The Supremes - Stop in the name of love

Video of The Supremes singing "Stop in the name of love"

"Stop! In the Name of Love" clip (help·info) is a 1965 number-one single recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. 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 Hot 100 singles chart from March 21, 1965 to April 3, 1965, and reached the number two position on the soul chart. The fourth of five Supremes songs in a row to go number one (the others are "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Come See About Me", and "Back in My Arms Again"), it is remembered as one of the most popular and well-known songs of the late 20th century.

Overview

The song had its origin in an argument Lamont Dozier had with his girlfriend; when she began to walk out the door, he yelled out "stop... in the name of love!" Both Dozier and his girlfriend began laughing and reconciled; and Dozier had the seed for the next song he would write for the Supremes.

The Supremes' choreography for this song, with one hand on the hip and the other outstretched in a "stop" gesture, is equally legendary. Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin of The Temptations taught the girls the routine backstage in London, before the Supremes' performance on the BBC television special The Sound of Motown, hosted by Dusty Springfield.

"Stop! In the Name of Love!" was recorded 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 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
[edit]Cover versions and other uses

A cover version was later recorded by Gene Pitney, Nicki French, Globe, Claude François (as "Stop au nom de l'amour") and The Hollies (who saw UK chart success with the song in 1983).

Yukihiro Takahashi recorded a cover version on his 1980 album Murdered By The Music.
Rapper Lil Wayne sampled "Stop! In the Name of Love" for his 2007 single "Gossip".
The Disney Channel featured the song as a DTV music video set to clips from the cartoon shorts The Big Bad Wolf, Mickey's Delayed Date, and Lend a Paw.

A FoxTrot strip published in August 1993 has Paige singing the song, but mistakenly singing "Shop!" in place of "Stop!" Peter seemingly corrects her by continually repeating "Stop!" to her, but in actuality, he is demanding she stop singing entirely.

In the Fairly OddParents episode "Love Struck!", Timmy comes between the groups of males and females about to wage war on each other, yelling out the song's title.
On an episode of Good Times, "The Rent Party", which was the last episode with John Amos (James Evans), Willona, Thelma and Florida dressed up as The Supremes and performed the song during a rent party for a tenant.

A scene from an episode of The Steve Harvey Show featured Regina, Lovita, and Cedric's date Nikki singing the song at a karaoke bar.
A German version, titled "Was hab' ich Dir getan?" was recorded by the Jacob Sisters in 1966.

In 2003, on their Something Wrong album, the IcelandicTrip-Hop band Bang Gang recorded a version of the original song.

Source: Stop in the name of love (Wikipedia)