What was Motown’s biggest year?
Platforming the iconic careers of so many artists, Motown Records a swirling chapter in history that saw genius, innovation and exploitation all caught in it’s orbit. Often forgotten as an actual record label and often referred to as simply a genre, it was a scene of music that expanded the world of Soul and R&B, with artists like Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye emerging from it’s success.
But led by Berry Gordy Jr, it was a label soon embroiled in allegations of exploitation and unethical business practices, leaving a conflicting chapter of history for many music lovers. Founded in 1959 by Gordy, it began as a safe space for emerging artists within the genres of funk and soul to explore their artistry while gaining necessary exposure to the radio masses.
When Motown swiftly achieved a breakout hit with Barrett Strong’s ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ that very year, Gordy planted his foot to the floor and saw that Motown was at the centre of every great release for the coming decade. Between 1961 and 1971, Motown was responsible for 110 top-ten hits, unfortunately, a large portion of which were a by-product of the labels’ unrelenting artist exploitation.
But within that decade, Motown’s most successful year was arguably 1963. While the competitive landscape of music within that decade may seemingly have squandered Gordy’s hopes at having his artists breakthrough into the mainstream, he used the oncoming wave of popular modern music as a catalyst.
In 1963, The Beatles’ Second Album smashed into the US charts, with more than a year among the best-sellers. In the process, they earned Gordt tens of thousands of dollars in royalties for their hree Motown covers: “Money (That’s What I Want),” “Please Mr. Postman” and “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me.”
What followed was a rapid expansion of Gordy’s business plan that platformed the development of Motown’s oncoming artists. In his autobiography, To Be Loved, Gordy recalls being contacted by the office of the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, seeking a publishing royalty discount on the three songs. Admitting his initial response was to say “no,” he eventually agreed to a deal. “A part of something is always better than all of nothing,” Gordy later wrote in what an intuitively sensible move given the sales figures The Beatles went on to record.
Introducing the hitmakers
1963 also marked the introduction of the imperious songwriting trio, Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. Between the three of them, they’re largely responsible for the sonic blueprint of Motown. Their first two hits were recorded that January and broke in the spring; the Marvelettes’ ‘Locking Up My Heart’ and Martha & the Vandellas’ “Come And Get These Memories’, the latter breaking into the top-ten US charts. As the year went on, they continued to hit similar heights with Martha & the Vandellas’ ‘Heat Wave’ and the Miracles’ ‘Mickey’s Monkey’ both reaching top-ten also.
The final Billboard Hot 100 of 1963 made for happy reading for Gordy and the Motown family. In the list, there were more than six Motown singles, and all of them were climbing the standings rapidly. Of the six, two were written and produced by Smokey Robinson – ‘As Long As I Know He’s Mine’ and ‘What’s Easy For Two Is So Hard For One’ and four by Holland, Dozier and Holland trio ‘I Gotta Dance To Keep Fom Crying’, ‘Quicksand’, ‘Can I Get A Witness’ and ‘When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes’.
Writer of the book Motown: The Sound of Young America, Adam White, once recalled a conversation he had with Holland who spoke of Gordy’s own songwriting capabilities: “Berry Gordy being a songwriter and producer himself, and a good one at that, he had all the confidence in the world from doing that. And when he started hearing the emergence of Brian, Lamont and myself – and other artists and producers there – he let us do what we wanted to do.”
Sadly, what followed the success was a decade marred with controversy, as the rapid influx of commercial success gave Gordy a worrying insight into how he could use artists for financial gain.
