Berry Gordy: The Good, The Bad, & the Ugly

So they should be grateful that it was Berry Gordy robbing them? It's a moot point that the artists were robbed? Who are the lot of people that he helped to make $$ besides Diana Ross sleep with the boss and Smokey brother-in-law Robinson?

 

I think you've got to separate the 2. Motown was great, musically, and anybody who helped make that happen is a hero. On the other hand, the businessmen involved appear to have been scoundrels.

I run into this kind of dilemma a lot in the indie community, because sometimes you get to know artists cause you hang out with them at some site online. You may like their music but you know them personally and they are creeps. It's not that easy to put aside issues and relate to their music at face value. Reminds of this: OJ Simpson, one of the greatest running backs of all time, was a joy to watch. You don't see OJ highlight reels for years now though on NFL Films, cause the beauty of his runs has for some been tainted by the likelihood that he's a murderer.

 

One word, Rockwell.

 

As pioneering as Gordy was, he was a conservative stick-in-the mud when it came to pushing the Motown sound beyond "the formula". If Stevie Wonder hadn't forced his way into a better contract in '71, there would never have been a Talking Book, Innervisions, Songs in the Key of Life, etc. And Gordy also tried to talk Marvin Gaye out of recording What's Going On.

Fortunately, the artists had the final say.

 

Only in those few instances. Beyond them (Diana and Smokey too), the artists definitely did not have the final say. Other artists did exactly as they were told. When they didn't, they were shelved. David Ruffin got tired of playing that game and eventually found that out the hard way. Eddie Kendricks too. Neither did anything away from Motown.

The only reason Stevie and Marvin it away with doing as they wished was because of the amount of money they were making the company. Money talks. They were selling records hand over fist. If they hadn't been, they'd have both been forced to tow the line like everybody else and that would have been shameful. Course, I do wonder what certain Motown acts would have sounded like if they hadn't been cogs in the machine for the whole of their careers.

Ed

 

Rockwell, at the peak of his limited success, stated that he didn't want to be recognized as Berry Gordy's son and that he wanted to do it on his own. You can see how well that faulty reasoning worked out for him.

Ed

 

Smokey Robinson was a songwriter to begin with. Stevie Wonder and to a smaller MJ mentored from Motown people. Don't forget that "Little Stevie" was a kid when he started out, he had the best music education life could give, he had the best of the best at Motown to learn from.
Motown didn't just provide artists with a record label. It was a major music college.
Don't forget that many of the acts at that time were schooled in stage mannerisms and dress, as an attempt to avoid any chance of them appearing slutty or street. Motown taught them how to be the perfect examples of music ladies and gentlemen and groomed them for the entire entertainment industry, rather than them just being singers and dancers.
Motown was a lot more than a job, it was college. A college with a high level of job placement.
Don't overlook all of the people Motown took chances on that didn't make it. It isn't as if Mr Gordy was out there scraping up all of the talent that was already developed and just skimming the cream off the top of them.
The guy was developing artists, some of whom very possibly would never have had a chance because of their lack of knowledge and borderline skill level, into stars.

 

Sadly, the music business is a BUSINESS...for better or worse. When everyone form the old days is dead and gone, that crap won't matter. Yes, the group in my avatar didn't get a fair deal either, but they still had success. They did piss off the powers at Motown because they did things their own way...closed sessions and all. Motown didn't like that, according to Peter Rivera. Peter also told me that Marvin Gaye got wind of this and did the same thing, even posting a guard at the studio door. When all is said and done...the music will still last. And for me, Motown is the greatness that came from Hitsville between 1959 and 1972. After that, it wasn't nearly as good. But the music will never perish.

 

You're right on the money- the music that was made at Motown still stands today, and the business end was rather creepy.

 

I toured it in Spring of 2012. Highly recommend. It's about an hour long tour. The hosts/tour guides are all very energetic and informative.


The gift shop sucks. No vinyl or CDs, just a few box sets that are overpriced. Best gift shop is at Rock & Roll Museum.

 

Something that needs to be considered is that when a man builds something, he then does all he can to make sure it stays standing.
Anyone who owned a record label back then had his back against the wall. They had to have huge reserves of money in order to cover for the lean times. That puts a label owner in the position of screwing the artists some in order to feather his own nest in order to guarantee their futures as well as his, or not building up a stockpile and pass the winnings on to the artists and let them deal with it on their own, then risk the first time the label backs some acts that don't take off folding.
Labels often spend far more money going through numerous acts until one hits than they do on any single artist.
That money has got to come from somewhere.
And to secure the future of already signed artists the owners must keep backing new and upcoming artists in order to stay relevant.

So it could very well be that the guy was just trying to protect everybodys interest, not just his own.

 

Wasn't Smokey Robinson Motown's #2 man? As for Motown artists being ripped off/artistically handcuffed, some of the blame has to fall on his head, too.

 

I once had Berry reading his autobiography on audiobook. It was a fantastic listen.

 

Marvin was so thrilled by “What’s Going On” that he tracked down Berry Gordy while the boss was on vacation. “I was in the Bahamas trying to relax,” Gordy recalled in a Motown documentary. “He called and said, ‘Look, I’ve got these songs.’ When he told me they were protest songs, I said, ‘Marvin, why do you want to ruin your career?’”

 

Hi guys..... Can anyone recommend a good biog on Motown? Preferably with more of a focus on the 50s-early 70s?

 

try to find Raynoma Gordy's book. She was Berry Gordy's 2nd wife and the woman who helped him start
Motown. It is one of the better books of the beginning of Motown.

 

He chased it, but he never got it. Foolish man. If you go chasing it, you don't deserve it.

The moving of Motown from Detroit to Los Angeles is the proverbial jumping of the shark. Sure, there were some good albums from its artists, but Motown never again approached the consistency of greatness from 1959-1971. The Motown spirit *was* in Detroit.

 

He chased what but never got it?

 

It was the songwriters who were ripped off the worst. I'm glad some of them were able to get publishing deals separate from Jobete, and do very well before their tap ran dry. Gordy's (business) influence on MJ is the reason MJ forgot about friendship and swiftly upped his bid for the ATV catalog (right out from under you know who).

Berry Gordy was one of the worst of the early record company owners so far as rewards are concerned. But many others ran things in a similar way when they could.

 

If it weren't to his more selfish business antics and the sugar coating of his proteges, he'd be a very admirable man. However, it's tough to ignore the amount of bias and cheating he conducted in his very powerful position.

 

What he did to Martha Reeves is just deplorable, not to mention the Supremes.