Motown Records: The Greatest Soul Music Record Label — Pay at the Door

Instructor: Richie Unterberger
Wednesdays, Sept. 16, 23, 30, Oct. 7, 14, 21
3:00 – 5:00 PM, Berger Center
6-week session. Cost: $95

Course Description:
More than any other record company, Motown represented a sound and a style, helping to define soul music with hundreds of hits in the 1960s and 1970s. Using both common and rare recordings and video clips, this course lays out the label’s history from its beginnings in Detroit in the late 1950s to its growth to the most successful independent record label of all time. Many legends of soul music will be seen, heard, and discussed all the way, including the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Mary Wells, Martha & the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson Five.

Course Details:

Week One: The Roots of Motown
Berry Gordy, Jr. founds Motown Records in Detroit in the late 1950s. It starts to develop an identifiable early music sound fusing rock’n’roll, gospel, pop, and rhythm and blues, and gets its first big national hits with the Miracles and the Marvelettes.

 Week Two: Motown in the Early 1960s
Motown starts to accumulate hit records by several artists, including more by the Miracles, the Marvelettes, and Mary Wells. Motown also develops a base of talented session musicians and producers/songwriters, including the trio of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, who will be their most successful songwriting/production team. By 1963, Motown is becoming a major force in the record business, with continued hits by their early stars being joined by smashes from others, like Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips” and Martha & the Vandellas’ “Heat Wave.”

 Week Three: Motown Becomes the Sound of Young America
In 1964, Motown jumps into another league when the Temptations and the Supremes have their first big hits after years of failures. Throughout 1964, Motown keeps growing with huge hits like Martha & the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street,” developing more hits with Marvin Gaye, and adding new star acts like the Four Tops. But Motown suffers its first major loss when Mary Wells leaves the label.

Week Four: Motown in the Mid-‘60s
Big hits keep coming for numerous Motown acts in the mid-1960s, like the Temptations’ “My Girl,” the Supremes’ “Stop! In the Name of Love,” the Four Tops’ “Reach Out,” and the Miracles’ “Goin’ to a Go-Go.” Many are written/produced by Holland/Dozier/Holland and Smokey Robinson. After three years without a big hit, Stevie Wonder gets his career back on track with 1966’s “Uptight.”

 Week Five: Motown in the Late 1960s
Motown’s as successful as ever in the late ’60s, with continued huge hits by its stars, like Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour,” and the Temptations’ “I Wish It Would Rain.” However, in 1967 Holland/Dozier/Holland sue Motown, and don’t work for the label again. Diana Ross leaves the Supremes at the end of the 1960s, although Gladys Knight & the Pips and the Jackson Five have their first big Motown hits, and some of Motown’s hits start to reflect the influence of psychedelic music.

 Week Six: Motown in the 1970s
With a somewhat more updated sound drawing from trends in psychedelic and funk music, Motown continues to roll on with big hits by the Temptations, the Jackson Five, and Diana Ross. Edwin Starr has a huge Motown signature hit with “War.” But Motown closes its Detroit offices after fully relocating to Los Angeles, while Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder successfully demand more artistic independence than any Motown artist previously received, and are the first to make serious album-length statements.

Instructor Biography:
Richie Unterberger is the author of numerous rock history books, including volumes on the Beatles, the Who, the Velvet Underground, and Bob Marley. He’s taught courses on rock and soul music history for Oakmont Lifelong Learning for five years, as well as at several Bay Area colleges. He’s also the author of the 2022 book San Francisco: Portrait of a City.