In this week’s module, we learned about Motown Records and its founder Barry Gordy. I believe that Gordy’s vision during Motown’s early years was the driving force behind its phenomenal success. The time he spent working at the Ford assembly plant influenced his vision. He watched sheet metal transform into automobiles on the assembly line. He applied this concept to the artists that Motown signed. He gave them the tools that they needed to be world-class artists, accepted by the white middle-class. He hired Cholly Atkins to choreograph dance movements and Maxine Powell to teach grace and refinement. He used the Brill Building production model for songwriting, and early songs were modeled after those that had already proven successful.
