The Motown Top 250 Countdown (#200-196) & This Week's Statistics

Hello, my friends, old and new! We have counted down the 20 cities that visited this blog the most in the past 2 years. I hope that you enjoyed that. We will continue with the Motown list and the statistics, but I will also introduce a new feature: I will begin the weekend's story with an important scene from a movie or two, or sometimes from an important TV show. Here we go...

... We begin with what I think are the best performances by a father and his daughter. They come from two different films, 29 years apart. Interestingly enough, both films deal with the Great Depression. First, from 1940, is John Ford's monumental adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath(photo). The film is widely considered one of the greatest American films of all time. In my opinion, Tom Joad was Henry Fonda's finest role (and his first Oscar nomination). Here is a short scene at the end of the film. Alongside Fonda is the Oscar-winning Jane Darwell as his mother:

In 1969, Sydney Pollack shot an adaptation of Horace McCoy's 1935 novel called They Shoot Horses, Don't They? It was to be his first Oscar nomination, as well as the first Oscar nomination for his star, Jane Fonda. This is the final, gut-wrenching scene (warning: it contains heavy spoilers):

Now, a short preview of what is to come. You may have noticed that lately, I don't write a new story during the week. It's the middle of the summer and I don't feel like being cooped up to do research and write a few thousand words, like most of you who don't feel like reading long stories right now, you and I would rather be swimming or something. However: I have recently come across a very interesting list of songs, which I think you'll enjoy listening. I'm thinking of just presenting the songs with as few words as possible, just the necessary info. This way I can post regularly, perhaps even every day. So, be sure to check out this blog again tomorrow, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The weekend is here, which means it's time for our countdown and our statistics: We have reached the Top 200! The first 3 songs we'll be listening to today demonstrate the evolution of an act: at #198 there's Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, at #199 is Smokey Robinson as a solo act and at #200 are The Miracles without Smokey. The song in question is one of the first gay-themed mainstream songs - it's called Ain't Nobody Straight In LA.

Let's see what George Haffenden says about it:

In 1972 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles embarked on their ‘farewell tour’. Smokey would later leave the group, retire from performing and concentrate on his duties as Motown’s vice-president, as well as spending more time with his young family. The Miracles, however, would go on.

Joining the remaining members Ronnie White, Pete Moore, and Bobby Rogers was the young singer Billy Griffin who took over Smokey Robinson's role as lead singer of the group. A year later Griffin and The Miracles recorded and released the group's first post-Smokey album Renaissance.

The Renaissance album was a pretty good album (and has, fortunately, been re-issued), but The Miracles really hit the big time after Smokey left in 1975 with the brilliant concept album City of Angels. The album tells the story of a man who's searching for his ex-girlfriend in the city of Los Angeles, who has moved to the city in an attempt to become a star. The album is perhaps most famous for featuring the disco smash Love Machine, but the whole album is pretty good and well worth listening to.

One of the standout songs is this rare cut: Ain't Nobody Straight In L.A. Motown famously resisted controversial recordings in the 1960s until Norman Whitfield used The Temptations to tackle the hard social issues of the day with his brand of 'psychedelic soul', and Marvin Gaye's epic 1971 album What's Going On. This song, however, is one of Motown's most interesting social commentary songs given the era: homosexuality was still very much a controversial issue in 1975 (although, to be fair, for some in America it remains a very controversial issue), and this pro-gay song must have surely had some listeners scratching their heads.

On a first listen though it's a bit difficult to understand whether the song is actually supportive of the gay community, or in fact homophobic:

"Ain't nobody straight in L.A
It seems that everybody is gay
Homosexuality is a part of society
I guess that they need some more variety
Freedom of expression is really the thing"

The clue comes towards the end of the song when the Miracles discuss which nightspot they should visit:

"Hey, man, ain't nothing but gay bars in Los Angeles."
"Yeah, Bill, that might be true though, but, uh... You know some of the finest women are in the gay bar."
"Hey, but dig, Bob, how do you know they women?"
"Well... uh... Hey, man, look, well, look, gay people are nice people too, man."
"Yeah, let's go, man. Let's go, man."

The song ends with the group agreeing and jumping in a car off out in L.A. Now, viewing the song from today's (relative) acceptance of homosexuality and gay culture it's easy to dismiss this song as potentially homophobic, but this came out in 1975. The song is actually pretty pioneering when you think about it, capturing the emergence of the gay culture in tandem with the rise of the disco scene. The Miracles were ahead of their time in that regard, and ought to be applauded. This is it:

At #199 we find Just to See Her by Smokey Robinson. The song, written by Jimmy George and Lou Pardini, was recorded by Smokey Robinson for his studio album One Heartbeat(1987). It was one of his biggest solo hits in the US, peaking at #8 on the Hot 100, at #2 on the R&B chart, and at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It also earned Smokey Robinson his first Grammy Award, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. Here it is:

This is in 1993, live on a TV Special - and it was the first time Smokey had a duet with The Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin:

At #198 is Mickey's Monkey by The Miracles, with Smokey. It was written and produced in 1963 by Motown's main songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland.

Described by Smokey Robinson as "One of our biggest records ever in life", Mickey's Monkey was a Billboard Top 10 Pop hit, reaching #8 on that chart, and a Top 10 R&B hit as well, reaching #3. One of the group's most powerful singles, it was also the Miracles' third million-selling record in as many years, after Shop Around (1961) and You've Really Got A Hold On Me (1962).

A comical story about "A cat named Mickey from out of town" who "spread his new dance all around", the song helped popularize "The Monkey" as a national dance craze in the early 1960s. Smokey exclaimed that this song began when he spotted Lamont Dozier playing the song's initial chords on the piano at the Motown studios one day. (It has been described by many rock historians as having a beat influenced by the music of Bo Diddley). While playing, Dozier was singing the song's famous chorus: "Lum de lum de lai-ai". Intrigued, Smokey then requested that Lamont record it for The Miracles, at the time Motown's top group, to which Lamont agreed. Recorded in the Motown studios with an intended "live party" feel, the song has Smokey start with the now-famous line: "Alright . . . Is everybody ready?" followed by affirmative background shouts and applause. In addition to The Miracles' contribution, Mickey's Monkey also featured background vocals by Mary Wilson of The Supremes, famed Detroit Dee Jay "Jockey Jack" Gibson, Martha & The Vandellas, and members of The Temptations and The Marvelettes. One of the most famous of the early Motown hits, Mickey's Monkey was often used by The Miracles as their closing song on the legendary "Motortown Revue" touring shows in the early 1960s, where it usually "brought the house down".

This is a live version from the Ready, Steady, GoTV show in 1965, with the complete Motown roster in backup vocals and various other duties. See how many you can spot:

At #197 we find The Jackson 5 with Doctor My Eyes. The song was released as a single in 1972 in Europe only, where it made the top 10 in various countries (#9, UK). This is it:

The original version is by a very well-known singer-songwriter whom I especially like, Jackson Browne. It was included on his debut album Jackson Browne. Featuring a combination of an upbeat piano riff coupled with lyrics about feeling world-weary, the song was a surprise hit, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in spring 1972. Jesse Ed Davis played the electric guitar while David Crosby and Graham Nash sang backing vocals, and Russ Kunkel played drums. Here it is:

Finally for today, at #196, is a man that we know very well as a composer, but less so as a performer. Eddie Holland was one-third of the dynamite songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland but he also recorded some material as a solo act: Such as the song at #196, called Leaving Here. Written at the beginning of the Holland-Dozier-Holland partnership, it was originally released as a single in December 1963 and peaked at #76 on the Hot 100 and at #27 on the R&B chart. Here it is:

The Who were huge R&B fans. Here they are, performing Leaving Here, in 1965:

It seems that this song was a favorite of many great rock bands. The song was Motörhead's debut single, in 1977:

Pearl Jam recorded the song for the 1996 Home Alive compilation album which was released to fund women's self-defense classes. The song was later included on the band's 2003 Lost Dogs double album of B-sides and rarities. Pearl Jam has also covered the song numerous times at their live shows. This video is from the Landgraaf, Netherlands, Pinkpop Festival in 2000:

Now, let's continue with last week's statistics; the weekly number of visits dropped, which, considering my decreased input and your increased holidays, makes sense. Last week's Motown story did very well, however...

As far as countries are concerned, the United States and Greece had minor gains, while France had minor losses. The other major players kept their percentages more or less stable. Australia and Spain, if they continue visiting as they do, will soon re-enter the all-time top 10.

Here are this week's Top 10 countries:

1. the United States

2. Greece

3. the United Kingdom

4. Russia

5. France

6. Germany

7. Australia

8. Spain

9. Cyprus

10. Canada

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Algeria, Argentina, Austria, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Saint Lucia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 30.2%

2. France = 21.0%

3. the United Kingdom = 12.5%

4. Greece = 7.1%

5. Russia = 2.6%

6. Germany = 1.8%

7. Canada = 1.7%

8. Italy = 1.2%

9. Turkey = 0.87%

10. Cyprus = 0.80%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!