This is not to spite at the Funk Brothers but...

[timmy84]

Ok, I can admit like so many people, I'm mad that the Funks never got the total support that they should've and it was great for someone to check them out and have them revealed for people who wanna know how the beats were laid down quite flat but I have an issue with this quote:

They've played on more number-one hit singles than Elvis, the Beach Boys, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined.

Ok, do they mean just number-one POP singles or Billboard number-ones? Because I counted how many Motown songs the Funk Brothers played on that went #1 pop:

1961: "Please, Mr. Postman"
1963: "Fingertips"
1964: "My Guy"
1964: "Where Did Our Love Go"
1964: "Baby Love"
1964: "Come See About Me"
1965: "My Girl"
1965: "Stop! In the Name of Love"
1965: "Back in My Arms Again"
1965: "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)"
1965: "I Hear a Symphony"
1966: "You Can't Hurry Love"
1966: "Reach Out I'll Be There"
1966: "You Keep Me Hangin' On"
1967: "Love Is Here (And Now You're Gone)"
1967: "The Happening"
1968: "Love Child"
1968: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
1969: "I Can't Get Next to You"
1969: "Someday We'll Be Together"
1970: "War"
1970: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
1971: "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)"

Now I've tallied up, the Funk Brothers played on 22 number-one U.S. hits for Motown Records between 1961 and 1971, a very impressive number. But then I counted how many number-ones Elvis, the Beach Boys, the Beatles and the Stones had and this is what I came up with:

The Beatles (20)
Elvis (18)
The Rolling Stones (8)
The Beach Boys (3)

They had 49 number-one hits combined, do they mean it as a band themselves combined, they have more number-one hits than the other rock acts because the way I look at it, the Funk Brothers played on 22 while the Beatles had 20, I look at it like that.

People say "combined" so often when they say that, I'm often thinking it's all these guys COMBINED versus the Funks'. Help me out here.

[timmy84]

And I think they need to get rid of the "combined" because they DO have more #1 hits than those rock acts...PERIOD!

[antceleb12]

Hmm ... you've got a good point. But considering that they played on so many songs, and then the non-Motown songs they played on count on as well. Besides, I'm sure they wouldn't just put out a lie ... I actually believe it may be truthful .

[timmy84]

I think they were telling the truth but they were saying it wrong...

[fourever]

Maybe all of the songs including non-Motown and each Funk individually

[Emerald City]

Never really thought about it...maybe they are referring to the charts collectively...R&B and Pop...hmmm...

[fourever]

Oh yeah, or anything that hit any chart's number one

[timmy84]

But that would've made it too easy because MOTOWN had like 20-25 R&B number-ones I think! And except for Elvis, none of those acts ever hit the R&B charts. On the pop charts, I say with 23 number-one pop singles that the Funks played on, they topped them guys individually. Least that's how I look at it so I don't know about this combined stuff.

[rainymourning]

I do not think it is confined just to the Pop charts ((timmy)) but you are right stating that maybe it is the Funk Brothers versus each of those acts individually.