THE STORY OF THE SUPREMES FROM THE MARY WILSON COLLECTION, VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON, LONDON
The Story of the Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington, London
1.) Strange Fruit
The background to the story of The Supremes, the history of America in the 1960s, the era of the fight against racism and segregation in the deep south. Berry Gordy jnr, head of Motown records, sought a black group that could crossover, appealing to black and white audiences simultaneously. The Supremes, the group with more number ones than any 60s band apart from The Beatles, managed to do that, and they did it with an admix that guaranteed a wholesome, positive image and appeal which also catered to the black community in the US that desired positive images but also criticised The Supremes for ‘not being black enough’.
This retrospective offers plentiful historical background information about the period, including material about the legitimate face of black liberation represented by the Reverend Martin Luther King and more confrontational movements such as The Black Panther, as well as other figures from the period who tended to move between legitimate dissent and violent resistance to white mainstream culture. There’s lots of historical information about the south, segregation and the gathering opposition to the Vietnam War, (including Edwin Starr’s album ‘War & Peace’ featuring images of Starr in pickelhaub with shield and sword, then dressed in a white jumpsuit adorned with CND symbols, offering a V sign with one hand, holding a white dove in the other. The album cover looks both silly and corny but it gave birth to Starr's great anthem 'War', perhaps the greatest anti-war song ever written. An image of Marvin Gaye in what looks like a tacky black shiny leather trench coat, a seeming flashers mac, at once sordid, seedy belies the fact that the album is the masterwork 'What's goin on'. All kinds of ludicrous outfits, kinky affros - the affro hairstyle was the number 1 symbol of independent black spirit in the era. The Supremes, we are told, moved from a position of idealism to one of cynicism without really showing any kind of strain, but their effective domination of the charts began to end in the 70s, with the beginning of a new era, one in which their style of music, as well as all the other styles they celebrated in clothes, in hairstyles, started to become passe. Also the group had begun to change. Diana Ross, the group's star, left in the early '70s to pursue a solo career. The Supremes went through five or so changes of personnel, with Mary Wilson the sole survivor of the original crew.
2.) Berry Gordy jnr and Motown
Berry Gordy jnr had wanted Motown to be a musical assembly line, and self-consciously imported Fordism, mass assembly capitalism as a metaphor for black competitiveness and commercial liberty in the 'free market'. (a market that Gordy totally and correctly supposed to be entirely 'sewn up' by white music labels and white bands playing music derived from the Blues) Every track was assembled, first vocals, then the Funk Brothers backbeat, even bicycle chains whipped against the floor and other 'sound effects'. Afterwards Gordy listened to the track on cheap acetate, because this was meant to simulate the effect of music played on a car radio (it was supposed that music was listened to first of all in the car). Then each and every track would be debated at a selection meeting, to which absolutely anyone could attend with the proviso that they arrive before 9.05 (PM?). Recording stars, studio staff and the Funk Brothers were available and on call 24 hours a day. There was unbelievably intense competition, many tracks debated at these meetings were never released.
The exhibition manages to convey all this information, accessibly and with a suitable and proportionate sense of excitement. There's also plenty of the original music to listen to, whether on backprojection for everyone or personal headphone.
3.) Negratude
The contemporary criticism of The Supremes as tokens, as somehow not being black enough, hence their very proletarian garb on the cover of 'Love Child' which was seen as being at odds with their alternate image as black superstars. This meant that they were loaded and dressed to impress. The exhibition includes many of the costumes worn by The Supremes, which now seem sexy or cute in some retroactive mode. The Supremes had become popular but had lost contact with their grassroots black audience which had begun to change and demanded more radical, confrontational images. Therefore The Supremes began to consciously play on former images of black superstardom and empowerment, dressing up as Josephine Baker, the black star who had been famous in 1920s Paris (Paris, France ie not Paris, USA) or Marilyn Monroe (who satisfied their penchant for victimhood even if she was white). Politically The Supremes managed broad appeal, changing their image and preoccupations, but finally fading away into irrelevance in the late 1970s, as new tastes and styles began to appear, including the Punk and New Wave eras.
The exhibition managed to convey the sense that recent history is real history, as urgent and vital as the history of the Rennaissance or of the Roman Republic. Besides all of the very dated if not hilarious costumes (and there's a real sense in which Gordy's tongue was also in his cheek throughout it all) there's a realisation that their music was not trivial, even if popular and that the 1960s, now merely fading into history, is as remote or familiar as we wish it to be. This exhibition demonstrates the evolution of style in the music and costumes of The Supremes throughout a period of upheaval in American history that is still effecting the world today.
