Were the Spinners invited to Motown 25?

[midnightman]

The Big Chill and the Big Chill Soundtrack wasn't released until September 2003 and Motown 25 first aired in May 2003 so you and Marvs Big Chill era theory dont cut the mustard.

I know you meant 1983.

And if anything, the Big Chill did more wonders for MARVIN [[and the Temptations) than Motown itself...

In fact, of the "legends" that performed that night, only Marvin and Michael had the biggest hits of the nation at the time. Diana who? Mary who? Spinners who? Martha who? LOL

Also, going back to Big Chill, I just checked the soundtrack listing. I see two of Marvin, two of the Tempts, one Marvelettes tune, two Miracles tunes, one Four Tops tune and one Martha & the Vandellas tune.

GUESS WHICH ACT WAS MISSING FROM THE SOUNDTRACK...

ANYWAYS... yeah, people are getting their timelines mixed up, I know some of y'all were there and you're getting old but you're not senile, guys, are you?

Like Motown 25 was taped in EARLY '83. Had it not been for Rick James and DeBarge, Motown would've had to be forced to file for bankruptcy. As explained in Diana's E! True Hollywood Story profile, Motown was swallowing in a sea of red ink by 1983. To make matters worse for the label, Marvin Gaye had the biggest international hit of his career with "Sexual Healing" and his album had broke ground for a smoother funk/techno sound that later created new jack swing and Michael Jackson's Thriller was selling like hot cakes.

Meanwhile, Motown tried to revamp the Temptations with the 1982 reunion with Eddie and David and we all know how that turned out. The Rick James duet helped them find new R&B and dance fans but many tuned the entire album out because Rick was only on one track.

Jermaine Jackson had "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy" [[the collaboration with DEVO) but it stopped short of reaching the top ten because Motown's promotional skills were falling apart.

Teena Marie had left Motown in 1982 and later sued them to get out of her contract when they tried to tell her she had more albums to put out. She created the Brockert Initiative and she was free to sign with Epic Records. Switch, the act that some say preceded self-contained bands like Tony, Toni, Tone and Mint Condition was kicked out of Motown after Bobby and Tommy DeBarge abruptly left the band to produce their younger siblings, DeBarge.

I think of all the songs released on Motown in 1982, only Charlene's "Never Been to Me", Stevie's "That Girl" and the Dazz Band's "Let's Whip It" were top ten hits, a downgrade from a label that at one point had at least ten or more top ten records alone in 1965.

Rick James had released Throwin' Down but it wasn't as much an immediate success as Street Songs was and he was still riding high on that. Motown was not having it well in 1982-83.

So Berry doing Motown 25 was a financial move to stabilize the company and give it new energy, hence the title: "Yesterday, today and forever". It was a calculating move: Motown didn't form until 1959. For goodness knows, why have a 25th anniversary when Motown was founded in January of '59?

It was smart on his part to do this. So it's easy to see why non-Motown acts made the show [[Adam Ant, Linda Ronstadt, etc.). In retrospect, yeah, Mary Wells and Martha Reeves deserved more time but they didn't get it. The Marvelettes [[the stars of EARLY Motown) were the only group that was never asked [[not counting the Contours; no casual music listener knew they were a Motown act until after Dirty Dancing). None of the Funk Brothers were asked [[wasn't just Jamerson). But the public didn't know that, they saw the stars in front of them. It would be silly to ask why didn't they include them? "It's business".

The one artist who rejoined his old Motown buddies that took advantage of Berry's gamble was Michael Joe Jackson. Marvin, upon hearing that MJ was gonna do Billie Jean, was steaming that he couldn't convince anyone to let him do Sexual Healing [[which was then a controversial record so that may have played a part in why he couldn't do it; nonetheless, he decided to perform "What's Going On" so it was a good choice on his part). Remember, also, that the big highlight was supposed to be the reunion of some little group from the Brewster Projects and they made headlines about the drama.

BUT by the time it aired on May 16th, no one was thinking of the group from the Brewster Projects, all eyes were on that kid from Gary, Indiana.

And one wonders why I said Michael helped Motown that night indirectly?!