Originally Posted by
soulster
I like the intro. You gotta remember it was 1970 and the times really were changing, musically, and otherwise.
Musically, Norman Whitfield, like him or not, got The Temptations' back in the upper registers of the pop chart, and gave them a new voice for the younger Black generation coming up. Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton, and The Isley Brothers were also making socially relevant music, and The Tops wanted a piece of that. It was no longer cool for soul artists to just keep making three-minute love songs. Police brutality, Viet Nam, drugs, jobs, equality...all of those things were becoming more important, especially in the Black community. Problem is, the Motown suits still preferred those little love songs. It's what they knew, and what paid the bills. They were content to allow Whitfield and Frank Wilson use The Temptations, Undisputed Truth, and Edwin Starr for the youngbloods. My guess is that Motown decided message music wasn't for the Four Tops. The group tried to be creative, but my guess is that Motown wouldn't support them on it, let them run out their contract, and then they bolted for ABC-Dunhill in 1972. Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder had to fight for their creative rights, but stayed. Notice that Rare Earth was given their own label.
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