Supreme Temptations

Thinking about some of my favorite bands over the years, a couple of early Motown groups stand out- the Supremes and the Temptations.

The Supremes helped Motown revolutionize the musical landscape, appealing to both black and white audiences. Berry Gordy intentionally feminized and glamorized the ladies; it was brilliant and they changed the face of music. They had a series of hits, mainly love songs. Like many of my friends I knew every one of those hits by heart. (Roadkill Trivia: I could sing Diana Ross's parts note for note, no matter how high, until I was 20. But overnight I lost about an octave and a half of vocal range. I was devastated but I think a couple of my friends were relieved. They thought it was unnatural.

Embedded in some of the Supremes' love songs we find social insight. I loved "Love Child" long before I realized the depths there; as I understood more I loved it more.

The Temptations had more revolutionary songs. While they had some love songs they also had brilliant social commentary ("Ball of Confusion"), songs about the human condition ("Smiling Faces", "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"), and celebrations of the times ("Psychedelic Shack"). They had some of the first songs to make use of sampling. While their radio hits were longer than some (four to six minutes), some of my favorite works are the longer album versions of the same songs; these stretched to twelve minutes or more. "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" is about as poignant as it gets; there are some excellent covers (such as that of Was (not Was)) but the original is still the best.

When I was 12 or 13 my parents bought a small house next door as an investment property. The former owners left behind thousands of books and records of all sizes and speeds (yes, speeds!). I claimed hundreds of Motown and related 45s as my own. There were dozens of artists represented. I played them all, but I wore out the Supremes and Temptations discs. I pretty much reduced them to prismatic Frisbee, incapable of producing anything like a high fidelity sounds- but by then I knew them so well I didn't need to play them to hear them.

A lot more music has wormed its way into my psyche since. An awful lot of that music- from Janis to Jimi, from Skynyrd to Bootsy, from Beck to NIN- would never have gotten a second listen if I hadn't heard the Supremes and Temptations. They blew all my musical walls down.

And they sound every bit as good today as they did then.

Baby, baby, where did our love go?

Nowhere, babe. It's right here. I love you as much as ever.

Requiem: Like so many artistic stories, there's pain here as well if you look into the lives of the artists. The worst? Jealousy and rejection drove Florence Ballard (a founding member of the Supremes) to heavy drinking and destructive behavior. She was kicked out of the Supremes. She was putting her life back together when she died at the age of 32.

 

AFTERWARD

As a teen I generally preferred the Supremes over the Temptations. Over the years I would still say that, but I came to the realization that I really preferred the Temptations. I see two obvious reasons.

1. The Supremes songs are generally formulaic; most of them sound very similar. The Temptations, as readily recognizable as the Supremes, were far more exploratory musically and stylistically diverse.
2. Most Supremes songs are all "love songs", which are really songs of romance, attraction, desire, or pain. All common feelings, but just that-- feelings. Arguably the Temptations (who did their share of classic love songs) sang about the more important types of love, love that was more than just emotion. "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", "Smiling Faces", "Runaway Child, Running Wild", even "Ball of Confusion" were all love songs in the deeper sense.