How Detroit's Working Class Built the Sound the Whole World Stole | Living for the City Ep. 1
5/13/202624 min
Detroit’s music didn’t come from nowhere. It came from working people who carried the rhythm of the city with them long after the shift ended. In the debut episode of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib traces the thread between labor and art that runs through everything Detroit has ever made. Berry Gordy IV reflects on his father modeling Motown on the assembly line and what it meant to build stars the same way Detroit built cars. Kevin Saunderson breaks down the early days of proving parents wrong in a blue-collar town that didn't yet believe in them. Don Was recalls playing bar gigs for $10 a night before becoming one of the most important producers in the world. And Bob Seger's longtime tour manager Bill Blackwell explains what Detroit pride actually looks like when autoworkers show up at a golf tournament holding Live Bullet albums. Detroit, Hanif argues, is a stamp of authenticity. You had to go through something to get here. And what came out the other side became techno, rock, Motown, hip hop. Something the whole world is still listening to. This one starts at the source. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - The Engine of the City: How Detroit Built Its Sound 04:18 - Techno Boulevard: Three Teenagers Who Invented a Genre0 8:20 - The Motown Blueprint: How Berry Gordy Built Stars Like Cars 11:00 - The Grind: Don Was, Bob Seger, and Earning Detroit's Respect 15:00 - Day Job Artists: Working the Plant and Making Records 19:04 - The Democratization of Genius: Dilla, Aretha, and Detroit's Spirit 22:05 - Next Time: The Buildings That Built Detroit's Music New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! 📸 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ TAGS/KEYWORDS: Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit music documentary, techno history, Motown history, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Berry Gordy, Don Was, Bob Seger, Bill Blackwell, J Dilla, DJ Minx, Detroit techno, Detroit labor, assembly line music, working class Detroit, Detroit hip hop, Detroit rock, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, Detroit musicians, Belleville Three, techno origin story, Motown assembly line, Dennis Coffey, Detroit pride, music and work, artists and day jobs, Detroit creative community, 2025 podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsCarl Craig· Guest0:01
Detroit motherfuckers make they shit.
Speaker 10:03
There's a sense of hustle and never give up.
Speaker 20:07
All the genres come together in Detroit.
Hanif Abdurraqib· Host0:09
Hi, I'm Hanif Abdurraqib. I am an essayist, a poet, and a cultural critic. I grew up on the punk scene in the Midwest. As a kid in Ohio, we would drive across state borders to go to Detroit to see house shows or basement shows or shows in places like The Shelter. And what I know more than anything is that music comes from somewhere. When it comes to Detroit music history, most people have the name recognition of Berry Gordy. Some people know Aretha Franklin and how Aretha Franklin can make a place like the Fox Theater feel like a church.
Kevin Saunderson· Guest0:48
Soul save me. Save. Save me. Save.
Hanif Abdurraqib· Host0:54
And that history is magnificent, and it belongs to Detroit forever. But what intrigues me about Detroit, and what I believe is the engine of the city, are these lesser told stories. The people making beats in classrooms, working day jobs so that they can DJ at night. This series is largely about people, people who made things and who innovated and created and invented while no one else was paying attention, people who did this not knowing if it would lead to any great success, but they did it because they cared deeply about