MOTOWN: THE HOUSE THAT ROARED

MOTOWN: THE HOUSE THAT ROARED

JIM FELDMAN

The first record I ever bought was the Contours' "Do You Love Me," a snappy R&B dance hit on Gordy Records, in the fall of 1962. Me, a 10-year-old, upper-middleclass white kid from suburban New Jersey. I offer this item from my past as one piece of evidence that Motown Records (encompassing the Motown, Tamla, Gordy, Soul, and other smaller labels) was in line with truth-in-advertising laws when it adopted the slogan "The Sound Of Young America" in the mid-'60s. You want more substantial proof? OK. Not only did Motown dominate the R&B (now the black) charts throughout the '60s and well into the '70s, but from 1964-73, Motown artists amassed 33 of the 21 1 #1 records on Billboard's top 100 pop chart, not to mention almost countless top ten hits. Motown's best year was 1970, when it achieved 7 of 21 #l's; that year, there were weeks when Motown grabbed half of the top ten. These are amazing statistics, made even more so by the fact that Motown operated as an independent corporation (ultimately, it was the most successful indy label ever) and that there were many more vital labels reaching for the fop than there are today.

Motown's unique ability to cross racial lines in a massive way resulted from the combined musical perspicacity and business smarts of its founder—now chairman—Berry Gordy, Jr. In the late '50s and early '60s, an occasional R&B record would find broad acceptance, but most R&B music was deemed too rough and gritty to get extensive (read: pop) airplay and was therefore limited to black audiences. Gordy, a promising songwriter (he co-wrote Jackie Wilson's first hits), had a plan to appeal to both blacks and whites when, in 1959, he borrowed $800 from his family to start a record company in his hometown, Detroit.

Motown—whose name came from Detroit's familiar appellation, the Motortown—was conceived as a small, intimate company (it was originally headquartered in a nondescript building that still bears the sign "Hitsville, U.S.A."); most of its initial artists, writers, producers, and studio musicians were local talent. As well as administrating the label, Gordy co-wrote and/or co-produced Motown's earliest releases (he kept his hand in the creative end for many years) and thus began to fashion what soon became known as the "Motown Sound." Motown took its first step as a local label with the second Smokey Robinson & The Miracles release, "Bad Girl." (Gordy had collaborated with Robinson on their first single for another label the previous year.) In 1960, Motown went national and garnered its first hit— Barrett Strong's classic, "Money." Then, in early 1961, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles had a million-seller, "Shop Around"; later the same year, Mary Wells hit the charts with "Bye Bye Baby"; and in December, the Marvelettes put Motown on top of the pop charts for the first time with an all-time girl-group great, "Please Mr. Postman."

In the next three years, Motown's hit roster expanded dramatically: Marvin Gaye, the Contours, the Supremes, Little Stevie Wonder, Martha & The Vandellas, the Temptations, Kim Weston, Brenda Holloway, the Velvelettes and the Four Tops all hit the charts. In 1962 and 1963, some of the biggest hits were Little Stevie Wonder's harmonica-driven instrumental, "Fingertips—Part 2" (#1 pop and R&B), Mary Wells's "You Beat Me To The Punch" and "Two Lovers" (both # 1 R&B and top ten pop), the Contours' "Do You Love Me" (#1 R&B, #3 pop), Smokey & The Miracles' "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" (#l R&B, #4 pop). (Sales figures are hard to determine, since Motown has never applied for certification of its million-sellers.) 1964, the year of the Beatles and the British Invasion, was equally the year of Motown, and most of its artists were consistently near the top of the charts. Mary Wells had her biggest hit ever, the Smokey Robinsonwritten-and-produced "My Guy," and the Supremes, who until then had had only minor hits, took America by storm with three smash hits in a row. It's interesting to note that "My Guy" and the three Supremes records, beginning with "Where Did Our Love Go," were all hit #l on the pop charts but not on the R&B charts. While some of the earliest Motown releases were somewhat rough around the edges and reflected Berry Gordy's—and the artists'— R&B roots, by 1964, the "Motown Sound" that Gordy wanted to create to attract blacks and whites was almost fully developed.

