Library Rock's Backpages

The Temptations: The Band That Took Motown Higher

Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 31 October 2008

FORTY YEARS ago this month, the Temptations released a single that would change the face of Motown. Martin Luther King Jr had been gunned down in Memphis, the Vietnam war was at its height, the Black Panthers were on the rise, and now here were the clean-cut quintet famed for their tender ballads, declaring: "The childhood part of my life wasn't very pretty/I was born and raised in the slums of the city," over tumultuous, wah-wahing funk. Soul had found a new destination: 'Cloud Nine'.

Total word count of piece: 585

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.