sweet soul
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Post by sweet soul on Jan 12, 2009 11:13:13 GMT
Motown marks its 50th anniversary Mr Gordy started the label from a studio in his cellar with an $800 loan Motown Records, one of the most influential record labels in the history of popular music, is marking its 50th anniversary. Originally called Tamla, the label was founded by songwriter and businessman Berry Gordy in the US city of Detroit. He started the label in 1959 from a studio in his cellar with an $800 loan. Motown Records boasts nearly 200 No 1 songs worldwide, and has produced stars from Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye to The Temptations and The Supremes. The trademark of Motown was developing black musical talent and, during the 1960s and 1970s, the label helped launch the careers of a long line of stars such as Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson and Michael Jackson. Mr Gordy changed the label's name to Motown in honour of the city's dominant position in the then-thriving US auto industry. In its heyday, Berry Gordy likened the label's promoting of black artists to an automobile assembly line that transformed plain metal frames into gleaming motorcars. While the label had its political moments, it was the crossover appeal of its optimistic, upbeat sound that perhaps did most to help break down racial barriers, says the BBC's Jamie Coomarasamy in Detroit. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7823394.stm |
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sweet soul
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Post by sweet soul on Jan 12, 2009 11:16:57 GMT
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Post by Beachcomber on Jan 12, 2009 12:38:47 GMT
I discovered Motown when I was 17. Up untill then I'd been a 'Rocker' - long hair, leathers and a motorbike. However I realised that there were more girls in the mod clubs so I changed. I shaved my hair off to a skinhead, bought a Ben Sherman shirt and a pair of Levi's with braces and sauntered along to the local disco and danced to motown all night. Everything went well untill we left. There, parked in the middle of all the mirror festooned scooters was my 250cc BSA. They gave me some stick but when I left them for dead at the traffic lights they had to admit I had a point. I refused to change to a bloody 'poofta scooter' so I was the only mod with a proper bike   |
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Post by evenstar on Jan 12, 2009 14:09:38 GMT
I love old motown, though I can't say i have liked anything from the last 30 of those fifty years, nu-soul is a pile of pish these days.
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sweet soul
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Post by sweet soul on Jan 12, 2009 14:18:58 GMT
I first heard motown when i was about 14 at the local y.m.c.a disco. I didnt know many of the names i only knew i had found a fantastic kind of music, it was soul. My fave motown groups. The Four Tops. The Isley Brothers. Stevie Wonder. Jackson 5
I moved on to like Northern Soul in my late teens.
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sweet soul
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Post by sweet soul on Jan 12, 2009 14:24:28 GMT
Hehe i had a Ben Sherman too. Yes even girls wore them with wrangler jackets :-D
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2009 14:52:10 GMT
I loved motown when i was a teenager and still do like some of the oldies. We went to the local pub/disco and danced till we dropped[was only 15 ] Motown had a magic feel to it like an explosion of soul coming through the ether. Before that I had a Ben Sherman shirt and a tonic suit. Remember them? My cousin gave it to me. What days they were lol  |
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sweet soul
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Post by sweet soul on Jan 12, 2009 16:22:07 GMT
Dont remember tonic suits.
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silkbreeze
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Post by silkbreeze on Jan 12, 2009 16:27:26 GMT
a pale yellow ben sherman shirt was one of the first presents i ever bought a boyfriend.....loved to dance to motown and the 'nastier' stax label, who can forget otis redding, gladys knight, the temptations...i guess it smoothed the way to blues and the african music i mainly listen to now....
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sweet soul
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Post by sweet soul on Jan 12, 2009 16:30:54 GMT
One of the first songs i danced to at the y.m.c.a was ' little piece of leather' by Donnie Albert. Great memorys of being so young and everything new and exciting.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2009 16:38:55 GMT
They were two -tone and shiny.
I'm trying to see how to upload pictures.
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sweet soul
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Post by sweet soul on Jan 12, 2009 16:47:02 GMT
Sorry Donnie Elbert.
Yes! I do remember ' stay press' 2 tone trousers and suits :-D sooo cool !
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sweet soul
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Post by sweet soul on Jan 12, 2009 17:13:15 GMT
Donnie wasnt motown. He was Northern Soul. At the time dancing to soul was heaven to us kids. Donnie also sang ' where did our love go' better then Diana Ross :-D
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Post by Libby on Jan 12, 2009 17:19:38 GMT
I love Motown, it brings back so many memories of years ago! I remember those suits too, now that's going back some years lol!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2009 20:34:22 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2009 20:35:10 GMT
That's not my fella of course.
He's wearing a tonic suit!
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Post by puffin on Jan 12, 2009 21:39:55 GMT
I love Motown. I have stacks of singles and LPs as well as later DVDs to keep the vinyl in good condition.
It's always been one of my music favourites.
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