Originally Posted by
TheMotownManiac
I’m a big fan of Brenda and think she could have been bigger, but this story of pulling support is getting rancid. First of all, we are not talking about some great record with amazing potential. We are talking about a record that is so derivative of the previous hit - it’s embarrassing plus nowhere near as good. A killer record like Every little bit hurts limped to number 13, I doubt very much that any amount of promotion could’ve saved this dog. Ugly, as horrible as this scenario sounds, and may be true, you will notice that while Brenda stalls at number 60 at 4 weeks, Martha is number 42, in two weeks, and the four Tops are number 32 in three weeks. It makes for a good story, to add to the, “diana ross ruined my career Anthology” however, One can only presume Martha and the tops benefited from the same action, it’s just not as good of a headline. I would imagine that if Motown had begun to promote Brenda, they could see the writing on the wall as where did our love go was in the top 10 in three weeks, I believe. It might have been four. Record companies wisely do not beg radio stations to play dogs, for fear that the radio station might say, “remember we played that Brenda record, that contours record, that Eddie Holland record,? They were dogs and you told us those were going to be big hits and they stunk up the place. We’re not gonna play this one. We don’t want people changing the channel because we play bad records. “ Once a record is under performing, everyone begins to play hot potato with it.
of course it’s quite possible that Motown did pull the support for practice record, if there was any. Let’s hypothesize the results. Motown gets behind I’ll always love you and pushes and pushes and pushes it all the way till number 44 While where did our love go, without any support, stalls at 53. Holland Dozier Holland probably would not have written baby love and come see about me because they were written to follow up the mega success of where did our love go. Perhaps the Supremes would not have made it any bigger than the Velvelettes. Motown would’ve lost millions and millions in 1964+1965 to expand their infrastructure. They might not of had the funds to sign and develop Gladys Knight and the pips‘s were the Jackson 5. Meanwhile, Brenda still would have peaked at number 25 with the wonderful when I’m gone. Operator, would still have tanked.
I believe Motown was wise to put their efforts, they’re limited efforts, behind breakout stars and those they had a strong, positive feeling about potential. It’s too bad that some people got left behind, but I don’t play Motown for that. Any recording artist with any amount of sense at all, leaves a record company that is not making it happen for them. Kim, Martha, Brenda, Mary, Gladys, the tops, the spinners, the Temptations, the Jackson 5, the Isley brothers are just some of the acts that left Motown with varying results. When the Supremes hit, they hit so big, so fast, so hard that Gordy knew he had struck gold. A month after where did our love go album came out, it was selling so strongly that he immediately put Liverpool into production. There weren’t that many hit albums at Motown at that point, but he knew Liverpool would pay off in a big way and it became one of Motown‘s biggest albums to date. Artistically, it wasn’t necessarily something to brag about, but she’s sold a lot of albums. He knew what he was doing getting behind the Supremes the tops and the Temptations . he stuck with Martha and Marvin because as we know he had great respect for their talent.
I don’t believe anyone deserves to be a success. Lots of wonderfully talented people don’t make it or can’t sell records. I love Jennifer Hudson‘s voice, but her success on vinyl and the concert stage is way under expectations. Part of being a success is having the talent or potential that is evident to others who can’t get behind and push. Judy, Barbra, Janis, Dionne and others all had someone behind them who believed so strongly in them that they would invest their time effort and perhaps money to help them succeed. You didn’t hear mary wilson complaining about pecking order when she was at the top of the pecking order, it was only when she was not at the top that she began to complain.
I think we are very lucky to have the Motown products that we do have. All they did was change history, and that’s worth sacrificing I’ll always love you by Brenda Holloway.
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