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Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power
In 1959, twenty-nine-year-old Berry Gordy, who had already given up on his dream to be a champion boxer, borrowed eight hundred dollars from his family and started a record company. A run-down bungalow sandwiched between a funeral home and a beauty shop in a poor Detroit neighborhood served as his headquarters. The building’s entrance was adorned with a large sign that improbably boasted “Hitsville U.S.A.” The kitchen served as the control room, the garage became the two-track studio, the living room was reserved for bookkeeping, and sales were handled in the dining room. Soon word spread that any youngster with a streak of talent should visit the only record label that Detroit had seen in years. The company’s name was Motown.
Motown cuts through decades of unsubstantiated rumors and speculation to tell the true behind-the-scenes narrative of America’s most exciting musical dynasty. It follows the company and its amazing roster of stars from the tumultuous growth years in Detroit, to the drama and intrigue of Hollywood in the 1970s, to resurgence in 2002.
Set against the civil rights movement, the decay of America’s northern industrial cities, and the social upheaval of the 1960s, Motown is a tale of the incredible entrepreneurship of Berry Gordy. But it also features the moving stories of kids from Detroit’s inner-city projects who achieved remarkable success and then, in many cases, found themselves fighting the demons that so often come with stardom—drugs, jealousy, sexual indulgence, greed, and uncontrollable ambition.
Motown features an extraordinary cast of characters, including Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder. They are presented as they lived and worked: a clan of friends, lovers, competitors, and sometimes vicious foes. Motown reveals how the hopes and dreams of each affected the lives of the others and illustrates why this singular story is a made-in-America Greek tragedy, the rise and fall of a supremely talented yet completely dysfunctional extended family.
Based on numerous original interviews and extensive documentation, Motown benefits particularly from the thousands of pages of files crammed into the basement of downtown Detroit’s Wayne County Courthouse. Those court records provide the unofficial—and hitherto largely untold—history of Motown and its stars, since almost every relationship between departing singers, songwriters, producers, and the label ended up in litigation.
From its peaks in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Motown controlled the pop charts and its stars were sought after even by the Beatles, through the inexorable slide caused by their failure to handle their stardom, Motown is a riveting and troubling look inside a music label that provided the unofficial soundtrack to an entire generation.
From the Hardcover edition.
Motown cuts through decades of unsubstantiated rumors and speculation to tell the true behind-the-scenes narrative of America’s most exciting musical dynasty. It follows the company and its amazing roster of stars from the tumultuous growth years in Detroit, to the drama and intrigue of Hollywood in the 1970s, to resurgence in 2002.
Set against the civil rights movement, the decay of America’s northern industrial cities, and the social upheaval of the 1960s, Motown is a tale of the incredible entrepreneurship of Berry Gordy. But it also features the moving stories of kids from Detroit’s inner-city projects who achieved remarkable success and then, in many cases, found themselves fighting the demons that so often come with stardom—drugs, jealousy, sexual indulgence, greed, and uncontrollable ambition.
Motown features an extraordinary cast of characters, including Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder. They are presented as they lived and worked: a clan of friends, lovers, competitors, and sometimes vicious foes. Motown reveals how the hopes and dreams of each affected the lives of the others and illustrates why this singular story is a made-in-America Greek tragedy, the rise and fall of a supremely talented yet completely dysfunctional extended family.
Based on numerous original interviews and extensive documentation, Motown benefits particularly from the thousands of pages of files crammed into the basement of downtown Detroit’s Wayne County Courthouse. Those court records provide the unofficial—and hitherto largely untold—history of Motown and its stars, since almost every relationship between departing singers, songwriters, producers, and the label ended up in litigation.
From its peaks in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Motown controlled the pop charts and its stars were sought after even by the Beatles, through the inexorable slide caused by their failure to handle their stardom, Motown is a riveting and troubling look inside a music label that provided the unofficial soundtrack to an entire generation.
From the Hardcover edition.
384 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2001
46 people are currently reading
549 people want to read
About the author
Gerald Posner
17 books288 followersGerald Posner is an award winning journalist, bestselling author and attorney. The Los Angeles Times dubs him "a classic-style investigative journalist." "His work is painstakingly honest journalism" concluded The Washington Post. The New York Times lauded his "exhaustive research techniques" and The Boston Globe talked of Posner's "thorough and hard-edge investigation." "A meticulous and serious researcher," said the New York Daily News.
Posner's first book, Mengele, a 1986 biography of the Nazi "Angel of Death” Josef Mengele, was the result of a pro-bono lawsuit Posner brought on behalf of surviving twins from Auschwitz. Since then he has written ten other books from the Pulitzer Prize-finalist Case Closed, to bestsellers on political assassinations, organized crime, national politics, and 9/11 and terrorism. His upcoming God’s Bankers has spanned nine years of research and received early critical praise.
ohn Martin of ABC News says "Gerald Posner is one of the most resourceful investigators I have encountered in thirty years of journalism." Garry Wills calls Posner "a superb investigative reporter. "Posner, a former Wall Street lawyer, demolishes myths through a meticulous re-examination of the facts," reported the Chicago Tribune. "Meticulous research," Newsday.
Anthony Lewis in The New York Times: "With 'Killing the Dream, he has written a superb book: a model of investigation, meticulous in its discovery and presentation of evidence, unbiased in its exploration of every claim. And it is a wonderfully readable book, as gripping as a first-class detective story."
"What we need is a work of painstakingly honest journalism, a la Case Closed, Gerald Posner's landmark re-examination of the assassination of John F. Kennedy," concluded Joe Sharkey in The New York Times.
Gene Lyons, in Entertainment Weekly: "As thorough and incisive a job of reporting and critical thinking as you will ever read, Case Closed does more than buttress the much beleaguered Warren Commission's conclusion ….More than that, Posner's book is written in a penetrating, lucid style that makes it a joy to read. Even the footnotes, often briskly debunking one or another fanciful or imaginary scenario put forth by the conspiracy theorists, rarely fail to enthrall...Case Closed is a work of genuine patriotism and a monument to the astringent power of reason. 'A'"
Jeffrey Toobin in the Chicago Tribune: "Unlike many of the 2,000 other books that have been written about the Kennedy assassination, Posner's Case Closed is a resolutely sane piece of work. More importantly, 'Case Closed' is utterly convincing in its thesis, which seems, in light of all that has transpired over the past 30 years, almost revolutionary....I started Case Closed as a skeptic - and slightly put off by the presumptuous title. To my mind historical truth is always a slippery thing. The chances of knowing for sure what happened in any event - much less one as murky as the Kennedy assassination - seem remote. But this fascinating and important book won me over. Case closed, indeed."
Based in the mixed realms of politics, history, and true crime, his articles - from The New York Times to The New Yorker to Newsweek, Time and The Daily Beast - have prompted Argentina to open its hidden Nazi files to researchers; raised disturbing questions about clues the FBI missed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; sparked a reinvestigation of the Boston Strangler; and exposed Pete Rose's gambling addiction, which led to his ban from baseball.
Posner was one of the youngest attorneys (23) ever hired by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. A Political Science major, Posner was a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (1975), where he was also a national debating champion, winner of the Meiklejohn Award. At Hastings Law School (1978), he was an Honors Graduate and served as the Associate Executive Editor for the Law Review. Of Counsel to Posner & Ferrar
Posner's first book, Mengele, a 1986 biography of the Nazi "Angel of Death” Josef Mengele, was the result of a pro-bono lawsuit Posner brought on behalf of surviving twins from Auschwitz. Since then he has written ten other books from the Pulitzer Prize-finalist Case Closed, to bestsellers on political assassinations, organized crime, national politics, and 9/11 and terrorism. His upcoming God’s Bankers has spanned nine years of research and received early critical praise.
ohn Martin of ABC News says "Gerald Posner is one of the most resourceful investigators I have encountered in thirty years of journalism." Garry Wills calls Posner "a superb investigative reporter. "Posner, a former Wall Street lawyer, demolishes myths through a meticulous re-examination of the facts," reported the Chicago Tribune. "Meticulous research," Newsday.
