5 Most Influential Songs

[sup_fan]

there are tons of wonderful Motown songs. but which do you think are the most important and/or influential? make up a list and give your reasoning

Example - most influential album tracks, most important Supremes songs, most important live tracks/show songs, most important songs for an artist's development, most influential in the industry, etc

Top 5 Most influential Supremes songs:
1. Where did our love go - obvious one I know lol
2. Lazybones - from a recording perspective, the 3-part harmony work they did here was amazing. really a group effort and helped establish that "magic" that was the Supremes.
3. You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You -this is almost an extension of Lazy, at least in terms of the viewpoint I'm using here. This song, more than any other IMO, solidified the girls as entertainers. not just pop artists. And the development their delivery of it undertook from the live version on the Paris show on More Hits Expanded, to the Copa 67 version.
4. Love Child & Up the Ladder - I'm combining these as 1 category in that they both are important in terms of re-establishing the group. The first after the HDH exit and the second after Diana's
5. I Hear a symphony - the development and refinement of their sound from the WDOLG and the other early hits. the addition of strings and further instrumentation, the sophistication of the lyrics, the key changes. this is a far more complex pop song than the previous and, in many ways, more so that most of those that followed.

[Motown Eddie]

Tough call Sup_Fan but I'll try:

1. Martha & the Vandellas-"Come And Get These Memories": for me, the official beginning of "The Motown Sound". The hard work of The Funk Bros. over the previous four years forms a distinctive [[and successful) sound.

2. The Supremes-"Where Did Our Love Go" Both The Supremes and Holland-Dozier-Holland truly find their voice on this classic [[and the first of their many #1 hits during the '60s).

3. The Temptations-"Cloud Nine" The first successful departure from 'The Motown Sound', this Temptations single would point the way to the 'psychedelic soul' & funk sounds of the '70s [[also the template for The Impressions' "Check Out Your Mind" & "I Like Your Lovin" by The Chi-Lites).

4. Marvin Gaye-"What's Going On" Marvin brakes out from 'The Motown Sound' [[and his "sex symbol" image) with one of the most powerful message songs of the era [[also leading Motown into the album oriented '70s with the classic What's Going On LP).

5. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles-"The Tracks Of My Tears" Perfect distillation of Smokey at his peak as songwriter, producer & singer. Also, the template for the '70s 'sweet/soft soul sound'.

[marv2]

1. What's Going On? - It was social commentary at it's finest. You wanted to sit down and listen to it. I mean really listen to the lyrics, they encapsulated what was going on at that time in America. It turned out to be rather timeless as the lyrics could easily be applied to what is going on today in 2018.

2. Reach Out, I'll Be There [[Four Tops) - Urgency, plain and simple. The song tells the listener, you don't have to go it alone. You don't have to suffer and wait on helping hand. Just reach out! Soulful and spiritual at the same time. It all depends on how the individual chooses to interpret the lyrics. Innovative and creative sounds.......

3. Cloud Nine - Proved that Soul/Motown could produce and compete with album rock. Extended versions became part of the norm [[no pun intended....Norman Whitfield... get it? LOL). The song took a serious social subject and made it dance-able. It influenced what came after in the 70s with countless Funk bands.

4. I Just Want to Celebrate - Rare Earth. Probably the first and the greatest Soul/Rock combination. They pave the road for bands like AWB that would come years later.

5. Up the Ladder to the Roof- Supremes. Probably the most covered song in Motown History. College, High School vocal groups, choirs and other ensembles have made it a perennial favorite as they perform the song in school functions and events all over the country to this very day! There are probably hundreds of videos of kids knocking out the great harmonies that Jean, Mary, Cindy and Frank Wilson introduced over 45 years ago!

[sup_fan]

great lists so far. I'm going to try another one

Top 5 important songs that SAVED Motown

Money - a very early and important song that gave the company much needed money in early years
Where did our love go - finally broke Motown to the masses and launched the classic period. without this, I wonder if Motown would have been around by end of decade or have been gobbled up by another label
I Heard It Through The Grapevine/Love Child/Cloud Nine - these were several of the biggest hits shortly after HDH's departure and proved Motown would carry on
Superstition - Motown was struggling in the early 70s and Stevie came along to help reinvigorate things and really establish the self-contained artist
Upside Down - Motown was really in the red tape at the dawn of the 80s. this song and it's massive sales injected funds into the label

[arr&bee]

Umm,let's see..cloud nine[took the temps and motown in a different direction]...what's goin on[social commentary of the times]...please mr.postman[put motown in the game]...my girl[everybody knew the temptations after this gem]...where did our love go[motown rules the world].

[marv2]

Umm,let's see..cloud nine[took the temps and motown in a different direction]...what's goin on[social commentary of the times]...please mr.postman[put motown in the game]...my girl[everybody knew the temptations after this gem]...where did our love go[motown rules the world].

Definitely "Please Mr. Postman" and "Shop Around"!

[jobeterob]

Berry's song of choice was I Hear A Symphony.

[midnightman]

Marvin - What's Going On [[no contest with this one; basically becoming the first of the BIG political anthems to be universally recognized after A Change Is Gonna Come and People Get Ready)
Stevie - Superstition [[important for ushering Motown into the funky '70s)
Tempts - Cloud Nine [[along with Grapevine, ushered Motown to the psychedelic soul sound)
Mary Wells - You Beat Me to the Punch [[helped to make Motown a growing pop machine)
Diana - Ain't No Mountain High Enough [[her version helped to make "cinematic soul": long songs that went over three minutes, into a popular format in the post Hot Buttered Soul scene of soul music)

[StuBass1]

Difficult to name 5...but we're strictly talking "influential" here, I'd say...

1. Heard It Through The Grapevine...Marvin Gaye
Spread the Motown sound beyond just radio, records, and music...expanding the sound to commercials [[California raisins) , film [[The Big Chill) and other cultural outlets bringing in a whole new and vast network of fans who otherwise might not have even become significantly aware and helped bring in enormous revenues to the corporation...

2. My Girl...The Temptations
The quintessential classic Motown song that even today is perhaps the Motown song most music fans think of when they think of Motown...

3. Dancing In The Street...Martha & The Vandellas...The first line sums it up..."Calling out around the world"...Identified Motown as a worldwide musical entity emblematic of the crossover appeal of the company...

4. Where Did Our Love Go...The Supremes...Flagship hit for Motown's flagship act...Gave Motown national acclaim as the Supremes became the biggest hit machine and led Motown to nationwide exposure as even Ed Sullivan brought the "three colored girls from Detroit" as he called them [[LOL), and gave the company it's entrée to the variety show circuit which led the way for many Motown acts to musically conquer throughout the rest of the 60's and into the 70's...

5. What's Going On...Marvin Gaye...Motown's first attempt at Social Consciousness. It took guts for Berry Gordy to agree to move beyond the "boy meets girl" formula that led to Motown's initial huge success and risk of alienating portions of the record buying public...Could even be #1 on this list, except for the fact that it took years for the cultural impact of this masterpiece to be fully recognized and appreciated across the musical spectrum and today stands as a monumental and historic musical contribution...

[marv2]

I would have chosen "Dancing In the Streets" as an alternate to my 5 songs.

[midnightman]

StuBass, you definitely hit the nail on Grapevine bringing Motown to a bigger mass audience...

There's a BBC documentary on Marvin that talked of the moment a British DJ got a 45 of Grapevine as a "present" by Berry and Motown saying "tell us what you think" and when he played it and heard that dramatic intro, he had to stop it because he hadn't heard a song like that before.

Then he continued playing it and then when Marvin started singing, he was like "I gotta take it to the discos tonight!" And when he took it to a dance club, it took a minute for people to dig it and by the end of the night, it was the only song played that night.

Either he or Berry called back and when Berry asked him how the song was in his opinion, the man told BG, "this song is a hit! And not only is it a hit but people will FINALLY get what y'all in Detroit do."

Grapevine [[Marvin's version) was definitely a huge musical moment in history.

[Ngroove]

Supremes 1964-1969:

1. "Where Did Our Love Go" - The first, still-continually regularly oldies rotation, heartstrings-pulling, catchy Supremes confection that turned them from "No-Hit" to Supreme. "Baby Love" upped it in the catchiness department, but we all know it's just as much a quick follow-up to "Where Did Our Love Go" as "It's The Same Old Song" was a quick similiar-sounding follow-up to "I Can't Help Myself [[Sugarpie, Honeybunch)".

2. "Stop! In The Name Of Love" - Probably the Supremes' most known number from their classic years, due to the memorable, humorously accidentally made by one of the Holland / Dozier's part, catchphrase, and the hand gestures.

3. "Reflections" - A first sign that the times were changing for the group, with its slightly deeper sound, groove, and message, later popularly used in soundtracks, and it being among the last with Florence Ballard.

4. "Love Child" - Motown, wanting the show to go on, after Holland / Dozier / Holland's departure, for their top name. Story goes, locked up a group, "The Clan", until a new number one clicked. Which it did. "Love Child", still Supreme.

5. "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" - the centerpiece of the Supremes' team-up with the Temptations, three albums, and television special, TCB, made to Copa-ize them, expose them to even higher-ended mass mainstream audiences, to make from Motown's top two acts, to THE greatest groups.