Detroit's Top Ten Greatest Songs

Agree or Disagree? According to Freep Music writer Brian McCollum they are:

1. “Respect,” Aretha Franklin [[1967)
2. “What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye [[1971)
3. “Dancing in the Street,” Martha and the Vandellas [[1964)
4. “My Girl,” the Temptations [[1964)
5. “Kick out the Jams,” MC5 [[1969)
6. “Seven Nation Army,” the White Stripes [[2003)
7. “The Tracks of My Tears,” the Miracles [[1965)
8. “Night Moves,” Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band [[1976)
9. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell [[1967)
10. “Lose Yourself,” Eminem [[2002)

No matter what one's opinion one has, what a great musical heritage we have.

FYI here is his Detroit’s 100 Greatest Songs. IMO a little light on the hip hop and techno/electronic end but still an impressive list.

Jackie Wilson?

Thanks in part to the many great Detroit visuals in the video, I always think of Detroit every time I hear "Freeway of Love" by Aretha Franklin. What was the name of the club they shot the video at? Was it Chassy's?

I mention this one out of mere kitschy tongue-and-cheek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VfX9nGpOs8

However, I also mention it as a litmus test to see who the real kids were raised around Detroit from my generation [[whose faces will light up with recognition within the first 40 seconds of the song) versus the straight-up perpetrators.

So, please feel free to comment away if you immediately catch what I'm referring to.

I would add Mind Over Matter, by Nolan Strong And The Diablos, Fortune Records.

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Originally Posted by Bobl

I would add Mind Over Matter, by Nolan Strong And The Diablos, Fortune Records.

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Mind Over Matter....My absolute all time favorite....ENJOY!!!

https://youtu.be/RGko6th_7ko

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Originally Posted by G-DDT

I mention this one out of mere kitschy tongue-and-cheek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VfX9nGpOs8

However, I also mention it as a litmus test to see who the real kids were raised around Detroit from my generation [[whose faces will light up with recognition within the first 40 seconds of the song) versus the straight-up perpetrators.

So, please feel free to comment away if you immediately catch what I'm referring to.

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Really!?

Eleven days go by, and I'm left hanging on this one. Seriously, this only proves a inkling I've had for the last two years I've been on DY-that there is noone from Detroit from my generation on DY. I've been looking for a genuine litmus test to try that theory out, and I think I found it. I've actually seen it discussed elsewhere.

I'm going to give it five more days...I hope someone catches on just by listening to the first 40 seconds of the clip and then responds.

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Originally Posted by G-DDT

Really!?

Eleven days go by, and I'm left hanging on this one. Seriously, this only proves a inkling I've had for the last two years I've been on DY-that there is noone from Detroit from my generation on DY. I've been looking for a genuine litmus test to try that theory out, and I think I found it. I've actually seen it discussed elsewhere.

I'm going to give it five more days...I hope someone catches on just by listening to the first 40 seconds of the clip and then responds.

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I feel pretty sure I'm your generation. And although I grew up just outside the border, I consider myself [[formerly) fairly deeply steeped in Detroit. The song sounds familiar but I can't put my finger on where it's from.

I grew up recording music on a portable tape deck played on my grandma's portable radio, alternating among Brent Bambury, Martin Van Dyke, Ralph Valdez, and the Electrifying Mojo. I don't remember this from any of them. I also don't remember this from The Scene or Solid Gold [[I'm profoundly embarrassed about the latter -- and it wasn't from Detroit, no regrets I spent so many evenings not stopping 'til 7 o'clock the former). My guess is it's from a local tv or radio show I missed because it was on at a time when I was doing something else.

Anyone else remember the Vanity interview on the late night talk show on WGPR that ran opposite Carson? [[What was its name?) It's something else I'm a little embarrassed about: I was just the right age to be mesmerized by her mic skills.

G-DDT, maybe there's some overlap in concerts we attended. Or maybe not. A few of my favorites were at St. Andrews, Isis, and Bookies [[when it was still uptown). Also frequented the Shelter and the City Club -- back in their good ol' days [[at least from my perspective). Worked at Rhinoceros, briefly...

I met some of the DJ's you speak. I did work at St. Andrews [[and Motor), though I preferred dive gigs and hated huge stadium concerts with a ferocity [[part of it was working for an evil corporation like Ticketmaster).

You are close with TV show, but late has nothing to do with it.

The list was reader driven, and like all lists of this type, unable to please everyone. I felt it gave a short shift to groups like The Frost, SRC, The Wollies, Brownsville Station and others that were the backbone of Detroit Rock in the 60's. The MC5 were an easy choice and almost a copout.

And one song that did not make the list, but is one of my Detroit faves is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-48FBeUI8Y

G-DDT...Kidbits, the Detroit science show.

Ronnie Laws cover?

"This Used to Be My Playground" by Madonna. I really don't care for her music, but this certainly applies to millions of Detroiters, past and present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNJLP-QUQSA

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Originally Posted by 65memories

G-DDT...Kidbits, the Detroit science show.

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Thank you. Thank you.

Hope you didn't just look at the comments on Youtube to acquire that bit of info; for those comments are jammed with folks from Detroit who remember that show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoc9pjVoQ-0

If you were of my generation growing up in Detroit, it was difficult not to encounter Kidbits. You got up early on a Saturday [[for the younger crowd who may not understand, prior to the mid-90's, Saturday Mornings were a special time for kids. You looked forward to it all week. Comic books ran network ads telling you of the great seasonal lineups of cartoons featured in that early slot. Most after school weekday afternoon cartoons were 'feh, but the ones shown on Saturday mornings rocked. you got loaded on sugary cereal, had no obligations to go to school, and you zoned out until afternoon golf came on. Since Cartoon Network, Disney, & Nickelodeon eventually gave everyone this 24/7, that time suddenly meant less and less. Come to think of it, so do the cartoons themselves mean less....), maybe there were some Little Rascal shorts or Captain Kangaroo, but you were anxious for your toon fix.

NBC ran a series of segments hosted by a Gary Ed Mach named Kidbits. In between segments they played this loop of the "doot doot-doot doot do-doot" [[from the song above) over and over [[with the show identification displayed) again for a quite a confusing long time. It stayed in your head. Every kid knew it. I encountered loads of folks from my generation who if I just sang that or brought it up, they'd start doing the "doot doot" bit.http://www.wtfdetroit.com/forums/arc...hp/t-6899.html

The show was okay. It had Gary being dry and demonstrating stuff-like how to drive a straw into a potato. Here he is promoting the Science Center I used to work at [[song piece used at 3:43). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMnA2TVAmGc

There have been many folks [[or just the same handful) who have been raging nostalgically about it since 2008 online. I feared this would go overlooked, as John Lodge tried to get folks on DY commenting to no avail.http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...hlight=kidbits

Don’t forget these guys!

The Reflections: They had one hit single in 1964 called "[[Just Like) Romeo and Juliet” which reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
‘Our love's gonna be written down in history
Just like Romeo and Juliet’

Tim Tam And The Turn-Ons: They are best known for "Wait A Minute", which went to #76 on the Billboard chart in 1966 but also recorded several singles, such as "Cheryl Ann", "Kimberly", and "Don't Say Hi"
“I'm searching for a new love
Can that new love be you?”

The Dramatics [[formerly The Dynamics): Best known for their 1971 single, “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get,” which broke into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #9.
‘If what you're looking for
Is real loving
Then what you see
Is what you get’

"Hello Detroit" Sammy Davis Jr. Great song. I remember back in the day Mason on WJLB would play it every morning at 6am.

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Originally Posted by Delray Kid

"Hello Detroit" Sammy Davis Jr. Great song. I remember back in the day Mason on WJLB would play it every morning at 6am.

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CJAM FM, Windsor, still plays it regularly between shows.

This was a staple of the touring bands in Vietnam. It probably ranked just behind "I left my heart in San Francisco" as a song that was popular there..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFFbPYf9Vko

And then from our very good friends to the north:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So3A7A3W4Fs

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Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

Don’t forget these guys!

The Reflections: They had one hit single in 1964 called "[[Just Like) Romeo and Juliet” which reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
‘Our love's gonna be written down in history
Just like Romeo and Juliet’

Tim Tam And The Turn-Ons: They are best known for "Wait A Minute", which went to #76 on the Billboard chart in 1966 but also recorded several singles, such as "Cheryl Ann", "Kimberly", and "Don't Say Hi"
“I'm searching for a new love
Can that new love be you?”

The Dramatics [[formerly The Dynamics): Best known for their 1971 single, “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get,” which broke into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #9.
‘If what you're looking for
Is real loving
Then what you see
Is what you get’

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How about "Love makes the world go round", by Deon Jackson, great song.

Can't leave out Detroits own Edwin Starr.

"Twenty Five Miles"
"War"

I like Seger at number 8, just not that tune. I prefer any of the earlier stuff over Night Moves.

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Originally Posted by Downriviera

I like Seger at number 8, just not that tune. I prefer any of the earlier stuff over Night Moves.

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Any of the early Seger stuff aka Bob Seger and the Last Heard, Eastside Story, 2+2, Persecution Smith, and later, Turn the Page.