Motown

Mary Wilson was born in 1944 in Greenville, Mississippi. She later moved to the Detroit Brewster Projects where at the age of 13 she met Florence Ballard and Diane Ross, the girls with whom she would become the greatest girl group of all time–The Supremes.



The story of the Supremes is one of friendship, dreams, tragedy, success, and glamour, as well as groundbreaking firsts in a time of social change. All of this is on display in the Reflections: The Mary Wilson Supreme Legacy Collection–a retrospective currently being exhibited at Seattle’s Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum (EMP|SFM).

Earlier this week, television stations around the globe clamored to cover Michael Jackson's memorial service, and tens of millions of us turned on the tube (or the internet) to watch. Now, before you write this post off as another hastily-made MJ mixtape tribute (not that there'd be anything wrong with that), give me a minute.

One of the things that struck a chord with me during the 177-minute, star-studded memorial, was Berry Gordy's eulogy for Michael. Not only was his reminiscing about the early days of Motown charming (who wouldn't love that story about the Gordy vs. Jackson family baseball games?) but it reminded me how effing awesome Motown's music is. (It is seriously awesome.) My other BitchTapes have made no secret of my love of soul music, but this time I am going all-out to present you with eight of my favorite Motown tunes.



Read about the songs, and add your own favorites, after the jump!