Anthony Lewis in The New York Times: "With 'Killing the Dream, he has written a superb book: a model of investigation, meticulous in its discovery and presentation of evidence, unbiased in its exploration of every claim. And it is a wonderfully readable book, as gripping as a first-class detective story."
"What we need is a work of painstakingly honest journalism, a la Case Closed, Gerald Posner's landmark re-examination of the assassination of John F. Kennedy," concluded Joe Sharkey in The New York Times.
Gene Lyons, in Entertainment Weekly: "As thorough and incisive a job of reporting and critical thinking as you will ever read, Case Closed does more than buttress the much beleaguered Warren Commission's conclusion ….More than that, Posner's book is written in a penetrating, lucid style that makes it a joy to read. Even the footnotes, often briskly debunking one or another fanciful or imaginary scenario put forth by the conspiracy theorists, rarely fail to enthrall...Case Closed is a work of genuine patriotism and a monument to the astringent power of reason. 'A'"
Jeffrey Toobin in the Chicago Tribune: "Unlike many of the 2,000 other books that have been written about the Kennedy assassination, Posner's Case Closed is a resolutely sane piece of work. More importantly, 'Case Closed' is utterly convincing in its thesis, which seems, in light of all that has transpired over the past 30 years, almost revolutionary....I started Case Closed as a skeptic - and slightly put off by the presumptuous title. To my mind historical truth is always a slippery thing. The chances of knowing for sure what happened in any event - much less one as murky as the Kennedy assassination - seem remote. But this fascinating and important book won me over. Case closed, indeed."
Based in the mixed realms of politics, history, and true crime, his articles - from The New York Times to The New Yorker to Newsweek, Time and The Daily Beast - have prompted Argentina to open its hidden Nazi files to researchers; raised disturbing questions about clues the FBI missed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; sparked a reinvestigation of the Boston Strangler; and exposed Pete Rose's gambling addiction, which led to his ban from baseball.
Posner was one of the youngest attorneys (23) ever hired by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. A Political Science major, Posner was a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (1975), where he was also a national debating champion, winner of the Meiklejohn Award. At Hastings Law School (1978), he was an Honors Graduate and served as the Associate Executive Editor for the Law Review. Of Counsel to Posner & Ferrar
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
February 25, 2009
A highly fascinating subject, and Posner unearths some goodies, but unfortunately, he writes like an investigative journalist and not a literary one. He does not build suspense well and fails to weave the FASCINATING characters together with much depth; rather, he seems to feel like he has a laundry list of Motown dysfunction to go through with each person he covers, from Temptations lead singer David Ruffin to spurned Supreme Flo Ballard. I wish instead, Posner could re-create what it would have been like to be IN A ROOM with say, Smokey, Ruffin, Flo, Marvin, Berry Gordy, and Diana. Still, I must give credit where credit is due: Posner clearly went through a rear end-load of lawsuits in order to understand all of the contract battles between Motown artists and Gordy. He also rightly keeps Gordy as his center and alludes to the fascinating question--whether intentionally or not--of whether Motown's legendary CEO was really the music visionary some give him credit for or just the only guy who would get black musicians together to make pop in the late 1950s. I think the latter, in a way. It seems like BG clearly recognized talent but ran Motown like a straitjacket with no appreciation for his artists' individuality. He actually didn't want to put out Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Also, he and Diana Ross had a majorly DYSFUNCTIONAL relationship. Not to judge or anything. I mean I love that stuff.
