B-side "I'm In Love Again" Length 2:52 | Genre Pop, R&B, soul | |
Released February 8, 1965 (U.S.) Format Vinyl record (7" 45 RPM) Recorded Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); January 5, January 7, and January 11, 1965 | ||
"Stop! In the Name of Love" is a 1965 song recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label.
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Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "Stop! In the Name of Love" held the number one position on the Billboard pop singles chart in the United States from March 27, 1965 through April 3, 1965, and reached the number-two position on the soul chart.
Overview
The Supremes recorded "Stop! In the Name of Love" in January 1965 and released as a single on February 8. The song was included on the Supremes' sixth album, More Hits by The Supremes, and was nominated for the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal Performance, losing to "Flowers on the Wall" by the Statler Brothers. The song was also honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's permanent collection of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
The Supremes' choreography for this song, with one hand on the hip and the other outstretched in a "stop" gesture, is legendary. Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin of The Temptations taught the girls the routine backstage in London, before the Supremes' first televised performance of the single on the Ready Steady Go! special "The Sound of Motown," hosted by Motown enthusiast Dusty Springfield. They also performed the song on an episode of the ABC variety program Shindig! which aired on Wednesday, February 24, 1965.
Cover versions and other uses
The Jackson 5 covered this in a live performance on the Carol Burnett Show in 1975 as they were paying tributes to the Supremes, the Mills Brothers and the Andrews Sisters. Cover versions were later recorded by Margie Joseph, Gene Pitney, Nicki French, Sinitta, Globe, Johnny Rivers, the L.A. Heavy Metal-Band Black Sheep, C:Real, Gloria Gaynor, Claude François (as "Stop au nom de l'amour", 1971), Les Fizz (as "Stop, Tu N' As Plus Le Droit", 1966), Renata Pacini (as "In nome dell'amore", 1966), Jacob Sisters (as "Was hab' ich dir getan", 1966) and The Hollies (who saw their version peaked in America at No. 29 and in Canada at No. 31 in 1983). In 1996, Los Flechazos recorded an instrumental version for his EP "En tu Calle". In 1998, a cover version by Jonell Mosser was included in the film Hope Floats. A eurodance remix was made for the 2002 Dancemania compilation Speed 8. American rapper Lil Wayne sampled the song on his song "Gossip." The lyrics are briefly quoted in The B-52's song "Dance This Mess Around." American singer La Toya Jackson recorded the song for her 1995 album Stop in the Name of Love.
The song was performed by Florida, Willona and Thelma during a rent party in an episode of Good Times. The song was also covered as part of a mash-up on the Fox series Glee along with "Free Your Mind" by En Vogue in the episode "Never Been Kissed." Claude François' version appears in the 2014 superhero film X-Men: Days of Future Past, in a scene set in 1973 Paris.