Quiet Storm

This ode to slow, sensuous love inspired a new music genre: the quiet storm. An R&B offshoot focused on baby-making music, many radio stations started running “quiet storm” shows late at night, often on weekends. This Smokey Robinson song was the template, a sultry tune that played well in the background as a soundtrack to more pressing activities. The third and final single from A Quiet Storm was the album’s title track.

The song released in 1976, charted at number twenty-five on the US R&B charts. A nearly eight-minute cool out jam, Quiet Storm would later become the theme song to a radio format still in use today. Pioneered by the late great Melvin Lindsey during his stint as an intern for D.C. based radio station WHUR, the quiet storm was all about love songs which we can thank Smokey for.