January 2, 2022
A detailed history on the rise and decline of Motown, and it’s founder Berry Gordy. I enjoyed reading about the supergroups under its label and the personalities and conflicts that arose from within.
October 25, 2012
Gerald Posner's book was hard to put down, but not always for good reasons. The book made very plain that the "family feeling" Motown Music attempted to convey to the public was largely a mirage, especially after the mid-60s. His work may also make it hard to ever listen to Diana Ross's music again without pausing to consider how self-absorbed she was both durng the era with the Supremes and throughout her solo career. A fascinating tale of a man who started something with a few hundred dollars via a family loan, and sold it two decades later for $61 million - but, along the way, lost a great, great deal. One almost pitied Berry Gordy, Jr., rather than looking up to him.
November 30, 2018
Interesting look at the history of one of the more important music movements that starts to get thinner and thinner as it gets closer to the end. While I'm sure some of that is the general interest in Motown itself (I mean, Lionel Richie is important, but he's no Supremes), some of it also felt like a slow descent into Diana Ross diva-bashing. All around well done for a biography, but I'm still wondering if Diana Ross was as bad as she comes across or if the author had an agenda.
September 16, 2019
This is not so much Motown's story as early Berry Gordy's Motown.
It's a fascinating story of a frustrated would-be boxer, unenthusiastic pimp and serial deadbeat womanizer who started his own record company with money borrowed from his parents and in the process created not just a socioeconomic revolution but turned a nascent industry on its head.
The highlights, researched in extreme detail:
1. Berry Gordy treated Motown as a family. He drew the line when it came to paying royalties and assorted dues. There was no love, no family there. As result he ended being sued by about 90% of the people who ever did business with him. Especially by his artists.
2. Diana Ross is the original Cruella De Ville meets Cersei Lannister. Impossible diva, voracious man-eater, despicable human being. And talking of despicable,
3. Marvin Gaye was a dopehead asshole from a really fucked-up family (shot dead by his transvestite preacher father. One of 6 cross-dressing brothers), who spent his entire musical career trying not to be successful.
Great book.
It's a fascinating story of a frustrated would-be boxer, unenthusiastic pimp and serial deadbeat womanizer who started his own record company with money borrowed from his parents and in the process created not just a socioeconomic revolution but turned a nascent industry on its head.
The highlights, researched in extreme detail:
1. Berry Gordy treated Motown as a family. He drew the line when it came to paying royalties and assorted dues. There was no love, no family there. As result he ended being sued by about 90% of the people who ever did business with him. Especially by his artists.
2. Diana Ross is the original Cruella De Ville meets Cersei Lannister. Impossible diva, voracious man-eater, despicable human being. And talking of despicable,
3. Marvin Gaye was a dopehead asshole from a really fucked-up family (shot dead by his transvestite preacher father. One of 6 cross-dressing brothers), who spent his entire musical career trying not to be successful.
Great book.
July 17, 2025
This was a really good look at the history of the Motown label, from its establishment to its slide and sale in 1989 and just beyond.
All the great names are here, from the founder Berry Gordy to Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Holland-Dozier-Holland, and more.
It starts mostly like a Gordy bio, from his childhood to when he first risked it all on establishing a record label for Detroit acts. We follow his slow success, then amazing growth of the musical legend.
The biggest personalities in the book are Gordy, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye. Ross doesn't come off too good, mostly portrayed as a selfish, spoiled diva - which doesn't contradict anything else I've ever read about her. And Gaye is a sex-obsessed, drug-addled paranoid egotist - also the same as I've heard elsewhere.
The book addresses the big years, the rough years, the bad decisions, and the rest.
Throughout it all, the best songs on the label bounce through your head as you hear the stories behind the music.
Great but sad, because of the fallability of the personalities within.
All the great names are here, from the founder Berry Gordy to Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Holland-Dozier-Holland, and more.
It starts mostly like a Gordy bio, from his childhood to when he first risked it all on establishing a record label for Detroit acts. We follow his slow success, then amazing growth of the musical legend.
