Dying Young is Hard to Take, Selling Out is Harder: There’s a Riot Goin’ On
Dying young is hard to take, selling out is harder.
Welcome (or welcome back) to Vinyl Monday! This is my series where I give the who/what/when/where/why and how I feel about classic albums in my collection. My revised thoughts on Sly and the Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On (released 1971.) Subscribe for more Vinyl Monday!
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unveiling-the-legends-dolls-of-the-60s-70s/id1749327932
Turnstile discography overview!: https://groovymusicclub.com/content/articles/turnstile-a-discography-overview
Timestamps:
intro – 0:00
art/packaging/personnel – 1:25
There’s a Riot Goin’ On – 5:34
track listing/release – 20:07
my thoughts – 25:08
thanks for watching! – 47:06
Music:
Intro Music: Yeah Yeah Yeah (Long) by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) Artist: http://audionautix.com/
Outtro Music: Ticket To Nowhere Man by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) Artist: http://audionautix.com/
Vinyl Monday logo by Callum: https://www.youtube.com/@clynaack
#vinyl #vinylcommunity #slyandthefamilystone
@theeducatedfool
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
There’s A Riot Goin’ On being a response to What’s Going On cracks me up for how much it reminds me of those “Marvin Gaye Being Clueless” playlists floating around.
@moviemaestro800
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Talking Book shoutout! Future Stevie Wonder album reviews?
@ccfunk1
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
To me it's truly great. musically masterful though the haze.
@harryhoesch3793
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
"Black lights, so the cocaine was easier to spot". How I miss black lights. Time to unroll out the 60's fluorescent glow art and stack the 8-tracks in all their track click glory.
@djtrakakadrunkpoet8598
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
I love how the Rhythm ace just bumps on this . I believe one of the first albums to feature a drum machine
@trystramshandy4047
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Thanks! You make my Mondays great!!!
@tgh2048
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Fantastic analysis. Probably your best, imo.
@michaelevans898
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Sixties Art Major — "Family Affair" and "Everybody is a Star" soon afterward were legitimate FM Radio hits, and gave us hope for Sly Stone to "come back," but his history was tragically different from that. Congratulations to Questlove for getting his film out to the public while Sly still lived. Rest In Power, Silvester Stewart!
@rogerschnack
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Please try to approach my comment in the most philosophical way possible…: I can't disconnect the energy of "There's A Riot Goin On" by S.E.X. for a single moment.
@Gerry-p9r
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
45:54– speaking words of wisdom
@leetomboulian
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
This actually messed me up. Thank you.
@y4nic519
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
was listening to that aaaloot lately. your first VM brought me near to it, i spent my own time with it and now im happy to spend some 48 minutes more with it. thank you aB!!
@marknovak6498
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
The band was a victim of its time.
@pravus1341
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Do you think you'll ever get around to making a Vinyl Monday about the album Spiderland by Slint?
@mikehernandez6024
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
If only every album's bad track was as great as Spaced Cowboy.
@Mythicalcreaturesultra
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
I feel like I heard about Brian Wilson and Ozzy Osborne’s deaths mere hours after they were announced, but it took over a week for me to learn about Sly, even though he was my favourite of the three. I know Sly definitely stepped out of the spotlight for the later years of his life, but it’s so sad how little respect I’ve seen given to him in mainstream media since his death.
@dancingbear86
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Stand, Greatest Hits and Riot are all phenomenal, essential, and classic albums. The Family Stone were the hippest of the hip back then. 😎
@richardelliott8352
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
it's difficult when both art and peace are so commonly undervalued in a thoughtlessly instant American society. it must be more difficult when one is expected to be popular , with your livelihood depending on popularity, when one is a gentle soul. This video explains why this album is the hardest to find in the used racks, and why I found and bought all the other ones.
@seandodd6388
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Actually, I've always heard that the color black is the combination of every color and white is the absence of all color. Just sayin'. Pretty sure I learned that in my art classes once upon a time, but I may have forgotten the order of this query of sorts…
@MrEconline
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Sly and the family stone is the first band I ever seen as a kid. I saw them at Madison Square Garden In 1971. Rare Earth opened up for them. That was an unbelievable great show
I remember reading a review of there’s a Riot going on. It mentioned a line in the song “It’s A family affair. “ The one that goes. “Blood is thicker than the mud” feeling that Sly was having second thought thoughts about the Woodstock dream and was thinking about his place in the world as a black man he’s expressing in the song.
@chrismcgovernthegenxmuse
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
38:27 Can we get the yodelling segment as a standalone video? Maybe an Instagram edit
@kevinmcgauhey9813
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
I feel left out since I never got more than a HITS record!
@kevinmcgauhey9813
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Was that B Roll Abbie howling along with Space Cowboy?! lol
@tymime
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
If the drummer for The Banana Splits was indeed on this album, it would explain why some of the Splits songs were so funky
@apollo.c.vermouth5672
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
There are certain albums where I'm envious of the people who heard it at the time of release, and 'Riot' is definitely one of them. Then again, as with 'To Pimp A Butterfly' I'm conflicted about how seductive I find it because I know I'm very far removed from the sharp end of the troubles that inspired it.
@dianepeel7154
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
This might be the most insightful video you have ever done and you have done many great ones. This was powerful. What I like about this video is that you challenge the orthodoxy. You are challenging the white male narrative. Shame on you. Great video!
@pennydreadfuls_
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
any chance you make a video on Julee Cruise's Floating Into The Night? albeit it's newer than most of the stuff you cover (1989) but it really seems like an album you'd love
@spacemissing
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Some of the least musical "music" that ever hit the charts. Absolutely gut-churning sewage. Couldn't take it at the time and still can't now. I cannot understand how anyone is able to listen to it without throwing up.
@smaz9
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
A video on Selected Ambient Works 85-92 would be cool. About time for Vinyl Monday to enter the realms of electronic music.
@thanksgivingsandwich
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
One of the great lo-fi achievements. This album helped me love the imperfections of recording, the grit of oversaturation and the humanity it can bring out. It's still fresh, and feels so worn out simultaneously.. there's a depth to it that many can't grasp, worlds within the dirt. My ear has been shaped through albums like this. Great instrumentation, musicality, melody under a blanket of surface noise. It's heaven
@fuzzydunlop7928
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
2:45 – "…in the words of AWH-ther…" hell yeah! That New Englander pronunciation out in the wild felt like seeing a shooting star. That's like when an Irish person hits you with that perfect past-tense. I'm a nerd for that stuff.
@rachaeltyrell9851
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
interesting that Ian Dury lifted the bass riff for Thank you for Talkin' for Waiting for Your Taxi – Dury and The Block Heads were always a funksters at heart and it's also interesting that the Block Heads were also multi racial and of course Ian was a Polio victim – aside from that I have two Sly and The Family Stone albums – Riot and Fresh – the man was a genius and I never understood why he never got the reverance and devotion he truly deserved. In a way the music on these two albums reminds me of the Grateful Deads 1969 version of Aoxomoxoa; they are songs that are barely holding together and/or at times sound like he last track on Sun Ra's Heliocentric Worlds volume 2 that sound as if they are disparate elements on the verge of of becoming together like normal songs but just miss doing so.
@ronwashington7589
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
My favorite albums by Sly & the Family Stone are: "Stand", "There's a Riot Goin' On" and "Fresh".
@raderke
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Nice peice….but having been aware at the time what happened in Cambodia is way darker than just "Commies" and the state we left Cambodia in is a heartbreaking thing.
@rodneygriffin7666
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Riot, Plastic Ono Band, Tonight's The Night, Big Star Thirds.
These albums in my opinion can be interchangeable.
All Four are very dark and come from personal pain.
I love all four.❤
@ogam5
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
…..in an era when the HOF is MINDLESSLY inducting soulLESS, sonically-desiccated BRATS like Missy Elliott (absolutely UNLISTENABLE) and hopefully NOT to FOLLOW, Nicky Minaj NOR Beyonce (yeah, I'm DREAMING where THAT's concerned); COMPARABLY-so Janet Jackson but still, NO Diana – Sly possessed enough pure SOUL for them ALL (even a BIT more than Stevie – Bobby though, HARD call) sadly, I'M not surprised 'Grammys' HAVEN'T paid tribute yet, Abby…..HOPING Seal finally gets nominated next [?] month; NO other such recording artist since '91 has a MORE impressive body of work (Andrew Roachford, DOES come CLOSER than might be imagined – his Feel, is an EXTREMELY-underrated album – and I'm SIMILARLY hopeful as regards the Black Pumas' longevity…..)
