Ultimately, the assembly line made good business sense too.  Before forming Motown, Gordy had already had hits as a songwriter himself, notably with Jackie Wilson's "Reet Petite" (a UK top ten) and "Lonely Teardrops" (a US top ten).  The experience left him with a passion for music and a taste for success, but it also left him dis-satisfied, with the reality of the music business hanging heavy.  Only a small fraction of the money the songs made found its way into Gordy's pockets, with the rest finding its way to the producers and publishers.  He realised quickly that if he wanted to be the success he hoped he would become, and if he wanted to make a living writing songs rather than making cars, he would have to get involved with that end of the business.  There are comments made by Jackie Wilson that also suggested Gordy may have wanted more creative control, too - in reference to "Lonely Teardrops", he said that Gordy had 'had a fit - he wanted to know what had I done to his song?'  The finished product, an upbeat doo-wop styled number, was not quite the blues ballad he had imagined.  Regardless, he set up his own publishing company first, and continued his songwriting with a group he had discovered called The Matadors, later to be renamed The Miracles.  Soon after this, he started his label.

National pride was only half the story, though.  As everybody knows, the early 1960s was a mixing pot of events that created unabashed optimism and social upheaval alternately - above all, it was the time of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and the entire civil rights movement, and Motown's relentless success was seen by many as an extension of that - here, after all, was a succession of black artists, on a predominantly black record label, led by a black businessman, coming from a grass-roots level and having unprecendented success.  The nascent counterculture embraced Motown in a way it did not embrace the rock and pop acts of the day, and the label's outwardly inclusionary, non-confrontatial aesthetic helped to cool racial tensions in the mainstream.  The success of The Supremes tied into the rise of feminism in a similar way.

These social events explain, in no uncertain terms, why so many commentators feel that Martha And The Vandella's "Dancing in the Street", written by Marvin Gaye and William Stevenson, is the label's defining song.  Released at the end of July 1964, it appeared just as the nation's consciousness was colliding head-on with the upheaval that would define the decade - the Civil Rights Act 1964 was passed just three weeks earlier, and the previous week had seen racially-motivated rioting in the streets across America.  Obviously the song was not written with any of that in mind, but how could it have been more perfect?  Seemingly an innocent dance song, the social context of the track meant that the 'brand new beat' was taken as a metaphor for equality of all people.  The implication was so strong that some radio stations banned the song, fearing it would incite violence and civil unrest.  A brilliant pop song with an undercurrent of social change?  Motown in a nutshell.

'64 and '65 just belonged to Motown.  By this point, the label had several imprints just to accomodate the sheer volume of songs they were pumping out, and also to fool radio stations that insisted only one song by a label could be played during a day.  Holland-Dozier-Holland, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Norman Whitfield, and Ashford & Simpson were all in place (among others), and the Funk Brothers were at their peak as a unit, with bassist James Jameson their talismanic driving force.  And what about the artists they had?  In addition to Gaye, The Supremes, and Martha & The Vandellas, they had Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Marvelettes, The Contours, Mary Wells, The Miracles, The Four Tops, Junior Walker and the All Stars, The Spinners, The Majestics, Jimmy Ruffin, and Tammi Terrell; each a name that draws nostalgic smiles from people who were alive at the time, each with at least one song that the majority of people will know from casual listening.

Overexposure was almost the death of Motown at this point.  By 1967, bands like The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and The Doors were having major hits with songs that were directly inspired by the growing use of recreational drugs among the American youth, and resentment of the Vietnam War was reaching fever pitch.  Motown were still having major hits with their old formula - among them the ageless, brilliant likes of "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" by The Four Tops and "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, in 1966 and 1968 respectively - but they were starting to lose their passive audience, with their upbeat pop songs suddenly feeling a little out of step with the times.  It was time to adapt; and adapt they did.

Part 2 of this feature will follow in the near future.

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