The biggest personalities in the book are Gordy, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye. Ross doesn't come off too good, mostly portrayed as a selfish, spoiled diva - which doesn't contradict anything else I've ever read about her. And Gaye is a sex-obsessed, drug-addled paranoid egotist - also the same as I've heard elsewhere.
The book addresses the big years, the rough years, the bad decisions, and the rest.
Throughout it all, the best songs on the label bounce through your head as you hear the stories behind the music.
Great but sad, because of the fallability of the personalities within.
November 7, 2019
Thought this was great. Learned a lot. Had no idea how much of an important role Smokey Robinson had at Motown. Knew a little about Marvin Gaye's drug problem but had no idea he was a total stoner. Knew Motown eventually moved to Los Angeles but thought it was much later, et cetera.
I liked how this book moved more or less chronologically chapter to chapter. Felt that some of the gossip, internal drame & sordid details were at times glossed over, but to be honest, I felt that probably would have made for a much longer book & probably less journalistically credible book. In the end, if I want more info on individual artists & members of Motown, I definitely need to check out the various respective autobiographies, et cetera.
Thank you Madlib.
I liked how this book moved more or less chronologically chapter to chapter. Felt that some of the gossip, internal drame & sordid details were at times glossed over, but to be honest, I felt that probably would have made for a much longer book & probably less journalistically credible book. In the end, if I want more info on individual artists & members of Motown, I definitely need to check out the various respective autobiographies, et cetera.
Thank you Madlib.
September 29, 2019
Good high level, dirt free run through of the history of Motown. Other reviews note that the research isn't the best or most accurate. Given that I didn't know much about Motown other than the high level dirt (Gaye was tough to deal with, Gordy had a relationship with Diana Ross, member of the Temptations had chemical problems), I can't speak to the accuracy of the finer points. This is a quick, clear read that made me want to know more about the history of this unique company. The book fades after Motown moves to LA in the 70's, which mirrors the company. But the front end of the book is really engaging.
May 31, 2022
The Motown sound was unique, a miraculous achievement in the rich field of 1960s music. This absorbing book proves to be less about the great music and more about the money that swirled around it. Posner writes mostly about the business and its founder, Berry Gordy, who took an $800 investment and turned it into an entertainment empire. There were many twists, broken promises and betrayals along the way, yet Gordy, an insecure but demanding businessman, remained tightly in control until finally selling the company (for $61 million) in 1988. Posner captures the highs and lows of Motown, a rich story with more than a few villains, burn-outs, tragedies and triumphs.
March 8, 2019
This is great book that tells the amazing story of Motown and all its impact in the pop culture of the 20th century.
Although I enjoyed the book, I wish it could focus more on the artistic side of things, but Posner's direction is much more focused in the politics and power disputes.... it is a pity, Motown had at one point around 60/70's the best roster of amazing talented artists that, in this book, only serve as a bright background to the story....
Although I enjoyed the book, I wish it could focus more on the artistic side of things, but Posner's direction is much more focused in the politics and power disputes.... it is a pity, Motown had at one point around 60/70's the best roster of amazing talented artists that, in this book, only serve as a bright background to the story....
March 29, 2020
A must-read for all fans of popular music. The story behind the most successful record label of the 60s. And one of only three American entertainment trademarks are known around the entire world—
Hundreds of anecdotes about Motown from the artists and producers, background singers and musicians, road managers, production staff.
Every page is a treasure trove of musical history
Without a doubt one of the best books, I've ever read on the subject of modern music.
Hundreds of anecdotes about Motown from the artists and producers, background singers and musicians, road managers, production staff.
Every page is a treasure trove of musical history
Without a doubt one of the best books, I've ever read on the subject of modern music.
