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    The Story of Motown
    The Story of Motown
    The Story of Motown
    Audiobook5 hours

    The Story of Motown

    Written by Peter Benjaminson and Greil Marcus

    Narrated by Sean Crisden

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    In January 1959 Berry Gordy borrowed $800 from his family and founded the Detroit-based record company that in less than a decade was to become the largest black-owned business in the United States. It also became one of the most productive and influential producers of popular music anywhere in the world.

    The Story of Motown is the story of Berry Gordy's triumph over powerful, established financial interests, entrenched popular taste, bigotry, and racism. By inventing a sound that appealed to whites as well as blacks, and that was immediately identifiable to an entire generation of listeners, Gordy demonstrated his genius as a producer; by the sheer force of his will, he demonstrated that a black man from the urban ghetto could aspire to and conquer the heights of traditional American business, including the movie business. Unfortunately, while doing all of this, he also found new ways to exploit his talented artists and eventually lost many of them to companies that paid them more.

    The Story of Motown is the story of the rise and fall of one of the most important cultural touchstones in American history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateOct 16, 2018
    ISBN9781684410972

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    Reviews for The Story of Motown

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed Parks' humorous expat. view of the underbelly of Italian education and society in general. Good droll english humor. I felt like I was living in Italy with him and his family.
    • 5/5
      Tim Parks is married to an Italian and living near Verona with their two children. He explores contemporary Italian life at home and at work. Even though I have been to Italy on holiday many times I realised how little I really understood Italian attitudes, politics and predjudices. He writes with an amusing light touch, that frequently had me laughing out loud.
    • 3/5
      Didn't realize until I started this how short it was, so, no matter what, I knew I was going to be disappointed, and I was.

      Covering only the first two decades of Motown, there's still enough material for three thick books, but Benjaminson chooses to deliver only a very abbreviated high-level summary of those twenty years. Yes, he provides some decent insight into Gordy's philosophy for making hits, as well as some of the studio tricks employed to do so, but my god, the personalities that were just lightly touched on!

      As a single example, Stevie Wonder. In the span of a few very short paragraphs, the author encapsulates Stevie's history-making deal to re-sign with Motown once he came of age. There was no insight into how he'd been treated beforehand, nor the mindset of Gordy or Wonder just prior to the renegotiation...nothing. Wonder became an adult, and—as far as the book goes—had a fairly bloodless meeting where he got one of the most expansive, rich deals in history.

      If you're looking for the Cole's Notes version of the history of Motown, this is your book. If you're looking for something that digs into all the various ups and downs, deals and machinations, and personalities, look elsewhere.