Chart entered : 18 March 1965
Chart peak : 43
Number of hits : 26
Five good looking guys
in sharp suits who could cut a few dance moves too: but unlike many of the
boyband acts that will follow over the subsequent half century, the Temptations
were also blessed with singing talent and backed by the best musicians and
songwriters.
Unlike other acts on
Motown, they were not a purely "Motor City" group: Eddie Kendricks
and Paul Williams had grown up and met in Alabama, before moving up North to
see the big time. Eventually, they found two openings in a group run by Otis
Williams - himself a child migrant to Detroit from Texas. Completing the line
up of what would be initially the Elgins were Al Bryant and Melvin Franklin, a
man with surely one of the top five deepest bass vocals in pop history.
One successful
audition to Berry Gordy later, the quintet were singed to Motown, though it was
then discovered that their name was already taken. No matter: one brainstorm
session later, and the Temptations were named so.
Through 1961-1963, the
band failed to score a hit of any kind on the charts, making them somewhat of a
figure of fun around the label. One man who did think highly of them was
vocalist David Ruffin - and when Bryant had had enough of their lack of
success, Ruffin eagerly stepped into the breach. Bryant died of liver cirrhosis
in 1975.
Ruffin's arrival
seemed to coincide with a change in fortunes. A Smokey Robinson-penned
"The Way You Do The Things You Do" put them into the US top 20. It's
a slight number with some weak rhymes (handle/candle, for example) that works
purely on the strength of Kendrick's skilled falsetto voice. But with Robinson
having provided their first hit, he was given the opportunity to take control
of the Temptations' direction. Several more Kendricks-fronted singles followed,
of which only "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)" stands up for any
scrutiny today.
Unlike many of
Motown's male vocalists, such as Marvin Gaye, Robinson and Kendricks, Ruffin's
voice had a certain roughness that put him more akin to the singers then
working down South in Memphis with Stax Records. Robinson admired this quality,
but also felt he could write a tune that brought out a "softer" side.
Working with his fellow Miracle Ronald White, he came up trumps in magnificent
fashion.
A masterly example of
making something simple in perfection, "My Girl" starts with one of
the most recognisable riffs in pop and only gets better. Robinson and White
pitched everything with great craft to Ruffin's vocal and the Funk Brothers lay
down a smooth groove, with horns and strings adding a fine polish. The other
Temptations do their parts to perfection, all adding up to creating a mystery
of why it was only such a small hit over here. The Americans knew better,
sending it all the way to the top, finally launching the group as major players
in the Motown stable.
In 1992, the song
finally became a huge UK hit when it was naturally used as part of the
soundtrack of a wretched film of the same name that became a huge hit on the
back of starring the child star Macaulay Culkin, whose subsequent career did not
have the longevity of this song. The Temptations, however, have a significant
story to work through before then.
D.C. Harrison
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