Listening to the "lost and obscure oldies" show on a local AM station this weekend, the host announced that this week's show was to be "a tribute to Motown." He then followed by playing some Phil Spector girl groups, the Shirelles, Harold Melvin's "If You Don't Know Me By Now," the Stylistics, Dionne Warwick, and...the Boxtops?...among others; but not one actual Motown record. After an hour of this, I was incredulous and laughing at the same time, and switched over to Car Talk. (At least some of the Cars they Talk about are actually from Detroit...)
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Which way's Motown?
- Thread starter JeffM
- Start date
That boneheaded move really isn't unusual for radio.
In 2005, when "oldies" radio was moving away from... oldies... one prominent FM oldies station did a "tribute to rock and roll, as it turns 50 this year" themed weekend.
We listened in our rental car drive for hours. The station never played one song earlier than 1965.
In 2005, when "oldies" radio was moving away from... oldies... one prominent FM oldies station did a "tribute to rock and roll, as it turns 50 this year" themed weekend.
We listened in our rental car drive for hours. The station never played one song earlier than 1965.
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
2005, though, would have been 50 years since Bill Haley's recording of "Rock Around The Clock," the song often described as the first rock 'n' roll hit. It was nothing of the sort, of course, merely the first recording of such a song by a white act to get wide airplay. Plenty of rock 'n' roll songs performed by black artists were hits on R&B stations targeting black listeners at least five years before 1955, but I could definitely see an oldies station buying into the "Rock Around The Clock" myth.
kevtronics
Star Participant
But in the segregated music world of the 1950s, that's the entire point -- it was the first time many white people had ever heard such a type of music. When RCA first introduced the 45 RPM format, the R&B records were put on bright orange vinyl so parents could see if their kids had any music they shouldn't be listening to. So, yes, rock & roll-style music did exist before "Rock Around The Clock," but that was the first time it was introduced to mainstream white audiences. Just like how the Ford Model T was not the first car ever made, but it was the first car that many people ever actually owned.
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin was a motown (from Detroit) legend, but was NOT a Motown (record label) legend.
Aretha Franklin was a motown (from Detroit) legend, but was NOT a Motown (record label) legend.
True...in fact the thing that changed her musical life was signing with Atlantic and recording in Muscle Shoals Alabama.
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
Similarly, the Spinners started in Detroit -- and in the UK are still known as the Detroit Spinners to avoid confusion with a pre-existing British group called the Spinners -- but didn't hit their stride until hooking up with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in Philadelphia.
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
Hoping that her childhood home in Memphis will eventually become a museum, if it hasn't already. I would go to check it out. (Probably wouldn't ever go to Memphis again, otherwise, and I am originally from there.)
Interesting that "It's a Shame," despite being only a modest hit when compared to their later songs, still gets some airplay.
oldies76
Star Participant
Gotta love the "Rubberband Man".....Still hear that one every now and then. Also "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" and "I'll Be Around"
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
"Games People Play," "One Of A Kind (Love Affair)" and their "Cupid/Loved You For A Long Time" and "Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me, Girl" mash-ups, as well as "Then Came You," which they recorded with Dionne Warwick, also have not been forgotten by stations that still play the '70s. Their hits have definitely proven more durable than most '70s soul acts' have. Just about everything they released as a single was uptempo, which probably has saved them, and the similarly fast-paced O'Jays, from the classic-hits obscurity that their fellow Philly hitmakers, the Stylistics, find themselves in. When is the last time you heard "Let's Put It All Together," "Break Up To Make Up" or "Stop, Look, Listen" on the radio?
oldies76
Star Participant
Really love that song, "Break Up To Make Up", but hardly played at all, totally ignored today. Heard it on Music Choice ch. 804, DirecTV. "I'm Stone in Love With You", "Betcha By Golly Wow" and "You Are Everything" are good too. KRTH used to play those, eons ago.
radioman148
Walk of Fame Participant
"I'll Be Around" is my favorite, but most of the Spinners songs were great. I was fortunate enough to see them 3 times in the 70s. They were outstanding!
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
Their only hit on which Russell Thompkins Jr. wasn't the sole lead vocalist, I believe. He sang on the choruses, but Airron Love took over during the verses.
And the Stylistics did have a good-sized uptempo hit in "Rock 'n' Roll Baby," but their real strength was in their languid ballads.
vchimpanzee
Walk of Fame Participant
America's Best Music plays these.
vchimpanzee
Walk of Fame Participant
I agree, and America's Best Music plays the second and third ones but I'm not sure about the first.
vchimpanzee
Walk of Fame Participant
Some, if not all, are on America's Best Music.
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