Talk:The Temptations

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The singles post-1994 may not be complete; the information is based upon both the liner notes for the Emperors of Soul box set (which was made in 1994 and stops there) and the listing at allmusic.com for the Billboard (pop, R&B, or otherwise) charting singles [1]. If anyone could fill in any missing gaps, it would be much appreciated. Thanks. --b. Touch 07:06, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 RE: "It's Growing" 2 Boy band? 3 FAC 4 A quick once-over 5 Chronology, 1997 6 Rod Stewart & CBS 7 Major Editing

[edit] RE: "It's Growing"

That's David Ruffin on lead, not Paul Williams. The liner notes for the Temptations Emperors of Soul box set confirm such. From what Otis Williams says, "It's Growing" was designed as a deliberate follow-up to "My Girl". --b. Touch 15:12, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Boy band?

See: Boy_band#Famous boy bands. Hyacinth 00:56, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I saw it. But do the Temptations really count as a boy band? They weren't "pacakged" as "the cute one", etc. or sold for pure sex appeal, nor were they any more or less producer and label-controlled than any other group at Motown. Plus, they were in their early-to-mid 20s when they first signed to Motown. I've never, in my 15+ years of listening to soul music, heard the Tempts referred to as a "boy band". The first boy band would arguably (ARGUABLY, that is) be The Jackson 5. I'd say the Tempts should come off that list. What do you think? --b. Touch 02:55, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] FAC

I was gonna nominate this a week or two ago, but didn't because I knew it was being edited. I've made one change, reducing the size of the first pic, because it made the lead section very narrow and awkward looking. A few questions:

What does Street would front a new group of Distants for the local Thelma during the early 1960s. What is a "Thelma"?

Thelma LABEL. Thelma was another Detroit label. Oops. FIxing...--b. Touch 02:00, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The "Influences and colleagues" section seems to be in an odd location. Maybe move to before "Forming the Temptations"?

In the "Influences and colleagues" section, a couple words seem to be missing from The various members of The Temptations met a number of their later Motown bandmates, labelmates, and producers..

There may be more soon, but I gotta go now. Overall, great work! Tuf-Kat 01:53, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)

I'll fix these up. Also, I don't know about wiki-linking the non-Temptation Primes and Distants, especially since (1) they don't really meet the musician notability guidelines of having performed in front of more than 5,000 people and (2) Try as I might, I can't sem to find any biographical info for them. I'll unlink them for right now, but if we can find any info on them, we can relink them. One thing in PARTICULAR I would like to have official is the spelling of Kel Osbourne's name (I've seen Cal Osbourne, Kell Osbourn, and every other variant spelling--apparently Eddie and Paul didn't remember how to spell their buddy's name...lol). The Cadillacs, on the other hand...I'll stub that right now.--b. Touch 02:00, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The musician notability guidelines include anyone who was once a part of a group that later became notable (or something to that effect). There are a lot of name changes and sister groups and the like involved, so I'm not sure how that would apply to the individuals in question, but I'd rather err on the side of including information (I know, it's just a link in this case, but the principle is the same) -- plus it just looks really weird to link to articles on three or four members of a group, but then not on the last one listed. The Cadillacs was indeed the only one I was sure were notable (thanks for the stub!). Tuf-Kat 02:50, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)

A few more minor changes: Tuf-Kat

• There's no need to abbreviate "The Temptations" to "The Tempts", since we don't need to save paper space or anything (I think there's a policy on this). Also, when used as part of the name of the band, the T in The should be capitalized, I think.
  • Along the same lines, it seems to me that I've seen the band referrred to in print as The Temps much more often than as The Tempts as called out in the lead, and a quick Google search seems to back me up on this. Putting both variations in the lead will just uglify it, though; I'd suggest that neither nickname needs to be included in the lead sentence, but perhaps both could be mentioned a bit later? Jgm 02:32, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
    • The autobiographies of Otis Williams and Mary Wilson both confirm that the proper spelling of the abbreviation is in fact "Tempts" with the "t". I was confused myself, because either spelling is pronounced the same way. But throughout his book, Williams refers to his group as "The Tempts". Besides, "Temps" means "temporary workers". --b. Touch 18:13, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
• In the "Initial impact" section, I linked The Flamingos and The Vibrations. Assuming this is the same Flamingos that already have an article, they are assuredly notable. Less sure about the Vibrations -- I'm pretty sure there's a famous band by that name, but I think of Tony Jackson & the Vibrations, a British merseybeat band, judging from the google hits, which may or may not be what is meant (and is apparently not who our Tony Jackson article is about). Googling reveals many hits for at least a half-dozen bands, most of which are probably not notable. Uggh! I'll see about sorting this out tomorrow.
• Same section ("Initial impact"): While there were a number of smooth and sophisticated male soul performers before The Temptations became successful, including labelmate Marvin Gaye, The Temptations were influential and making sophistication and romance more popular than the rawer gospel-based sound popularized by the Stax label. -- ugly sentence indeed. Too tired to think of a way to fix it at the moment.
• Removing the bit about fame going to David Ruffin's head. It may be entirely or mostly indisputed, but isn't really necessary anyway -- let the reader judge what he was thinking when he did all those things; the sentence reads fine without it.
• Removed the see alsos, as they are already linked in the article text. Generally, a "see also" is something which isn't mentioned yet (i.e. because the article is missing something). Once there's a link, the see alsos should be removed.
• The only significant issue, I think, is that it isn't really explained why this group is notable. The lead mentions that they were popular, even of unprecedented popularity, but the article doesn't really go into what the long-term influence of the Temptations has been. I have a book on American popular music that cites the opinions of a dozen or more authors for pretty much anyone of repute in the field... except, as I have just discovered, for the Temptations, who aren't even in the index... Odd... Anyway, it shouldn't be hard to find some juicy quotes and whatnot about why they were so important. It's too late for me now, though. Tuf-Kat 04:12, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)

I took care of everything that was left except the last one. I'm still looking too. --b. Touch 05:15, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Update--I found a notability reference, and the edits from others also helped as well. --b. Touch 15:52, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] A quick once-over

I've done a really quick once-over up to (but not including) "Dry spell" -- primarily punctuation. Anal, nit-picky stuff. (Watch the tendency toward overuse/misuse of semicolons to join sentences and overly long sentences.) This is a truly encyclopedic piece and, from what I've read so far, extremely well done. My compliments to the various contributors. Peace. deeceevoice 07:26, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Chronology, 1997

I changed some of the members around, after finding this picture http://www.thetemptations.com/v-web/gallery/former-various/Temptations_1997, which shows Terry Weeks and Theo Peoples in the group at the same time. According to the Temptations official website, Ollie Woodson left in 1996, not 1998; and Terry joined in 97. This means that Theo took over as lead after Ollie left, and Theo was then replaced by Bo Henderson in 98.

Thanks. The lineup changes are so complicated at some points that you need a scorecard to keep up. --FuriousFreddy 01:36, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rod Stewart & CBS

You forgot the song that they did with Rod Stewart in 1991 ("The Motown Song") and the "Get Ready" remix for CBS in 1990. 71.111.215.224 12:27, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

HARRY MCGILBERRY PAST AWAY THE MONTH APRIL 2006

[edit] Major Editing

There is a link under the discography section entitled "Lost And Found: You've Got To Earn It (1962-1968). It seems like it needs a lot editing. I have no idea how to do that stuff.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by GlassOnion921 (talk • contribs) 08:02, 28 June 2006 (UTC).