(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 refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post)
The Supremes - "Stop! In the Name of Love"
Hit Number 1: March 27, 1965
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
With how successful the Supremes' first album "Where Did Our Love Go" was, it was no shocker to see them appear in this blog again. In the mid-60s, the Motown Record peaked, with the Supremes and future blog entry the Four Tops collecting hit after hit. It can be argued that the first true "breaking point" for Motown was when Mary Wells hit #1 with "My Guy" last year, but many could argue it was the "Where Did Our Love Go" album, which yielded 3 #1 songs. Many people in 1965 were probably wondering what the Supremes would do next, if anything. They weren't done yet though. Not even close.
The first song they released after the "Where Did Our Love Go" album was "Stop! In the Name of Love". This song is mostly known today as the song where the trio stand in a position with one hand on their hip, and the other extended out in a "stop" position while performing the song live. Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin of the Temptations taught the girls the routine while backstage at a show called "Ready, Steady, Go!, where they would perform the single live for the first time. The show was doing a special on the Motown Label, called "The Sound of Motown", which was being hosted by Motown enthusiast Dusty Springfield, a successful singer in her own right in the 60s. (Her most successful single was "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" which made it to #4. It's a 6) I don't know for sure, but that might've been what helped make "Stop! In the Name of Love" a successful song.
Of course that, and it's just a good song. They weren't shying away just yet from what made them great on the "Where Did Our Love Go" album, which delivered songs that were happy sounding, but were really just songs about failing love. That's pretty much the case again on "Stop! In the Name of Love". It's a song about a guy who's cheating on his girl, and she knows. She begs him to quit fooling around, and "think it over" before he goes and continues to break her heart. But again, you're not exactly paying close attention to the lyrics of the song. All that matters here is the style and instrumentation of the song, and it's pretty much just like their other three previous #1 hits. There's some cool keyboard playing, a supporting saxophone that stays in the background rather than the spotlight (which Motown songs were famous for), along with a hearty and sturdy beat that keeps the song's flow at that nice middle ground; not too fast, not too slow. And of course, you get Diana Ross' great, crisp voice. It isn't a song that'll blow you away, but it's a nice and complete song. No complaints here.
GRADE: 8/10
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