Forgotten Motown Hits that should have been a #1 song.

[woodward]

Interesting tabulation.

https://www.newsbreak.com/share/3992...ll_exp_25q3-v8

WOW. 3 Marvelettes vs. 1 DR&S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BayouMotownMan]

Can the info be more wrong? My Guy preceded What's Easy For Two? I'm Livin' In Shame was based on Diana's mother? Neither is even close to accurate.

Some of the songs mentioned [[Don't Mess With Bill, Hunter, Take Me In Your Arms) I agree should have been bigger. But Can You Jerk Like Me? Greetings [[This Is Uncle Sam)? No way.

Other picks for overlooked hits to my ears are Martha's Honey Love, My Baby Must Be A Magician, High Inergy You Can't Turn Me off...list goes on

[Philles/Motown Gary]

BRENDA HOLLOWAY
When I'm Gone
You Can Cry On My Shoulder
Together 'Til The End Of Time

THE MARVELETTES
When You're Young And In Love

MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS
You've Been In Love Too Long

FOUR TOPS
Your Love Is Wonderful [[B-side which should have been a hit A-side)

KIM WESTON
Looking For The Right Guy

DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES
The Composer [[I'll surely get massacred for this, but I don't care! I love this record and, by golly, it's among my #1's on my personal hit parade where I intend to keep it!)

THE TEMPTATIONS
All I Need

[motony]

LOL, such a misinformed person this guy is. "What's Easy For Two" by Mary Wells reached # 29 and the A side "You lost the Sweetest Boy" reached # 22 on the Hot 100 both would have been TOP TEN on the HOT 100 if not for split air-play.Both were several months PRIOR to "My Guy" as bayouman pointed out.

[nabob]

I'll Keep Holding On produced by Norman Whitfield. A reputable source would have credited production to Mickey Stevenson & Ivy Jo Hunter.

The first photo posted for the Originals is a hoot and the second is actually the Spinners.

Nuff said! Unfortunately, the author didn't properly resarch and relied on the false information littering the internet. While the internet was a great addition to our lives, it gives license to spread disinformation and lies from voices that should remain silent.

Consider the source and keep on stepping.

[daviddesper]

Most Motown fans I know would cringe at the idea of I'm Livin in Shame being a candidate for number one. Some feel the lyrics are just too weird to be taken seriously even if the concept of the song was admirable.

The three Motown classics that come to mind for me that should have been HUGE hits would be........

Bless You........Martha Reeves & Vandellas
Heaven Must Have Sent You.......Elgins
Just Look What You've Done.....Brenda Holloway

[gman]

Most of these were singles, but not super hits..

Several Brenda Halloway and Kim Weston titles for sure...

Locking Up My Heart, I'll Keep Holding On for the Marvelettes

I Promise to Wait My Love, You've Been In Love Too Long and should have been a single Dancing Slow for MR & V's.

Jean era Supremes ...Nathan Jones....Automatically Sunshine...and I Guess I'll Miss The Man for AOR radio...

Diana...Lovin' Livin' & Givin'....the full Ross LP version...every alt. & edit is horrible...but this version is right up there with early synth classics Donna's I Feel Love and Amanda Lears Follow Me....I would have picked The Same Love That Made Me Laugh as a single.

Gladys Knights All I Need Is Time and Between Her Goodbye and My Hello are just as good and perhaps a bit too similar and close to the release of Neither One Of Us.

Scherrie era Supremes...Color My World Blue...and the LP version of You're My Driving Wheel...the pounding acoustic piano, hand percussion and Scherrie's catch up, fall behind vocal delivery make this one of my all time fav Supremes singles.

and for the love of God, I can't figure out why Mary Wilson's You Danced My Heart Around the Stars wasn't selected for release...to me, it is her performance of a lifetime.

[woodward]

I shared with with an entertainment editor who is an expert on things like this. His usual reaction and I wholeheartedly agree with him is simply this:

LISTINGS LIKE THIS ARE A L W A Y S A MATTER OF O P I N I O N!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is what it is and what it is worth.

[copley]

'Subjective' is the word that I use when discussing other peoples lists of favourites!

[Levi Stubbs Tears]

The UK Charts is often a good guide to 'what should have been a hit'.

The local guys were able to release/promote their own choices for singles instead of following the US lead.

And so we had songs like 'Bless You' and 'These Things Will Keep Me Loving You' becoming reasonable hits in the UK well after their initial release. The 70s Supremes, Diana & Diana/Marvin singles also benefitted.

And we had songs like 'I'm Still Waiting' & 'Tears of a Clown' becoming monster hits though only Clown repeated its' UK success in the States.

[gman]

LOL, such a misinformed person this guy is. "What's Easy For Two" by Mary Wells reached # 29 and the A side "You lost the Sweetest Boy" reached # 22 on the Hot 100 both would have been TOP TEN on the HOT 100 if not for split air-play.Both were several months PRIOR to "My Guy" as bayouman pointed out.

Split airplay killed the chart positions for many Brenda Lee on Decca and Connie Francis' MGM releases...Connie had a double top 10 in '59 with Lipstick On Your Collar #5 / Frankie #9 and Brenda in '60 with I'm Sorry #1 / That's All You Gotta Do #6....often the records were in pic sleeves....with each song given top title on one side of the sleeve...often it resulted in one reaching positions 10- 20 and the other charting even lower.
Sometimes it worked... the Beatles Come Together/Something, Rod Stewart Maggy May/Reason to Believe and Carole King's It's Too Late / I Feel the Earth Move doubling #1.

[gman]

The UK Charts is often a good guide to 'what should have been a hit'.

The local guys were able to release/promote their own choices for singles instead of following the US lead.

And so we had songs like 'Bless You' and 'These Things Will Keep Me Loving You' becoming reasonable hits in the UK well after their initial release. The 70s Supremes, Diana & Diana/Marvin singles also benefitted.

And we had songs like 'I'm Still Waiting' & 'Tears of a Clown' becoming monster hits though only Clown repeated its' UK success in the States.

Wasn't it common practice in the 60's in the UK to issue singles as a stand alone release and not put the singles on the LPS?...also, EP's with 4 songs were very popular in Europe...almost every major artist that's well known in the states had a ton released in the UK, Spain and France....I live in NYC and the collectors shops always had these on the wall, priced ridiculously high...$20 and up...and that was in the late 70's/early 80's...One shop down by NYU had a ton of French, Dutch and Japanese Motown import LPs..lots of comps, everything had a different cover than the US issues...that's where I first saw Live in Japan by the Supremes...I wanted that LP so bad...but $35 for a used copy was entirely too much of a bite out of my 20 yr old's paycheck [[glad I waited on that...not a great LP!) I did splurge and feed my chick rock fetish...I paid $40 for a 2 LP Live Suzi Quatro Japanese LP [[another horrible issue!) and $30 for the excellent Runaways Live In Japan.

[Levi Stubbs Tears]

Wasn't it common practice in the 60's in the UK to issue singles as a stand alone release and not put the singles on the LPS?...

Well, the UK found tracks like 'I'm Still Waiting', 'Tears of a Clown' [[and many more) on albums already issued.

[Graham Jarvis]

Thought I would find you a great record from "Barbara" something different, hope you enjoy.
Barbara McNair

[YourOldStandBy]

My personal picks are A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush, You Can Cry on My Shoulder, I Want to Go Back There Again to name a few. Happy to see the Marvelettes well represented, but I would include Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead.