The smooth pop masters of Motown, with the Supremes they made Motown acceptable to the broadest possible audience. Marvin Gaye and the Four Tops were the raw bluesier other half of the equation.

They had the great good fortune of being assigned Motown's hottest producers at the peak of their respective powers, first Smokey Robinson (My Girl, The Way You Do the Things You Do, Get Ready), Holland Dozier and Holland (Ain't Too Proud to Beg) and Whitfield and Strong (Ball of Confusion, Papa was a Rolling Stone, I Can't Get Next To You).

They were also adept at finding ways to survive departures and shifts in personnel with only founding member Otis Williams, who may have never had a lead vocal on a Temptations single (I'm not sure on that) going the distance.

I would agree with Git that they're a quality band, but after awhile, all of the Motown groups...maybe because of overexposure and too much radio airplay when I was a kid...tended to blend together in my mind, with nothing really distinctive to separate one group from another one. I did recently buy a "Temptations" greatest hits collection on CD, simply because "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" was a song that I always liked and always had a haunting quality about it. To be honest, that's the only song on the collection that still stands out for me.

They could sing, and they were a quality act, but I found them a little bland. I preferred the bluesier style of Motown artists.

A little tame for my tastes, but I've always felt they could sing. . .their songs were catchy and I've always found them talented in their own way.

As with the Isleys I'm not a fan of the early Holland Dozier Holland stuff but the Whitfield-Strong period was great with tracks like 'Ball of Confusion' and 'Papa was a rolling stone'. Much more of an edge and a groove going on

The sound. The harmony. Very nice.

The Temptations were another Motown group that will stand the test of time. "My Girl", "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" and "Cloud Nine" just to name a few.

Next to the Four Tops, they are the best thing to come out of Motown- David Ruffin, Eddie Kendriks and Dennis Edwards are some of the best.

The originals were in the business of show-business. A lot of these young heads could learn a lot from them on perfecting their craft. From the studio to the stage, it's all about the show!

in my view the greatest all around group Motown ever invented. All of the others were about 1 person, 1 lead singer. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Four Tops had 1 lead singer. The Temps had 5 guys who could sing lead at any time and they did!

The recording of My Girl by David Ruffin and the Temptations was not only Motown's finest hour,but arguably the finest hour culturally in the history of Detroit.

The Temptatations were one of the groups responsible for making the marriage between funkiness and soul, and they did it well.