Latest news with #Stand!
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Watch Sly and the Family Stone Rip Through ‘I Want to Take You Higher' at Woodstock
Sly and the Family Stone didn't have an easy task in front of them when they stepped onstage at Woodstock. It was 3:30 AM, several hours past their scheduled start time, the grounds were soaked and muddy after a pissing rainstorm earlier in the day, and they were terrified to even touch their equipment because earlier acts in the night, including the Grateful Dead, had been badly electrocuted. But Sly Stone — who died Monday after a long battle with COPD — knew this was a moment to prove himself on the biggest stage possible. 'As I flew in I couldn't see the whole crowd, but you could see enough people dotting the landscape that it was hard to believe that there were even more,' he wrote in his 2023 book Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir. 'Goddamn.' I said to myself. 'Goddamn. What the fuck is this?' So many people, an ocean of them without any land for miles. When something is that big a deal, be sure you're ready.' More from Rolling Stone Sly Stone, Family Stone Architect Who Fused Funk, Rock, and Soul, Dead at 82 Hear Sly and the Family Stone Rock a Small Club in 1967 With Funky 'I Gotta Go Now' Dire Wolves Are Back. One 'Dire Wolf' Never Went Away The band had been gigging practically nonstop since forming in 1966, and their landmark LP Stand! — featuring 'I Want To Take You Higher,' 'Everyday People' and 'Stand!' — hit just three months earlier. And less than a month before Woodstock, they dropped the single 'Hot Fun in the Summertime.' In other words, this was a band at the absolute peak of their powers. They opened for a high-energy, euphoric rendition of 'M'Lady,' and the set only grew in intensity from there. The Woodstock movie showcased 'I Want To Take You Higher, the climax of their blazing, ten-song performance. 'What we would like to do is sing a song together,' Sly Stone told the crowd. 'And you see what usually happens is you got a group of people that might sing and for some reasons that are not unknown any more, they won't do it. Most of us need to get approval from our neighbours before we can actually let it all hang down. But what is happening here is we're going to try to do a singalong. Now a lot of people don't like to do it. Because they feel that it might be old-fashioned. But you must dig that it is not a fashion in the first place. It is a feeling. And if it was good in the past, it's still good.' He was speaking the language of the nearly 500,000 hippies in attendance, and they all responded by dancing together in the mud. 'The call, the response. It felt like church,' Stone wrote in his memoir. 'By then the film crew was fully in place. The horns went up into the sky. When the show was over, we were wet and cold…By the next day it was clear that Woodstock had been a big deal, and that we had been a major part of that deal. The festival had put a spotlight on lots of groups, but us and Jimi [Hendrix] the most.' Even though the Who directly followed Sly and the Family Stone, he was absolutely right. A huge percentage of Woodstock attendees cite Sly and the Family Stone's set as the best moment of the entire weekend. (By the time Hendrix played on Monday morning, the place had largely emptied out. No matter what people claimed later, not many people witnessed his set live.) But everyone saw Sly and the Family Stone, and millions more followed once the movie hit. It's no secret that Sly Stone faced many sad and difficult times in the years that followed. But he achieved musical immortality that night at Woodstock. It showcases the power of live music better than perhaps any other performance ever captured on film. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Sly Stone was way ahead of the game': Questlove explains the ‘genius' legacy of the late funk-rock master
