Machine

Machine came together in New York in 1977, right as the disco boom peaked and most R&B, disco, and funk releases favored escapist lyrics. The quintet—vocalist Clare Bathé, singer-guitarist Jay Stovall, bassist Melvin Lee, keyboardist Kevin Nance, and drummer Lonnie Ferguson—admired the message-driven R&B songs of the early 1970s and wished more artists had kept addressing social and political themes after 1975. Seeking to reverse that trend, the band signed with RCA in 1978 and cut “There but for the Grace of God Go I,” a sharp commentary on Latino immigrants who arrived in the U.S. hoping for a better life yet found danger on the Bronx’s rough streets. Issued in early 1979, the disco-soul standout became a club favorite and a lasting cult classic, the track for which Machine remains best known. The group’s self-titled debut LP also arrived in 1979; RCA followed it in 1980 with the second album, Moving On. That release proved to be Machine’s last, however: sales were modest, and the band dissolved in 1981.