Despite the company's success, Gordy continued to run it like a family in which everyone chipped in as needed and in which he was the all-powerful father. Some acts were still in school when they signed with the label, and Gordy mode sure that they finished school before they turned professional (Stevie Wonder, obviously, was an exception; he continued his education during his first several years at Motown); if they needed jobs, he gave them jobs— Martha Reeves and Diana Ross, for example started out at Motown os secretaries.

Smokey Robinson was cast in the role of the eldest son who joins the family business: he produced and wrote for a number of other Motown acts, and Marvin Gaye married Gordy's sister, Anna.

It's true, however, that what might have seemed like one big happy family was in some ways a dictatorship, and even as Motown entered its glory period, tensions began to mount. For example, in 1964, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Motown's premier writing-producing team, began to devote most of their creative energies to the Supremes and the Four Tops (although they would occasionally work with other artists), and Gordy spent the majority of his time on building up those acts—the Supremes in particular, and the Four Tops, the Temptations, Smokey & The Miracles,

Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder—who exhibited the most crossover potential.

The next few years saw the arrival at Motown of artists who had previously recorded elsewhere: the Isley Brothers, the Spinners, Gladys Knight & The Pips. Other newcomers included Jr. Walker & The All Stars, who hit immediately (in 1 965) with "Shotgun," Tammi Terrell, Jimmy Ruffin (brother of the Temptations' David Ruffin), whose biggest hit was "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" in 1966, the Elgins, Edwin Starr, and the Originals, whose hits were "Baby, I'm For Real" ('69) and "The Bells" ('70). The hits just kept on coming—at this point they became too numerous to detail. And the Supremes firmly established themselves as the (relatively speaking) most successful American vocal group ever, with 12 # 1 's. Dissension grew, however,Florence Ballard was fired from the Supremes, and David Ruffin was replaced in the Temptations, although he remained with Motown for o number of years. And by the end of the '60s, Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown. Also during the late '60s, Motown made its first stabs at social relevance: with Norman Whitfield as their producer and writer, the Temptations, with Dennis Edwards replacing Ruffin, had a number of Hendrix/Sly Stone-influenced hits that, in cartoon fashion, dealt with some of society's ills.

The last great exponents of the "Motown Sound" were the Jackson Five, who were signed to the label at the end of 1969 and immediately matched up with a writingproducing team known as The Corporation.But in general, the '70s was a decade in which Motown lost its special, distinctive quality and became "just" a hit factory.

Sure, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder became artistically important and Diana Ross, as a solo act, became the biggest black star in the world. But emblematic of Gordy's change of direction was the company's move to Los Angeles,he wanted to make it big in the movies and turn Ross into a movie star. Consequently, the record company lost much of its cohesiveness. New stars did rise to the top, among them the Commodores (and Lionel Richie), Rick James, and for a while, Undisputed Truth, Rare Earth (a somewhat heavy, blue-eyed soul group), and Teena Marie (another white artist). Also added to the roster were, among others, Switch, Syreeta, Bonnie Pointer, Mandre, Willie Hutch, High Inergy (Gordy's attempt to get back some girlgroup magic), the Dazz Band, Tata Vega, DeBarge (the new family act), and Thelma Houston. But almost all of the label's '60s mainstays left the label, angry about money issues and/or lack of control over their careers. It's easier to say who stuck around: Jermaine Jackson, who had married Gordy's daughter,Smokey, of course, but not-the Miracles,Stevie Wonder (who was paid zillions to stay); and—until the turn of the decade—Ross and Marvin Gaye. (A few years ago, the Temptations returned to the fold, and very recently, the Four Tops did the same.) By the end of the '70s, it was clear that Motown was no longer the leader in popular black music. The label did have some big disco hits, and did acknowledge funk. But it wasn't out in front. And wasn't that what Motown was supposed to be about?