Shop Around - Captain & Tennille (1976) 9/23/22

Way back in 1960, 20-year-old Smokey Robinson teamed up with his friend, Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr., to write what turned out to be both Smokey's and Motown's very first million-selling record--and a "Great Song f the '60s!"

"Shop Around" by Smokey & The Miracles went to #1 on Billboard's Soul Chart, and #2 on The Hot 100, and the accolades just kept on coming!

The song spent decades on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time, was listed as one of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock ^& Roll" by The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006.

Interestingly, the song had already been released and was getting some airplay in the Detroit area when Berry decided that it needed to be more "mass appeal." So one morning at 3am, he called Smokey & The Miracles back into the studio and they re-recorded it with a slightly different and quicker arrangement, and the rest is history.

At least it WAS history...until 1976, when The Captain and Tennille dusted it off and released a gender switch version with Toni singing lead. Their version became a "Great Song of the '70s," topping Billboard's Easy Listening Chart while reaching #4 on the Top 40 in both the US and Canada and selling over a million copies."

"Shop Around:" Good Advice. Great Song!

Captain & Tennille:

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (Hit version)

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: (Detroit version)