After listening to Baby Let Me Take You on my ipod,
I realized that we missed the “Detroit Emeralds” for this list.
This is still a jam. People have sampled this song for years.
Geerussell. I think this pool is maybe halfway filled. More to come...
After listening to Baby Let Me Take You on my ipod,
I realized that we missed the “Detroit Emeralds” for this list.
This is still a jam. People have sampled this song for years.
Geerussell. I think this pool is maybe halfway filled. More to come...
Anyone else starting to think that the pool isn't big enough for a top 25 to spark any interesting debate about who gets left off the list?
Another angle is old school vs new school.
For old school I'd rank Stevie Wonder as #1 weighing the born-and-raised factor strongly and his overall standing/impact.
New school I think would be a good cage match between May/Saunderson/Atkins, the White Stripes and Eminem. Even though Eminem is a megastar and the White Stripes gave a tepid detroit rock scene a serious shot of adrenalin and national exposure... I'd give the edge to the belleville three for really making detroit the cradle of house/techno in much the same way that new york is broadly viewed as the birthplace of rap/hip hop.
Overall I like to give a lot of weight to what the artist/act did to put the detroit music scene on the map in their time. A lot of the nominees so far made it big but none of that star power ever really shined locally except as a biographical footnote.
Last edited by geerussell; 06-21-2006 at 11:51 AM.
Uncle Kracker
You're also missing a lot of motown guys. I don't know much about them, but Smokey Robinson is one of them.
Phil Wenneck: The man purse. You actually gonna wear that or are you just fuckin' with me?
Alan Garner: It's where I keep all my things. Get a lot of compliments on this. Plus it's not a purse, it's called a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one.
Updated verified list:
Kid Rock
Eminem
Aretha Franklin
Madonna
Anita Baker
Stevie Wonder
Iggy Pop
MC5
The White Stripes
Alice Cooper
George Clinton
Taproot
The Verve Pipe
Bob Seger
Diana Ross/Supremes
Xzibit
John Lee Hooker
Ted Nugent
Slum Village
Jay Dee
MC Breed
Royce Da 5'9"
The Belleville Three
Bill Haley
? and the Mysterians
The Funk Brothers
George Benson (the sax player, not the singer)
Jackie Wilson
The Spinners
Be Be & Ce Ce Winans
Ray Parker Jr.
The Temptations
Sonny Bono
The Four Tops
The Reflections
Smokey Robinson
The Vandellas
Wilson Pickett
Glenn Frey
Insane Clown Posse
Betty Carter
Uncle Kracker
Detroit Emeralds
I threw him in earlier.Originally Posted by WTFchris
Can anyone expand on the Jackson 5's Detroit connection other than being signed to the MoTown label and doing some recording there?
I've always thought about them as a Gary, Indiana act that later moved to California. They may have had a Detroit base for some time, but I'm hoping that someone here knows more specifics and can enlighten us on the history before we add them to the list.
Also, I don't see Grand Funk Railroad yet, so I'll add them on the next update.
Find a new slant.
They lived in Detroit for a few months between Indiana and California. Berry Gordy moved them to California shortly after he moved himself to California, owing to the riots.Originally Posted by Glenn
The Jackson 5's first couple big singles were recorded at Hitsville, along with sporadic material going through Hitsville. Hitsville was often batting cleanup since they couldn't get the sound quite right at Motown-West, with tapes often flying back and forth. The last big act to have any recorded material go through Hitsville was the Commodores, and they were never part of the Detroit scene.
Last edited by Uncle Mxy; 06-21-2006 at 02:45 PM.
I think the pool is pretty huge. I could come up with 25 great acts of just the Motown era and they'd be reasonably well-known names with songs everyone would know to sing to and identify with Motown. Indeed, probably the only reason you wouldn't know which name to associate with which song is because there's so many of 'em:
1) Stevie Wonder
2) Aretha Franklin (who never was part of Motown Records proper)
3) Marvin Gaye
4) Smokey Robinson + Miracles
5) The Temptations
6) Four Tops
7) Diana Ross + Supremes
8) Edwin Starr
9) Gladys Knight + Pips
10) Mary Wells
11) Martha Reeves + Vandellas
12) The Marvelettes
13) Isley Brothers
14) Tammi Terrell
15) The Contours
16) Junior Walker + All Stars
17) The Spinners
18) Barrett Strong
19) Kim Weston
20) Wilson Pickett
21) The Capitols
22) The Originals
23) Jackie Wilson
24) Brenda Holloway
But -- can I hit #25? Perhaps I should reserve #25 for:
The secret weapons behind the scenes:
Holland-Dozier-Holland
Ashford+Simpson
The Funk Brothers
The Andantes
Norman Whitfield
Or, the Motown acts that were bigger in the U.K. than the U.S., like the Velvelettes and Chris Clark.
Nahhh... I'll let someone tell me which big Motown-era act(s) I missed for #25.
I'm going to rephrase my post about the Jackson 5 from earlier.
Here:
With all do respect, I don't think the Jackson 5 belong,
but if it bumps ICP off the top 25, I'm all for it.
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