Today in History—January 12: The Label That Changed American Music

Written by

Michele Metych

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

The Motown Record Corporation—which gave us the likes of the Supremes, the Temptations, and the Jackson 5—owes its existence to Berry Gordy, Jr., an $800 loan from his family, and the encouragement of his friend Smokey Robinson.

Gordy launched Tamla Records on this day in 1959, signing Smokey Robinson and the Miracles as his first act. He soon added Motown Records as a second brand, a play on Detroit’s auto-inspired nickname, Motor City. In 1960 he united these labels under the Motown Record Corporation.

The hits came fast. In 1961 the label scored its first Billboard No. 1 with “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes. Over the next decade, 109 more top 10 hits followed.

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Gordy loved jazz, and he prized efficiency: He’d worked on Ford’s assembly line, and he ran Motown like a precise operation. He had exacting standards and an extraordinary ear for talent. He had songwriting chops, too, cowriting “Shop Around” with Robinson and Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” with Janie Bradford. (The latter song would be popularized by the Beatles.)

Gordy also built a good team. The Funk Brothers studio band laid the backbeat for countless records. Chief engineer Mike McClain designed a deliberately tinny radio to mimic how songs would sound through car speakers—because the label knew that’s where the audience would hear them.

The Motown sound was unmistakable: tambourines, clapping, interplay between lead and backup singers, driving bass lines, tight drums, and syncopation. A reverb effect—groundbreaking at the time—was achieved by playing music in echo chambers (first in the bathroom, then in a dedicated space in the attic) and gave the music its signature pull. The result crossed racial lines, reaching Black and white audiences alike in a way that changed popular music in America forever.

Fun Fact

Motown’s Detroit headquarters came to be known as “Hitsville, U.S.A.”

Motown became one of the most successful Black-owned companies in the country. Times were a-changin’ though: After the Detroit Uprising of 1967, one of the country’s most violent race riots, Gordy began expanding operations in Los Angeles. The label officially relocated out west in 1972. Gordy tried his hand at Hollywood next, but the films never matched the success of Motown’s first decade. He sold the company in 1988; we now know the legendary label as Universal Music Group.

Motown might’ve left Detroit, but hey, the sound was built to travel anyway.

Today in History—January 12: The Label That Changed American Music

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