I was working on my new place yesterday and discoveredtThere is so much to do to get ready for the move. First, besides packing, one must get the place to look like home. That means painting, yard work, getting patios and decks ready, more painting, picking up, more painting. With so much work to do, there is one thing that is a must. MUSIC. I was listening to my music yesterday and there are certain tunes that make work just more easier and breezier and it got me thinking…

 Motown is the music of choice I use to do things like housework, painting and chores that I am not fond of. I do this because Motown music is about fun melodies, lots of horn action, lead singers and backup vocalists. It is a sweet exchange of harmonies and balance. It has booming bass lines that make you move and catchy phrases that keep you singing. All this is the magical mixture that is referred to as Motown.

 Just what is Motown really?  Well it all started back in 1959 when an independent songwriter named Berry Gordy Jr. purchased a house in Detroit. He then got the idea to hang a sign out front that said, Hitsville USA. The rest as we know is history and that Gordy establish Motown Records, well with a little help from his pal Smokey Robinson, who vice-president of Motown Records.

 Motown wasn’t simply a record label but it became a distingue sound. It was a style; music for the soul so to speak. In fact maybe that is why some called it soul music, it clearly got the soul moving and grooving. Motown music did to pop what Beatles did for rock and roll. Move over Buddy Holly & the Crickets, step aside Bill Haley & His Comets, look the other way Danny & the Juniors Motown is here!

 I am unsure if enough can be said about Motown and what it did to the industry. It was a great time to be alive and listening to hit and hit. It was a time for new artists to come on the scene and make some noise. Artists like Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Marvin Gaye,  Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Four Tops, Martha & The Vandellas, The Spinners, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and The Jackson 5.

 It produced such classic hits like I Heard It Through The Grapevine,  My Girl, Dancing in the Streets, I’ll Be There, I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, Stop In the Name of, Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, I Second That Emotion,  I Heard It Through the Grapevine, and so many more that you could listen to Motown for days on end before a song repeats itself.

 Motown had 191 number 1 hits over the last 50 years. That’s a lot of number one hits. I’m not talking about top ten hits–I ‘m talking number one hits. Indeed what would music be without the great influences of Motown? Now, what was your favorite Motown hit or artist?