behindthegrooves:

On this day in music history: November 19, 1966 – “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 2 weeks, also topping the R&B singles chart for 4 weeks on November 26, 1966. Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, it is the eighth number one pop single, and third R&B chart topper for the Motown vocal trio. The track is a deliberate attempt by HDH to give the group a harder edged sound. The songs’ distinctive morse code like lead guitar lick is suggested by Lamont Dozier when he hears the intro to a news report on the radio with a similar rhythmic element to it. The track is recorded at Motown Records Studio A on June 30, 1966 with instrumental backing by The Funk Brothers. The Supremes overdub their vocals two months later on August 1, 1966. Released as the follow up to the girls’ previous chart topper “You Can’t Hurry Love” on October 12, 1966, it is another immediate smash. Entering the Hot 100 at #68 on October 29, 1966, it rockets to the top of the chart just three weeks later. The week that “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” hits the top of the chart, it presides over a unique top five in which all of the songs within had either previously reached number one, or are on their way to hitting the top of the chart. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” sells more than one million copies in the US. Like many Motown classics, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” covered by a wide variety of artists, including versions by Wilson Pickett, Rod Stewart, and The Box Tops. The song returns to the top ten in a dramatically re-vamped version by hard rock band Vanilla Fudge in 1968. Their version, initially released in June of 1967 fails to make much of an impression at first. Clocking in at more than seven minutes on their self-titled debut, it is pared down to under three minutes for single release. It’s only after it begins receiving widespread airplay on FM underground stations playing the long LP cut, that it eventually crosses over to AM pop stations. Reissued a year later in June of 1968, climbs to #6 on the Hot 100 on August 31, 1968. Then over twenty years after The Supremes top the pop charts with the song, it hits number one a second time, when it is covered by British pop singer Kim Wilde, whose own Hi-NRG dance remake becomes a club and pop smash. Regarded as one of The Supremes career defining singles as well as a R&B and pop standard, it is inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1999.