  Paulmcall Member Username: Paulmcall Post Number: 291 Registered: 05-2004 |
A lot of people and businesses have left Detroit over the years but Motown was a big hit to the gut. They were the Detroit sound and so many artists were from here. I understand Barry Gordy wanted to take them Hollywood but he just ended up selling the company after he went out there. What are your thoughts about their departure? | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 4962 Registered: 08-2004 |
I was too young in 1972 to care, but what really gets me steamed is every 5 years they hold the Motown anniverary shows from a theatre in Los Angeles. Those shows should be held at the Detroit Fox, where the first Motown Reviews (IIRC, I believe they were called MotorTown Reviews) were held back in the 60's. It's time to bring at least part of Motown back to Motown!! | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 549 Registered: 06-2005 |
Gistok, you are recalling correctly. The MotorTown Reviews (Motown Review, for short) were held during the Christmas season at the Fox during the 60's. They were one of the best deals in town, although not quite as good a deal as the yearly WCHB Christmas Party, also at the Fox. The MotorTown Reviews would last for ten evenings or so with one set of performers for the first five shows then a change of acts for the second half. I particularly remember seeing the Temptations, Little Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight and the Pips on a yearly basis. | ||
Cris Member Username: Cris Post Number: 445 Registered: 10-2003 |
Has there been any news about the new Motown museum on Woodward? Will it ever happen? | ||
Hpgrmln Member Username: Hpgrmln Post Number: 61 Registered: 06-2007 |
Sadly, its showbiz. Madonna tries so hard to erase her Michigan roots like they never existed. Alice Cooper went out west. Glen Frey left town. Bob Seger still resides here but most of the Silver Bullet band doesnt anymore. Ted Nugent is now in Texas.Smokey Robinson moved out.They all leave sooner or later, unfortunately. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1328 Registered: 12-2003 |
Yeah, I don't know about you, but I was really shedding tears over Ted Nugent leaving Jackson, for Texas ... | ||
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger Post Number: 392 Registered: 05-2006 |
The really sad thing about Motown leaving Detroit was that the huge pool of local talent lost their shot at the big time. Berry Gordy was more obsessed with making Diana Ross a movie star then he was with developing new talent. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1342 Registered: 02-2005 |
Berry Gordy wanted to make movies more than he wanted to make music (or at least music as was made in Detroit). That's why Motown moved. They've been in LA much longer than they were in Detroit, and are there now, so it only makes sense to have their anniversary shows there. It's also much easier for the entertainers and the celebrity audience to be in LA. Having a major one from Detroit (like the 50th, next year?) would be a nice idea though. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1567 Registered: 12-2005 |
In the 50s and 60s there were regional "sounds" Philly had a sound, Memphis had a sound and Detroit had a sound. Accused murderer Phil Spector built on some of these sounds in California. Eventually everything went New York/LA and the regional 'sounds" all became homogenized. | ||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 774 Registered: 02-2007 |
Motown leaving was a blow...just think we can have a branson, a LAs Vegas etc...could you imagine a rotating Motown review in Detroit, what a tourist thing it would sure beat the Peter Framptom 6th reunion tour. Sorry Peter. | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 467 Registered: 04-2006 |
56packman, not true. there are still "regional sounds." there is distinct "southern" hip-hop, as well as two distinct coastal hip-hop styles... (though more of a 90s thing for the latter) i'd say Detroit had/has a "rock" sound right now. I could tell you just by listening who was a detroit band, or at least who was imitating detroit bands. some music out now screams "DETROIT" just with its sound. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 1909 Registered: 02-2007 |
Yeah, but half of the Bands/Artist out there would refuse to give Detroit it's recognition. | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 469 Registered: 04-2006 |
true. though you don't exactly hear B. Gordy telling everyone that he didn't invent the "Motown Sound" (instead just repackaging BRILLIANT Detroit/Chicago Northern soul... and changing it slightly.) | ||
Meeshba Member Username: Meeshba Post Number: 4 Registered: 07-2007 |
I was too young to recognize the significance of the loss of Motown. I do think it is interesting what flavor of blues/rock/jazz still show up in different regions of the country on public radio versus what I heard in Detroit. (I was so sorry to hear about the demise of WDET) | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1568 Registered: 12-2005 |
Andylinn--I'm either too old, too caucasian or too uptight in my musical tastes to consider hip-hop/rap music or worthy of my time, so I'll have to take your word on it. If those schools are writing/performing/recording their work in those cities, and there is a common style, than that must be the current example of regional music influence and sound. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 1911 Registered: 02-2007 |
^^^56packman, you're all of the above really. What I hate that people do is judge ALL type of Rap/Hip-Hop by just 1 or 2 (as an example) Artists or Songs as horrid. You can't judge something until you have opened youe mind to it. I don't consider Rock Worthy of my time maybe because I'm Too Black, Too Down To Earth, or Too Inner City. (Message edited by Urbanize on July 28, 2007) | ||
Kslice Member Username: Kslice Post Number: 117 Registered: 04-2007 |
I go to the jazz festival all day then crank Van Halen or Naughty by nature in my car on the way home. I feel like i can appreciate almost every music and the talent it takes to make it. except country... Hey, who cares what the rest of the county thinks, Detroit will always be the home of Motown music, even if no one but us knows it. I do agree with you Ramcharger, corperate greed too often gets the best of us. http://www.motownmuseum.com/ | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 8938 Registered: 09-2005 |
Urbanize, take a long look at all the original Motown stuff - I don't think future generations are going to view hip hop as "breaking down barriers" because the whole world snaps to the beat of n, f and other choice words the same way they did to "Baby Love" or "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" Vulgar stuff is destined to be swept into the dustbins of history as a fad of one generation. When I go to wedding receptions and see old ladies rocking to the beat of the Four Tops, methinks it ain't gonna be repeated in 50 years to the beat of "rape your sister, kill the cops" And learn to count - it ain't "just 1 or 2" | ||
Sstashmoo Member Username: Sstashmoo Post Number: 184 Registered: 02-2007 |
Motown never left motown. Motown isn't a recording studio, it's a particular sound born here and still lives here. When someone in the media mentions "Motown" they are referring to the music and it's distinct sound. Those sounds belong to this city and thats something that can never be taken away from here. It was a phase of music and this is where it happened. Detroiters singing Detroits music. The executives and many of the artists moved on to other locales. But those songs belong to us. When I hear them, they say Detroit. When the studio left the Motown music had ran it's course and was all over with for anything new in that vein anyway. Comparing the motown sound to present day hip hop is an insult to the former. They were great works of art that will endure for many generations to come. I remember when the Supremes got arrested for dancing in the street, that happened on Woodward IIRC, that happened in Detroit. | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 470 Registered: 04-2006 |
karl, that's funny, actually, because i was just at a wedding where there were 40 year old people dancing, and grannies in the back... and a bunch of 80s rap was put on. by the way, i've NEVER heard the word or inference of rape mentioned in a rap song... EVER. | ||
Hpgrmln Member Username: Hpgrmln Post Number: 62 Registered: 06-2007 |
Sorry, I think Urbanizes comment is ignorant. "too black"??? -ever heard of Chuck Berry? Bo Diddley? "Too inner city"-whats that supposed to mean? "Too down to earth"?-huh? Name me 5 rappers that can play a beautiful melody on a piano. Name 5 rappers that can play a skillful guitar solo. What does being "too down to earth" have to do with not listening to the music performed by talented artists that the rappers rip off their samples from? Rock isn't just a lifestyle of the whites from the suburbs...it's about having enough talent to play a song without stealing someone elses to sing over top of. And don't bring race into this. I want to see a rapper try to play a Jimi Hendrix (NOT a white guy)cover on a guitar.Not trying to start a fight here, but please folks, let this go both ways. Many white kids from the burbs only listen to rap. It's only fair that our black friends from the "inner-city" dabble with some rock and attempt to find some merit in that as well. It's just as important, just maybe not for the same reasons. | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 8942 Registered: 09-2005 |
"Back in the day" according to a WSJ article recently posted on DY, in the 1950's segregated black high schools and churches in the D both taught and sang arrangements by Mozart, Bach, Haydn and others. In fact, Martha Reeves sang a Mozart Alleluia at her HS commencement. Is any of that in any of the schools in Detroit today? Does anyone still go to church in Detroit today? Methinks (at least among the performers/consumers of rap) the answer is NO but why fuss over details? We're down to silly comments like Andylinn's above, declaring all things good because he hasn't heard the word "rape" in a rap song - yet. Never mind that same rapes the minds of those who consume a steady diet of such bilge. However, Detroit's residential neighborhoods are a testimony to the fine job Detroit's fathers, music and education system are doing in the city, so why mess with success? | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 1918 Registered: 02-2007 |
"I'm either too old, too caucasian or too uptight" You're calling me ignorant, but at the same time, you're making a big double standard of 56Packman's comments to support your love for Rock? Please, do not start with me, you're not worth the argument. I get tired of the same old crazy double standards on the site. I don't blame Revadullton for leaving. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 1919 Registered: 02-2007 |
Oh yeah: Jaime Foxxx Kayne West Pharell Williams Dr. Dre | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 1920 Registered: 02-2007 |
and Timbaland before my comp. froze. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 1921 Registered: 02-2007 |
Now Name Me 5 Rock Bands and Artists that aren't White? More Specifically, Black. (Message edited by Urbanize on July 29, 2007) | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1329 Registered: 12-2003 |
This might be news to a lot of people, that the Detroit public schools were segregated in the '50s. There were schools that had more black students than others, but "segregated"? But of course, if a New York-based essayist for the conservative op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal says it's so, it must be true, right? | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 1922 Registered: 02-2007 |
"This might be news to a lot of people, that the Detroit public schools were segregated in the '50s" Not really, I could of swore all schools everywhere were segregated during much of the 50s lawfully. | ||
Kslice Member Username: Kslice Post Number: 120 Registered: 04-2007 |
One of my friends loves Emo music, and he's black. I think it's crap myself, and I'm white. how may black emo bands do you see? Music is music and race should have no (or a very little) part to play in it. White people started rock and roll in the 50's. Black people weren't crazy about it and started Motown. Sure maybe white people cant sing like Stevie Wonder, and maybe black people can't play guitar like Eric Clapton. But everyone SHOULD be able to appreciate the talent it takes to make both kinds of music. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 3528 Registered: 10-2004 |
I never quite caught on why integrating schools were supposed to be of benefit. Was having blacks taught by black teachers inherently an inferior or a failed concept, for some reason? Teachers in those (older?) public school buildings in the inner city of Milwaukee (Detroit's case was probably very similar) where the blacks first moved into during the 1950s and 1960s were educating students close to the top rankings nationally just a decade earlier. Back where I lived, the vast majority of the blacks and the rest favored their neighborhood schools over integration. But no! The New Order had to have their ways. So, some kids spent up to three hours daily being bussed--at considerable taxpayer expense too, BTW--for absolutely no benefit. I doubt that any three-hour daily rides were ever used for anything related to education (homework, etc.). |
