This list of songs is inspired by lists published by radio station KEXP-FM from Seattle in 2010, as well as the latest poll taken in 2021 by Rolling Stone Magazine. For the most part I will faithfully countdown from their lists, starting at Song #500 and going until I reach Song #1. When you see the song title listed as something like: Song #XXX (KEXP)….it means that I am working off of the official KEXP list. Song XXX (RS) means the song is coming from the Rolling Stone list. If I post the song title as being: Song #xxx (KTOM), it means I have gone rogue and am inserting a song choice from my own personal list of tunes I really like. In any case, you are going to get to hear a great song and learn the story behind it. Finally, just so everyone is aware, I am not a music critic nor a musician. I am a music fan and an armchair storyteller. Here is the story behind today’s song. Enjoy.
RS: The Top 500 Songs in Modern Music History.
Song #36: Stop! In The Name Of Love by The Supremes.
The song, “Stop! In The Name Of Love” was the fourth consecutive single released by The Supremes that went to #1. They would have one more consecutive song hit the top of the charts; for a total of twelve #1 songs, overall. This song was written by the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, as were all of The Supremes big hits. This song is about a female character who was cheated on by her lover. She stills loves him and asks him to reconsider his faithful ways because of the love that they had shared. The song was based on a real-life episode from the life of Lamont Dozier, where he was the cheating one. When his girlfriend left him as a result, he pleaded with her to “Stop! “In the name of love, please stay!” This song was written specifically for Diana Ross to sing, with Florence Ballad and Mary Wilson being reduced to singing, “Baby! Baby!” in the background through the song. “Stop! In The Name Of Love” was also the song that introduced The Supremes, “talk-to-the-hand” choreographed dance moves than became a focal point during their performances of this song.
There is not a lot else to say about “Stop! In The Name Of Love” because of the assembly line nature of how Motown worked. The background story about the Supremes was chronicled in an earlier post *(which you can read here). In the end, The Supremes became the first all-female group to be inducted into The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. They, also, appeared over twenty times on The Ed Sullivan Show; which is more than any other musical guest. Even though there is no big story behind the making of this song or its meaning, “Stop! In The Name of Love” has, none-the-less, gone on to become one of the songs most identified with that “Motown sound” from the 1960s. As I have said in other posts……sometimes a song ends up having meaning beyond the very song itself and, at other times, a song is just a song. In the case of “Stop! In The Name Of Love”, it really was just a song that was written well (by H-D-H), performed well (by The Supremes) and loved well by millions of fans around the world. And, there’s nothing wrong with that. End of story.
So, without further rambling on, here are The Supremes with their #1 hit, “stop! In The Name Of Love”. Enjoy.
The link to the video for the song, “Stop! In The Name Of Love” by The Supremes, can be found here.
The link to the official website for The Supremes, can be found here.
The link to the official website for Rolling Stone Magazine, can be found here.
Tom MacInnes, Writer 