Forgotten 60s R&B Groups That Beat The Temptations At Their Own Game

The Temptations are the standard. Five voices from Detroit. The choreography. The suits. The harmonies that could stop a room cold. They were the measure by which every other male vocal group in American soul was judged. But here is what the history books haven't told you clearly enough: they were not always the best at what they did. The Impressions didn't have five voices and choreography and Motown's promotional machine. They had three men from Chicago, a guitar, and Curtis Mayfield's spiritual conviction about what music was for. "People Get Ready" reached number three R&B and number fourteen pop in 1965. Rolling Stone ranked it the twenty-fourth greatest song in the history of popular music. Civil rights activist Gordon Sellers called it "warrior music — music you listened to while you were preparing to go into battle." Chicago churches immediately added it to their songbooks. The Library of Congress preserved it. Bob Dylan cited Curtis Mayfield as an influence. The Temptations made music that moved bodies. Curtis Mayfield made music that changed what people believed was possible. One of them is ranked #24 by Rolling Stone. One of them is in the Library of Congress. The Four Tops formed after singing together at a party in Detroit in 1953. Four men. The same four men until Lawrence Payton's death in 1997 — forty-four years with the same lineup. The Temptations had over thirty members. The Four Tops had four. The same four. "Reach Out I'll Be There" went to number one in BOTH the United States AND the United Kingdom simultaneously in October 1966 — something the Temptations' classic lineup never achieved. Berry Gordy wrote "Do You Love Me" for the Temptations. The Temptations went to a gospel show instead of the session. Gordy waited at Hitsville. Nobody came. He found the Contours walking down the corridor. They recorded the song that night. It went to number three on the Hot 100 and number one R&B. Then 1987's Dirty Dancing put it back to number eleven — twenty-five years later. The Delfonics won the Grammy for Best R&B Group in 1971. The category the Temptations were expected to own. A Philadelphia group on a small label, without Motown's infrastructure, took the Grammy. The Dells formed in 1952. Nine years before the Temptations existed. They took the same song back to the chart twice — first as doo-wop in 1956, then as orchestrated soul in 1969. Different record. Same song. Hit both times. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2004. The Manhattans recorded "Kiss and Say Goodbye" in 1976 — number one pop AND R&B simultaneously, the longest-charting 45-RPM single of that year. The Originals sang backgrounds on What's Going On — the album Rolling Stone calls the greatest ever made. The Main Ingredient lost their lead singer to leukemia, replaced him, and the replacement's first record went to number three pop. #TheTemptations #SoulMusic #60sSoul #RnBHistory #BlackMusicHistory #MusicHistory #TheImpressions #PeopleGetReady #CurtisMayfield #FourTops #ReachOut #TheContours #DoYouLoveMe #TheDells #TheMiracles #TheDelfonics #ChiLites #MainIngredient #Manhattans #TheOriginals #MarvinGaye #Motown #MusicDocumentary #ForgottenSoul #SoulClassics