Gratuitous Motown Blogging

Top 5 Motown Singles: 1970

by Cara October 12, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1963 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1964 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1965 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1966 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1967 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1968 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1969 Motown has at least one achievement that no other [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1969

by Cara September 28, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1963 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1964 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1965 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1966 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1967 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1968 Sadly, we must pause at the beginning of another post to note the passing [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1968

by Cara August 24, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1963 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1964 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1965 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1966 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1967 As popular musical tastes continued to evolve away from the girl group craze and smooth pop-soul sounds of the [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1967

by Cara August 17, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1963 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1964 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1965 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1966 The Motown Sound was changing. In 1967, the label’s most reliable songwriting team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, would decide they weren’t making what they deserved and walk [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1966

by Cara August 10, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1963 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1964 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1965 As far as years at Motown go, 1966 is hardly the most historical. Placed right at the halfway point in this series, the year certainly was filled to the [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1965

by Cara August 3, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1963 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1964 The hits keep on coming, and as they do, these lists get harder to narrow down to a mere five picks. Holland-Dozier-Holland was still Motown’s premiere songwriting team, but Smokey Robinson was nowhere near [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1964

by Cara July 27, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1963 For the first time, you don’t have to be a Motown junkie to love this list — if you don’t know every single one of these five songs, there is something seriously, seriously wrong with your radio dial. A [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1963

by Cara July 20, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962 Though he did not join Motown until 1967, and therefore his work will not be featured in this post, it nevertheless seems only right to starting by noting the passing earlier this week of Funk Brother bassist Bob Babbitt. Brought on board to handle [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1962

by Cara July 13, 2012

Previously: Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961 Like the year before it, 1962 was a good year for Smokey Robinson. Already firmly entrenched as King of Motown at this early hour, Smokey’s biggest successes as both a singer and a songwriter were still yet to come. But 1962 was good; it was very, very good. With [...]

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Top 5 Motown Singles: 1959-1961

by Cara July 6, 2012

In 1959, two Detroiters used an $800 family loan to start a record label and changed music history. One of those people was a struggling songwriter for Jackie Wilson, whose name you’ll know well: Berry Gordy. And the other was his business and creative partner in an artist development firm, as well as his girlfriend: [...]

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