January 4, 2025
an interesting read
A surprisingly terse but antiseptic history of Motown. There were inferences of criminal ties, god awful contracts and other assorted misdeeds but not enough to truly explain the relationships of the acts. But the book clearly describes the musical downfall of the label and why it didn’t, at its full power, capitalize musical trends of the time. A gripping story
A surprisingly terse but antiseptic history of Motown. There were inferences of criminal ties, god awful contracts and other assorted misdeeds but not enough to truly explain the relationships of the acts. But the book clearly describes the musical downfall of the label and why it didn’t, at its full power, capitalize musical trends of the time. A gripping story
October 10, 2025
really interesting recount of Motown from inception to demise. it felt more investigative in large parts of the book. which lead to my only criticisms that some parts felt like fact heavy while other parts more speculative and the ending felt rushed and could have benefited from the same slow pace as the beginning.
July 8, 2017
Although I wished the author covered more of the artists and great records made, still a fascinating look into one of the great record labels with all its law suits, tragedies, rivalries, and clashes of ego.
June 5, 2020
One issue
It was an interesting and enlightened book. Some details I didn't know and others were either were different from what I read previously. Here is my one issue, David Ruffin died in Philadelphia, not Detroit as it was mentioned in the book.
It was an interesting and enlightened book. Some details I didn't know and others were either were different from what I read previously. Here is my one issue, David Ruffin died in Philadelphia, not Detroit as it was mentioned in the book.
May 1, 2022
Loved it, couldn't put it down!
May 26, 2024
Wow, this was an engrossing read!
October 16, 2024
Fascinating what money will do to people. All that talent and most of them wound up broke and dead. Sad.
October 1, 2014
This is a comprehensive - and unbiased - history of Motown. Behind all the facade of what Motown appeared to be at its peak is a very sad and disturbing story of everybody associated with the label. It was interesting to me because I was too young to even know what Motown was in its heyday, and only discovered some of the artists 20 years after they were in their prime.
One of the things that I've never liked about the Motown sound is that it's formulaic. Unlike Stax and Atlantic Records (whose artists' music from that period I prefer), Motown forced its songwriters and artists into a narrow box within which to operate because of...wait for it...money. And lots of it.
Berry Gordy had contracts that made him, every step of the way, very rich and ripped the artists off. Corruption and substance abuse were the icing on the cake for many of Motown's top artists, including Marvin Gaye (in my opinion, one of the most talented, but also most troubled artists) and Flo Ballard (who, by all accounts, had the best voice of the original Supremes).
No one gets a pass in this book, which is as it should be, but if you come away with anything but disgust at who -actions, words, personalities, etc. - Berry Gordy and Diana Ross were as people, then you're reading the book with rose-colored glasses.
I've never liked Diana Ross as an artist - and she was past her prime when I started hearing her music - because her voice gets on my nerves, but her manipulativeness, petulance, meanness, arrogance, viciousness and absolute self-absorption and self-delusion just made me cringe.
It's a tragic story for all involved and there are no happy endings, but it's well worth the read.
One of the things that I've never liked about the Motown sound is that it's formulaic. Unlike Stax and Atlantic Records (whose artists' music from that period I prefer), Motown forced its songwriters and artists into a narrow box within which to operate because of...wait for it...money. And lots of it.
Berry Gordy had contracts that made him, every step of the way, very rich and ripped the artists off. Corruption and substance abuse were the icing on the cake for many of Motown's top artists, including Marvin Gaye (in my opinion, one of the most talented, but also most troubled artists) and Flo Ballard (who, by all accounts, had the best voice of the original Supremes).
No one gets a pass in this book, which is as it should be, but if you come away with anything but disgust at who -actions, words, personalities, etc. - Berry Gordy and Diana Ross were as people, then you're reading the book with rose-colored glasses.
I've never liked Diana Ross as an artist - and she was past her prime when I started hearing her music - because her voice gets on my nerves, but her manipulativeness, petulance, meanness, arrogance, viciousness and absolute self-absorption and self-delusion just made me cringe.