Paul Murphy, Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington, London
1.) Strange Fruit
The background to the story of The Supremes, the history of America in the 1960s, the era of the fight against racism and segregation in the deep south. Berry Gordy jnr, head of Motown records, sought a black group that could crossover, appealing to black and white audiences simultaneously. The Supremes, the group with more number ones than any 60s band apart from The Beatles, managed to do that, and they did it with an admix that guaranteed a wholesome, positive image and appeal which also catered to the black community in the US that desired positive images but also criticised The Supremes for ‘not being black enough’.
This retrospective offers plentiful historical background information about the period, including material about the legitimate face of black liberation represented by the Reverend Martin Luther King and more confrontational movements such as The Black Panther, as well as other figures from the period who tended to move between legitimate dissent and violent resistance to white mainstream culture. There’s lots of historical information about the south, segregation and the gathering opposition to the Vietnam War, (including Edwin Starr’s album ‘War & Peace’ featuring images of Starr in pickelhaub with shield and sword, then dressed in a white jumpsuit adorned with CND symbols, offering a V sign with one hand, holding a white dove in the other. The album cover looks both silly and corny but it gave birth to Starr's great anthem 'War', perhaps the greatest anti-war song ever written. An image of Marvin Gaye in what looks like a tacky black shiny leather trench coat, a seeming flashers mac, at once sordid, seedy belies the fact that the album is the masterwork 'What's goin on'. All kinds of ludicrous outfits, kinky affros - the affro hairstyle was the number 1 symbol of independent black spirit in the era. The Supremes, we are told, moved from a position of idealism to one of cynicism without really showing any kind of strain, but their effective domination of the charts began to end in the 70s, with the beginning of a new era, one in which their style of music, as well as all the other styles they celebrated in clothes, in hairstyles, started to become passe. Also the group had begun to change. Diana Ross, the group's star, left in the early '70s to pursue a solo career. The Supremes went through five or so changes of personnel, with Mary Wilson the sole survivor of the original crew.
2.) Berry Gordy jnr and Motown
Berry Gordy jnr had wanted Motown to be a musical assembly line, and self-consciously imported Fordism, mass assembly capitalism as a metaphor for black competitiveness and commercial liberty in the 'free market'. (a market that Gordy totally and correctly supposed to be entirely 'sewn up' by white music labels and white bands playing music derived from the Blues) Every track was assembled, first vocals, then the Funk Brothers backbeat, even bicycle chains whipped against the floor and other 'sound effects'. Afterwards Gordy listened to the track on cheap acetate, because this was meant to simulate the effect of music played on a car radio (it was supposed that music was listened to first of all in the car). Then each and every track would be debated at a selection meeting, to which absolutely anyone could attend with the proviso that they arrive before 9.05 (PM?). Recording stars, studio staff and the Funk Brothers were available and on call 24 hours a day. There was unbelievably intense competition, many tracks debated at these meetings were never released.
The exhibition manages to convey all this information, accessibly and with a suitable and proportionate sense of excitement. There's also plenty of the original music to listen to, whether on backprojection for everyone or personal headphone.
3.) Negratude
The contemporary criticism of The Supremes as tokens, as somehow not being black enough, hence their very proletarian garb on the cover of 'Love Child' which was seen as being at odds with their alternate image as black superstars. This meant that they were loaded and dressed to impress. The exhibition includes many of the costumes worn by The Supremes, which now seem sexy or cute in some retroactive mode. The Supremes had become popular but had lost contact with their grassroots black audience which had begun to change and demanded more radical, confrontational images. Therefore The Supremes began to consciously play on former images of black superstardom and empowerment, dressing up as Josephine Baker, the black star who had been famous in 1920s Paris (Paris, France ie not Paris, USA) or Marilyn Monroe (who satisfied their penchant for victimhood even if she was white). Politically The Supremes managed broad appeal, changing their image and preoccupations, but finally fading away into irrelevance in the late 1970s, as new tastes and styles began to appear, including the Punk and New Wave eras.
The exhibition managed to convey the sense that recent history is real history, as urgent and vital as the history of the Rennaissance or of the Roman Republic. Besides all of the very dated if not hilarious costumes (and there's a real sense in which Gordy's tongue was also in his cheek throughout it all) there's a realisation that their music was not trivial, even if popular and that the 1960s, now merely fading into history, is as remote or familiar as we wish it to be. This exhibition demonstrates the evolution of style in the music and costumes of The Supremes throughout a period of upheaval in American history that is still effecting the world today.
Paul Murphy, Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington, London
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