Originally Posted by
WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance
Looking backwards at their career, we wonder why the Four Tops and other Motown groups did all these covers. This is where knowing the context of the times helps to understand some of this stuff. I think it was in the booklet that comes with the Four Tops Lost and Found set, the subject of covers came up. It was explained that those cover songs really helped to broaden the Four Tops audience base. Now, to us, that may not seem all important, but back then that is were Motown excelled at cracking those all-important sales numbers. Broaden your audience and you can play the bigger clubs and concert halls and such. That means you command a higher appearance fee as well. Now, if one of the Four Tops is telling me that himself, then I have to figure there was a definite method going on. It was even explained that was why so many original Motown songs were left off their albums.
You can say you don't get it. You can say baloney. You can say I wouldda left the covers off or whatever, but keep in mind, this sort of thing was going on at nearly every record company at the time. It wasn't just a Motown thing. Unless you were The Beatles or James Brown and could basically tell everyone to kiss your azz, you did covers of popular tunes to get the attention of record buyers who might normally not buy your music.
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