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The 2002 documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" put a long-overdue
spotlight on the Motown house band, known as the Funk Brothers, and the role
those mostly unknown musicians played in the many manifestations of the Motown
Sound. Fakir points out, though, that there were other aspects of the company
that remain underappreciated.
He singles out the sales department as a group who were also fighting for the
label's cause, but getting no glory. "Every department -- from the guy who put
up the flag in the morning until the last record was sold to some mom-and-pop
store somewhere -- they were all highly professional, and all essential to get
the product into peoples' hands."
Wilson agrees that as the world celebrates this landmark anniversary, it's
important to remember all of the elements that made up this remarkable company.
"It's Motown's anniversary, but who is Motown?" she says. "Sometimes it seems
like it's Berry, and then just some vague figures. But to me, Motown is all of
the artists and singers and producers. Motown is all of us."
Motown is indeed all of us. Its songs continue to shape the very ways that we
hear and think. "Dancing in the Streets" and "Stop! In the Name of Love" opened
the door for music by black artists on a black-owned label; a few years later,
masterpieces such as Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and Stevie Wonder's
"Talking Book," both landmark albums in bringing socially conscious themes to
pop, demonstrated the power, the range and the possibilities not just for black
music, but for all music.
As Motown's 50th birthday continues -- with an ongoing series of reissues and
DVD releases; an exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; and a forthcoming
documentary produced by Berry Gordy -- the debt that music and the music
business owe to this groundbreaking company cannot be overstated. "Artists today
are much smarter than we were," says Wilson, "but they had all of us to learn
from."
"People had to deal with all kinds of degradation in order for artists to now
be able to do all the wonderful things they do today," says Williams. "The
artists now who own their labels or own their masters or become executives, they
are standing on the shoulders of places like Motown."
Alan Light is the former editor-in-chief of Spin, Vibe and Tracks
magazines and a former senior writer at Rolling Stone. His writing has also
appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ and Entertainment Weekly. He
is the author of "The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys"
(Three Rivers Press, 2006) and is a two-time winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor
Award for excellence in music writing. |
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