@pennman82
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
You did a excellent job scaling back the flag i.e. this album. You did a great job with dissecting each song. I might be in the minority when I say I like the song "Time." Its a good spending time to myself-type of song. Plus Sly loves the word and the attributes of the subject of time ( songs like In Time and Time for Livin' as well).
@michaelmalone306
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Mt. Funkmore😂😂😂 When I was a kid in Oakland,Sly coulda been Mayor. Another great episode of musical & cultural import Ms. D,thank you
@sledzeppelin
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Your first video turned me onto this album and I can't thank you enough. I've listened to it SO many times, and I absolutely cherish it.
@aronpolasek4506
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
I first dipped my toe into the Sly & the Family Stone discography when I started college in the 90s. I started with “Greatest Hits” and “Stand”. Absolutely loved both of those. I picked up “Riot” next, and I just really couldn’t get into it. Even though I had done some research into it beforehand, I wasn’t really prepared for the muddy sound, and the joy from the earlier recordings being turned almost all the way down. I hadn’t yet synced up what was happening in American history during the time the album was released with the sound and themes of the album. Over the years, I’ve really grown to appreciate the record more and more. It’s hard to top the feel of those early songs and albums, but “Riot” and “Fresh” are, sadly, more relevant than ever right now. They’re a reality check… the flip side of the coin of those bright, optimistic early hits.
Embarrassed to admit that I never saw those as suns on the flag featured on the cover. I always thought they represented bullet holes, which felt like a really powerful statement.
@ErnestIII83
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Spaced Cowboy is actually my favorite track off the album. Ha!
I thought I was the only one who noticed the Grammys this year didn't pay tribute to Sly. I thought maybe they did it last year, but I guess not. Of all the bad decisions the Grammys have made through the years, that one might be the worst for me. At least the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame paid tribute to him.
Love 'ya, Abby! 🙂
@marcyfan-tz4wj
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
You should cover Charles Mingus's " The back saint and the sinner lady", Abby.
@notapseudonym678
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Brave and Strong always struck me as an especially paranoid track, more so than The Asphalt Jungle even. It screams "civil unrest". The lyrics and the constant sense of movement from the actual music give off the impression of being caught in a place or a situation where there's too much going on for you to feel comfortable, everything and everyone is either potentially out to get you or unable to help you, and your only recourse is to toughen up in the event everything breaks down.
"Frightened faces to the wall, oh can't you hear your mama call?"
"When you walk, know where you're walking, and when you talk…"
"Out and down, ain't got a friend, you don't know who turned you in"
Especially with the first verse, it all just makes me think of someone who's afraid of the place they're at, like they have a bounty on them, constantly worried about when they're gonna get caught, or hurt. Which I would imagine anyone in Sly's position felt like from time to time. He was a black artist, affiliated with the Civil Rights movement in the late 60s, with an occasionally rabid fanbase, was losing friendships with his bandmates, had a drug problem, and with the knowledge that even outside of his drug-induced paranoia, the cops and the feds could and did do all sorts of shit to minorities and political opponents, and as both of those things, he had a target on his back, like it or not.
And then it kept getting worse. Protests against the war kept getting met with bullets and truncheons. I'd imagine the people at Kent and Jackson State had a pretty similar tune in their heads after the shootings there a year before. Which is why this track feels like one of the more poignant ones to me. The title track is the riot going on, but this one's about everything surrounding it. Plus the organ stabs are really cool.
@UniversalBlackRocker
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Another amazing review of the classic from a true beautiful queen. Good thing you've spotlight the There's A Riot Goin On album since I just got Sly Stone's book this past weekend. And I agree with you about The Grammys didn't do a Sly Stone tribute (which I didn't watch it because f' the Grammys really) but the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame (which I saw clips of the induction ceremony on social media) did it right last year by doing a Sly Stone tribute). As always, you're definitely invited to the cookout ❤❤❤❤❤
@Dr.WinstonOGhurkin
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
38:35 i love the yodelling ahahaha
@chrisnicol1644
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Damn… I guess I have to listen to this again… I just thought it was a good album…
@elliotvermette
February 19, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Always enjoy your reporting on these early albums as well as the first video you made. 👍🍁
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