Am I a bad fan?

[floyjoy678]

I'm a huge Supremes fan, especially of Diana, Mary and Florence. But ask me about Diana and Mary's solo career recordings and I really couldn't tell you much. I only listened to Flo's solo album a handful of times and most of those times it was only a handful of songs. Diana, I never really got past Surrender. And Mary's albums? I think I listened to Red Hot once. Am I missing out by not venturing into Diana and Mary's solo careers? Even the last couple of DRATS albums I really can't get into. I seem to cut off somewhere around '68.

[SatansBlues]

In a word? Yes.

[floyjoy678]

In a word? Yes.

😁😆 hey I know all there is to know about the Supremes from 1960 to 1968!

[SatansBlues]

 hey I know all there is to know about the Supremes from 1960 to 1968!

You're missing out on some incredible music by DRATS, DR and TS [[69-77). As well as the solo work by MW.

[thanxal]

I'm a huge Supremes fan, especially of Diana, Mary and Florence. But ask me about Diana and Mary's solo career recordings and I really couldn't tell you much. I only listened to Flo's solo album a handful of times and most of those times it was only a handful of songs. Diana, I never really got past Surrender. And Mary's albums? I think I listened to Red Hot once. Am I missing out by not venturing into Diana and Mary's solo careers? Even the last couple of DRATS albums I really can't get into. I seem to cut off somewhere around '68.

No Jean Terrell? Yes, you are missing out if you haven't enjoyed Jean on Up the Ladder or Stoned Love, or Mary on Early Morning Love, or Scherrie on anything she sang or Susaye on MSS. Yes. It is worth the time. Is it WDOLG? A Go Go? No, its a different taste, but still wonderful. Mary and Flo's solo work? Not so much. I'm not as big a DR solo as I am anything from the Supremes but Baby It's Me is a work of art.

[floyjoy678]

No Jean Terrell? Yes, you are missing out if you haven't enjoyed Jean on Up the Ladder or Stoned Love, or Mary on Early Morning Love, or Scherrie on anything she sang or Susaye on MSS. Yes. It is worth the time. Is it WDOLG? A Go Go? No, its a different taste, but still wonderful. Mary and Flo's solo work? Not so much. I'm not as big a DR solo as I am anything from the Supremes but Baby It's Me is a work of art.

No the Jean era, I've heard all of the albums and love all of them. High Energy I love. Supremes '75 I only listened to the entire album a few times and SMS only listened to once.

[nomis]

all personal choice - some of the supremes and diana's most critically acclaimed and big selling catalog i dont like..we all choose to like what we like..i can respect the production vocals & lyrics of stuff i would never really listen to - also the complete catalog of the entire ladies is so huge i dont think you can really "dig" everything...it all comes down to what you personally like..there shoul be no such thing as a "bad fan' if you truly follow your heart treat the legacy and other peoples views with respect

[BobbyC]

Floyjoy--interesting so here's a question for you. I noticed you love High Energy but MSS didn't grab you at all. Can you explain why? Back in high school I played both records for friends, and all of them really liked HE but hated MSS.So I'm just wondering if you could articulate what was so different about MSS. My friends said it was too "screechy."

[RanRan79]

In a word? Yes.

Ditto.

I can't imagine what would make a person a bad fan. Either you're a fan or you're not. And a lot of us have limits to our fandom. I LOVE me some Diana Ross, but I barely listen to anything recorded after her RCA years. As good as some of her Motown Part 2 discography is, I'm really not interested outside of a couple songs.

While I'm not always over the moon about Mary's lead voice as a Supreme, I do enjoy most of the songs she takes the lead on. But as a solo artist, she hasn't done much of anything that interests me. I keep "Pick Up the Pieces" from her first album and "Love Talk" from the Gus sessions in a good rotation on my ipod, and sometimes "Save Me", but other than that, I'm good.

Unfortunately Florence only had the ABC sessions, but I do enjoy at least half of the songs recorded, a few of which sometimes end up in heavy rotation on the ipod. I like to think that had she recorded more and lived longer I'd have much more to listen to and would choose to do so because I love her voice so much.

Same with Jean. There just isn't much after the Supremes, however, what does exist that I'm aware of, her A&M album and the tracks she cut around 75/76, I do play often. Again, had she continued to record, I suspect that I would play most of it because of how much I love her voice.

No interest whatsoever in any of the other Supremes' solo efforts. And when it comes to the Supremes as a group, I'm wild about them from 1960-1973. Once Jean leaves I am not as big a fan, but I'd still consider myself a fan.

[BobbyC]

We're all bad fans! Have you seen the comments on this forum? Hee hee!

All kidding aside, I am pleasantly surprised at how civil this forum is considering it had to be broken off from the main Motown forum! I used to find some of the fighting on other forums humorous, and some fans could get really creative with their insults. One fan said "Diana Ross is filet mignon, Mary is ground chuck." Bad taste has never been so naked.

[sup_fan]

you go right on and listen to whatever you want to listen to. I happen to enjoy Diana's solo music and the 70s sups. but i don't happen to really listen to the 70s women solo. certainly nothing against jean or scherrie or the others. but i didn't have any interest in Jean's A&M music, Scherrie's post Sup stuff, the FLOs, etc.

we all pick what we want

now if you're interested in exploring some of these other areas that you're not currently, maybe the fan group here could each pick out 1 or 2 albums to start exploring

I'd say look into Right On, the Boss, Baby It's Me. Maybe Touch.

[floyjoy678]

BobbyC i just felt like MSS was too frenetic I guess is the best way to describe it. I really didn't like any of the songs on there. I tried to like Let Yourself Go but never listened to it more than a few times. High Energy, I liked pretty much every track especially the title track and Dont Let My Teardrops Bother You. I've smoked a good joint a few times while listening to the album.

[sup_fan]

yeah MS&S is quite experimental and heavy disco. so it's a niche album and probably not the first to start with. the singing is great but unless those are genres you enjoy by other artists, i wouldn't put that one on first

HE is a bit more commercial but side 2 gets bogged down IMO with sleepy Mary ballads, hardly the definition of the albums title 'High Energy'

some of the Scherrie tracks on Supremes 1975 are great 70s pop. Can't Stop a Girl In Love, Color My World Blue, You Turn Me Around and Give Out are all excellent. you could just listen to Side 2 of that album and be fine. there are some duds on Side 1. lol

[SatansBlues]

BobbyC i just felt like MSS was too frenetic I guess is the best way to describe it. I really didn't like any of the songs on there. I tried to like Let Yourself Go but never listened to it more than a few times. High Energy, I liked pretty much every track especially the title track and Dont Let My Teardrops Bother You. I've smoked a good joint a few times while listening to the album.

Ok, I'll ask the obvious, why did you pick the screen name FLOY JOY? It's the name of a 70's Supremes song. Odd.

[BobbyC]

I wondered the same thing!

[floyjoy678]

I listened to Jean era stuff still. Floy Joy was one of my favorite albums from the Jean years. Also none of the 60s hits had any guy's names in them

[jobeterob]

It would be hard to say you are a bad fan. Not that many people are still listening to 60's Supremes let alone 70's Supremes; hardly anyone even knew Mary had an album released let alone heard it. And if you like Diana, you like her; she's not everyone's cup of tea and she's not really at a stage where she would be attracting new fans.

[BobbyC]

I think he was just kidding

[PeaceNHarmony]

We're all bad fans! Have you seen the comments on this forum? Hee hee!

All kidding aside, I am pleasantly surprised at how civil this forum is considering it had to be broken off from the main Motown forum! I used to find some of the fighting on other forums humorous, and some fans could get really creative with their insults. One fan said "Diana Ross is filet mignon, Mary is ground chuck." Bad taste has never been so naked.

Oh, take a look back. FAR worse than that.

[Bluebrock]

We're all bad fans! Have you seen the comments on this forum? Hee hee!

All kidding aside, I am pleasantly surprised at how civil this forum is considering it had to be broken off from the main Motown forum! I used to find some of the fighting on other forums humorous, and some fans could get really creative with their insults. One fan said "Diana Ross is filet mignon, Mary is ground chuck." Bad taste has never been so naked.

It has indeed been a very pleasant and peaceful place to visit of late. Long may it continue.

[BobbyC]

I'm in a Facebook Labelle group, and you NEVER see anybody trashing Patti or Nona or Sarah. They don't even bash Cindy Birdsong!Same thing in the 5th Dimension group. I don't know why the Supremes seem so different

[sup_fan]

I'm in a Facebook Labelle group, and you NEVER see anybody trashing Patti or Nona or Sarah. They don't even bash Cindy Birdsong!Same thing in the 5th Dimension group. I don't know why the Supremes seem so different

unfortunately there was more angst within the group throughout its history. the disintegration of the original trio, Flo's firing, the push on Diana, the 70s supremes not really receiving the level of overall company support that they had in prior years, the conflict between Diana and Mary through the years, the whole "Call Her Miss Ross" nonsense.

it's not that there aren't divas or conflicts within other groups. But just like the Supremes have the most #1, the most sold records, the most history breaking career moments, they also have the dubious honor of having, probably, the most conflicts and problems

[reese]

unfortunately there was more angst within the group throughout its history. the disintegration of the original trio, Flo's firing, the push on Diana, the 70s supremes not really receiving the level of overall company support that they had in prior years, the conflict between Diana and Mary through the years, the whole "Call Her Miss Ross" nonsense.

it's not that there aren't divas or conflicts within other groups. But just like the Supremes have the most #1, the most sold records, the most history breaking career moments, they also have the dubious honor of having, probably, the most conflicts and problems

I would venture to say that the other groups don't have members who diss each other publically, at least not to my knowledge.

I have no real inside info of the Fifth Dimension. But I'm sure Patti, Nona, and Sarah have had moments when they have actually been fed up with each other. In her book, Patti wrote about some of their conflicts. But for the most part, they tend to project solidarity in public, even coming together for honors and projects periodically.

By comparison, many of the backstage conflicts of the Supremes were made public, both before and after Mary. Plus I think Flo's sad fate is an ever-looming shadow. But having Mary confirm some things and continuing to speak on them for many years, IMO, it also spread this attitude to some of the fans.

And as written above, the bigger the group, I'm sure more attention is given to their conflicts. I wonder what Beatle forums are like?

[BobbyC]

Reese I know for a fact that there has been major friction between members of Labelle as well as the 5th Dimension--but what I meant to say is that you never hear FANS saying this one can't sing, that one slept her way to the top, this one should have been lead singer, stuff like that. Only the Supremes fans do this in my experience--it's almost like there can only be one 'good" Supreme. There's not a lot of that on this forum, must say. But Youtube is a different story!

[reese]

Reese I know for a fact that there has been major friction between members of Labelle as well as the 5th Dimension--but what I meant to say is that you never hear FANS saying this one can't sing, that one slept her way to the top, this one should have been lead singer, stuff like that. Only the Supremes fans do this in my experience--it's almost like there can only be one 'good" Supreme. There's not a lot of that on this forum, must say. But Youtube is a different story!

Oh, I knew what you meant. I was just venturing that maybe the fans of those groups don't criticize individual members because the group members themselves don't criticize each other.

That said, yes, some of the Supremes-related Facebook groups are rather sad. Some even go to the extent of cutting Diana out of familiar photos or saying "Flo looks great here, Mary is beautiful" but with no mention of Diana at all. Or the pro-Ross groups that praise Diana but lessen the contributions of Flo and Mary.

And YouTube is even worse. I tend not to read the comments on those too much because they really go too far. You can almost tell which book someone got their thoughts from, even though they often misquote info.

[BobbyC]

I think your first paragraph here hits the nail on the head. You never hear the members of Labelle or the 5th dog each other--in fact, they are always very complimentary and gracious. Always. Patti once said something to the effect of "you never make your own light shine brighter by putting out somebody else's light"