There's a Riot Goin' On
Updated: 12/20/2025, 1:11:25 PM Wikipedia source
There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by the American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. It was released in November 1971 by Epic Records. The recording was dominated by band frontman-songwriter Sly Stone during a period of escalated drug use and intra-group tension. Recording sessions took place from 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and in Stone's home studio in Bel Air. With the album, Sly and the Family Stone departed from the optimistic sound of their previous music and explored a darker, more challenging sound featuring edgy funk rhythms, a primitive drum machine, extensive overdubbing, and a dense mix. Conceptually and lyrically, There's a Riot Goin' On embraced apathy, pessimism, and disillusionment with both Stone's fame and 1960s counterculture amid a turbulent political climate in the United States at the turn of the 1970s, influenced by the decline of the civil rights movement and the rise of the Black Power movement. The album's title was originally planned to be Africa Talks to You, but it changed in response to Marvin Gaye's album What's Going On (1971), released six months before Riot. A commercial success, There's a Riot Goin' On topped the Billboard Pop Album and Soul Album charts, while its lead single "Family Affair" reached number one on the Pop Singles chart. In 2001, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of at least one million copies in the US. Originally released to mixed reviews, the album has since been praised as one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all time, having impacted the funk, jazz-funk, and hip hop genres in particular. It has appeared in publications' best-album lists, including Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", on which it placed 99th in 2003 and 82nd in 2020. In 1999, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Infobox
Released
November 1, 1971
Recorded
1970–71
Studio
The Record Plant (Sausalito)
Genre
Psychedelic funk avant-soul avant-pop deep funk psychedelic soul
Length
47:33
Label
Epic
Producer
Sly Stone
Tables
Retrospective professional reviews · Reception and legacy
Source
Source
Review scores
Source
Review scores
Rating
AllMusic
AllMusic
Review scores
AllMusic
Review scores
Christgau's Record Guide
Christgau's Record Guide
Review scores
Christgau's Record Guide
Review scores
A+
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Review scores
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Review scores
The Guardian
The Guardian
Review scores
The Guardian
Review scores
PopMatters
PopMatters
Review scores
PopMatters
Review scores
8/10
Q
Q
Review scores
Q
Review scores
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Review scores
Rolling Stone
Review scores
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Review scores
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Review scores
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Review scores
Stylus Magazine
Review scores
A
Uncut
Uncut
Review scores
Uncut
Review scores
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Christgau's Record Guide | A+ |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| The Guardian | |
| PopMatters | 8/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Stylus Magazine | A |
| Uncut | |
· Charts › Weekly charts
U.S. Billboard 200
U.S. Billboard 200
Chart (1971–72)
U.S. Billboard 200
Peak positions
1
U.S. Billboard Top Soul Albums
U.S. Billboard Top Soul Albums
Chart (1971–72)
U.S. Billboard Top Soul Albums
Peak positions
1
Canadian RPM Albums Chart
Canadian RPM Albums Chart
Chart (1971–72)
Canadian RPM Albums Chart
Peak positions
4
UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
Chart (1971–72)
UK Albums Chart
Peak positions
31
| Chart (1971–72) | Peak positions |
| Billboard 200 | 1 |
| Billboard Top Soul Albums | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Albums Chart | 4 |
| UK Albums Chart | 31 |
· Charts › Year-end charts
U.S. Billboard 200
U.S. Billboard 200
Chart (1972)
U.S. Billboard 200
Peak positions
45
U.S. Billboard Top Soul Albums
U.S. Billboard Top Soul Albums
Chart (1972)
U.S. Billboard Top Soul Albums
Peak positions
9
| Chart (1972) | Peak positions |
| Billboard 200 | 45 |
| Billboard Top Soul Albums | 9 |
· Charts › Singles
Family Affair
Family Affair
Year
1971
Name
Family Affair
US
1
US
R&B
1
UK
14
Runnin' Away
Runnin' Away
Year
1972
Name
Runnin' Away
US
23
US
R&B
15
UK
17
42
42
Year
(You Caught Me) Smilin'
Name
42
US
21
US
R&B
-
| Year | Name | US | US R&B | UK |
| 1971 | Family Affair | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| 1972 | Runnin' Away | 23 | 15 | 17 |
| (You Caught Me) Smilin' | 42 | 21 | - |
References
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