A funk dimension was
an often integral part in the 'synthpop' music of the early 1980s. Acts such as
Heaven 17, Japan, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet all utilised slap-bass
and funk-rhythm guitar styles extensively (this aspect is explored in further
depth in the synthpop chapter). In particular, the rhythm section of Japan,
featuring the sinuous fretless basslines of Mick Karn (Anthony Michae-
lides), moved their take on funk into an exotic and unexpected terrain.
Funk's influence upon two other forms of music was less expected, and
all the more innovative as a result. Post-punk acts such as Gang of Four,
Pigbag, A Certain Ratio and The Fall all drew upon the more fractured
and confrontational aspects of funk to fashion a new hybrid. On albums
such as Gang of Four's Entertainment, the rhythmic disturbances of funk
meshed with agitprop lyrics and avant-garde atonality to great effect.
Punk rock had made a physical response to music 'socially acceptable'
again to the white mainstream rock audience and the punk/funk hybrid
garnered credibility as a result.
Another archetypal 'white' genre of music, progressive rock, made
tentative steps towards funkiness in its attempt to broaden its appeal and
market demographic. In particular, Genesis and Phil Collins became
global superstars in the 1980s by stripping their sound of its density and
convoluted time signatures and instead exploiting a funk sense of space
and dynamics (listen to Collins' Sussudio or Genesis' Invisible Touch by
way of example).
Early forms of rap had consisted of a D J voiceover and a disco or funk
backing or rhythm track, or bass riff. In the early 1980s, aided by new
technologies such as programmable drum machines and samplers, devel-
opments by the likes of Afrika Bambaataa (Kevin Donovan) and Grand-
master Flash (Joseph Sadler) gave rap a more innovative, and funky basis
(listen, for instance, to Looking For The Perfect Beat or Planet Rock from
rap's short-lived 'electro' period). Later in the decade, the sampled funk
break beat became the basis for huge numbers of rap tracks for the likes of
Public Enemy, Ice-T (Tracy Marrow) and LL Cool J (James Todd
 FUNK 39

Smith). Indeed, the sampled drum pattern from the end section of James
Brown's Funky Drummer (played by Clyde Stubblefield) can probably lay
claim to being the single most sampled piece in popular music, with
literally dozens of appropriations by musicians as diverse as Fine Young
Cannibals, Jive Bunny, Sinead O'Connor, Public Enemy and George
Michael (Georgios Panayiotou).
The burgeoning and global success of dance music perpetuated the
funk legacy. In the 1990s, the same funk breakbeats, slowed down below
eighty beats per minute or sped up beyond 160 beats per minute, became
the basis for new dance subgenres emanating from the UK, such as trip-
hop, jungle and drum 'n' bass, and later speed garage and UK garage.
Crossover indie-guitar acts such as Primal Scream and the Happy
Mondays made great use of the funk 'shuffle' rhythm, whose influence
spread throughout mainstream guitar pop.
In the contemporary music scene, some would argue that the battle that
has raged since the mid-1970s between the 4: 4 crotchet beat developed from
disco, and the breakbeat drawn from soul and funk, has recently tipped in
favour of the latter. Post-house dance music, and the whole superclub and
superstar-DJ scene based largely upon four-to-the-floor beats, went into
decline in the late 1990s in the UK, with prominent clubs such as Home in
London and Nation in Liverpool going out of business. In contrast,
breakbeat-influenced dance styles, such as the big beat hybrid popularised
by performer-DJs such as Fatboy Slim (Quentin 'Norman' Cook) and the
Chemical Brothers, were less intrinsically associated with the perceived
'cheesiness' of commercial dance culture, allowing for their critical success
amidst the ongoing mutation of funk that shows no sign of ceasing.
Guitar-based forms of rock, such as grunge and nu-metal, did much to
unite disparate styles and audiences in the 1990s. American acts such as
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam worked within the crossover axes of
metal and hard funk to considerable commercial success. Later in the
decade, acts such as Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit re-emphasised this
crossover, adding a patina of rap vocal style and image to the package.
Eminem, the most successful rap superstar, most typically employed a
sparse funk breakbeat as the musical accompaniment to his verbal
gymnastics, but the same tracks, remixed and augmented with distorted
rock guitars, slotted seamlessly into the programming on specialised rock
video channels such as Kerrang!
The music may most recently be referred to as 'urban' or R&B within
record charts or retail categories, but the funk component still dominates
these musical genres. Dedicated music TV channels now broadcast funk
material in a video-jukebox format. This often consists of the now
40 POPULAR MUSIC GENRES: AN INTRODUCTION

standardised 'bling-bling' visual style of amounts of bare flesh draped

with copious amounts of jewellery and designer labels. Some would see
the obvious manifestations of eroticism as making the more symbolic and
implied eroticism of funk tracks a little too blatant, but the demands of the
media have always encouraged promotion based on youth and (mainly)
female sexuality. Within this scenario, funk-based grooves are seen to
provide a perfect accompaniment.
R&B, that most overused and non-specific of terms (and now used as
shorthand for so-called 'music of black origin'), still relies upon funk
idioms, whether in the gospel-tinged vocal work of Destiny's Child, Macy
Gray (Natalie Mcintyre), Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, or
the UK take on groove in the hands of Ms Dynamite and Craig David.
Within the 'mainstream', the mutation of artists such as Madonna
(Madonna Louise Ciccone) from the up-tempo house-influenced styles
of the 1980s and 1990s, to a more sparse funk-based sound on more recent
albums such as Music, is symptomatic of the enduring influence of funk.
Even middle-of-the-road balladeers such as Celine Dion attempted to
maximise their demographic appeal and credibility with funk-influenced
radio remixes of ballads such as A New Day Has Come. This indicates
something of the breadth of adoption for the funk idiom.

Recommended reading
Brackett, D. (2000) Interpreting Popular Music. Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press.
Corbett, J. (1994) Extended Play: Sounding Off from John Cage to Dr Funken-
stein. London: Duke University Press.
Garofalo, R. (1997) Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA. Boston: Allyn &
Bacon.
Harvey, D. (1989) The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lipsitz, G. (1996) Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernity and the
Poetics of Place. London: Verso.
Palmer, R. (1995) Rock and Roll: An Unruly History. New York: Harmony.
Shuker, R. (1998) Key Concepts in Popular Music. London: Routledge.
Vickers, T. (1995) Mothership Connection. Album sleevenotes accompanying The
Best of Parliament: Give Up The Funk. Casablanca.
Vincent, R. (1996) Funk: The Music, the People and the Rhythm of the One. New
York: St Martin's Griffin.
Ward, B. (1998)Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness
and Race Relations. London: UCL Press.
Weinger, H. and A. Leeds (1996) It's A New Day. Album sleevenotes accom-
panying Foundations of Funk: A Brand New Bag 1964--1969. Polydor.
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former, it may very materially warp the integrity, if not totally
destroy the principles of the latter.

SPARRING—is a ceremony practised with game cocks during the

time they are in feeding (alias training) to fight in any main or match,
for which they stand engaged. When cocks are brought up from their
walks, and placed in their pens, some are, of course, too full in
flesh; others, as much deficient: in the judgment of equalizing these
different degrees, (by reducing the weight of one, and increasing the
substance of the other,) does the art of cock-feeding entirely
depend. On every second or third day, during the time they are
preparing for the match, each cock has a sparring with an opponent
of nearly equal weight with himself; and this sham fight continues a
longer or shorter time, according to the flesh, weight, and wind, of
each cock so exercised, in proportion to the superflux of substance
he is required to lose. For the occasion, and that they may not injure
each other, they are equally shielded with mufflers upon the parts
where their spurs have been sawed off; and that they may be the
better inured to labour, and prepared for difficulty, the ceremony
takes place upon a truss or two of straw loosely scattered, that,
having no firm hold for their feet, they have less power to oppose
each other. Cocks too full of flesh, and foggy, that require a great
deal of sweating to bring them down to their proper match weight,
are sometimes permitted to continue the controversy till nearly
exhausted.

SPAVIN-BLOOD—is a preternatural distension of the vein which

runs down the inside of a horse's hock, forming a soft and elastic (or
puffy) enlargement, commonly occasioning weakness, if not
lameness, of the joint. They are in general produced by sudden
twists or strains, in short turns with loads, either in riding or
drawing; and not unfrequently by too rapid turning in narrow stalls.
The cure is frequently attempted by strong spirituous saturnine
repellents, or powerful restringents, with a compress and bandage
firmly fixed upon the part: these methods, however, seldom afford
more than temporary relief. The former mode of operating, by
incision, and instrumental extirpation, is in present practice entirely
laid aside; a repetition blister, or slightly firing, being the only means
relied on to ensure certain obliteration.

