Popular Myths the General Public Believes About Motown

This thread comes about as a result of reading how some people, including many Motown fans, believe certain myths out there regarding Motown.

Recently, thanks to Snakepit, the myth was squashed that Bob Dylan said that Smokey Robinson was the greatest poet of our times...something that Al Abrams pushed to the media.

Are there other myths that are 'out in the universe' regarding Motown.

Offhand, there are still folks out there who believe that Diana Ross, from the Motown camp, discovered the Jackson Five. I still understand that some give that credit to Bobby Taylor who arranged for the boys to audition for Motown; and some claim it was Gladys Knight who stated she called Motown about them after seeing them; but was it her phone call that got Motown interested in auditioning them?

Another myth [[and one that practically Motown fan knows to be untrue) that the general public believes: If a recording was credited to a group, for example, the Marvelettes, it WAS the Marvelettes themselves singing and nobody else. Of course, most of us know of the famous Andantes, for example, who seems to have provided more background vocals for many of the girl groups rather than the group members themselves. However, the general public, in my opinion, doesn't know that. And we know that there were lots of other background singer ensembles at Motown. It's funny, I recall, as a child how amazed I was that the Obie, Lawrence, and Duke of the Four Tops could sound like female singers on those early recordings. LOL

Any other myths?

the myth that Motown taught the artist everything.

Another myth is that Diana Ross and Florence Ballard didn't have a relationship after she left the group.

Or that the company was overtaken by the Mafia.

I constantly have to tell people Aretha never recorded for Motown. Or James Brown.

The One Where ... Florence B was more talented than anyone at Motown and her talent was quashed for unsavory reasons. But since The Internet & the availability of audio streaming that myth has been largely diminished/diminishing.

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Originally Posted by thanxal

I constantly have to tell people Aretha never recorded for Motown. Or James Brown.

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Or *fill in any r&b artist from the '60s*. There's a disturbing tendency in some circles to label all soul/r&b/oldies as "Motown"--and this ignorance drives me up the wall.

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Originally Posted by thanxal

I constantly have to tell people Aretha never recorded for Motown. Or James Brown.

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It’s somewhat understandable that people would believe Aretha Franklin was Motown, since she was from Detroit and was close friends with several Motown artists. But James Brown?! Really?! I’m with you sans radio, it grates on my nerves how some believe every R&B song released between 1958 thru 1980 is Motown. Such a insult to the other iconic labels like Stax, PIR, Chess, etc.

I've learned [reluctantly ...) to 'whatever' the tendency of much of the world-at-large to call any soul / R&B music created before 1980 or so as 'Motown'. Annoying, yes. Diminishing to other labels, of course. But I don't think it's done with malice aforethought, and many varied sorts of music are labeled 'jazz', 'classical', etc. At least this give us aficionados a chance to school the unwashed masses when we hear the collective noun 'Motown' uttered publicly! :)

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Originally Posted by jboy88

It’s somewhat understandable that people would believe Aretha Franklin was Motown, since she was from Detroit and was close friends with several Motown artists. But James Brown?! Really?! I’m with you sans radio, it grates on my nerves how some believe every R&B song released between 1958 thru 1980 is Motown. Such a insult to the other iconic labels like Stax, PIR, Chess, etc.

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it’s like how in the 80s and 90s every parent would refer to EVERY video game or console as Nintendo

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jboy88

It’s somewhat understandable that people would believe Aretha Franklin was Motown, since she was from Detroit and was close friends with several Motown artists. But James Brown?! Really?! I’m with you sans radio, it grates on my nerves how some believe every R&B song released between 1958 thru 1980 is Motown. Such a insult to the other iconic labels like Stax, PIR, Chess, etc.

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Does any other label get such association by default? I can't think of any. For instance, any jazz from the 50s is Verve. All modern country is Decca. It does speak to how well known Motown as a label was with the general public , I suppose.

....that Marv and Diana were a sincere recording duo....

That Tammi Terrell is singing with Marvin Gaye on all of their Tammi Terrell/Marvin Gaye output.

One that often pops up is that Chris Clark or R.Dean Taylor where the 'first' white artists to record for Motown, or were the first female and male artists to record for the label!

Cheers

Paul

Mary Welles was a member of the Supremes

David Ruffin was an original member of the Temptations.

some of these I've never even heard before

Michael Jackson given hormones to keep his voice high

I understood Mike [[Valvano) and the Modifiers was the first white artist at Motown.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mike...be3019c81e4bb1

Michael Jackson was an "8 year old sensation" when the Jackson's hit it big with "I Want You Back". ...He had just recently turned 11 years old.

Berry bought Golden World as it was a competitive rival...
Not really....a good business move ...yes

That many still take the[temptations movie]as the true story.

That all the motowners lived in the house at[west grand].

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Originally Posted by arr&bee

That many still take the[temptations movie]as the true story.

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That “Dreamgirls” is a bio-documentary about the Supremes

That Cindy was the same age as Mary and Diana.

That Berry "washed his hands" of the Supremes after Diana left.

That Motown didn't support the Supremes in the 70's.

That Florence was the lead singer of the Supremes. IF THAT'S AN ARGUMENT, why was she never a lead on a Primettes single?

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Originally Posted by marybrewster

That Cindy was the same age as Mary and Diana.

That Berry "washed his hands" of the Supremes after Diana left.

That Motown didn't support the Supremes in the 70's.

That Florence was the lead singer of the Supremes. IF THAT'S AN ARGUMENT, why was she never a lead on a Primettes single?

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Good list

Also, that Motown didn’t promote every Supremes song that wasn’t a big enough hit

Unbelievably some dumb ass idiot posted a video on YouTube saying that Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson were Michael Jackson's real parents!

A few more myths involving Tammi Terrell!

People believe that she was Marvin’s “side piece” when she was no more than a surrogate little sister to him.

Of course the story that she was married to boxer Ernie Terrell.

David Ruffin had nothing to do with Tammi Terrell’s condition [[nor James Brown for that matter). She’d actually had been dealing with headaches all her life and brushed it off until it was too late.

Speaking of David Ruffin and the Temptations movie, the scene where he steals the mike from Dennis Edwards, depicts Dennis being visibly annoyed and blindside. In real life, while the rest of the tempts were furious with Ruffin crashing their shows, Dennis was thrilled to share the stage with his predecessor. David actually approved of Dennis Edwards taking his place regardless of how he felt about being let go from the Temptations.

That every Motown recording was recorded in Detroit