Talkin’ about the tall, talented, temptin’ Temptations
(Left to right; Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Dennis Edwards)
Nobody who graduated college disliked school as much as I did, starting on day one in kindergarten. But at least from kindergarten through 8th grade, everyone was in all of my classes. So even I could make a few friends. Once I started high school, each class had different students and this decreased the chances of people liking me out of familiarity.
Things were off to a rough start in the late 1960s for me. After dominating Presidential elections for 28 of 36 years, the Democratic Party would not win the Presidency for 28 of the next 40 years. My candidate Hubert Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon. For no rational reason, or for a reason that made sense in 1962 when they started, I’ve always hated The New York Mets and had to live through one of the greatest rags to riches stories when they won the World Championship in 1969. My favorite groups of the early-to-mid 60s, with the exception of The Rolling Stones, saw their popularity crash. I had to find some new favorite groups who weren’t a punch line. It turned out to be an easy task.
By 1968 everybody was a fan of The Temptations; young, old, black, white, rich, poor. Since 1964 they had a very impressive string of hits including The Way You Do The Things You Do, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, I’m Losing You, You’re My Everything, I Wish It Would Rain, Get Ready and one of the greatest classics of all-time; My Girl. For those of you who have seen The Temptations movie played endlessly, David Ruffin, their lead singer, and considered one of the premiere talents in the world was having personal problems and left the group. But instead of just bringing in another incredible lead singer, Dennis Edwards, they changed the group’s sound. Instead of just the main lead singer, Dennis Edwards, or their super-cool falsetto singer Eddie Kendricks singing lead, everyone would now sing. Their super-cool bass singer, Melvin Franklin got lines in each song, as did Paul Williams, who sounded a lot like Dennis Edwards, sang and one of the group’s founders, and longest lasting member, Otis Williams, sang lead on some lines. The dance moves were still the smoothest in music and their harmonies was hot! With the world changing the group, with Norman Whitfield writing (with Barrett Strong) and producing moved from focusing on love songs to socially relevant songs. And you could sing and dance to them!
The first of these, in the fall of 1968, was Cloud Nine. It might be about escapism, it might be about drugs but it was a top ten hit. For a group with their mass appeal they were on television all the time. I now liked something popular! Back in the 1960s, when a group had just broken through or had a new sound, their follow-up sounded a lot like their previous song. That’s what The Temptations did with Runaway Child Running Wild down to the “boom,boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,boom. It was just as big as Cloud Nine. Their next song was kind of in the same vein and Don’t Let the Joneses Get You Down only made it to number 20. The next song would be a triumph for The Temptations and me.
There was a show called Music Scene on ABC television in the fall of 1969. It was hosted by David Steinberg who is a very respected comedian, though some of you may not have heard of him. The show would recap the top singles of the new Billboard Chart. By week two, they realized the show was not going to make it past it’s 13 week commitment, but back then, these shows ran their course. I loved David Steinberg’s style and I remember him once telling a guest, “You can’t say that. This is Music Scene. Hundreds of people are watching.” On A Monday night in October 1969, it was announced that The Temptations’ I Can’t Get Next To You had replaced The Archies’ Sugar Sugar as the #1 single in America! Songs I had liked had been number one before but this was my second favorite group (The Beach Boys were always #1) and now WE were #1! It was such a fun song with each group member taking a turn at lead. I even wrote a composition about the group which I read to the class. While nobody criticized it, it makes me cringe now that I had no internal filters back then. I remember in the fall of 1969 I had bronchitis and sinus problems. My regular doctor was not around as he was dying, so it was not diagnosed correctly and got worse. With I Can’t Get Next To You and The Stones’ Honky Tonk Women also #1 around that time, the radio was giving me reason to smile.
And the hits kept right on coming. The Temptations introduced another top 10 hit, Psychedelic Shack, on The Ed Sullivan Show in January 1970 which was right around the corner and just across the track. It was guaranteed to blow your mind! I used to subscribe to Billboard Magazine because I was just so into seeing the Top 100 singles and Top 200 albums charts. In the spring of 1970 I was shocked and happily blown away to see an ad for the upcoming Temptations’ single Ball of Confusion which listed the lyrics for the song every problem in the country from segregation, determination, demonstration, integration, aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation; Ball of Confusion, that’s what the world is today, hey hey! It was a serious, timeless yet danceable song that is as true in 2014 as it is was in 1970. The follow-up was forgettable and sold poorly for that time. But the follow-up to that was a classic and a little different. Eddie Kendricks took the lead on Just My Imagination and the group had a #1 hit. A lot of times people refer to hit records as #1 but this really was #1 in Billboard. The Temptations were one of the most popular groups in the world.
Today we see everything immediately on the internet. I was SHOCKED to read in a music magazine, in the spring of 1971, that Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams had just left the group. WHY! WHY! WHY! Paul had health problems and was dead by 1973. For those of you who have seen The Temptations movie played endlessly, Eddie was unhappy being in the group and went solo. He would have two very big hits singles on his own. The Temptations’ new album, Sky’s the Limit, had another hit all ready for them, Smiling Faces Sometimes, which on the album is one of their best songs ever. But with the group’s turmoil, their producer Norman Whitfield, who was working with other Motown artists, gave it to a new group, The Undisputed Truth. Their far inferior version hit the top 3. And The Temptations started to drift. It’s Summer was a throwaway song and yet released as a single, Superstar was an inferior socially relevant song for them and the impressive Take A Look Around only went to #30. The Temptations were always on television but it was to sing a medley of their hits plus their current single. Was this the end? NO!
In the autumn of 1972, Papa Was A Rolling Stone became the group’s fourth #1 song. One of the greatest bass lines ever, Dennis Edwards and everyone else in the group singing about a man who was not a good father or husband, making their point yet you could sing and dance along. There seemed no stopping The Temptations.
But times changed. The follow-up, Masterpiece hit the top 10. But some songs were now great, like Heavenly, which wasn’t a hit and a lot of songs were average. I don’t want to discuss everything in this blog post but The Temptations albums, which had been awesome with lots of great songs became average, with just a couple of stand-outs. In the late 1970s, the group left Motown for Atlantic, Dennis Edwards left the group and even fans like myself realized this was probably it.
Not exactly; Dennis Edwards would rejoin the group in 1980 and they would come back to Motown and had some degree of success. They also put out a great Christmas album later that year. David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks rejoined the group for one album in 1983 and all seven members went on tour. But it wasn’t a good album and the tour ended and so did the reunion. Dennis Edwards left the group again and Ollie Woodson became the lead singer. With the exception of Melvin Franklin and Otis Williams “members kept moving out, members kept moving in” but it did lead to Treat Her Like A Lady becoming popular. Yes, Dennis Edwards came back in 1987.
In 1988, my wife and I went to see The Temptations and The O’Jays at Radio City Music Hall. The O’Jays opened and gave an outstanding performance. Then The Temptations came on, in Cadillacs. The crowd was cheering as they started with Psychedelic Shack but something was wrong. Only 4 Temptations?? What’s going on? Well, ultra-popular bass singer Melvin Franklin was having health problems and was not there. And Dennis Edwards was out of the group forever. But the time the finale of I Can’t Get Next To You, people just walked out so disappointed that the only one of the old guard there was Otis Williams.
There would be a better time for me as a Temptations fan. In September 1991, my wife and I saw The Temptations and The 4 Tops at The Las Vegas Hilton. The 4 Tops, like The O’Jays, were the greatest opening act of all-time. And this time Melvin Franklin was there. Melvin was heavier than he used to, be but the man could still sing and he had the spotlight to himself in Old Man River. Melvin would die in 1995. To this day, The Temptations still perform and as far as I Know, Otis Williams is still there.
One of the greatest groups of all time, whose music got me through the tough times of high school, and college. Then I saw happier times with them as I became an adult, got a job, got married and I got to take my wife to their concerts on two different occasions. Their key members had some tough times, but as they say, the music will last forever.
To my Temptations; Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams and Otis Williams.
(Left to right; Eddie Kendricks, Dennis Edwards, Paul Williams, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin)