Top Ten Songs by the Temptations

The Temptations were Motown’s flagship group of its classic period. Through countless lineup changes and deaths, the band soldiers on to the present day some 20+ members later. With 40 years of hits, the group is one of the greatest of the popular era. Their songs like My Girl, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, Get Ready, Just My Imagination, and countless others, are some of the finest and most recognizable hits of recent memory. In addition the group was known for their impeccable dress and sharp choreography.

The group started as The Primes and The Distants; two Detroit groups that came together in the early 1960’s. Their combined their forces and signed with Berry Gordy’s fledgling Motown Records, changing their names first from the Elgins then to the Temptations. They added singer David Ruffin, and had their first smash hit in 1964 with “The Way You Do The Things You Do”. After Ruffin’s legendary lead on “My Girl” the Temptations were stars. Smokey Robinson provided the hits until Norman Whitfield stepped in with “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” in 1966. Soon the group went towards a more socially conscious, funk/soul direction. Ruffin left/was fired in 1968, beginning a personnel carousel.

The 1970’s saw the Tempts branching out into more of that direction. Problem is that Motown left Detroit early in 1968 and moved to Los Angeles. By mid-decade into the 70s, the group was on dry ground. After a label change and more personal shifts, the classic lineup (Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin plus Dennis Edwards, Richard Street, and Glen Leonard) reunited for 1982’s Reunion at Gordy’s behest. (other member Paul Williams had committed suicide in 1973)

Throughout the 1980s and 90’s, the group had more revolving members. By then they were influencing newer groups such as the Jackson 5, and later New Edition.

They were inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame soon thereafter. Then within the next five years, Ruffin, Kendricks, and Franklin were dead. Otis Williams published a book on the Temptations in 1988: he owns the rights to the group and the name as the last surviving member. An NBC miniseries based around his book was aired in 1998, to much critical and popular acclaim. The group continues to this day with Otis Williams and a new lineup that includes GC Cameron of the Spinners. Dennis Edwards and other members continue to lead groups of other “Temptations”. Williams group lays claim to the lineage of the group. They tour to this day. They have been a part of many documentaries and films

Links and info:
www.thetemptations.net
www.allmusic.com

Seeing the 1998 miniseries, made me get back into the Tempts. David Ruffin was an amazing talent, vocally and stylistically. Their songs had always been in my consciousness, although I was a generation removed from their heyday. I quickly tried to catch up reading everything that I could get my hands on. Their songs stand as some of the finest vocal group and soul music ever to come out of the 1960s and 1970s. I enjoy their music very much, and have watched a good amount of the film footage available on them. Good stuff.

So here is my list of my favorite Temps tunes. Of course this is subjectiveâÂ?¦it might even change tomorrow if the mood struck me. 🙂

Temptations – Top Ten
1. I Know I’m Losing You
2. My Girl
3. Night and Day
4. Since I Lost My Baby
5. Just My Imagination
6. I Can’t Get Next To You
7. I Wish It Would Rain
8. Cloud Nine
9. You’re My Everything
10. Shakey Ground