THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: I'll Keep Holding On

This chapter is in some potential drafts of my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but is more likely to be pushed back to an even-more-theoretical This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE MARVELETTES: I'll Keep Holding On

Written by Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter

Produced by Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter

Single, Tamla Records, 1965

Most would consider it an insult to describe any creative artifact as the product of an assembly line. But at Motown Records in the '60s, the pop music assembly line was transcendent, and it was well capable of achieving artistic heights. 

It's no coincidence that Motown was headquartered in Detroit, the Motor City where Henry Ford made the assembly line a way of life. The Motown hit factory churned out nonpareil works by the Temptations, the Supremes, the Miracles, the Four Tops, and more, stellar creations that no one in their right mind could disregard as crass or Philistine, as lesser. Art wasn't the specific goal; Motown's head Berry Gordy Jr. wanted records that sold, sold in big, big numbers. The Sound Of Young America. Gordy and his immensely talented line workers just figured the best way to manufacture records that sold was to craft great records. Art for art's sake? Absolutely not. It was art for commerce's sake. It was art nonetheless.

The Marvelettes' "I'll Keep Holding On" wasn't one of Motown's biggest-selling products. It's not even among the Marvelettes' tippity-top sellers, not like their debut "Please Mr. Postman" (# 1 in 1961), nor like Top 10 and Top 20 entries "Playboy," "Beechwood 4-5789," "Don't Mess With Bill," "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game," and "My Baby Must Be A Magician," nor even their well-remembered # 25 record "Too Many Fish In The Sea." "I'll Keep Holding On" did breach the Top 40 in 1965, but could only claw its way up to # 34 before letting go.

But among those who heard the record and loved it, its hold was unbreakable. Its fans included a British Mod combo called the Action (said to be future Genesis and solo star Phil Collins' favorite group not named the Beatles),who covered it in '66. I heard the Action's version first, courtesy of a British Invasion compilation in the '90s. The Action hooked me on the song, but the Marvelettes captured me like fair game once I heard their original. Made in Detroit. Built to last. Your mileage may vary.

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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

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