(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Love Child"
Hit Number 1: November 30, 1968
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
The Supremes had been through a lot since we last saw them in this blog. After topping the charts in 1967 with the pretty bad "The Happening", they dropped member Florence Ballard after her continuing drug problem, and picked up Cindy Birdsong, a former member of Patti Labelle's group, the Bluebelles. They also changed their name slightly, becoming Diana Ross & the Supremes, since Ross was the no-doubt most famous member in the group. Their sound changed a lot too. In 1967, they seemed lost, After dominating the charts in 1964 and 1965, they fell into a bit of a rut. With the wave of the psychedelic era, it was a dry period in Motown's, and therefore the Supremes', chart success. But they started experimenting a little bit more. After nearly topping the charts in the later half of 1967 with "Reflections", (It's an 8), they dug deeper into topics that were viewed as controversial. "Love Child" is about as controversial as it gets. The song is literally about illegitimacy.
I say that their sound changed, because they no longer had the signature "Motown sound" attached to them. It seems weird to bring up this word so early on, but I can see early traces of disco in "Love Child". It's not exactly great dancing material, but it has the glistening strings, and the instrumental power that some of the disco songs in the late 1970's would have. But again, this song is not about dancing, or getting your "boogie" on. Instead, it's about someone who was born as a "love child", or someone who was born as an "accident". In the song, the narrator's father left her mother after she was born, and left the two to live in poverty, as the lyrics describe the narrator living in a "tenement slum", and wore an old dress to school that someone threw out. Years go by, and she now finds herself in a serious relationship with a guy, but pleads with him to not rush things, in fear that they might have a "love child" themselves. It's a far cry from the kinds of stuff we heard from the Supremes early on, but it's still a good song. It really makes you think. I like that.
It was too bad that "Love Child" and the new-found sound that the Supremes had didn't lead to more success. I love the majestic instrumental material, and how Ross' lead vocal never tries to steal the show from her background singers. The background singers in "Love Child" have a lot bigger of a role, repeating Ross' statements, and helping the song carry along at a neat pace. Some might even view "Love Child" as one of the greatest Supremes' songs ever. I, however, think of them just like the Beatles, and I'm much more partial to the Supremes' earliest hits. But "Love Child" is still a tremendous moment in an iconic group's history.
The Supremes would not be around much longer. But before their breakup, and Ross' solo career started up, they will appear in this blog one last time.
GRADE: 8/10
10 ALERT!!!:
Steppenwolf's trippy, other-worldly masterpiece "Magic Carpet Ride" peaked at #3 behind "Love Child". You don't know what we can find, but you should know it's a 10.
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