To be fair, this song could be filed under Classics. However, it’ll forever be ever so slightly flawed and poptasticized for many Americans of a particular generation thanks (sarcasm) to the California Raisin Advisory Board and the claymation California Raisins. The CALRAB closed up shop in 1994 but their painful legacy lives on in our social memory. Bastards.
Thankfully, the original two releases are still amazing songs, even if played so often you may think they’ve lost their punch. They haven’t. The California Raisins studio version was a dry and drained Poptastic nightmare, but Gladys Night & The Pips and Marvin Gaye turned in #2 and #1 chart performances in 1967 and 1968, respectively, with Gaye’s widely considered an All Time Classic.
Gladys Night & The Pips – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Filed under: Music, Poptastic Day
