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I have always considered this one of Motown's all-time great classics. Since purchasing a new car recently, I hear it constantly on Sirius XM radio and each time I hear it I think I appreciate it even more.
So my question is: How did this incredible song ONLY go to number 13 on the charts? After all, the Temps were established by that time, Motown as a whole was exploding, the Supremes were at their peak, etc. So why was this not a mega hit? Thoughts?
That’s a very good question daviddesper. The tune did a little better on Cashbox [[#10) and was #1 for eight weeks [[!) on the Billboard r&b chart. It should have easily made the top five on Bb’s pop chart. There were a lot of great songs out at the time [[May 1966) and the competition may have shut it out. Maybe that’s also why the Supremes’ “Love Is Like An Itching...” stalled at #9.
Don't know why "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" did not chart higher on Billboard's pop charts. Motown has a list of classics from their '60s heyday that should've charted higher like The Four Tops' "Shake Me, Wake Me [[When It's Over)", "Something About You", The Miracles' "Ooo Baby Baby', "The Tracks Of My Tears" & The Supremes' "My World Is Empty Without You".Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddesper
The vagaries of the record biz.
It only reached #21 in the UK.
I'm puzzled why it stalled #13. It's a definite top 5 hit record. I thought it had a similar case to the Supremes' "Nothing But Heartaches" where the top 10 was so crammed with legendary songs that it may explain why it didn't go higher, but it doesn't seem to be the case here. There's a lot of songs that charted higher that aren't as legendary as "Ain't Too Proud To Beg."
Here is what the top songs were for Billboard on July 16, 1966
1.) Hanky Panky - Tommy James & the Shondells
2.) Wild Thing - The Troggs
3.) Red Rubber Ball - The Cyrkle
4.) You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield
5.) Paperback Writer - The Beatles
6.) Strangers In The Night - Frank Sinatra
7.) Along Comes Mary - The Association
8.) Little Girl - Syndicate of Sound
9.) Lil' Red Riding Hood - Sam The Sham
10.) Hungry - Paul Revere & the Raiders
11.) Dirty Water - The Standells
12.) The Pied Piper - Crispian St. Peters
13.) Ain't Too Proud To Beg - The Temptations
"Ain't Too Proud to Beg" was decidedly a "Soul" record. It may not make sense now, but the "Charts", like most things in 1966 were still quite segregated. It was a Soul/R&B record that "crossover" to the "Pop" charts which is why it did not chart higher than it did. We heard it all the time back then.
Just look at all of the songs that charted higher than Ain't Too Proud to Beg and you'll understand why the Temptations record didn't go higher. It is the ONLY "Soul" record on the list.Quote:
Originally Posted by bradsupremes
good point,a tribute to the strenth of it to be mentioned here.Quote:
Originally Posted by marv2
I’m not trying to start trouble but it was easy to mislead the numbers back then. Back then the companies would basically call the record shops and they would tell them how many records were sold. Now you can mislead the truth using that method. In 1991 the Nielsen SoundScan was created. At that point every record was scanned so the accuracy was 100% because every album [[whatever format) was tracked. I’ll leave it at that.Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddesper