Today In Musique History - The Supremes Love Goes Number 1

Today August 22nd in Musique History the year was 1964, and Motown's R&B, doo-wop, soul legends The Supremes have their first hit single with "Where Did Our Love Go" off the album of the same name. "Love" hit the hot spot for over two weeks and would be the launching point of their five Supremes songs in a row to reach number one, "Baby Love", "Come See About Me", "Stop! In the Name of Love", and "Back in My Arms Again". Initially The Supremes were reluctant to record the song because they felt it was not up to their current reprotoir.

Although the group felt the song didn't have the hook to make it successful, they decided that they really didn't have a choice and prepared to record the song.

Initially, the producers argued over who should sing the song, as the song had been cut in the same key as Mary Wilson's but since Berry Gordy had assigned the main lead singer role to Diana Ross, the producers eventually gave the song to Ross, who sung it in her original register after the group entered the recording studio to record the song on April 8. Ross was told to sing it at a lower register. As a result, a stubborn Ross sung it in a lower key, fessing afterwards to Holland, "is that what you want?" with Holland nodding. The other Supremes, who had sung with more energy on previous recordings, were only told to continually say "baby" repetitively while also only singing the title. This was done after Lamont Dozier was forced to redo the arrangement of the background vocals.

Upon hearing the song's playback, an excited Ross rushed to Gordy's office and told him to come to the studio to listen to the song. Upon hearing playback, a satisfied Gordy nodded saying to the producers and the group that the song had potential to be a top ten hit. -wikipedia

"Where Did Our Love Go" today is a classic and like all classics it is timeless even in todays over produced stuffy and autotuned musique world, The Supremes still reign.