The 500 - #99 - There's A Riot Goin' On - Sly and the Family Stone

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by New York-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

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Album: #99

Album Title: There's A Riot Goin' on

Artist: Sly and the Family Stone

Genre: Psychedelic Funk, Psychedelic Soul, Deep Funk,

Recorded: The Record Plant, Sausalito, California

Released: November, 1971

My age at release: Six

How familiar was I with it before this week: A couple of songs

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #82 - rising 17 spots

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Africa Talks To You (Asphalt Jungle)

In May, 1971, at the height of the Vietnam War, with racial tensions and political unrest rampant in the U.S., Marvin Gaye released his legendary 11th studio record What's Going On? (#6 on The 500). Six months later, Sly and the Family Stone answered Gaye’s question with their own release,...There's A Riot Goin' On. As the fifth record from the American funk and soul collective, the title was not a hopeful or optimistic response to the events of the day. But, it was an honest one.

The core members of The Family Stone include (l-r) Freddie Stone,
Sly Stone, Rose Stone, Larry Graham, Cynthia Robinson, 
Jerry Martini, and Greg Errico.

Listening to There's a Riot Goin' On in 2026, it's hard not to draw parallels to our own times. Scroll through the headlines on any given day and you'll find political polarization, protests, economic uncertainty, and people convinced that society is teetering on the brink. It's easy to believe we've never been this divided. And that's exactly why this album remains so powerful.

A crowd estimated at 1,500 gathered on the national mall
and marched to the U.S. Capitol demanding
ratification of the People’s Peace Treaty with
Vietnam on May 5, 1971.

As the saying goes, “history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes”. With all the strife going on in the 1970s, Americans were conflicted over the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement was losing some of its most inspirational leaders, and trust in institutions was crumbling. Families argued over politics at the dinner table. While young people protested in the streets, older generations worried the country was coming apart.  Not unlike today’s wars and economic, social and political upheaval, those events sure “rhyme”.

An estimated 4,000 men, women and children braved
the sleet and snow for the first women’s liberation march 
on March 6, 1971 from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, U.K.

It seems that Sly Stone considered the question posed by Gaye's groundbreaking concept record, looked at the swirling events of his time and answered with a title that captured the frustration, disillusionment, unrest and violence of the era. However, There's a Riot Goin' On isn't just about a riot in the streets. It's also about the turmoil that happens in our minds, our communities, and our country when people stop listening to one another.

However, the "riot" Sly describes in songs such as Family Affair, Runnin' Away and Thank You for Talkin' to Me, Africa is both personal and societal. On one level, these songs comment on a world marked by disillusionment, division, and the fading idealism of the 1960s. On another, they reflect Sly Stone's own struggles. At the time, he was battling drug addiction, and his relationships with his bandmates and his family members (who, in two cases, were one and the same) had become increasingly strained. As a result, the songs operate on two levels. They are observations about a fractured society, but also deeply personal reflections on a man whose own life was beginning to unravel.

Cover for the single, Family Affair, by Sly and the Family Stone.

More than 50 years later, There's a Riot Goin' On remains relevant, landing in the Top 100 of The 500 Greatest Albums for both the 2012 and 2020 Rolling Stones lists. In part, this is  because the tensions Sly Stone chronicled in 1971 echo today -- in a world marked by division, anxiety, inequality, and disillusionment.

However, one could argue that in the 2020s we don't have the same number of artists banging the drum for change. In the early 1970s, listeners could turn to Sly Stone, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield, Nina Simone, Gil Scott-Heron, Stevie Wonder, Joan Baez, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young for music that challenged injustice, questioned authority, and reflected a world in turmoil.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, the 1974 album by
poet Gil Scott-Heron.

I would argue that kindred artists still exist. In hip-hop, Kendrick Lamar's Alright and Childish Gambino's This Is America wrestle with race, identity, and power. In folk and Americana, artists such as Jason Isbell (White Man's World), Hozier (Nina Cried Power), and Noah Kahan have used deeply personal songwriting to explore broader social and cultural issues. And we've still got Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello banging the drum.

Album cover for the single, This Is America, by Childish Gambino

Jesse Welles has built a large following on TikTok by composing topical folk songs about current events, earning frequent comparisons to Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. Even newer acts, such as So Good (I Will Love You Until), have found audiences through our new social media platforms, proving that the singer-songwriter tradition is still alive.

Jesse Welles has built a large enough following 
for a successful tour.

The difference may not be the artists themselves, but the way we consume music and media. In the 1970s, artists needed to break through a limited number of radio stations or appear on one of the half-dozen television networks in order to land in record stores for commercial viability. Today, audiences are scattered across streaming platforms, social media feeds, podcasts, YouTube channels, and algorithm-driven recommendations. The plethora of sources is why a friend can rave about a brilliant streaming series that is in its fourth season...and you've never heard of it. Not because it isn't popular, but perhaps because you don't subscribe to a particular streaming service.

Some of the many subscription, streaming services available.

As our media landscape has fractured, so has our shared cultural experience. The songs, shows, and artists that once dominated water-cooler conversations are increasingly replaced by thousands of smaller, parallel conversations happening within digital communities. This fragmentation extends beyond entertainment into politics, social interactions, and even our understanding of the world. We are no longer just divided by ideology; we are divided by the stories, music and media we encounter every day.

