Originally Posted by
bradsupremes
Yes, there were full page ad buy outs for singles like "Stoned Love" and "Up The Ladder To The Roof," but buying ads in trade magazines isn't the only thing when it comes to promotion. A lot of it too occurs behind the scenes with pushing the major stations to play the current records. I know of several instances where fans have reported that their stations weren't sent DJ copies of things like "River Deep Mountain High," "Nathan Jones," "Floy Joy," etc. And if you look at many of the old Supremes fan club newsletters, fans and the ladies themselves express how there was lack of promotion for singles. Scherrie recalled hearing from a major DJ disk jockey on how Motown instructed him to stop playing "Walking" and push "Love Hangover."
I know you don't buy into the conspiracy theories, but I think its pretty telling by Gordy's treatment of Mary, Flo and Cindy as well as the other ladies on the label that no one was going to be a threat to Ross. He had a lot of investment in her. How would it look if she failed and her former group was soaring? Look at the panic that occurred during 1970. You don't think Gordy wouldn't have put pressure on the executives to make sure The Supremes were getting just enough, but not to eclipse Ross? It's totally believable and something he would have done. She was top priority for the label.
And how do we know that singles like "Touch" and "You Gotta Have Love In Your Heart" weren't released to undercut them? Neither of them are hit records, but it's very likely Motown knew that when they released them. I'm not saying it was sabotage, but is it really that hard to comprehend that they wouldn't do that especially leading into 1972 with the huge buildup of LSTB? Mary recalled during the summer of 1971 that the follow up to "Nathan Jones" was going to be "Here Comes The Sunrise." What happened there? While I agree that groups do fade with time and that certainly played a part, but we'd all be pretty foolish to think Motown/Gordy didn't play a part in fading out their light.
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