Originally Posted by
gordy_hunk
At the time of the Supremes [[1970 - 1973), they were frequently on the charts.
Up the ladder to the roof - 6
Stoned love - 3
River deep - mountain high - 11
Nathan Jones - 5
You gotta have love in your heart - 25
Floy Joy - 9
Automatically sunshine - 10
Bad weather - 37
We also saw some rather superb acts appearing in the charts [[leaving out the Temptations, Jackson 5, Diana, Stevie, Smokey):
- Why [[Diana, Supremes, Temptations) - 31
- Farewell is a lonely sound - Jimmy Ruffin - 8
- I'll say forever my love - Jimmy Ruffin - 7
- it's wonderful - Jimmy Ruffin -
- war - Edwin Starr - 3
- stop the war now - Edwin Starr - 33
- I can't help myself - 4 Tops - 10
- it's all in the game - 4 Tops - 5
- Simple game - 4 Tops - 3
- still water - 4 Tops - 10
- just 7 numbers - 4 Tops - 36
- Bernadette - 4 Tops - 23
- walk with me, talk with me darling - 4 Tops - 32
- Jimmy Mack - Martha Reeves + The Vandellas -- 21
- forget me not - Martha Reeves + The Vandellas - 11
- it's a shame - Motown Spinners - 20
- Indiana wants me - R. Dean Taylor - 2
- heaven must have sent you - The Elgins - 3
- put yourself in my place - The Elgins - 28
- these things will keep me loving you - The Velvelettes - 34
- Festival time - San Remo Strings - 39
- just walk in my shoes - Gladys Knight + The Pips - 35
- help me make it through the night - Gladys Knight + The Pips - 11
- my guy - Mary Wells - 14
- walk in the night - Jr Walker + The All Stars - 16
- take me girl I'm ready - Jr Walker + The All Stars - 16
Motown clearly continued to be a powerful presence in the charts, and if you blend into the above the plethora of hits by Diana, Smokey, Stevie, The Temptations, the J5, Michael Jackson, the support for the Supremes was definitely high on the list. Add to this mix the significant number of soul music [[such as by Aretha, Roberta Flack, Al Green, the Chi-Lites, Love Unlimited, Barry White, the Stylistics etc), the success of Motown being able to capture such a sizeable chunk of the market was quite amazing.
But there were at this time some spectacular failures:
- what's going on - Marvin Gaye [[and also Mercy, mercy me, Inner city blues)
- if I were your woman - Gladys Knight + The Pips
- masterpiece - the Temptations.
So whilst people may imply that the Supremes weren't so [[commercially) successful as in the 1964-1967, I would argue that the intensity for airplay and securing the all important chart positions had increased, diversified and yet, the Supremes continued to be an essential element in the Sound of Young America but times changed, and more acts were encroaching on Motown's golden era.
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