Robb , I don't for one second doubt your immense knowledge and experience but I have always had a problem accepting the often repeated part of the story that Berry Gordy recalled all existing copies of records like Frank Wilson and Andantes and then ordered them to be destroyed.
I'm not trying to be facetious here but ... are we seriously suggesting that Berry ordered a junior intern to go to the trouble of going outside with a sledgehammer and literally pounding them all into a thousand pieces ?
Surely it would have been easier to just throw them in the trash, or just tell the distributor to do so?
If by chance, by some huge miracle , a copy found its way into the hands of a popular local Detroit DJ who then played it on the radio and then started getting calls from listeners on it , Berry Gordy could still just as easily kill the record in an instant anyway by simply not pressing it up for commercial release.
But, as I say, I bow to your great knowledge and experience and would be happy to be corrected by you.