What are the essential Motown albums?

Essential albums include Meet The Supremes by The Supremes, Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes, Going to a Go-Go by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Reach Out by The Four Tops, Cloud Nine by The Temptations. The full pack covers 10 albums.

When did Motown emerge?

The Motown era spans 1959-1972. The pack covers 16 key timeline events.

scene / 034

Motown

Q: Who are the key artists in Motown?

Key artists include Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Funk Brothers and Holland-Dozier-Holland.

How Berry Gordy's $800 loan and a converted photography studio on West Grand Boulevard created the Sound of Young America

Detroit, MI / 1959-1972

16 min read · 5 sections · 16 timeline events · 10 albums · 5 stories · connections

Era: 1959-1972
Region: Detroit, Michigan, USA
Key Artists: 8
Albums: 10

Overview

Artists10

Albums10

Timeline16

Stories5

The Scene

Berry Gordy Jr. worked the Lincoln-Mercury line, wrote songs at night, watched his jazz record shop fail. The 3D Record Mart-House of Jazz opened in 1953, stocked exclusively with Charlie Parker and bebop sides. "If you weren't hip to 'Bird,' man," Gordy told an interviewer decades later, you weren't in his circle. The store went under. He went back to the factory.

Key Artists

Berry GordySmokey Robinson & The MiraclesThe SupremesStevie WonderMarvin GayeThe TemptationsThe Funk BrothersHolland-Dozier-Holland

Essential Albums

Meet The Supremes

The Supremes · 1962

Where Did Our Love Go

The Supremes · 1964

Going to a Go-Go

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles · 1965

Reach Out

The Four Tops · 1967

Cloud Nine

The Temptations · 1969

What's Going On

Marvin Gaye · 1971

+4 more albums inside

Full pack includes

5 deep-dive sections10 artist profiles10 essential albums16 timeline events5 stories

Start free trial

7-day free trial, then $5/month. Cancel anytime.