It's a tragic story for all involved and there are no happy endings, but it's well worth the read.
October 7, 2015
After a trip to the Motown Museum this summer, and swinging by Michael Jackson's birthhome in Gary, IN, I have been reading a few books on Detroit and Motown. I cried uncontrollably in the Museum. There's something about Motown: Detroit, Gordy, Motown 25 as a watershed moment in my life, what I teach my son and want him to know, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder...so much about what's great and abysmal about the United States in the second half of the twentieth century. The author writes about MJ and quotes him: Shy and withdrawn and so soft-spoken that often people had to strain to hear him, he felt at home only when performing. “I was raised on stage,” he told one journalist. “And I am more comfortable out there that I am right now. When it comes time to go off, I don't want to. I feel like there are angels on all corners, protecting me. I could sleep on stage.” (p.237)
November 6, 2015
Posner's book tells the story of Berry Gordy's Motown, and the people who came and left Detroit's hit record label. Smokey Robinson, Dave Ruffin, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, and the many, many other Motown star all get their due. If you've seen Motown: The Musical, you'll recognize all the highlights, though this book isn't really about the music at all. It's about personalities struggling with fame, with conflict and over contract disputes, rather than the creative process that went into the music. It's a fascinating read if you like Motown, but there's a lot of hubris here (a LOT of hubris), and no-one comes out looking great. Much of the book left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, which is too bad, because some really great music was created there.
August 28, 2016
I thought this book was very well written and researched. I enjoy the Motown music so I figured I'd probably enjoy a book about the behind the scenes detail. I had a completely different view of the Motown artists after reading this book. They just ended up seeming to be a bunch of rich, spoiled, drunk, and drug addicted babies that forgot where they came from after their rise to the top of the music industry. It was my first time reading this author and I thought he did a fantastic job. I'll be picking up more of his books in the future.
March 5, 2010
Read this book because I live in the Detroit area and am a fan of Gerald Posner, particularly his Case Closed book on the JFK assassination. Plenty of juicy gossip about Motown stars.
Posner is out of his depth when writing about music. He lacks a certain appreciation for how these songs changed American pop culture. Still, the book is useful if you haven't read any others, and could be revelatory for the younger generation unfamiliar with the various Motown stars and their early days.
Posner is out of his depth when writing about music. He lacks a certain appreciation for how these songs changed American pop culture. Still, the book is useful if you haven't read any others, and could be revelatory for the younger generation unfamiliar with the various Motown stars and their early days.
November 24, 2020
Posner put together 300+ pretty good pages on Motown that focus on the nuts and bolts of Hitsville, USA. If he (or anyone else) did a deep dive into the company that told more performers' stories, this could be multi-volume. Lots of good anecdotes and interesting factoids about Motown and Berry Gordy.
April 6, 2014
I really enjoyed this book it was a lot of fun to read! Did I believe everything I read in this book ? NO! Was it a blast to read about Diana Ross allegedly trying to run over one of the Marvelette's with her car ...YES!
December 12, 2022
If you’re a fan of Motown like I am,you will enjoy this.Rich stories about classic acts like The Supremes.Martha and the Vandellas,Marvin Gaye,The Temptations,The Four Tops,Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson.Overseeing it all is Motown boss Berry Gordy.
October 9, 2008
Not stellar, but a good book that showcased some of the behind-the-scenes drama that went on during the heyday of the iconic record label.
November 13, 2009
A very interesting look at Motown from it's beginnings to it's end. The book focuses on Berry Gordy, as it should.
I was surprised by how much Gordy shortchanged his artists on the financial side.
I was surprised by how much Gordy shortchanged his artists on the financial side.
October 1, 2012
This book made me look at Motown in a totally different way. If the play/movie Dreamgirls were a book, this would be it.
September 19, 2013
Good reporting but, honestly, not enough backstage gossip, which is why I bought it. Motown's my favorite music, and this doesn't really add any insights, except financial ones.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews