Motown The Soundtrack to My Early Years

  Back in the sixties and seventies we didn’t have MP3 players, cable television or Youtube but we did have Motown. If I had to use one word to describe Motown it would be ‘original’. My parents' generation swayed to the tunes of Nat King Cole, Jackie Wilson, The Dells, Chuck Berry, and the Platters. I grew up in a house with two brothers and our Cousin Herb.  The record players back then were called Hi-fi’s back then. Our high-fidelity stereo sat on a stand in the living room and under no circumstances were we allowed to touch it. The fastest way for my parents to clear the room was to play Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” or “Tutti Frutti” by Little Richard, before half the song was over we were out. One day seemingly out of the ether came this company named Motown.  I knew that cars came from Detroit but until I looked at a map I had no idea where Detroit was located in relation to Philly. Growing up we listened to three radio stations, two played R&B/Soul primarily from black