Why Gamble & Huff Still Resonate

In the same week that Barack Obama gave his "Race" speech, Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Listening to their induction speech and listening to Obama's, I began to see how G&H's music still hits me years after they've written their last great songs. At their best, G&H's political songs were rarely preachy (although in later years it wasn't always so), undeniably catchy and usually right on. Obama's speech hit me the same way. As Jon Stewart said, a politician speaking to us like adults, how about that? But the message in their music was always what drove the Philly sound's politics. You could dance to it in the clubs, but when you got home and put it on your turntable, the lyrics spoke to you. Their induction into the Hall was too long in coming. But how important a role their music played in our lives is parallel to how important Barack Obama's run for President has been.