The Temptations & the Four Tops

The history of The Temptations is the history of contemporary American pop. An essential component of the original Motown machine—that amazing engine invented by Berry Gordy—The Temps began their musical life in Detroit in the early sixties. It wasn’t until 1964, however, that the Smokey Robinson written-and-produced “The Way You Do the Things You Do” turned the guys into stars.

Their first Motown hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving” in 1964, made them stars and their sixties track record on the label is indispensable to any retrospective of the decade. Their songs, soulful and bittersweet, were across-the-board successes. “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” a No. 1 R&B and Pop smash in 1965, is one of Motown’s longest-running chart toppers. Their commercial peak was highlighted by a romantic trilogy: the No. 1 “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Standing In The Shadows Of Love” (No. 2 R&B/no. 6 pop) and “Bernadette” (No. 3 R&B/No. 4 pop).