Originally Posted by
midnightman
Yeah, it's like when they go over the stories, both of them are just seen as "oh they were there but they're not *[[cue horns and bright lights) MOTOWN*". You know?
It's like the O'Jays are not ashamed to talk about their early beginnings, they don't say "well Gamble and Huff saw us and the rest is history". The Temptations, of course, never was like "when Berry Gordy saw us blah blah blah" because unlike the Supremes, they came off of two groups. Of course I wished Johnnie Mae Matthews was giving more respect in the Temptations' biopic than she did. Like really, besides the casual Tempts/Motown fan, was anyone gonna really believe Johnnie Mae was sitting in some broke down apartment looking at the Tempts on Ed Sullivan or whatever show they were reenacting while performing "My Girl"?
This is why many artists' full stories are never told because most just skip from the very beginning and go into the immediate success. Michael Jackson's career didn't start in 1969, it started, really, in 1967 and they were well known in the Midwest states [[mainly the Chicago metropolitan area), thanks to Gordon Keith pushing them and steering them and their own cousins helping to sell their records, as they pointed out in this documentary.
I can't fault MJ for forgetting some stuff because he was nine, but Jackie, Tito or Jermaine, especially Jackie and Tito, could've expounded more on their pre-Motown history but they seem to have bought the Motown PR hook line and sinker. All five Jackson boys would credit Gladys [[and to a lesser extent Bobby Taylor, though Taylor was the one who eventually helped sign them to Motown and was the ghost writer/producer of their first four albums and only credited for one - the debut) but Gordon Keith is like "oh he's that guy that signed us to some little label in Gary" though the Jackson 5's success began in Chicago, mainly Chicago and East Chicago, IN.
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