SPAVIN-BONE.—The defect so called, is an enlargement on the

outside of the hock, originating in a gristly or cartilaginous
protrusion, which increases gradually to a callosity, and ultimately to
a perfect ossification as hard as the bone itself. In its early state, but
little limping or impediment to action is observed; but as it advances
in progress, the lameness becomes proportionally perceptible. A
bone-spavin is never known to submit to liquid applications, or
solvents of any description; repeated blisterings, and substantial
firing, seem the only means by which the enlargement and its
painful irritability can be reduced.

SPAYED BITCH,—is a bitch upon whom an operation has been

performed, by which she is deprived the power of generating a
farther progeny. An incision being made in the flank, midway
between the hip-bone and the belly, the ovaries are extracted
through the orifice, and separated from the parts to which they were
united: these being returned, the wound is stitched up, and heals in
a few days, (if performed by a judicious practitioner,) without farther
trouble or inconvenience.

SPEED—is sportingly applicable to horse, hound, or greyhound; and

upon this depends (in a great degree) the estimation in which they
are held. It is customary to say, such a horse has great action, or he
is in possession of the gift of going. This is, however, considered
applicable only to excellent trotters and hacknies upon the road.
Speed is always used in a superior sense, and intended to convey an
idea of the greatest rapidity of which the animal is capable, and
which enhances his value in proportion to his qualifications. In the
art of training for the turf, there are ambiguities of such magnitude,
that it is averred by those who have made the practical part their
study, that one training-groom (from judgment, experience, and
observation) shall bring a horse to the post full half a distance better
than another, although their speed was considered equal when
placed under the racing management of their different
superintendants. This is admitted so much, and so truly, an
incontrovertible fact, that training-grooms have their lights and shades
of reputation and celebrity, in an equal degree with the most
eminent artists in the universe. Jockies also are admitted to possess
their different degrees of excellence, and to so very great and
discriminating a nicety, that when matches are lost by some lengths,
and for large sums, offers are frequently made to run the match
over again for the same money, or to double the stakes, provided the
winning jockey is permitted to ride the losing horse. Thus speed is not
always the same, but is evidently dependent upon contingencies,
which the utmost human circumspection cannot always either
foresee or prevent. The increase of speed with race horses in this
country, is very readily admitted to have been great during the last
fifty years; and this is impartially attributed to the introduction of,
and judicious crosses from, the Arabian blood with the best bred
mares of our own: although the effect of these experiments were
held in great doubt for some years, but are now universally
acknowledged to have exceeded the utmost expectation, and cannot
be supposed to extend much farther.
There are two modes of trial for speed, according to the present
reformed mode of English racing: the one is to run a mile, which is
termed running for speed; the other, of going off at score, and
absolutely racing the whole four miles, which is called running for
speed and bottom. Flying Childers, whose speed was almost
proverbial, went one third of a mile in twenty seconds. Firetail and
Pumpkin ran a mile in a few seconds more than a minute and a half.
Childers ran the distance of four miles in six minutes and forty-eight
seconds, carrying nine stone, two pounds; he made a leap of thirty
feet upon level ground; and he covered a space of twenty-five feet
at every stroke when racing. It was formerly known that any horse
who could run four miles in eight minutes, would prove a winner of
plates: this is, however, very materially refined, by judicious crosses
in blood, or improvements in training; as Bay Malton ran four miles
over York in seven minutes, forty-three seconds and a half. Eclipse
ran the same distance over York in eight minutes with twelve stone,
though going only at his rate, without any inducement to speed.
The means by which the wonderful velocity of the greyhound can
be ascertained are but few: there are, however, well authenticated
instances upon record; and as they are again quoted in Mr. Daniels
"Rural Sports," are entitled to credibility. In February, 1800, a hare
was darted before a brace of greyhounds in Lincolnshire, and upon
the distance being measured from her form to where she was killed,
it proved upwards of four miles in a direct line; but there having
been several turns, as well as some oblique running, during the
course, it must have increased the length considerably: this ground
was run over in the space of twelve minutes; and the hare fell dead
before the greyhounds touched her; which serves to demonstrate
the speed and strength of the former. It is known that horses are
more distrest (if they keep up) in a moderate course than in a long
chase; of which an instance lately occurred in the neighbourhood of
Bottisham, in Cambridgeshire, from whence the hare being started,
took away for the Six Mile Bottom; and although two-and-twenty
horses went off with the greyhounds, only one could make a gallop
at the conclusion of the course. The hare (who had reached within
fifty yards of the covert) dropped dead before the greyhounds; and
they were so exhausted, that it was found necessary to bleed them
to promote their recovery.
A few years since a hare was suddenly started at Finchingfield, in
Essex, when the brace of greyhounds running at her came into
contact with so much velocity, that both were killed on the spot. At
Offham, in Sussex, a brace of greyhounds coursed a hare over the
edge of a chalk-pit, and following themselves, were all found dead at
the bottom. The high spirit, persevering speed, and invincible ardour,
of the greyhound, not being universally known, (at least to those
who have either few or no opportunities to partake of the sport,) it
may not be inapplicable to introduce a singular circumstance which
occurred in 1792. As Lord Egremont's game-keeper was leading a
brace of greyhounds coupled together, a hare accidentally crossing
the road, the dogs instantly broke from their conductor, and gave
chase, fastened as they were to each other: the pursuit afforded an
uncommon and no less entertaining sight to several spectators.
When the hare was turned, she had a manifest advantage, and
embarrassed the dogs exceedingly in changing their direction;
notwithstanding which, she was at length killed at Pikeless Gate,
after a course of between three and four miles. In 1796 a similar
occurrence took place in Scotland, where a brace of greyhounds, in
couples, killed a hare after a course of a mile with intervening
obstructions.
Endeavours having been made to acquire some degree of
information upon the subject of comparative speed between a
greyhound and a race-horse of superior powers and celebrity, it was
at length brought to a decision by absolute matter of chance. It
having been previously submitted to the opinion of an experienced
sportsman, which would prove to possess the greater portion of
speed for a mile, or for a longer or shorter distance, he returned for
answer, that, upon a flat, he had no doubt but a first rate horse
would prove superior to the greyhound; unless in a hilly country,
where he conceived a good greyhound would have the advantage.
The information not to be acquired by any direct mode, was brought
to trial by an incident which occurred upon the Course of Doncaster
in 1800, and was precisely thus.
A match was to have been run between a horse and a mare for
one hundred guineas. At the time appointed, the former not
appearing, the mare started alone, to insure the stakes; when, after
having ran little more than a mile, a greyhound bitch (to the great
admiration and entertainment of the company) took to her from the
side of the Course, and continued racing with her the other three
miles, keeping her regular line nearly head and head, which
produced a most excellent match; for when they reached the distance
post, five to four was betted upon the greyhound; when they came
abreast of the stand, it was even betting; and the mare won by only
a head.
 The speed of the fleetest and highest bred fox hounds, was
brought to public proof in the well-known match made between Mr.
Meynell and Mr. Barry, for 500 guineas a side, and decided over
Newmarket in the month of September of the year in which it was
run. The hounds of Mr. Barry's (called Bluecap and Wanton) were
put in training on the first of August with the famous Will. Crane.
Their food consisted only of oatmeal, milk, and sheep's trotters. The
ground was fixed on at the time of making the match; and upon the
thirtieth of September the drag was taken from the Rubbing-house
at Newmarket Town end, to the Rubbing-house at the starting-post
of the Beacon Course: the four hounds were then laid on the scent:
at the conclusion, Mr. Barry's Bluecap came in first; Wanton (very
close to Bluecap) second. Mr. Meynell's Richmond was beat more
than a hundred yards; and the bitch never ran in at all. The length
of the drag was between eight and ten miles; the time it was
crossed in was some seconds over eight minutes. Some tolerable
idea, in this instance, may be formed of the speed, when there were
sixty horses started fairly with the hounds, and only twelve were up.
Cooper, Mr. Barry's huntsman, was the first; but the mare that
carried him was rode blind in the exertion. Will. Crane, who rode
Rib, (a King's Plate horse,) was the last of the twelve who came up.
The current odds at starting were seven to four in favour of Mr.
Meynell, whose hounds were reported to have been fed upon legs of
mutton during the time they were in training.
Merkin, a famous bitch, bred by Colonel Thornton, was considered
far superior in speed to any fox-hound of her time: she was
challenged to run any hound of her year five miles over Newmarket,
giving 220 yards, for 10,000 guineas; or to give Madcap 100 yards,
and run the same distance for 5000. She ran a trial of four miles,
and crossed the ground in seven minutes and half a second. Merkin
was sold, in 1795, for four hogsheads of claret, and the seller to
have two couple of her whelps.
Madcap, at two years old, challenged all England for 500 guineas.
Lounger, brother to Madcap, did the same at four years old: the
challenge was accepted, and a bet made to run Mr. Meynell's Pillager
for 200 guineas. The parties were also allowed by Colonel Thornton
to start any other hound of Mr. Meynell's, and Lounger was to beat
both; but, upon his being seen at Tattersal's by many of the best
judges, his bone, shape, and make, were thought so superior to any
opponent that could be brought against him, Colonel Thornton
consented to accept a pair of gold dog-couples as a forfeit to the
bet.

SPLENT—is the term given to an ossified prominence when it

appears upon the shank-bone of a horse's fore-leg: they are
frequently seen upon the legs of young horses, and are sometimes
known to disappear without any application whatever. If they do not
make their appearance during the fourth or fifth year, they are
seldom seen after that time, unless occasioned by blow, bruise, or
accident. They are very rarely productive of lameness or
inconvenience, unless they curve towards the back sinews, and
vibrate in action. Various are the means too hastily and too rashly
brought into use for their extirpation, and many times without the
least necessity; for when they are not attended with pain or
inconvenience, it must be more prudent to let them remain in a state
of dormant inactivity, than rouse them into painful action. If some
mode must be inevitably adopted, a spirituous saturnine solvent is
the most safe and efficacious application.

SPORTSMAN—is the appellation, for time immemorial, annexed to

any man whose partiality to the sports of the field are universally
known: they are evidently marked out for him by the dispensing and
benign hand of Providence, for the promotion of health, and the
gratification of pleasure, of which, enjoyed with moderation and
rationality, he is never ashamed. The name of sportsman has ever
been considered concisely characteristic of strict honour, true
courage, unbounded hospitality, and the most unsullied integrity.
However the character may have been broken in upon by time, or
mutilated by the innovations of fashion, caprice, or folly, the original
stock was derived solely from the blood of the true old English
country Esquire; who, uncontaminated by the curse of insatiate
ambition, is only happy himself in the happiness of his domestic
dependents, the corresponding smiles of his tenants who surround
his mansion, and an hospitable association with his numerous
friends.
His hounds are kept from an instinctive attachment to the sport
itself, as well as to perpetuate the respectable and exhilarating
establishment of his ancestors, (hitherto transmitted to their
posterity without a stain,) and not from the least desire of having his
name blazoned through every part of the county in which he resides,
for keeping what he has neither property to support, or spirit to enjoy.
Personally frugal, (amidst the most spirited hospitality,) he never
suffers his mind to be disquieted by the pecuniary applications of
people in trade: having a soul superior to the idea of living beyond
his income, and running in debt, it is an invariable maxim, never to
let his tradesmen be a single quarter in arrear. The guardian of his
own honour, he never affords a chance of its becoming degraded by
the officious and unprincipled pride of a subordinate, under the
appellation of steward; or to be disgraced, or prostituted, by the
barefaced, unqualified denial of a menial bedaubed with lace and
variegated finery, under the denomination of a footman.
Innately philanthropic, the true, well-bred, liberal-minded sportsman
is always equally easy of access to friends, neighbours, tenants, and
even to necessitous parochial solicitants; and never countenances
false consequence amongst his domestics in one department, or
impertinent pride in another: by a persevering adherence to which
system, his rustic mansion seems the summit of all worldly
happiness and earthly gratification: not a dependent but eyes him
with the warmest sensations of gratitude; not a servant within, or a
labourer without, but looks awefully up to him as their best friend.
The pleasures of the field he extensively and judiciously engages in
with all the fervency of a well-informed and experienced sportsman;
but by no means with all the unqualified enthusiasm, and
fashionable furor, of an indiscreet and determined devotee. Capable
of distinguishing between the use and abuse of what is so evidently
and benignantly placed before him, as an excitement to exhilarating
action, bodily invigoration, and general health; he enters into all its
spirit, avails himself of all its import; not more as a personal
gratification (in respect to sport) than a mental perusal of one of
Nature's many instructive volumes, displaying to the ruminative and
expansive comprehension, the applicable and coinciding speed of
the horse; the instinctive impulse, invincible ardour, and
corresponding perseverance of the hound; the various shifts and
evasions of the game; and lastly, the firm and manly fortitude of those
who join and surround him in the chase. These are the distinguishing
traits by which the true and generous sportsman may be known:
and it must be freely admitted, that so congenial are the feelings, so
sympathetic the liberality, and so uniform the hospitality of sportsmen
in the scale of universality, that no friendships are better founded,
none more disinterested, few more permanent, and none more
sincere.

SPRAIN or STRAIN,—is a preternatural extension, and forcible

elongation, of the tendons, beyond the power of immediately
recovering their previous elasticity; or a sudden twist of some
particular joint, by which the ligamentary junction sustains an injury,
and produces lameness. Whenever they happen in the hip, stifle,
round-bone, or shoulder, they then become serious considerations;
the injured parts being seated too deep for the effect of external
applications. In such cases it is seldom of use to lose time, and
encounter disappointment, by persevering stimulants; time and rest
constitute the best foundation for permanent relief. Horses having
encountered such accidents, should be turned out in a still and quiet
pasture, where they may be free from alarm and disturbance; and
this should be adopted before any stiffness is brought upon the
joint, by too long standing in one position; which they mostly do,
when confined in a stable as invalids. When at unrestrained liberty, it
is natural to conclude, he adapts the gentleness of his motion to the
state of his case, and exerts himself no more than a proper respect
to his own safety may render secure. It is a self-evident fact, that a
restoration of elasticity or strength of the part, is more likely to be
obtained by rest, and the efforts of nature, than any superficial or
topical applications that can be made.
Strains (or lameness) in the shoulder require nice investigation to
discriminate between such as arise from accident, rheumatic
affection, or chest-foundering. It is remarked, that when a horse has
sustained a severe injury in the shoulder, by wrench, slip, twist,
short turn, or any other accident, the pain prevents him from
bringing the leg on that side forward, in a parallel line, or in an equal
degree with the other; which being sound, is much more firmly set
to the ground, with an evident intent to save from pain the side that
is lame. When a horse in this situation stands still, the leg of the
lame shoulder is almost invariably placed before the other; and if he
is trotted in hand, he generally brings forward the leg of the
shoulder affected with a kind of circular sweep, and not in a direct
line: if any attempt is made to turn him short on the lame side, he
instantly dreads it, and becomes almost repugnant to the exertion:
when compelled to make it, he will almost sink on the lame side, to
support himself entirely on the sound one.
Bleeding should in such accidents immediately precede every other
consideration; it unloads the vessels, prevents local stagnation, and
sometimes a general stiffness of the quarter in which the injury has
been sustained. Where either the season of the year prevents, or an
opportunity to turn out cannot be obtained, the only alternative, hot
fomentations, and stimulative embrocations, must be adopted. In
strains of the hip, the horse in general draws his leg after him with a
painful reluctance; and if impelled to a trot, is observed to drop upon
his heel. If the injury is in the stifle, by treading on the toe, his
motion is a kind of hop with the side affected. Strains of the hock
are easily discovered, by a sort of limping twist in that joint at every
motion of the leg. Lamenesses of the hip, stifle, and hock, are more
likely to be assisted by external applications, judiciously prescribed,
than those which are more deeply seated.
 The ligamentary junction of the pastern joints are sometimes
greatly weakened by incessant work and little rest; in unerring proof
of which, they frequently make sudden drops, as if falling to the
ground. The knees of many are affected in the same way, and
overhang the shank-bone and fetlock-joint; the moment a tendency
to which is perceived, any horse should be turned out to enjoy the
rest he is so individually entitled to, for want of which salutary and
humane attention, very many good and useful horses have been
completely ruined and destroyed. There is no part of a horse more
liable to strains, than the back sinews of the forelegs; they are
materially concerned in every description of labour, and are always in
proportional danger. Whenever these happen, there is no difficulty in
making the discovery; there is an evident enlargement, with
inflammatory tension; and if one leg only is affected, it is generally
placed before the other, and rather upon the toe. In slight cases of
this kind, fomentations of hot vinegar, and strengthening
embrocations, assisted by rest, may produce a restoration; but, in
general practice, without blistering, firing, or both, a permanent cure
is seldom obtained.

SPUR—is the well-known weapon with which the heel of the

horseman is armed to enforce his authority; and which the well-
broke horse will always instantly obey.

STABLE.—Stables are the receptacles for horses in general, and

are of very different descriptions; not only in respect to the various
sorts of horses for which they are intended, but the improved mode
of construction, and the numerous conveniencies they are now made
to contain. As horses were never in such high estimation, or of such
intrinsic worth, as at the present moment, so never was so much
money expended upon their preservation. There can be no doubt,
but the health and condition of valuable horses, may depend much
upon the situation and structure of the stable; and although every
person will appropriate the size of the stable, and the number of
stalls, to their own wants, yet there are certain judicious rules, and
desirable conveniencies, which should admit of no deviation.
Whether a stable consists of two stalls, four, or six, it may be
rendered equally uniform, and confidently replete with every thing
that can possibly be required.
It is an established opinion, that a building of brick (lined or not
lined with deal) is preferable to stone for the purpose; the former
being dry, and always in the same state: the latter is influenced, or
acted upon, by the changes of weather; and in a hazy atmosphere,
generally damp; and in constant (or continued) rains, the walls are
frequently streaming with water. This, however, depends much upon
the aspect to which they are erected; a circumstance not always
sufficiently attended to, till it is found too late to repent. Stables are
paved with bricks, clinkers, flints, pebbles, or stone, as may best
correspond with the conveniences of the country in which they are
erected, and where, perhaps, some of those articles are difficult to
obtain. Stalls should never be less than six feet wide; nor the stable
less than nine feet high: eight feet in the clear should be allowed
from the heels of the horse to the wall behind him; and iron hay-
racks are preferable to wood, as the latter (wherever spirited horses
stand) are always in want of repair. No stables can be called good,
unless they have proper rooms annexed for the reception of saddles,
bridles, horse cloths, and every article necessary to the proper
support of such an establishment; each of those become more
perishable amidst the nocturnal steam of the horses than by daily
use.
Experience has demonstrated the advantages of general
cleanliness, temperate air, (according to the season,) and regular
exercise: to the want of these, in part, or all, may be attributed the
ills at inns and livery stables, as well as the fashionable increase of
Veterinarians. Upon entering the stables of these public receptacles,
(particularly if the door has been a few minutes closed,) the
olfactory sensations are instantly assailed by such a profusion of
volatile effluvia, as to extract moisture from the eyes, in opposition
to every endeavour made to restrain it. Here stand rows of poor
patient animals, absolutely fumigated with the perspirative
transpiration of their own bodies, broiling with heat, and panting
with thirst, in a degree beyond the temperature of a common hot-
house, in the severity of the winter season. Each horse is observed
to stand upon a load of litter (clean at top, and rotten underneath)
very little inferior to a common cucumber-bed in heigth, with all the
advantages of equal warmth from the dung below!
In this unexaggerated state stand hundreds within the environs of
the Metropolis; their owners the complete dupes of ignorance,
indiscretion, and imposition; the animals themselves in a constant
state of languid perspiration, and bodily debility: deprived the
comforts of pure air, and regular exercise, they become dull,
sluggish, and stupid, as if conscious of, and depressed with, their
almost perpetual imprisonment. All this erroneous mode of
treatment instantly affects the eye of experimental observation. The
carcase seems an incongruous accumulation, evidently full, and
unnaturally overloaded, for want of gentle motion, and general
friction; the legs become swelled, stiff, and tumefied; and, sooner or
later, terminates in cracks, scratches, grease, or some more
vexatious disorder. The hoofs, by being constantly fixed in a certain
degree of heat, begin to contrast, and get narrow at the heels,
holding forth the pleasing promise of hoof-bound lameness. The
eyes, from a constant watry discharge, give proof of habitual
weakness; the lassitude of the body, the heat of the mouth, the
general gloom, and every corresponding circumstance, seems to
display a frame the reverse of those whose health is preserved, and
condition promoted, by a system of discipline opposite in practice,
and different in effect. See Groom.

STAG, or RED DEER.—The stag and hind are the male and female
of this tribe, as the buck and doe are of the fallow deer. The latter are
mostly the natives of parks, and bred for domestic purposes,
producing venison for the table; the former are the majestic
inhabitants of those extensive and sequestered tracts called forests
and chaces, where they are preserved as more peculiarly
appropriated to the pleasures of the chase, in which even his
Majesty, with his hunting retinue, condescends to engage. The stag,
individually surveyed, is one of the grandest and most stately figures
in the animal creation; his very appearance instantly exciting
attention and admiration. Naturally disposed to solitude, he never
obtrudes upon the haunt of man, but revels in the remote and
obscure shades of abstrusity. When caught sight of amidst the
umbrageous stillness of his abode, the grandeur, lofty look, and
commanding aspect, of his first survey, cannot be encountered
without the most aweful and impressive sensations. With ample
power to oppose, he has pliability to submit, and, after a few
moments interview, deliberately retires to his protecting covert,
seemingly more surprized than alarmed at the sight of the human
species.

In the dignity of his deportment he stands unrivalled, and may,

with allegorical propriety, be considered the hereditary monarch of the
woods, as every other animal is observed to give way upon his
approach. In his peaceable and undisturbed retirement, he is
perfectly tranquil and inoffensive, displaying no antipathy or
opposition to those who come not in hostility to him. His form is the
most sublime and beautiful that can possibly be conceived; the
elegance of his figure, the commanding effect of his stature, the
flexibility of his frame, the elasticity of his limbs, the velocity of his
motion, and the proportional immensity of his strength, in addition
to the impression made upon the mind by the magnific grandeur of
the antlers, branching from his brow, all seem uniformly calculated
to render him an object of the most serious and pleasing attraction.
The red deer, formerly so plentiful to be found in different remote
parts of England, the Highlands of Scotland, and the Lake of Killarney,
in Ireland, are greatly reduced, and but very rarely to be found in a
wild and unpreserved state in either. This must of course be
attributed to the more advantageous distribution and cultivation of
land, and the improved state of every country. Stags, or hinds, were
then found singly, and hunted or pursued by those who happened to
find them; but now in the Forest of Windsor, and the New Forest in
Hampshire, where they are bred and protected for the royal chase,
they assemble together; and upon Ascot Heath, near Swinley Lodge,
(the official residence of the Master of his Majesty's Stag Hounds,)
may be seen the largest herd in the King's dominions.
The colour of both stag and hind is a dingy red, with darker tints
about the eyes and mouth: down the upper part of the neck, and
over the points of the shoulders, is a shade of dark brown, bordering
upon black: the countenance is commandingly expressive; the eye
beautifully brilliant, even to poetic celebrity; and his senses of
smelling and hearing equal to any animal of this country. When in
the least alarmed, his position is the most majestic; he raises his
head to the highest pitch, erects his ears, swells his neck, extends
his nostrils, and snuffs the air, as if in curious and impatient
investigation of the cause by which it was occasioned. Let this be
what it may, he never takes to sudden flight, without first
measuring, by his eye and ear, the magnitude of the danger, and
proceeds accordingly. If dogs are not of the party, men, cattle, or
carriages, seem to give him little or no concern; for, after turning
twice or thrice, to take a repeated survey with a kind of confused
admiration, he moves off very deliberately, without any alarming
sensation.
The season for copulation with the deer tribe (see "Rutting Time")
begins at the latter end of August and beginning of September, and
terminates in the beginning or middle of October; depending, in that
respect, a little upon the state of the season, and the ages of the
different head of deer; those of two and three years old being
backwarder, of course extending the time beyond those who are
older. From the moment of conception with the hind, to the time of
parturition, is nearly nine lunar months; as they produce in the last
week in May, or one of the two first in June. Immediately after
impregnation, she separates herself from the stag; no intercourse
takes place; even common association ceases; and nothing during
the period of gestation ensues, but mutual and marked indifference.
The hind is seldom or ever known to produce more than one, (which
is called a calf:) this she deposits in the most remote, sequestered,
and best sheltered spot to be procured, for the purpose of secretion
from its numerous enemies, amongst whom there is none more
determined or malicious than the masculine occasion of its
existence, even the sire himself. Mysterious as this may appear, it is
an unexaggerated fact; and the dam, perfectly conscious of the
stag's unnatural propensity, is more industrious to conceal the calf's
retreat from him, than the aggregate of its other enemies.
The calf, when once it is of strength sufficient to accompany its
dam, never leaves her side during the first summer; and the ensuing
winter, none but the hinds, and males under a year old, remain
together; the annual separation between the stags and hinds
invariably taking place as before described. During the months of
infancy, the courage of the dam, in defence of her offspring, is equal
to any maternal affection of our own species; she opposes every
force, encounters every enemy, exposes herself to every danger, and
hazards her own life to insure the safety of her young. The hind has
but little protection upon the score of self-preservation, nature
having left her without horns, those useful and ornamental weapons
with which the stag is so powerfully armed. The first year the male
has no horns; the second they are straight, and single; the third,
they shew two branches; the fourth, three; the fifth, four; and the
sixth, five; when the stag is reckoned complete, and at his full
growth: notwithstanding this, the antlers continue to increase till
there are six or seven on each side; and though the age of the deer
is mostly ascertained by the number, yet it is not always certain, but
is more nicely to be depended on from the thickness and size of the
trunk or body by which they are sustained.
These horns, enormous as they appear, are shed annually, which
happens in the latter end of February, or during the month of March;
of which there is a most perfect regeneration before the
commencement of the rutting time, when they fight for the hind with
the most determined and incredible ferocity. After the season of
rutting, the stags having been found too weak to stand long before
the hounds, the operation of castration was adopted; and the stag
thus deprived of the means of propagation, (by the loss of the
testes,) feeling no stimulative propensity to copulate, is never
debilitated, but always ready for the field, and affords runs of great
duration. Thus operated upon, they are then called heaviers; and it is
a remarkable fact, that if a stag is castrated while his horns (alias
antlers) are in a state of perfection, they will never exfoliate: on the
contrary, if the operation is performed when the head is bare, the
horns will never return.

STAG,—the sporting term for a young game cock during his second
year. For the whole of the first year, he is called a chicken; from
which time to the completion of the second, he is a stag; and from
thence forward, a cock. In regular matches and mains for
considerable sums of money, very few are brought to Pit before they
are of that age; unless it is made, and so agreed on both sides, in
which case it is called a stag main, or main of stags. See Cocking,
Game Cock, and Cock-pit Royal.

STAG-EVIL—is a disorder of the most distressing kind, to which

horses of the draught kind are more particularly subject: it partakes
of the paralytic stroke and spasmodic affection, coming on suddenly,
without the least previous indication of approaching disease. The
muscles become so instantaneously contracted, that the head is
raised to its utmost heigth, the jaws are fixed, the neck stiff and
immoveable, the eyes are turned upwards, leaving only the whites to
be seen; the palpitations of the heart are exceedingly violent, and
the laborious heavings of the flank incessant. This disorder, difficult
as it is in its cause to define, is always more or less dangerous, in
proportion to the mildness or severity of the attack. If it proceeds
from a profuse flux of blood to the brain, in consequence of too great
and powerful exertions, plentiful bleeding, and nervous stimulants,
will be the most expeditious and likely means to relieve.
When its symptoms are so exceedingly severe and alarming, that
the jaws are locked, and no medicines can be administered by the
mouth, recourse must be had to collateral aids. Strong hot
fomentations, with a decoction from the most fragrant aromatic
garden herbs, under the jaws, behind the ears, and both sides the
throat, followed by fumigations from myrrh, ammoniacum, and
assafœtida, grossly powdered, and sprinkled upon a hot iron, or fire-
shovel, held below the nostrils; glysters of gruel, in which valerian
root has been boiled, and assafœtida dissolved, with an addition of
liquid laudanum and olive oil to each, and repeatedly frequently; are
the only means, properly persevered in, that can afford any hope or
expectation of success. These exertions are in general too much
trouble for the lower order of the Veterinary tribe, who fly to their
favourite and contemptible introduction of a rowel, many hours
before which can become productive in its effect, death closes the
scene, and relieves the subject from its accumulated misery.

STAGGERS.—This is likewise a disorder of the head, to which

horses of the same description are constantly liable, bearing in many
respects no distant affinity to the former; for although it cannot be
deemed the very same disease, yet, as it is known to derive its
origin from the same cause, it is evidently entitled to rank in the
same class. Bracken, who speaks of it with more scientific and
professional precision than any writer before or since, assimilates it
to the apoplexy and epilepsy of the human frame, and enters into an
anatomical disquisition of many pages to justify his opinion. He most
judiciously attributes it to its proper and only cause, a plethoric state
of the body; and that by the preternatural distension of all the
vessels, the blood is more forcibly propelled upon the brain, from
whence inflammation (in a greater or less degree) consequently
ensues; making the following remark, to which every experienced
practitioner will yield his unqualified approbation.
"That where one creature dies of a distempered brain from the
loss of too much blood, there are twenty lives lost for want of taking
away a sufficient quantity." In direct conformity with the opinion of
Bracken upon the subject of repletion, may be quoted a plain and
true, but less scientific remark of Captain Burdon, in his Pocket
Farrier; who, for want of more polished terms, and technical
phraseology, thus expresses himself: "Don't let your horse stand too
long without exercise; it fills his belly too full of meat, and his veins
too full of blood; and from hence the staggers, and many other
distempers, proceed."
Admitting the affinity between the diseases, as lethargy, or
sleeping-evil, falling-evil, or convulsions, frenzy and madness, stag-
evil, or staggers, all practitioners consider them individually a species
of apoplexy, originating in nearly the same cause, and to be relieved
only by the same means. Under which conjunctive authority, plentiful
bleedings, repeated stimulative glysters, and internally, assafœtida,
camphor, valerian, castor, and such other ingredients as powerfully
act upon the nervous system, constitute the whole that can with
consistency be introduced in all cases of a similar description.

STAG-HUNTING—is one of the most rapturous and enchanting

pursuits within the privilege or power of the human frame and mind
to enjoy. As hunting, in its general sense, is known to comprise an
imaginary view of different kinds under that concise term, so various
remarks will be found upon each, under the heads of Chase, Fox-
Hunting, Harriers, and Hunting; rendering unnecessary the
introduction of new, or repetition of former matter, more than what
may strictly appertain to the distinct sport now before us.
Opposite opinions have always been entertained by the advocates
for each particular kind of chase, as may have proved most
applicable and convenient to their situation, occasions, residence,
and time of life. That every description of hunting has its proportional
attraction to its distinct and different votaries is well known; but the
constant struggle for superiority in vindication of their respective
sports, has ever been between those who hunt fox and those who
hunt stag; each being equally violent in defence of the cause his
private or personal reasons prompt him to espouse. Mr. Daniel, in his
"Rural Sports," when animadverting upon the stag, makes the
following remarks: "At the present day, as an object of chase to the
sportsman, the stag requires but cursory mention: those, indeed,
who are fond of pomp and parade in hunting, will not accede to this
opinion; but the only mode in which this chase can recommend itself
to the real sportsman, is, when the deer is looked for, and found, like
other game which hounds pursue. At present very few hounds,
except those of the royal establishment, are kept exclusively for this
amusement; and were the King once to see a fox well found, and
killed handsomely, he would, in all, probability, give a decided
preference in favour of fox-hounds; for what a marked difference is
there between conveying, in a covered cart, an animal, nearly as big
as the horse that draws it, to a particular spot, where he is liberated,
and cheerly riding to the covert side with all the ecstacy of hope and
expectation!"
After quoting a few lines of beautiful imagery from the poetic
sublime of Somervile, descriptive of throwing off, the drag, the
unkenneling, and breaking covert with fox-hounds, he proceeds
thus: "The most impassioned stag-hunter must confess, that no part
of his chase admits of such description. The only variety he can fairly
expect, depends upon the wind and the temper of the deer, who, by
being either sulky, or not in condition to maintain a contest with the
hounds, (to whom he leaves a burning scent, that gives them no
trouble in the pursuit,) shortens or extends his gallop; but there is
none of the enthusiasm of hunting, which the sportsman feels, when
he is following an animal, upon whose own exertions of speed and
craftiness his life is staked; and where no stoppages, but the checks
arising from the two sources above mentioned, intervene."
Without the most distant intent of endeavouring to depreciate the
noble, exhilarating, delightful, and universally admitted excellence of
fox-hunting, (of which, by the bye, no adequate description can issue
from the pen,) such few remarks may be made, as will display the
sport of stag-hunting in a different point of view to that in which the
writer just mentioned has been pleased to place the picture; and
probably rescue it from any little stigma of disgrace, or inferiority,
which his promulgated opinion may have stamped upon the canvass.
There is positively no instance in which the philosophic decision of
Sir Roger de Coverley ("much may be said on both sides") could have
been more strictly applicable, or more truly verified, than upon the
present occasion. The candid, judicious and experienced sportsman
will readily admit, that each retains its attractions too powerful to
resist, as well as some inconveniencies impossible to remove: these,
however, are reconcileable to the modification of those whose
motives induce them to engage in either.
Previous to the recital of a chase with the stag-hounds, a few
preparatory and comparative remarks are due to the observations
already quoted from the justly popular work of Mr. Daniel. That
there are but "few establishments" of the kind is certainly true, and
for a most substantial reason; if they were numerous, the question
would instantly present itself, from whence are they to be supplied
with game? The idea of "the King's giving the preference to fox-
hunting, if he had once seen a fox well found, and killed
handsomely," is an entire new thought; and affords immediate
mental reference to the degradation of majestic dignity, should it ever
be found making its dreary way through the bushy brambles of a
beechen wood two or three miles in length, following the chase by the
reverberating sounds of distant holloas! but without the sight or
sound of a single hound. This is a constantly occurring trait in fox-
hunting, constituting no small drawback on its boasted perfection.

Whichever kind of chase is pursued, the ultimatum of enjoyment

is much the same; horses, hounds, air, exercise, health, society, and
exhilaration, constitute the aggregate: and time, which, to the
opulent and independent, seems of trifling value, is to the scientific
inquisitant, or professional practitioner, neither more nor less than a
life estate, no part of which should be wasted or squandered away.
The former class, in general, are industriously engaged in killing
time: the latter, who know and feel its worth, are as constantly
employed in its preservation. The loss of time in the enjoyment of
the two chases, is nearly or full half between the one and the other:
this is a circumstance, however, not likely to attract the serious
attention of the gentleman who has thus attacked the "pomp and
parade" of hunting the stag; for as a clerical character, he had, of
course, all the week upon his hands, being particularly engaged only
on a sunday. To one of this description, who has most of his time to
kill, and very little to employ, a long and dreary day through the
gloomy coverts of a dirty country, without a single challenge, or one
consolatory chop of drag, must prove a scene of the most
enchanting enjoyment; and in the very zenith of exultation, it must
be acknowledged by professed and energetic fox-hunters, that riding
thirty or forty miles in wet and dirt, (replete with alternate hope,
suspense, and expectation,) to enjoy the supreme happiness of
repeated disappointments, terminating with a blank day, is equal, if
not superior, to a stag hunt of even the first description.
Stag hounds are very rarely kept, and the sport but little known in
many parts of the kingdom: those of the most celebrity are the
Royal Establishment upon Ascot Heath, in Windsor Forest, (see
"King's Hounds;") the Earl of Derby's, near the Downs, in Surrey; and
the Subscription Pack near Enfield Chace. The greatest inducement
to hunt with either of which, is, the invariable certainty of sport, that
first object of desirable attainment, not to be insured with hounds of
a different description; the great gratification of going away with the
pack, and covering a scope of country, without perpetual
interruption from frequent intervening coverts, where checks, faults,
delays, and a repetition of wood riding, so often ensue. Stag-
hunting, indifferently as it is spoken of by some, is too severe and
arduous for others to pursue: laborious as it is to the horse, it is in
many cases not less so to the rider: difficulties occur which require
great exertions in one, and fortitude in the other, to surmount, and
none but those can lay at all by the side of the hounds.
Rapturously transporting as is the moment of meeting and
throwing off with fox hounds, no less so is the awefully impressive
prelude to turning out the deer. The scene is affectingly grand, far
beyond the descriptive power of the pen, and can only be seen, to
be perfectly understood. Unless an outlying deer is drawn for, and
found in the neighbouring woods, as is sometimes the case, a stag,
hind, or heavier, is carted from the paddocks of his Majesty at Swinley
Lodge, (where they are previously and properly fed for the chase,)
and brought at a certain hour, (ten o'clock in the morning,) to the
place appointed, of which the surrounding neighbourhood have been
sufficiently informed. At the distance of a quarter or half a mile from
the covered convenience containing the deer, are the hounds,
surrounded by the Huntsman and his assistants, (called Yeoman-
Prickers,) in scarlet and gold; a part of these having French horns,
and upon which they must be good performers.
In a very short time after the expiration of the hour agreed on, his
Majesty is seen to approach, attended by the Master of the Horse,
and Equerries in waiting; it being the official duty of the Master of
the Stag-Hounds to be with them, and ready to receive his Majesty
when he arrives. So soon as his Majesty resigns his hack, and is
remounted for the chase, the Huntsman receives an injunctive signal
from the Master of the Hounds to liberate the deer. The moment
which is obeyed, the usual law, amounting to ten minutes, (more or
less,) is allowed for his going way: during this interval the sonorous
strains of the horns, the musical melodious echo of the hounds, the
mutual gratulations of so distinguished an assemblage, and the
condescending kindness and affability of the Sovereign to the loyal
subjects who love and surround him, is a repast too rich, a treat too
luxurious, for the side of a fox-hunting covert to be brought into the
least successful similitude.
The anxious crisis thus arrived, and every bosom glowing with
emulative inspiration, a single aspiration of acquiescence, and a
removal of the horse who heads the leading hound, give a loose to
the body of the pack; and superlatively happy he who can lay the
nearest to them. Upon the deer's going off from the cart, two of the
yeoman-prickers start likewise, in such parallel directions to the right
and left, as not to lose sight of the line he takes so long as they can
keep him in view; by which means they get five or six miles forward
to assist in stopping the hounds at any particular point where they
happen to run up to them: and if it was not for this prudent and
necessary precaution, half or two thirds of the horsemen would
never see the hounds again in the course of the day.
The joyous burst, and determined velocity of every hound,
followed by upwards of a hundred horsemen, all in action at a single
view; the spot embellished, or rather variegated, with carriages
containing ladies, who come to enjoy the ceremony of turning out;
and the emulative exertions of horses, hounds, and men; afford a blaze
of sporting brilliancy beyond the power of the utmost mental fertility
to describe. At this moment of rapturous exultation only it is, that
the kind of horse indispensibly necessary for this particular chase
can be ascertained; for out of a hundred and twenty, thirty, forty, or
a hundred and fifty horsemen, seven or eight only shall lay any
where near, or within a hundred yards of the hounds; for the longer
the burst, the more the slow-going horses tail; so that when the
hounds are stopt upon the heath, or in an open country, by the few
who are up, lines of horsemen are seen behind, more than a mile in
length, getting forward in a variety of directions, bearing no
inapplicable affinity to various teams of wild ducks crossing from one
country to another. These horses, to whom it is all labour, are so
distrest even with the first burst, that if the hounds break away, and
the deer crosses the country, they are seldom to be seen at the end
of a second. This is a most palpable and incontrovertible
demonstration, that any horse may follow, but none, except
thoroughbred horses, can go with the hounds.

