THE HIT HAMMER: Sly & the Family Stone's "Family Affair"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

Sly & the Family Stone - "Family Affair"

Hit Number 1: December 4, 1971

Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks

"Family Affair" is credited as being by Sly & the Family Stone, but in reality the Family Stone were starting to fall apart. The only other member of the group that was present on the recording besides Sly was Rose Stone. The band had been suffering from heavy drug intake, but it especially hit Sly the hardest. If you remember from "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", the band couldn't go on tour or make new material because of Sly's drug addiction. He'd have to drag a violin case full of drugs everywhere he went, and was paranoid that everyone, including his own bandmates, were out to get him. Because of his struggles, the band couldn't make new material for nearly two years. At this time, that was a long time to not hear anything new from a popular band.

"Family Affair" is proof that Sly & the Family Stone were one of the most popular bands around from that five-year span of 1968-1972. People had grown so used to Sly's signature wail, and the band's fun-loving music. When people didn't hear anything from the band, they must've missed them pretty bad. Then when the band finally came out from their slumber, they released the long-awaited There's a Riot Goin' On album which produced "Family Affair". "Family Affair", chart-wise, is the band's biggest hit they've ever had. Even though most of the band wasn't present on it.

It's also a departure from the fun rockers Sly & the Family Stone made in the late '60s. To be fair, so was "Thank You", but that song was still a cool little funk song with a wicked bass line. "Family Affair" is still credited as being a funk song, but this kind of stuff is not what I think of when I think of funk. To me, it's the most mellow thing Sly & the Family Stone have ever released. It makes me wonder what might have happened to them in the span of those two years of silence from them. Even the content of "Family Affair" is different from anything else the band has done. Instead of anything that makes you think differently about something, or anything that makes you want to sing along, "Family Affair" is kind of a tired song. It talks about the hardships of family life, but also the good things that come with it. Part of that was maybe why Sly wasn't convinced that it was strong enough for release. He had to be convinced by his manager and the group's label to release it. Surprisingly, it seems to be one of the group's most celebrated songs, which is confusing to me.

In other words, "Family Affair" is a song I've never cared too much for. When I listen to Sly & the Family Stone, I expect fun, powerful psychedelic soul stompers, or at least some cool funk charisma like we heard on "Thank You". "Family Affair" is boring; never reaching that point of "boy I want to listen to this again." It's like snow during the spring time. It melts away without a second thought, and when it's gone I have no desire to get it back.

Sly and Rose Stone's vocal performances are also a little cringe material. Rose sounds off-key, like she's half-assing the performance. Sly tries to sell the song with some low-rumble "uh-huhs" and some wailing sounds that are supposed to imitate a child crying, but instead they sound awkward. The only thing that saves "Family Affair" from being a bad song are the amplified keyboards played by Billy Preston, who I might add is an extremely underrated piano player. (He had a nice little solo career too, and will eventually appear in this blog a couple times) There's some neat little twangy guitar noodles too, but none of that is enough to impress me here. "Family Affair" flies way over my head. High enough to where I don't even bother to look up.

Unfortunately, "Family Affair" is the last song that hit #1 for Sly & the Family Stone, so they won't get a chance to redeem themselves. I've got to give some props to Sly though; he's slowly been rebounding from his heavy drug addiction. He's now 77 (78 in a few days), and hasn't fully recovered from it, but according to my research he's still active so he must be doing okay. Though I don't care for "Family Affair" too much, I'm sure he's enjoyed all his royalties he's made from it and his other hit singles. I'm willing to bet he doesn't give one shit about what some 23-year-old in Minnesota thinks of his final #1 hit.

GRADE: 4/10