That's one reason There's a Riot Goin' On resonated with me. Sly Stone's concerns about isolation, division and a society pulling itself apart feel as relevant as ever. The difference is that in 1971, millions of people were hearing the same warnings at the same time. Today, we still have our modern-day Slys, Marvins and Dylans, but instead of sharing one riot, the algorithm has handed us a whole bunch.

The 500 - #107 - Portrait of a Legend - Sam Cooke

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by New York-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

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Album: #107
Album Title: Portrait of a Legend (1951-1964)
Artist: Sam Cooke
Genre: Soul, R&B, Gospel
Recorded: Multiple Studios

Released: June, 2004
My age at release: 39, but songs were recorded before I was born
How familiar was I with it before this week: Fairly
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #307, dropping 200 spots

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: A Change Is Gonna Come

There are songs we attach to artists. These are the signature pieces that feel inseparable from the person who recorded them. You hear the opening notes and you don’t just think of the song, you think of them. A few that immediately come to mind for me...(and are also, unsurprisingly, on The 500 list) include:

• Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
• Purple Rain - Prince
• Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
• Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin
• (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Rolling Stones

And then there are few, legendary songs that don't quite stay put. They still belong to an artist, but they outgrow him or her. They become something else...something that doesn’t feel locked to a single moment or a single voice.

It is often said that "history repeats itself". I’ve never been sure that’s true and  believe it is more accurate to say that "history echoes". The same shapes return, the same tensions surface, but never in exactly the same way. Some songs work like that, too. They don’t just mark a moment, they wait for the next one. Such is the case I will make for A Change Is Gonna Come, the 29th track on the 30 song anthology from Sam Cooke, Portrait of a Legend (1951-1964).

Label to the 45 RPM single for A Change Is Gonna Come.

The story of this song began on October 8, 1963. Sam Cooke and his entourage of musicians and family members arrived in Shreveport, Louisiana for a pre-booked reservation at the local Holiday Inn. They had just finished performing as the headliners at the Municipal Auditorium on a bill that included many other African American artists.

A battered poster from the October 8th show.

When they reached the front desk, they were told there were no vacancies. The explanation rang hollow and Cooke immediately recognized what was happening. He refused to accept the situation quietly and demanded to see the manager, standing his ground even as those around him, including his wife, urged caution. Eventually, the group left, but frustration spilled out as horns blared and words were shouted into the night. By the time they reached another motel downtown, the police were already waiting. Cooke and others were arrested for disturbing the peace.

Postcard for the Holiday Inn at 1906 North Market St. in Shreveport, Louisiana.

The next day, a New York Times headline reduced the incident to something easily dismissed...and woefully myopic: “Negro Band Leader Held in Shreveport.”

However, within Black communities, the reaction was anything but placid. There was outrage born from the understanding that this wasn’t an isolated incident, but part of a larger, familiar pattern in the Jim Crow South.

Jim Crow laws were a system of state and local laws
in the American South that enforced racial segregation
and denied Black Americans basic rights.

After his release, Cooke reflected on the protest song Blowing In The Wind, which had been released by Bob Dylan that autumn of 1963. Cooke was moved by Dylan's lyrics, but also wondered how such a poignant anthem for civil rights had been penned by a white musician. He would later say he was ashamed that he had not written something so important himself.

Lyrics to Blowing In The Wind - Bob Dylan.

Cooke was further influenced by the message in the now-famous I Have A Dream speech that had been delivered earlier that summer in Washington by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  As winter approached, Cooke sat down to write A Change Is Gonna Come, reportedly completing it in less than an hour on his guitar. Not content with his initial, stripped down version, Cooke wanted it to be recorded with a full orchestra with each verse presented as a different movement. The string section would carry the first, the horns the second and the timpani delivering the bridge. In the final movement, it all comes together However, instead of swelling to a big crescendo, it remains restrained. It is the sound of waiting...waiting for the change that is "gonna come".

Lyrics to A Change Is Gonna Come.

A Change Is Gonna Come delivered the cultural gut-punch Cooke intended and it was embraced by the Civil Rights Movement and audiences in general, placing well on contemporary music charts. However, it is a song that was not tied down by that generation. It has continued to resonate for more than 50 years.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his I Have A Dream speech.

Wisely, Cooke speaks in general truths and not specifics. He does not name a place, a law, an event or a protest. He has penned a song that seems to hold hope, anger, defiance and uncertainty in equal measures. Consequently, the line "it's been a long time coming" can fit any generation. In 1964, it sounded like a promise and in each subsequent decade it echoed like a necessary reflection.

Sam Cooke recording in a smoky studio, 1960s.

In the 1970s, the song settled into an era still grappling with the promises of the ’60s. By the 1980s, when I first heard it, it was appearing in documentaries and biopics, becoming a kind of shorthand for unfinished business. In the 1990s, as contemporary black artists recorded their own versions, the recording took on an educational role, offering moral clarity as the century closed. In the 2000s, it surfaced again, aligning with the optimism of the Obama era. And in 2020, it returned once more, sounding as relevant as ever during a summer marked by the deaths of young black men at the hands of police.

More than half a century later, Shreveport finally atoned for the blatant racism with an apology delivered from a festival stage, offered to Cooke’s daughter, Mary. The world was very different from the one her father had stood on that fateful night in 1963.  And though the events could not be undone, the city’s acknowledgement of a big social wrong was a sure sign that change had indeed come.  Hopefully, similar gestures will continue in order to craft a better world.

Mary Cooke accepting the key to the city and an apology
on stage in Shreveport, June 22, 2019.