Plastic soul

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Type of soul music

title: "Plastic soul" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1960s-neologisms", "1960s-in-music", "1970s-in-music", "1980s-in-music", "british-styles-of-music", "david-bowie", "the-beatles"] description: "Type of soul music" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_soul" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Type of soul music ::

Plastic soul is a stylized form of soul music produced largely by white pop artists in the 1970s and 1980s, marked by deliberate imitation and an openly synthetic character.

Usages

Paul McCartney referenced the phrase as the name of the Beatles 1965 album Rubber Soul, which was inspired by the term "plastic soul". In a studio conversation taped in June 1965 after recording the first take of "I'm Down", McCartney says "Plastic soul, man. Plastic soul".

Popularity

David Bowie also described his own funky, soulful songs released in the early to mid-1970s as "plastic soul". These singles sold well, and Bowie became one of the few white music artists to be invited to perform on Soul Train. In a 1976 Playboy interview, Bowie described his recent album Young Americans as "the definitive plastic soul record. It's the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak, written and sung by a white limey." Bowie's most commercially successful album, Let's Dance, released in 1983, has also been described as "plastic soul".

Notes

References

  1. [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/06/beatles-song-lyrics-explained-scott-freiman The Beatles: the story behind every album, song and lyric explained. Life and style. The Guardian]
  2. The Beatles. (2000). "The Beatles Anthology". Chronicle Books.
  3. (1996). "Anthology 2". [[Apple Records]].
  4. [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/plastic-soul-david-bowie-s-legacy-impact-black-artists-n494241 'Plastic Soul': David Bowie's Legacy and Impact on Black Artists - NBC News]
  5. (September 1976). "Interview with David Bowie". [[Playboy]].
  6. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine". AllMusic.

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1960s-neologisms1960s-in-music1970s-in-music1980s-in-musicbritish-styles-of-musicdavid-bowiethe-beatles