Me: White kid in the 80s, ingesting copious amounts of R.E.M., Talking Heads, and P.I.L. Also Me: White kid in the 80s listening to copious amounts of Sly & the Family Stone, especially Life!, Stand!, and this masterpiece - There's a Riot Goin' On. Me, today, 40 years later: White guy in my 50s, and on a REGULAR basis the opening sounds of this album run through my head. The album has never left me. Sly & the Family Stone changed music at least twice. Their 60s sound was dynamic and revolutionary, performed by a multiethnic band that was quite a rarity in those days (at least in the main). Then with this album, something totally new again. I also remember seeing Sly Stone on TV in the late 80s. He was such a huge figure to me musically, but by this point he had become a much smaller version of himself. The drugs that no doubt fueled this album had shrunken him. Like one that dies giving birth... we are the recipients of something unforgettable, but it took the life of its maker.