It was a perfect soundtrack for the bummer days of the Carter administration and for the latent desires of the Me Generation. But for over a decade, it functioned as both an opiate and an aphrodisiac. By the early 90s, as Hip Hop ascended and R&B got freakier, Quiet Storm became something of a quaint anachronism. It grooved just enough to help accelerate foreplay but was inconspicuous enough to not distract from the climax. It was music meant to be played in the background while you shopped for groceries, or washed the dishes or daydreamed of romance. In time, the format became synonymous with bougie Black domesticity and female-centric sensuality. Though it has strong genetic connections with both Ambient music and Soul music, Quiet Storm was never taken quite so seriously as its close relatives. But, when it reached its peak in the mid-80s, DJs would play Al Green into Bill Withers in Sade into Lionel Richie into The Isley Brothers into Anita Baker into the champion of the form, Luther Vandross. If you search hard enough, you’ll still find a smattering of Quiet Storm programs broadcasting today. DJs would pull tracks from Funk, Soul, R&B, Adult Contemporary, AM Gold and Pop, itself.
In fact, it was never one specific thing. And It wasn’t a passing trend, like Disco. “Quiet Storm” was never a dominant format. Just a year later, Melvin Lindsey, on WHUR in Washington D.C., was hosting a radio show named after and devoted to this sinuous form. In 1975, uncoincidentally the same year as Eno’s ambient debut, Smokey Robinson’s released “A Quiet Storm.” On that album, the Motown legend, who was on a bit of a cold streak, tried to capture the sad, but beautiful, feeling of rolling thunder and cleansing rain. And then there is Quiet Storm, a sub-genre of Soul and R&B that may be more a vibe than a particular strain. When Brian Eno released “Discreet Music” in 1975, he imagined music that could mingle with the sound of a family eating dinner or talking in their living room. New Age music exists mostly to calm or heal. In the genealogy of modern music, good manners are hard to find.
Pop music demands that you pay attention.
Indie Rock is more abstract or poetic than it is gallant or amiable. Otis and Aretha didn’t ask for “Respect” - they demanded it. When The Stones said “please to meet you,” they were obscuring a more satanic truth. When The Beatles sang “Please Please Me,” they sounded young and adorable, but really they were complaining about a lack of reciprocity. Politeness is hardly a virtue in Pop music.
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