Today we went to the Motown Museum, the place where all the Motown greats learned their trade and recorded the hits. We were taken around by Eric who told us all the history, including how it stated with a $800 loan which resulted in $20 million profits 7 years later. Stevie Wonder, Jackie WIlson, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Diana Ross and the Supremes and the Jackson Five. Not only were these young (many 15 -18 years old) people from the local neighbourhood given the chance to use their talents to make records, they were also taught how to survive/be a success in the white world of music, to turn around the many misconceptions that a lot of white people had of black people at the time. It was really interesting to hear about the massive marketing and pr stuff that went on by the family who set up the labels to make sure the music was more likely to be noticed and enjoyed by white people in a time of racial segregation. For example, some referred to it as the Motown Finishing School, and in the beginning, the record sleeves didn't have pictures of the bands on the covers - just other artwork - because the much white audiences wouldn't have bought the music if they had known it was made by black people.
We were shown the echo chamber (a hole in the ceiling) where all the lovely claps and tambourine sounds were made and walked through the apartment and offices as they were left in 1972 (I think), so lots of cool furniture and equipment. We ended up in Studio A, where all the magic happened. I popped my head into the control room to find that they used only a 2 track recording process for years, putting the music on one track and the vocals on another. They later upgraded to a 3-track, but only ever got to an 8-track. Amazing.
On the way to the museum I noticed that the houses each had business signs on the lawns. It turns out that not so long ago, black people weren't allowed to rent business premises, so if they wanted to set up businesses they had to do it in their own homes, and this is why there were businesses in peoples houses and still are today. This is also why the man who set up Motown did it in a house in the area where he lived.
We finished the tour with some singing and dancing in the studio. Much to Joe’s delight.
On the way home we went to a proper Mall. It was massive. And we had our first Taco Bell and it wasn’t that bad!
In the early evening, Galina took us to the private view of her friend’s painting exhibition in the local cancer hospital. One thing I’ve noticed about the hospitals is that they look like hotels. For tea we had “Mediterranean” which was kebabs, rice and humous. This was really good. We had a beef kebab and the meat was so tender and delicious, not chewy at all. We went to bed early, ready for our drive up north, early next morning
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