In March 1965, at a time when The Beatles were the dominant pop force on the planet, the all-female Motown group The Supremes weren’t doing too shabby either. The Detroit pop-soul act experienced a few lean years at the beginning of its career but broke out in 1964 with three consecutive singles that topped the Billboard Hot 100—“Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” and “Come See About Me.”
On March 27, 1965, The Supremes extended their streak to four straight No. 1 hits when “Stop! In The Name Of Love” topped the Hot 100. All of the group’s chart-topping singles up to that time were written by the Motown songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Two of the collaborative team’s members, Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, also served as The Supremes’ producers.
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“Stop! In The Name Of Love” knocked The Beatles’ “Eight Days A Week” from the top of the Hot 100. It spent two weeks at No. 1 before being replaced by Freddie And The Dreamers’ “I’m Telling You Now.”
In the song, frontwoman Diana Ross sings from the perspective of a woman pleading with her cheating romantic partner not to keep seeing his other lover.
About the Inspiration for “Stop! In The Name Of Love”
Dozier said he came up with the song’s title after he was confronted by a girlfriend about his own infidelities.
As Lamont explained in an archival interview with the Grammy Foundation, “I had some dealings with a girl that was a little less happy about my fooling around with other girls. … Well, boys will be boys … I put it that way at the time.”
He continued, “[A]nyway, that particular title went great with this riff that Brian [Holland] came up with. And then we passed it on to Eddie [Holland], and Eddie wrote a fantastic lyric to that. I mean, as far as … what it meant and what it means to stop in the name of love. It was very unusual, very good. One of Eddie’s best.”
About the Inspiration for “Stop! In The Name Of Love”
The Supremes became the first artists to have four consecutive singles top the Hot 100 chart. They extended the streak to five when “Back In My Arms Again” reached No. 1 in June 1965.
In 1966, The Supremes were nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance – Group (Vocal or Instrumental) category for “Stop! In The Name Of Love.” Country act The Statler Brothers won the award for “Flowers On The Wall.”
In 1983, British Invasion group The Hollies had a comeback hit with a cover of “Stop! In The Name Of Love.” Their version reached No. 29 on the Hot 100.
In 2001, The Supremes’ recording of “Stop! In The Name Of Love” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
(Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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