Sly Stone, funk pioneer and frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, died Monday at the age of 82, following what his family described as 'prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues.' 'It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone,' the family wrote in a statement. 'Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family. While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come.' More from GoldDerby Pickleball, punchlines, and personal growth: 'Hacks' stars Megan Stalter and Paul W. Downs on their bond and what's next 'That feeling of having a first crush': How Zach Cherry and Merritt Wever made their 'Severance' marriage feel real 'Slow Horses' EP Doug Urbanski on the secret to the show's success: 'We try to make the perfect martini' and what's next in Season 5: 'it's the most fun and most silly' The legendary musician was the subject of a recent Hulu documentary, Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), from Oscar-winning director Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson. Questlove recently sat down with Gold Derby and shared stories about Sly Stone, his genius, and his lasting impact on pop culture. SEE 'A lot comes with jumping into that inferno': Questlove explores the burden of Black genius in 'Sly Lives!' "Sly was way ahead of the game," Questlove shared. "There are trillions of Sly genius stories." One such story, ultimately left out of the documentary, highlights Sly's remarkable real-time creativity during an urgent re-edit of 'Stand!' after testing it at Whisky a Go Go in 1969. 'Sly was a little disappointed that people weren't losing their minds to his new single,' Questlove recounts. 'Then, a girl he was with gave him the inspiration, saying, 'It's 1969, man. We need a get-down part.' "Sly learns that in the wake of James Brown's 'Cold Sweat' in '68, a year before, the idea of letting the bass and the drums have their moment — that was a new thing. It needs to go somewhere else just to spike the punch a little bit. "Sly literally wakes the band up as the club is letting out at 1:45 a.m. and says, 'Get to the studio now. We made a mistake!' And they get to the studio and they work on what we now know as the ending of 'Stand!,' and he calls up Columbia the next day. He's like, 'Destroy all the 45s. We have a new ending. Forget that version.' They're like, 'We already printed it up.' So there's about 40,000 copies of the original 'Stand!' out there. I was lucky to find one." Questlove on Sly Stone's innovation: "He literally pioneered — or was the first — for so many things that we take for granted now. He was the first to use the drum machine, the first to take advantage of multitrack recording — doing everything himself. Sly made three whole music videos in 1969. The purpose of a music video was basically — if you were unable to travel to Europe, you would just perform a generic performance video that they would air on television shows overseas. But if you look at 'Dance to the Music', if you look at 'Life,' if you look at 'Everyday People,' those are conceptual videos — and this is like 10 years before MTV was launched." Generations continue to be inspired and entertained by Sly Stone, whose timeless music has been sampled in countless hip-hop tracks, shaping the genre and leaving a lasting impact. 'For me, my sweet spot was always with the hip-hop heads,' Questlove said. "You might be aware that Arrested Development's 'People Everyday' is [Sly and the Family Stone's] 'Everyday People.' You might recognize the drums from 'The Humpty Dance' as 'Sing a Simple Song.' You might have some sort of hip-hop-adjacent, 'Oh, that LL Cool J loop is definitely Sly Stone.' You might be that person. Hip-hop heads know about Sly Stone's impact." Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is streaming on Hulu. Best of GoldDerby Billboard 200: Chart-topping albums of 2025 Billboard Hot 100: Every No. 1 song of 2025 The B-52s' Kate Pierson talks Rock Hall snub, influencing John Lennon, and fears a solo album would be a 'betrayal' to her band Click here to read the full article.
Canberra Times
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Canberra Times
Funk rock revolutionary Sly Stone dies at 82
Led by Sly Stone, with his leather jumpsuits and goggle shades, mile-wide grin and mile-high Afro, the band dazzled in 1969 at the Woodstock festival and set a new pace on the radio. Everyday People, I Wanna Take You Higher and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as 'different strokes for different folks.'The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: Stand!, There's a Riot Goin' On and Greatest Hits.
