Motown Treasures

Well then John .... I ended up having to go through the video twice as I got a different total to you!!

I counted thirteen Motown recordings, plus two non-Motown recordings of Motown songs and "We Are The World" (which had some Motown artists in the chorus line).

My count of 13 comprises of 5 Lionel Richie solo efforts, plus his collaboration with Diana Ross, plus 2 Diana Ross solo efforts and two Stevie Wonder solo efforts plus one each from DeBarge, Rockwell and Rick James.  Of the two Non-Motown covers of Motown songs one I was very familiar with, the other was new to me!!

As a general rule I prefer mainstream '80s Pop/Rock music to the '70s equivalent but it could be very formulaic and this shows on this list ... I was surprised to see how well Sade was represented and both Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston seem to be as popular as ever.  I wouldn't have guessed the number 1 but it didn't really come as a big surprise and I never realised that Metallica were quite that big.

The poster has added a new disclaimer stating that he has excluded a lot of recordings on the basis that they "were not well known in the US (because being honest 82% of this channel's audience is from North America and they probably don't want to sit through 50-100 songs they have never heard)" ... doesn't this negate the whole purpose of this exercise?

Anyway ... I'm looking forward to hearing y'all identifying both of the two non-Motown covers of Motown songs.    

Roger

Now then John, you surely can't expect me to give out the answers that easily,  after all I had to run through the video twice ... however here are some clues so maybe you might not need to do the same  ... 

The Motown cover that I was already familiar with is a tepid remake of the great Motown record that came in at #51 in the posters '60s list.  I thought it sounded like dross the first time I heard it, I soon had my "fill" of it and I won't be hurrying to hear it again ... funnily the Motown original is generally believed to be dross as well!!!

The Motown cover that I'd not been aware of before is a remake by an American rock band of a wonderful '70s Motown hit that was huge in The USA (#1 Cash Box and Billboard R&B, #4 Billboard Hot-100) but only made it to #29 in The UK, personally I think it should have gained ground and gone higher.  It appears on the poster's video in the lower reaches of the list sandwiched between entries by Air Supply and Dionne Warwick & Friends.  I've never taken much notice of the band, even though they have had a number of UK hits over the years (including an OK version of one of my favourite Ohio Players tunes), possibly because their name reminds me of something best avoided when eating Mexican food!!

 

Roger