Who is your favorite Motown Artist/Group? (Poll)

I love both but Smokey had the best deep cuts out of every Motown artist.

 

I really love them all, but the Four Tops are barely on top...

 

Stevie Wonder > Marvin Gaye > The rest

 

My vote goes to Marvin Gaye, the coolest of cats. He used to shop in my record store in L.A. at the peak of his career rebirth, just as Sexual Healing was becoming popular. I have 1 copy he autographed for me before winning the Grammy, and 1 copy he signed after winning, with the "Grammy Winner" sticker on the shrink wrap. He loved that! He always rolled up in a nice car or limo, and was always immaculately dressed, and loved talking music.

#2 - Four Tops - Levi was one of the greatest & most powerful singers I've ever heard live, and I've heard a lot of singers!

 

The Temptations have been my favorites for many years but I've been appreciating Smokey & The Miracles more and more lately. They got my vote.

 

Another vote for Stevie Wonder. What's Going On might be marginally better than Talking Book or Innervisions. But it might not. And Wonder's catalog just has more depth than anyone on this list and most everyone not on it.

 

This is almost an impossible question JQ! I permanently have 3 top favourites, Stevie, Marvin and The Temps.

I couldn't live without Motown, yesterday I was bingeing on Marvin Gaye's output. I had to vote for the Temptations though, probably THE definitive soul group! Plus a list of classics too long to mention! But then they've also got to contend with Stevie's fantastic run of classic singles, and probably the all time greatest run of R&B albums ever with Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs In The Key Of Life!

Marvin Gaye is probably the greatest overall representation of Motown there is, with probably the finest run of 60's singles of all of them! Then you've got What's Goin' On, Let's Get It On, I Want You, Here My Dear etc.

Okay! It's a 3 way tie damn it!

Part of me also really wanted to give Smokey a vote.

 

I was very close to voting for Smokey but he doesn't have that definitive Soul masterpiece that Marvin and Stevie have under their belts. A Quiet Storm is close but doesn't cut it.
He has a ton of deep cuts that I've grown to love and appreciate more than that the hits, which is rare when it comes to Motown artists. (It Will Be Alright,Can You Love a Poor Boy,Just Losing You,etc.)
The same can be said for the Four Tops. I'm in love with Levi's overly expressive vocals and HDH's phenomenal production but their body of work is too spotty to compete with the Temptations.
However, my favorites four tops songs trump my fav Temps songs. I'd much rather listen to Ask the Lonely,Happy is a Bumpy Road,Still Water,Left With a Broken Heart and many more over anything the Tempts did.

 

The Fabulous Miracles...

 

The backing vocals

 

Acapella

"Just ask the lonely, they'll tell you the loneliest one is me."

 

I agree with a lot of what you're saying but despite being less consistent than the big three I don't think you can rule out Smokey. He's just so important to Motown!
I don't think it matters if Smokey didn't have a "perfect" masterpiece like Marvin and Stevie, he was much bigger on singles anyway.

He had his fair share of perfect singles with The Miracles..

Shop Around
You've Really Got A Hold Of Me
Ooo Baby Baby
The Tracks Of My Tears
Going To A Go-Go
More Love
I Second That Emotion
The Tears Of A Clown

and then of course the amazing singles that became hits for other artists: My Girl, My Guy, Get Ready, I'll Be Doggone, Who's Lovin' You etc. Plus his work as a producer at the start of The Tempt's classic run. Without him David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks wouldn't have had there most iconic songs in the group! (Ain't Too Proud To Beg and Just My Imagination aside) Ruffin might not even have become the lead singer if he didn't have that 1st hit!

I also think this was probably Motown's greatest album release of the 1960's!

 

Stevie. I love Motown, but it wasn't difficult. My favourite artist ever. Next would be: Marvin, the Tempts and possibly the Supremes, followed by Smokey. That's favourites; I think Smokey is a brilliant artist, but I just like the artists I named more than him, on balance.

 

Probably Marvin Gaye atm.

I must be the only one who's never been able to get into the Temptations

 

I agree. He was mostly a singles type of artist/songwriter and there's nothing wrong with that. Motown capitalized on that . He was a hit machine working in a hit factory.
Smokey has one of the most impressive bodies of work I've ever came across. It's a shame that his hit singles are the focal point and overshadow the rest of his work. (That's usually how it goes for most artists)
So many hidden gems that are overlooked and underappreciated. My top ten Smokey/Miracles songs mostly consists of album cuts. There's only two singles included.

Can You Love a Poor Boy
It Will Be Alright
Just Losing You
Much Better Off
Ooo Baby Baby
Flying High Together
Holly
Just Passing Through
Here I Go Again
A Fork in the Road



That album is packed with hits but is it truly the best Motown release of the 60's?
Don't forget these..

Have you watched?

 

For me, it's The Temptations.

 

I voted Mary Wells. I got into her thru her Vintage Stock vinyl LP. I think that shows off her greatness better than GH's or any CD comps. Having said that, I still feel like Brenda Holloway was the greatest Motown female artist but didn't get the opportunities her talents deserved.

 

The Supremes for me. I'd like to point out that the Supremes continued to exist -- and put out some excellent music -- after Diana Ross exited the group, so my vote is really for the Supremes throughout their entire existence.

 

Rare Earth

 

Does Toe Fat on Rare Earth in the US count?

 

The Tempts...by gigantic landslide.

Ed

 

Four Tops all the way.

 

@0:27-0:42

 

I gave my vote to the Four Tops but I really love most of all of them, specially Marvin Gaye and The Supremes.

 

I'm with yout. I think on this forum in particular, there's a real over-emphasis on the "album" as the marker that defines an artist.

Maybe it's because much of the recorded music I listen to -- most classical music; swing and bebop era jazz; gospel music of the golden age; the music of the rural recording boom, etc -- was recorded before the album era; or because as a musician and music fan I think of music first and foremost as a performing art (an album for the most part is not like a novel, a crowning work the culmination of years of effort that are the ultimate fruits of a creative endeavor, but more like a snapshot of a moment in time of a performing artist who is continually moving); and maybe because, with classic R&B of the '50s and '60s in particular, the albums never really mattered in their day -- R&B didn't really become an album medium until the early '70s, but so much of the best music in the genre, but I don't really think much about albums when it comes to soul music of the '60s. I mean aside maybe from the live albums, I don't think James Brown ever made a great album, but he's the godfather and his records are the best, and there are a million of 'em. Sam Cooke's best and most important records weren't albums. Sam & Dave never made a great album. The Dominos, Jackie Wilson, Clyde McPhatter, heck most of the artists listed above, aren't understood by their albums. For most of the era when they were making their best recordings in the genre, albums came after the fact, were cobbled together, were often packed with filler or were entirely filler to have product on the market (you know like Temptations in a Mellow Mood). Marvin and Stevie are not only great artists but important historical figures for being the guys, as much as anyone, who turned R&B towards the album. But great as Innervisions and Talking Book and What's Going On and Let's Get It On are, they're not better records to me than "Tracks of My Tears" (the song, the arrangement, Marv Tarplin's guitar), or "I Second That Emotion," or "The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage," they're just longer.

Like this is probably my most-played Motown album. Wore this out as a kid. Nearly everything I ever learned about songwriting I learned from it: