Hitsville U.S.A.: Motown

Songwriters, the studio band, etiquette coaches, choreographers, and label management together form the Motown assembly line.

Now Motown’s music. Motown first calls itself Hitsville, U.S.A.; later people simply say Motown. In 1959 Berry Gordy Jr. founds Motown in Detroit. In the history of Black music business he is a major figure. I am not sure this still holds: Motown Records as the most successful Black-owned company in America. It begins as a regional indie and becomes a major force in pop. Part of the success is outstanding artists and staff; part is Gordy’s own eye—from the start he wants a label that draws white listeners and the widest possible audience. Start with Gordy’s own path. He was a pro boxer, mixing with other fighters and with jazz musicians in Detroit jazz clubs. Motown is founded in Detroit, Michigan; Berry’s life is gyms and boxers, clubs and jazz players—and for a time work on an auto assembly line. His first move into music is a jazz record shop. Like many music lovers, he figures: jazz is the best, so sell jazz. He finds people often do not buy what aficionados or experts call best; only the most popular music truly makes money. Gordy says he only grasped that selling pop or R&B was the real money after the jazz shop had already failed past repair. So he adjusts strategy, keeping pop as the path to profit. He continues through songwriting. Early on he writes for Jackie Wilson, including 1957’s “Reet Petite”; 1958’s “Lonely Teardrops” hits No. 1 R&B and No. 7 pop; 1959’s “That’s Why I Love You So” reaches No. 2 R&B. These are representative Gordy co-writes. An acquaintance of Jerry Leiber told me Gordy once talked with Leiber about the Leiber & Stoller production team and said he hoped to join the Brill Building. We have covered that business model forming in the late 1950s and flourishing in the 1960s. Jerry Leiber asks why start from scratch in New York when you already have results in Detroit—why not do what you want here? Gordy takes the advice and founds Motown in 1959. In many ways Motown’s model resembles Brill Building’s—except that by 1963–65 Brill Building fades from its early-1960s peak and many producers move west; Don Kirshner and others shift to Los Angeles. In that mid-to-late-1960s stretch Motown transplants the Brill Building model to Detroit. Built on that model, Motown grows fast. Early Gordy Motown hits include Barrett Strong’s “Money,” No. 2 R&B in 1960. Alongside Brill-era developments: in 1960 the girl group the Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” hits No. 1 pop and R&B. A small local label with a smash—major success. The Contours’ “Do You Love Me” is No. 1 R&B and No. 3 pop in 1962. Early Berry Gordy releases, in many ways, imitate others: the Marvelettes are a 1961 girl group; the Contours sound like 1962 Isley Brothers. At the start Gordy also follows others’ footsteps. Now crossover and courting white listeners. If you watch industry trends, disposable income, and who has money for records, most of the money is clearly in white hands. As noted, from the jazz-shop period Gordy decides to attract white listeners; he believes success requires it. But many of his artists come from middling or poor families; they are not people who can move in high society without training. So he needs ways to reshape them and Motown’s image so white audiences will accept them. As I said, many criticize this as a kind of betrayal. In fact it is like Chuck Berry in 1955–57 writing straight to white teenage listeners so Black R&B need not be rewritten and covered to be accepted. Early Motown can be read as Chuck Berry’s philosophy plus the Brill Building model, fused into a highly successful Detroit label. Etiquette class and choreography. Motown’s difference is that people like to see it as an assembly line—partly because Motown is in Detroit, then the auto capital: Ford, GM, Chrysler. Dividing music-making into specialized jobs mirrors assembly-line method. Of course Brill Building and most New York labels are assembly-like too. As noted, Gordy worries about label image and artists’ public behavior, so he hires Maxine Powell to teach what artists call “finishing school.” Powell had run an etiquette school in 1950s Detroit; her job is to teach people from poor backgrounds how to use utensils, speak with grace and proper wording, move and walk well—ladies closing their knees when getting into a car, chewing with mouths closed. Things parents always ask of children; not every artist has these problems. But Gordy says his goal is that every artist can appear in two places: the White House and Buckingham Palace. Etiquette is not for daily life so much as for sitting with a U.S. president or the British queen with proper grace. Powell’s work is to teach all Motown artists to that standard. Most are young and hate the class. Years later many thank the training; it helps their careers. Gordy also hires Broadway choreographer Cholly Atkins for all acts. Every dance move you see from the Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations is Atkins’s work. So etiquette is one person, choreography another; Motown also manages artists—promotion, releases, tours that package many acts together. Gordy truly builds a star factory and fully shapes careers. Musically the Motown line is songwriters and producers on one side, studio players backing every record on the other. Imitating Brill Building, Gordy has a team of writers and producers competing for the next production. He often calls meetings to hear what songs they have. He asks: if you have only a dollar, do you buy this record or a sandwich? Records they choose to cut must be good enough that people skip lunch to buy them—that is how he separates “good” from “great.” Writers and producers compete weekly for production slots. Winners may craft records for an artist; as long as that artist stays hot they keep the assignment; if the career dips, another producer can take over to keep the charts. Influential writers and producers include Gordy, Mickey Stevenson, Smokey Robinson; teams such as Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland—Holland–Dozier–Holland, or HDH—and Norman Whitfield. They write and produce through Motown’s peak 1960s. There is also a studio band, the Funk Brothers—Detroit’s answer to L.A.’s Wrecking Crew. The Wrecking Crew play for Phil Spector, on the Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Beach Boys records. In Detroit the Funk Brothers are Motown’s house band. You may know the 2002 film Standing in the Shadows of Motown—a documentary on Motown’s unsung heroes, working closely with writers, producers, and artists, much of it poorly documented; they follow the music and do their jobs. Bass James Jamerson, drums Benny Benjamin, piano Earl Van Dyke, and many others. Motown has its own studio in near-constant use, so one band cannot cover everything. Still there is a core; when core players rest or tour, others fill in. Thus songwriters, studio band, etiquette coaches, choreographers, and management together are called the Motown assembly line. The one piece still missing is the performers—the focus of the audience. Next: Motown’s singers.