Why is Motown so big in the UK?

[westgrandboulevard]

Thank you, MikeW-UK and Midnightman, for your kind words.

While it crosses my mind [[because one recollection does tend to lead to another), I have sometimes wondered if the distinctive 'brand new beat' signature sound of earlier 60's Motown records [[with pronounced drum beat and percussion, underscored by heavy bass), actually baffled many listeners here in the UK.

While their ears and hearts were moved by the joyous tones and message of Motown records, their feet and bodies couldn't respond as spontaneously, because they had never been accustomed to doing so.

Here in the UK, I suspect that if anyone had, for example, played 'My Guy' to a 1960s audience, and asked them to mark time to the band track, they would have responded by clapping their hands to match the lyrics shown in bold type:

"Nothing you can say can turn me away from my guy".

I instinctively went for the drum beat :

"Nothing you can say can turn me away from my guy".

To me, it just felt far more 'upbeat' and positive. It matched the rhythm of the record, and drove the lyrics forward.

To me, it strongly contributed to 'the Motown Sound'.

Did anyone else feel the same?

Again, I suspect that the sound of classic Motown has always had greatest appeal to people with a more pronounced natural sense of rhythm, in contrast to those who do not. This probably included the majority of people here in the UK, especially in those more restrained, inhibited days.

Whenever I started to play my records at home, responding to the rhythm, my Mum and Dad would always say they wanted to tap to a different beat from mine. Not so long afterwards, my Mum 'got it'.

Is it my imagination, or has '60s Motown changed people's artistic appreciation of music, and that modern audiences now go for the drum beat when they hear rhythmic popular music which they know as 'Motown'?