During the time the chase is suspended, and the hounds are at
bay, (which is till the King gets up,) the exhilarating sound of the
horns before them, and the clamorous impatience of the hounds to
proceed, constitute a scene so truly rich and ecstatic, that the tear
of excessive joy and grateful sensibility may be frequently observed
in almost every eye. After this relief of a few minutes to both hounds
and horses, in which they collect their wind, and become
proportionally refreshed, the hounds are permitted to break away,
which they do with a redoubled ardour, as if it had absolutely
increased by their recent restraint. The same scene of racing and
tailing continues during every burst to the termination of the chase,
the longer which is, the more the field of horsemen become
reduced; while the blood horses only move in perfect unison, and, at
their common rating stroke, lay with ease by the side of the hounds;
and this is the reason why, in long runs, so many are completely
thrown out, and left to explore their way in different parts of the
country through which the chase has passed. One material
difference is known to exist between this kind of sport and every
other; the utmost fortitude and indefatigable exertions are here
made to save: in all the rest, the summit of happiness, the sole
gratification of local ambition, is to kill: so that, at any rate, stag-
hunting has the plea of humanity in its favor; in proof of which, the
hounds are never known to run from chase to view, but every
individual is feelingly alive to the danger of the deer, who have so
largely and laboriously contributed to the completion of his own
most ardent happiness: a secret inspiration operates upon every
latent spring of human sensibility; and no difficulty at the moment
seems too great to surmount, for the preservation of a life in which
every spectator feels himself most impressively concerned. This final
burst of a chase is most dreadfully severe, particularly if the last mile
or two is run in view; when which is the case, the deer exerts all his
utmost and remaining power to take the soil, if water is within his
reach: this he sometimes does with the hounds so close to his
haunches, that it is impossible to prevent their plunging with him
into the stream. In such predicament, if it is found impracticable to
draw off the body of the hounds, to insure his safety, the Yeoman
Prickers, and others, are frequently seen above their middles in
water, (uncertain of its depth,) to preserve the life of the deer, at the
hazard of their own. This may be considered, by the recluse and
callous Cynic, a degree of valour beyond discretion; but the debt of
humanity, like the Hibernian Major's word in the Comedy, is "a debt
of honour, and must be paid."
The most moderate chases with the stag extend from an hour and
a half to two hours; though from three to four hours is by no means
uncommon in the course of the season. Horses too deficient in
speed, too heavy in formation, too full in flesh, or foul in condition,
frequently fall martyrs to a want of judgment or prudence in their
riders during the chase: every man ought to know when his horse is
dangerously distressed, and of course should bow implicit obedience
to the occasion: there are times when self-denial would add lustre to
the brow of a monarch; and it never can be displayed with a more
humane effect, than when in the defence and preservation of so
useful an animal; who, being deprived the privilege of free agency, is
not possessed of the power to protect himself: under the influence
of which consideration, there is not a sportsman of experience or
humanity existing, who would not philosophically retire with patience
from the field, to save the life of a faithful persevering companion,
than to see him sink (never more to rise) a victim to inadvertency,
folly, or indiscretion. In a severe chase of more than four hours,
recited in the former part of the Work, (where the stag was taken at
Tilehurst, near Reading, in Berkshire,) one horse dropped dead in
the field, another died before he could reach a stable, and seven
more in the course of a week. The concluding ceremony of the
chase is the preservation of the deer, the baying of the hounds, and
the melodious concert of the horns; after which the former are
drawn off, and the stag, hind, or heavier, is deposited in a place of
safety, from whence he is taken the following day, in a convenient
vehicle constructed for the purpose.
The regular hunting days with the stag hounds of his Majesty, are
Tuesdays and Saturdays, from Holyrood Day (Sept. 25) to the first
Saturday in May; except in Christmas and Easter Weeks, in each of
which they hunt three times. The two grand or most public days, are
Holyrood Day and Easter Monday, when the field is uncommonly
numerous; particularly if the weather favourably corresponds with
the occasion.
 STALING—is the evacuation of urine by either horse or mare,
which is at some times partially obstructed, and at others totally
suppressed. The secretion of urine may be retarded from a variety of
causes; such as injuries sustained in the spine, particularly in the
loins, near which the kidnies are seated; and these, from their
irritability, are also easily susceptible of disease, by which the
discharge may be affected. The urine, with a horse or mare in a
healthy state, should flow in a moderate stream, of a transparent
colour, midway between a brown and red; not inclining to a milky,
foul consistence, or tending to a tinge of blood. The evacuation
should take place with ease, perfectly free from laborious groanings,
and equally so from partial dribblings, or periodical trifling stoppings,
which always denote a something imperfect in the secretion, or
some obstruction in the urinary passages. Staling, when the urine is
strongly impregnated with appearance of blood, should be early
attended to, as it is mostly occasioned by some serious injury to the
kidnies, or elsewhere. It is very frequently brought on by hard, long
and immoderate riding, or drawing; and may be the effect of a
rupture of some blood-vessel, the seat of which it may be impossible
to ascertain: if it should be a discharge of nearly pure blood, and
that in any considerable quantity, great danger may be
apprehended. Bleeding (to constitute revulsion) is a preliminary step
to every degree of hope, followed by small quantities of nitre in
powder, blended with equal parts of gum Arabic in the same state.
Gelatinous fluids, as oatmeal gruel, or malt sweet-wort, with
nursing, rest, and small doses of liquid laudanum, are the only means
to be pursued.

STALL.—The partitions into which a stable is divided are

denominated stalls; and the space allotted to each horse is called a
stall. These, in stables constructed with judgment, and erected with
a necessary respect to health and convenience, should never be less
than nine or ten feet high, and six feet wide: the heighth will
contribute much to the equal temperature of the air; and the width
will contribute to the comfort of the horse in an occasional extension
of his extremities, as well as prevent many of those injuries
sustained in too suddenly turning in narrow and confined stalls,
particularly in the common livery stables of the Metropolis. In many
large equestrian and hunting establishments there are single stalls
(called loose boxes) of such dimensions as are adapted to the
accommodation of horses either sick or lame, where they are then at
liberty to expand at full length, and enabled to roll at their ease:
these are of great utility, and few sportsmen continue long without
them.

STALLION—is the appellation given to a perfect horse, not

mutilated by the operation of castration, but preserved in a state of
nature, for the purpose of propagation. Stallions should be of great
strength, according to the distinct breed they are intended to
promote, of correct shape, uniform make, and corresponding
symmetry; free from every kind of hereditary taint; good eyes, long
forehand, short back, round barrel, wide chest, straight legs, free
from splents before, and spavins behind. Although it is a difficult
task to obtain perfection, some little circumspection may be
necessary, in coming as near to it as circumstances and situation will
permit. Experimental observation has produced demonstration, that
stallions really blind, or with eyes defective, have produced colts of
similar description; such defects not appearing in their first two or
three years, nor, indeed, till they have been worked, and the powers
brought into action. Instances are never wanting of the great
number annually disposed to breed, who as annually repent for want
of these prudent precautions. Not only the above points, but the
temper and disposition of a stallion should be also attended to:
vicious and restive horses should be equally avoided; those
imperfections are very frequently transmitted from sire to son, and
continued to posterity.
Stallions of the racing kind were never known to have covered at
so high a price as in the memory of the present generation. Marsk,
after the appearance of that prodigy Eclipse, covered a certain
number of mares at 100 guineas each; and none now of the first
celebrity, cover at less than ten, fifteen, or twenty. Those in the
highest sporting estimation, and announced for the present season,
1803, are Alexander, at 10 guineas; Ambrosio, 10 guineas;
Beningbrough, 10 guineas; Buzzard, 10 guineas; Coriander, 10
guineas; Dungannon, 10 guineas; and Sir Harry, at five.
Hambletonian, 10 guineas; and Patriot, at five. Volunteer, at 10
guineas; and Shuttle, at five. Pegasus, Precipitate, and Sir Solomon,
at 10 guineas each. Stamford, Idris, Meteor, and Mr. Teazle, at five.
Sir Peter Teazle, 15 guineas; Young Eclipse, 20 guineas; Whisky,
Worthy, and Waxy, at 10 guineas; Trumpator, eight guineas; Oscar,
at six. Grouse, Gouty, Fidget, Totteridge, Don Quixote, and Old Tat,
at five guineas; and Petworth, Stickler, Warter, Gamenut, Moorcock,
(brother to Grouse,) and Zachariah, at three.
The following famous stallions died at or about the dates annexed
to their names. Old Fox, in 1738, aged 23 years. Old Partner, 1747,
aged 29. The Godolphin Arabian, 1753, 29. Old Cade, 1756. The
Bolton Starling, 1757. Snip, the same year. Young Cade, 1764. Old
Marsk, July 1779. King Herod, May 12, 1780. Matchem, February 21,
1781. Imperator, 1786. Morwick Ball, January 4, 1787, aged 25
years. Eclipse, February 26, 1789, in his 26th year. Goldfinder, in
1789. Fortitude, the same year. Conductor, in 1790. Phlegon, the
same year. Faggergill, 1791; and Florizel, the same year. Fortunio,
Jupiter, and Soldier, all died in 1802.

STANDARD—is the name of an instrument by which the exact

heighth of a horse is taken (to the eighth of an inch) when engaged
to carry weight for inches, or entered to run for a give and take plate.
The standard is about six feet six inches high, and so constructed
with a line and pendulum, in the centre of a circle, that no
mismeasurement, by fraud or imposition, can take place. The
standard is one straight square piece of oak or mahogany, and
divided, from the top to the bottom, in figured spaces of four inches
each; every space of which is termed a hand; so that a horse of
fifteen hands is precisely five feet high. From the standard branches
horizontally a projecting arm, of about twenty inches, or two feet in
length, which sliding upwards or downwards, is raised higher, or
sunk lower, with the hand, till it rests easily upon the extreme point
of the wither; when, by looking at the proper suspension of the
pendulum and the figures at the same time, the heighth of the horse
is instantly ascertained.

STAR—is the white centrical spot in the forehead of a horse,

directly between, and rather above, the eyes. These are considered
great natural ornaments in bays, chestnuts, browns, and blacks;
inducing dealers to remedy the deficiencies of nature by the
obtrusion of art. This is effected by scraping off the hair carefully
with a razor, from the part where the intended star is to appear,
when, by wetting the surface with oil of vitriol, an eschar will soon
appear, when which exfoliates, it is followed by a growth of hair of
the colour required.

STARING of the COAT.—This external appearance in a horse, so

strikingly denotes him out of condition, or diseased, that it never
escapes the eye of the most superficial observer. It is originally
occasioned by a sudden collapsion of the porous system, from an
exposure to cold chilling rains, after having been previously heated;
a change from a warm stable to one less comfortable, and a
consequent viscidity of the blood; or from a low, impoverished, and
acrimonious state of the circulation. See Hidebound, Surfeit, and
Mange.

STARTING,—in horses, is an imperfection, if it becomes habitual,

that is of the most dangerous description. It is exceedingly different
from a horse skittish, wanton, and playful only, for which the rider is
always prepared; and if a good horseman, it is generally as pleasing
to one as to the other. But when a horse is eternally in fear, and
alarmed at every object unlike himself, he not only sometimes snorts
and stops suddenly in the midst of a rapid career of either trot or
gallop, but, by an instantaneous spring of five or six feet, brings the
rider over his head, or dismounts him on one side or the other. It is
not at all matter of surprise, that most of the young horses brought
from the country, should at first be alarmed at the infinite variety
and velocity of carriages, as well as with other strange and
unaccountable objects, to which they must have been entirely
unaccustomed before they reached the environs of the Metropolis.
Horses of this description, (good-tempered, and not viciously
inclined,) are never known to be long so disposed, provided they are
treated tenderly, and encouraged mildly to pass the object by which
they have been so suddenly, accidentally, and perhaps unnecessarily,
alarmed; but when the fools who ride them permit passion and
inhumanity to predominate over reason, obstinacy on one side often
begets opposition on the other, and accident or death frequently
ensues; in confirmation of which, the following fact may be
applicably introduced, as a check to the impetuosity of those heroes
on horseback, with which every road, and every country, so
plentifully abound.
Some few years since, a medical practitioner, of much celebrity in
the town of Putney, not many miles from London, being suddenly
called from home upon a professional occasion, happened to meet a
broad wheel waggon upon the turnpike road, at which the horse
being greatly terrified, immediately started, and sprung to a
considerable distance, producing, in fact, no small degree of alarm
and passionate mortification in the rider; who most inconsiderately
adopted the usual mode of attempting to obtain by violence, what
might have been probably acquired in an equal space of time with
patience and philosophy. Not affording time to recollect that the
horse had his sensations of joy, fear, surprise, and dread of danger,
in an equal degree with himself, he immediately proceeded to the
use of whip and spur, till the horse approached the waggon, which
the poor complying animal no sooner did, in obedience to his master,
than a sudden gust of wind passing under the tilt, raised it in such a
manner just in the face of the horse, that so strange and aweful a
renewal of the first alarm repeated the start, and with such violence,
that the rider was dismounted, and the wheels going over his body,
he lost his life upon the spot. A retention of this transaction in the
memory of every juvenile or inexperienced reader, may, perhaps,
prove an applicable preventive to unmanly passion at the very
moment of its intentional exertion.

STERN.—The tail of the hound, or greyhound, is sportingly so called.

STEW—is a small reservoir of water, to which fish are brought

from larger receptacles where they are bred or caught, and there
deposited for the daily use of the family, the supply being constantly
kept up in proportion to the domestic consumption.

STIFLE.—The part of a horse called the stifle, is the projecting

point of the hind-quarter, which comes forward under the flank
towards the belly, forming an angular joint from the round bone
above to the hock below. Injuries are not often sustained at this
junction; and when they are, it is much oftener by neglect, a blow,
or inadvertence, than by unavoidable accident. Lameness in this part
can receive no assistance from bandage; fomentation, embrocation,
and rest, are the only means that can be adopted to obtain relief;
for when a lameness in the stifle is severe, or of long standing, a
perfect cure is seldom obtained.

STIRRUP—is the well-known polished iron convenience suspended

from each side of the saddle; of a proper shape, make, and size, to
receive and support the foot, for the joint promotion of ease and
safety. Upon the length of the leather strap (called stirrup-leather)
entirely depends the graceful position of the rider, and his command
of the horse; if which is too short, he is in danger, upon any start or
sudden exertion of the horse, of being thrown over his head: if they
are too long, he is in an equally aukward predicament; for having
then no assisting support, but the internal part of the knees, they
must, if the horse is a rough goer, be soon in a state of laceration.
The proper length of the stirrup-leathers, for either field or road, is
so as to be able, when sitting firm upon the saddle, to disengage the
foot from the stirrup with one action of drawing back, and to receive
it again with the reverse. In racing, the stirrups are required a
degree shorter; as it is by the joint and corresponding support of the
knees, and the strength of the arms and shoulders, that the horse is
held to his stroke.

STONE.—This is a sporting term upon the turf, and used in

matches, plates, and sweepstakes, to denote or imply what weight
each horse is to carry; that is, so many stone, so many pounds. Every
stone is fourteen pounds, and this is called "horseman's weight," in
contra-distinction to a common stone, of eight pounds, by which
meat, and other articles in trade, are sold.

STOAT.—The stoat is a most mischievous little animal, very much

resembling the weasel, and at a small distance, when running, not
to be readily distinguished from each other. They abound near large
farms surrounded with corn-ricks and faggot-piles, under each of
which they ensure to a certainty never-failing protection. This
diminutive pest, though but from two to three inches in heighth, (ten
inches long, the tail half the length of its body, disgustingly hairy,
and pointed with black, the edges of the ears and the toes both of a
cream-coloured white,) is a most indefatigable, determined, and
destructive enemy to game in all its forms, and poultry in all its
branches.

STRAIN.—See Sprain.

STRANGLES—is a disorder to which young horses in general are

always liable, and few or none escape, any more than children
escape the small-pox, hooping-cough, or measles. It first displays
itself in a heaviness of the head, a dulness of the eyes, a reluctance
to action, a heat in the mouth, and a gradually declining appetite:
this is followed by a swelling in the concavity beneath the under jaw,
which being centrical, is sometimes surrounded by two or three
tumefactions of smaller formation. These, in their progress to
maturation, are frequently slow, and require patient perseverance in
external application; for in all cases of suppuration, nature may be
led, but will never be driven. During the time the matter is forming,
and progressively getting into a state of concoction, an internal
soreness of the throat correspondingly comes on, and is followed by
an almost or total refusal of food. When it is ascertained that
strangles is the true face of the disorder, care must be taken to avoid
bleeding, and every kind of medical evacuants, which would tend to
embarrass Nature in her own efforts, and protract the crisis of
disease; upon which the very safety of the horse, and his
expeditious cure, entirely depend.
The strangles is a disorder standing in much greater need of
nursing, and constant stable attendance, than the least medical
interposition: the system requires to be kept up by art, and every
nutritious attention in proportion as the appetite has been observed
to decline. In its earliest stage, no attempt whatever should be made
at repulsion, (by external astringents, or any spirituous application
whatever;) on the contrary, hot emollient fomentations to the part,
(with two sponges dipt in the decoction alternately for a quarter of
an hour daily,) followed directly with stimulative poultices of a proper
heat, repeated and patient offers of gruel and sweet-wort, mixed a
little warm in a pail perfectly clean, and free from grease. Small
quantities of mash (prepared of ground malt and bran, equal parts)
should, at proper intervals, be placed in the manger: these and the
gruel being constantly refused, the case will then require the
additional adoption of a pectoral cordial ball, to be dissolved in a pint
of gruel, and mildly insinuated about a third part with the horn at
each time, till the whole is got down; and this should be repeated
three times in every twenty-four hours, till the tumor is broke, and
the crisis arrives; when which is observed, if the aperture is too
small, it may be a little enlarged with the point of any instrument,
that the matter may the more easily run off. To promote this, the
poultice, covering a pledget of digestive ointment, should be
continued for two or three days, when a cure is soon effected. Two
or three doses of physic, or a course of alteratives, is always
necessary after this disease.

STRANGURY—is a temporary suppression of urine in horses,

brought on more by the indiscretion of their riders or drivers, than
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