Perth Now
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Funk rock revolutionary Sly Stone dies at 82
Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and '70s and beyond with such hits as Everyday People, Stand! and Family Affair, has died at age 82. Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor health in recent years. His publicist Carleen Donovan said he died in Los Angeles surrounded by family after contending with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other ailments. Formed in 1966-67, Sly and the Family Stone was the first major group to include Black and white men and women, and embodied a time when anything seemed possible — riots and assassinations, communes and love-ins. The music was a blowout of frantic horns, rapid-fire guitar and locomotive rhythms, a melting pot of jazz, psychedelic rock, doo-wop, soul and the early grooves of funk. Stone's group began as a Bay Area sextet featuring Sly on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass; Sly's brother, Freddie, on guitar; sister Rose on vocals; Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini horns and Greg Errico on drums. They debuted with the album A Whole New Thing and earned the title with their breakthrough single, Dance to the Music. It hit the top 10 in April 1968, the week the Rev. Martin Luther King was murdered, and helped launch an era when the polish of Motown and the understatement of Stax suddenly seemed of another time. Led by Sly Stone, with his leather jumpsuits and goggle shades, mile-wide grin and mile-high Afro, the band dazzled in 1969 at the Woodstock festival and set a new pace on the radio. Everyday People, I Wanna Take You Higher and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as 'different strokes for different folks.'The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: Stand!, There's a Riot Goin' On and Greatest Hits. Sly's influence has endured for decades. The top funk artist of the 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic creator George Clinton, was a Stone disciple. Prince, Rick James and the Black-Eyed Peas were among the many performers from the 1980s and after influenced by Sly, and countless rap artists have sampled his riffs, from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. A 2005 tribute record included Maroon 5, John Legend and the Roots. By the early '70s, Stone himself was beginning a descent from which he never recovered, driven by the pressures of fame and the added burden of Black fame. His record company was anxious for more hits, while the Black Panthers were pressing him to drop the white members from his group. After moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in 1970, he became increasingly hooked on cocaine and erratic in his behaviour. By the end of the decade, Sly and the Family Stone had broken up and Sly was releasing solo records. Most of the news he made over the following decades was of drug busts, financial troubles and mishaps on stage. Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame in 1993 and honoured in 2006 at the Grammy Awards, but Sly released just one album after the early '80s, I'm Back! Family & Friends, much of it updated recordings of his old hits.
West Australian
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Funk rock revolutionary Sly Stone dies at 82
Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and '70s and beyond with such hits as Everyday People, Stand! and Family Affair, has died at age 82. Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor health in recent years. His publicist Carleen Donovan said he died in Los Angeles surrounded by family after contending with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other ailments. Formed in 1966-67, Sly and the Family Stone was the first major group to include Black and white men and women, and embodied a time when anything seemed possible — riots and assassinations, communes and love-ins. The music was a blowout of frantic horns, rapid-fire guitar and locomotive rhythms, a melting pot of jazz, psychedelic rock, doo-wop, soul and the early grooves of funk. Stone's group began as a Bay Area sextet featuring Sly on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass; Sly's brother, Freddie, on guitar; sister Rose on vocals; Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini horns and Greg Errico on drums. They debuted with the album A Whole New Thing and earned the title with their breakthrough single, Dance to the Music. It hit the top 10 in April 1968, the week the Rev. Martin Luther King was murdered, and helped launch an era when the polish of Motown and the understatement of Stax suddenly seemed of another time. Led by Sly Stone, with his leather jumpsuits and goggle shades, mile-wide grin and mile-high Afro, the band dazzled in 1969 at the Woodstock festival and set a new pace on the radio. Everyday People, I Wanna Take You Higher and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as 'different strokes for different folks.'The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: Stand!, There's a Riot Goin' On and Greatest Hits. Sly's influence has endured for decades. The top funk artist of the 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic creator George Clinton, was a Stone disciple. Prince, Rick James and the Black-Eyed Peas were among the many performers from the 1980s and after influenced by Sly, and countless rap artists have sampled his riffs, from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. A 2005 tribute record included Maroon 5, John Legend and the Roots. By the early '70s, Stone himself was beginning a descent from which he never recovered, driven by the pressures of fame and the added burden of Black fame. His record company was anxious for more hits, while the Black Panthers were pressing him to drop the white members from his group. After moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in 1970, he became increasingly hooked on cocaine and erratic in his behaviour. By the end of the decade, Sly and the Family Stone had broken up and Sly was releasing solo records. Most of the news he made over the following decades was of drug busts, financial troubles and mishaps on stage. Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame in 1993 and honoured in 2006 at the Grammy Awards, but Sly released just one album after the early '80s, I'm Back! Family & Friends, much of it updated recordings of his old hits.
