i post this with a little dread ... since writing at this site i have been most careful to keep my posts narrowly focused on motown's music, and have very purposefully steered clear of the "personality wars" that run rampant at this site. however, i think my prior posts make it quite clear that i am interested in pop music history.

however, i feel that i may be treading on shaky ground with this post, so i hope you keep in mind my prior history here shows my serious intentions!

the history of motown is a history of a company that ran best and was most productive when its owner, singers, musicians, writers, and producers worked together like a well oil ford motor car company. when any one of these pieces fell out of place the results were almost always a failure. when mary wells left motown, her career fell apart. when holland, dozier, and holland left they never saw the heights they saw from hitsville. and when barry gordy took the company west leaving behind key players, the not so slow demise of the "motown" began. with the exception of two musical geniuses, marvin gaye and stevie wonder no one at motown was able to sustain a lengthy vital career.

i know many of you will site the career of someone like diana ross as having lengthy career. you will list songs and chart numbers to support the significance of her importance in the history of pop music. but, charts, awards, tours don't have anything to do with the quality or importance of an artists work. i am using ms. ross only as an example. her name could be replaced with any motown singer, or writer producer. her importance ended with motown's alliance with h/d/h. the important historical mark made by ms. ross was the chain of collaborative hits the supremes, and the motown musicians made with the songwriting team of h/d/h.


motown's beauty and downfall was caused by this very close, but precarious mix. besides gaye & wonder motown had no singers that could produce music w/o this machine behind them.


take a look at dusty springfield. although never listed as a producer and not a songwriter, she was in fact in charge of her own product. i can think of no album made by ms. ross, reeves, etc that carries the historical importance of "dusty in memphis". i compare these women to show the difference between a self contained artist [[dusty) and an entertainer [[ross). to be continued ...