60 Years since Motown started

[Nowhere Man]

12 January 2019 marks sixty years since Berry Gordy set up Motown, the list of hits that they cranked out throughout the 60s/70s are endless. Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Grapevine, Can't Hurry Love, Reach Out ect.



I'm sorry to say that as with Laurel & Hardy, anyone that doesn't like Motown is marked in my mind as a shit brained cunt.

Last Motown song that ran through your head? Favourite artist?

Can't forget the first proper Motown hit from 1959

Money (That's What I Want) - Barrett Strong (1959)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeVx1C73o8k

and some other choice classics of the moment for me:

Do You Love Me - The Contours (1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EoI-6lQFIE

(Love Is Like) A Heatwave - Martha & The Vandellas (1963)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k0GDQrK2jo

He Was Really Sayin' Something - The Velvelettes (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awKSaYK8488

What Becomes of the Broken Hearted - Jimmy Ruffin (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQU4sIn96M4

Heaven Must Have Sent You - The Elgins (1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31bu6GLbyc4

(I Know) I'm Losing You - The Temptations (1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWr_F4Gg8sY

Bernadette - Four Tops (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g_TVRGWcfk

I Was Made To Love Her - Stevie Wonder (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pYux5-d1Es

Behind A Painted Smile - Isley Brothers (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foar5MWhiOY

I Can't Get Next To You - The Temptations (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA-bspSRCXE

Tears of A Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaMX0Cs5Bc4

Smiling Faces Sometimes - The Undisputed Truth (1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CJZcVi5BA4

Trouble Man - Marvin Gaye (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbHeNkqRWtI

Superwoman - Stevie Wonder (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2lNf2WHxeI

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Last Motown song that ran through your head? Favourite artist?

Last song was Tracks of My Tears, by Smoky Robinson and the Miracles. The Pulp thread reminded me that Little Soul sunds a it like it. Similar chords or something.

Favourite artist is a tricky one. I think What's Going On is the only Motown album I've ever actually listened to. Outside of that, I know a fairly equal number of singles by the big names, mostly from a compilation my folks used to play in the car on holidays. It's something I've always meant to correct. For some reason, more than any other genre, I've always liked the idea of having an encyclopaedic knowledge of soul music.

[chveik]

favourite artist: probably Martha & The Vandellas, or The Supremes, depending on the mood. I love these two songs to bits:

Martha & the Vandellas - In My Lonely Room
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mVrZmTj_rw

The Supremes - My World is Empty Without You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dObwPyAKyw8

[Maurice Yeatman]

Favourite artist is a tricky one.

Not for me, mate.

[Maurice Yeatman]

Hope my joke hasn't stalled the thread.

My vote goes to Ain't That Peculiar, a great song with a charming, understated lead vocal and sweet backing from The Andantes; plus James Jamerson's superb basslines and Smokey Robinson's gift for paradox in the lyrics.
From the days before Marvin's heartbreak and masochism got weird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCvsikXZ9wk

[Satchmo Distel]

The Supremes - I Hear A Symphony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcylDkRw7dg

[Sin Agog]

I dunno about my favourite...probably some maximum melodic Smokey Robinson number.

Last Motown cut I played was Undisputed Truth's superior, extended cover of Ball Of Confusion: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sunSBaRCcq8

[Sebastian Cobb]

Can't think of a single, but the first two Magnificent 7 lp's are indeed magnificent.

[Satchmo Distel]

I will attending my first ever Smokey Robinson concert later this month

It's impossible to rank the top few Motown songs because at least 20 of them are 100/100.

[Uncle TechTip]

I liked this from the label's last throes in the 80s. Only seemed to make an impact in the Netherlands. A female Prince, supposedly.

Lushus Daim & The Pretty Vain - More Than You Can Handle

https://youtu.be/f6uBa5oqIKU

[The Culture Bunker]

No time for a proper comment at the moment, but I've long thought if God existed and had a voice, it'd sound like Levi Stubbs.