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It's Black History month in the United States, and in celebration of it every day I will be posting about black musicians, artists, actors, movies, and authors save for the same 5 black people American History prefers to focus on.
Today's featured musicians, the Motown group The Temptations, were one of the most popular and successful black music groups of the 60's and 70's - with songs like "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", "Cloud 9", "I'm Losing You", "My Girl", "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", "Get Ready" and "Just My Imagination" dominating the R&B/Soul charts. The group was not without its member's personal drama, as well as alcoholism, drug use, and debilitating conditions (Sickle Cell Anemia and Rheumatoid Arthritis). If you want to watch a good movie about them, I recommend the made-for-tv movie "The Temptations" - but be warned that a lot of artistic creativity (read: lying) was taken with the backgrounds and histories of what happened to each member. It's still a good music movie, however. To learn more, you can read more on Wikipedia.
Here's a video of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone". I chose this one not only because it's one of my absolute favorite song from them, but because this live version of the song shows how energetic these men were during their live performances, how their choreography was almost flawless (and an influence to later groups), and it showcases the four-way microphone they used in their performances. Sadly, this song does not feature David Ruffin, who was the lead singer on earlier songs like "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg". Instead, the lead is Dennis Edwards.
Today's featured musicians, the Motown group The Temptations, were one of the most popular and successful black music groups of the 60's and 70's - with songs like "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", "Cloud 9", "I'm Losing You", "My Girl", "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", "Get Ready" and "Just My Imagination" dominating the R&B/Soul charts. The group was not without its member's personal drama, as well as alcoholism, drug use, and debilitating conditions (Sickle Cell Anemia and Rheumatoid Arthritis). If you want to watch a good movie about them, I recommend the made-for-tv movie "The Temptations" - but be warned that a lot of artistic creativity (read: lying) was taken with the backgrounds and histories of what happened to each member. It's still a good music movie, however. To learn more, you can read more on Wikipedia.
Here's a video of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone". I chose this one not only because it's one of my absolute favorite song from them, but because this live version of the song shows how energetic these men were during their live performances, how their choreography was almost flawless (and an influence to later groups), and it showcases the four-way microphone they used in their performances. Sadly, this song does not feature David Ruffin, who was the lead singer on earlier songs like "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg". Instead, the lead is Dennis Edwards.
