Soul Labels Copying Motown

[Guest pendulum]

I am sick of collecters telling me that most of the soul records made in the sixties were influenced by the motown label.Of course everybody wanted hit records.Los angelos chicago etc all had there own sounds that were obviously not aimed for the mass market more for the rb charts.what are your veiws on this????

[Guest]

Popular music is always influenced by what's hitting at any given time because like you say "everyone wants a hit record", that's why it's possible to 'date' records by their 'sound', early, mid, late 60s etc.

In the mid 60s Motown were hitting big time and I'm sure some artists/producers tailored their sound accordingly in the hope that they could grab a piece of the action, crossover from the R&B chart and sell a million, a big enough influence in itself .

[Billy Freemantle]

I'm with on this one, Pendulum. So many of the really great Northern Soul records have virtually nothing in common with the Motown sound. The problem is that lots of the indenkit Northern are simply sub- Motown.

[Guest Matt Male]

Although it's impossible to deny Motown's influence and brilliance, i've always preferred the sound out of Chicago myself (although i know labels like Chess were trying to cash in on motown's commercial success). Especially stuff produced/written by Curtis Mayfield; The Five Stairsteps, Fascinations, Impressions etc...

[Dave Moore]

I'm with on this one, Pendulum. So many of the really great Northern Soul records have virtually nothing in common with the Motown sound. The problem is that lots of the indenkit Northern are simply sub- Motown.

Hi Billy,

Surely the question is about the influence of Motown? Not so much the similarity in sound.

Just looking at the people who transited through the company from it's early beginnings through to it's halycon days is proof enough of the influence. Many went on to become legendary figures in black music. Granted there are a lot of great records without a Motown connection, but I would venture that no other company/group of labels can match Motown's contribution to "Northern Soul. Which other label has had full alighters of it's music played?

Surely there's no dispute that Motown was the most "influential" of the sixties soul labels that became revered on the Rare/Northern Scene?

Regards,

Dave

www.theresthatbeat.com

www.hitsvillesoulclub.com

[Billy Freemantle]

Hi Billy,

Surely the question is about the influence of Motown? Not so much the similarity in sound.

Dave

No, the question was this, Dave: "Los angelos chicago etc all had there own sounds that were obviously not aimed for the mass market more for the rb charts.what are your veiws on this????"