C-Sides: The Honey Cone

“Want Ads” (1971)

Time is a flat circle. A circle flattened by elephants. Woe to the grass.

There’s an African Kiswahili proverb that roughly translates into English as “when the elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers.” In the annals of the music industry, the elephants at war at present are major labels and economic depression, making the grass so many gifted female artists. Sadly, Carly Rae Jepsen, Lorde and Meghan Trainor are being trampled into the one-hit wonder dust of our collective memory.

Need proof of this? Here are three absolutely true and (possibly) frightening facts about women in American popular music over the past three years.

• Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” had a nine-week run at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2012.
• In 2013, Lorde’s “Royals” had a nine-week run at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
• Similarly, this week, Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” will likely reach a ninth week at the top of the Billboard charts in 2014.

Two of the three artists have not been able to replicate their success. The jury’s still out on Meghan Trainor, but let’s not hold our breath, shall we?

Bearing this in mind, let’s remember that this isn’t the first time this has ever happened. Here’s the story of The Honey Cone.

But before that, here’re two related historical notes.

• Between 1963–1967, as songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland (Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland — aka HDH) wrote 12 number one singles (27 top-ten) for acts recording on the Motown label.
• Included in those singles were hits for superstar female acts Martha and The Vandellas and The Supremes. Intriguingly, in the post-HDH era, The Supremes had only two number one singles and five top-ten hits overall.

In the post 1967 Motown era, the label — aside from pushing Diana Ross and The Supremes as a marquee act — moved away from its successful girl group formula. Ever wondered why that’s the case? In another music industry instance of elephants fighting and the grass suffering, here’s one answer.

Detroit-based, The Honey Cone were comprised of Edna Wright, Carolyn Willis and Shelly Clarkin and began officially recording as a group in 1969. They were discovered by the HDH trio soon after they left Motown in 1968 due to issues surrounding royalty payments. Given that the trio were from the Motor City, had HDH remained with Motown, The Honey Cone could’ve easily been a Motown signing. However, the female trio signed with the then new, HDH-owned “Hot Wax” imprint instead. “Want Ads” (though not written by HDH) reached number one on Billboard’s pop charts and sold over one million units. “Stick Up” — the group’s second single — reached number 11 on the same pop charts, and sold over one million singles, too.

However, in some part due to financial mismanagement of The Honey Cone’s success (ironically via unpaid royalties), by 1973, Hot Wax Records folded. As well, The Honey Cone also split up that year (reuniting in February, 2014).

Three women signed to major labels in modern times have identical (yet forgettable) runs with one-hit wonders. Nearly a half-century ago, a trio of music industry elephants won a fight, however, a trio of women were trampled in the process.

Time is a flat circle. A circle flattened by elephants. Woe to the grass.