What was Motown thinking re: slogans?

[lockhartgary]

Hi all,

Miracle records: "If it's a hit, it's a miracle"
Weed records: "Your favorite artists are on Weed"

Were these slogans supposed to be serious or intentionally tongue-in-cheek?

[Glenpwood]

Weed was Deke Richard's baby and the slogan was defintely intentional. There's a thread buried in the archives where he discussed the label and its only release - Chris Clark's C.C. Rides Again...

[midnightman]

HAHA Weed Records. That was a funny one. :)

[soulster]

Hi all,

Miracle records: "If it's a hit, it's a miracle"
Weed records: "Your favorite artists are on Weed"

Were these slogans supposed to be serious or intentionally tongue-in-cheek?

Hahahahaha! I think they're funny! Hey, look: they got your attention, right? That was the point! It would be a boring world if business was so serious all the time! I like a business who can poke fun at themselves.

[marv2]

Al Abrams came up with some of the slogans Motown used. I believe he is the one who coined "The Sound of Young America".

[mysterysinger]

Gordy - on labels I've seen
"It's What's In The Grooves That Count" but also
"It's What's In The Grooves That Counts" [[demo).

Both are meaningful but I think the second one reads better. The first was the one on the standard record labels..

Sometimes written down as
"It's What's In The Groove That Counts"
which also makes perfect sense - all do to me.

[arr&bee]

gordy - on labels i've seen
"it's what's in the grooves that count" but also
"it's what's in the grooves that counts" [[demo).

Both are meaningful but i think the second one reads better. The first was the one on the standard record labels..

Sometimes written down as
"it's what's in the groove that counts"
which also makes perfect sense - all do to me.my favorite motown quote.

[soulster]

Gordy - on labels I've seen
"It's What's In The Grooves That Count" but also
"It's What's In The Grooves That Counts" [[demo).

Both are meaningful but I think the second one reads better. The first was the one on the standard record labels..

Sometimes written down as
"It's What's In The Groove That Counts"
which also makes perfect sense - all do to me.

The second one is grammatically incorrect.

[ralpht]

In all honesty, Harry Balk and I thought the Weed slogan was corny and maybe a bit of embarrassment.

[144man]

The second one is grammatically incorrect.

The first one is grammatically incorrect, not the second one. "Grooves" is not the subject of "count", but the error occurs because of its closeness to the verb. The subject of the verb is the noun clause "what's [= what is] in the grooves", so the verb form should be third person singular, not plural.

[marv2]

Here Duke confirms it. It was Al Abrams that came up with the "Sound of Young America" slogan.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdpNaYLhZ6w

[detmotownguy]

Here Duke confirms it. It was Al Abrams that came up with the "Sound of Young America" slogan.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdpNaYLhZ6w

Another Good find Marv! Martha is such great speaker and really added to the fact that Al was so instrumental in the success of Motown. Thanks!

[bobkayli]

The second one is grammatically incorrect.

Both phrases seem inappropriate as there is only one groove in a side of a record. I always that the third phrase using groove in the singular was the best because of the double sense of commenting on the record itself with the sense of being in tune with the moment that the singular word groove implies

[144man]

I think "grooves" is appropriate because it is referring to every record on the Gordy label.