The Temptations and Four Tops — Hitsville USA, Detroit

Hitsville USA at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit was the original headquarters and recording studio of Motown Records — the label founded by Berry Gordy in 1959 that produced the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and dozens of other artists whose recordings defined American popular music for a generation. The building, a converted house with a recording studio in the ground-floor garage, is where virtually every canonical Motown recording was made before the label relocated to Los Angeles in 1972.

The Temptations — David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams — and the Four Tops — Levi Stubbs, Renaldo Benson, Lawrence Payton, and Abdul Fakir — were the cornerstones of Motown's male vocal group output. Songs like "My Girl," "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)," "Reach Out I'll Be There," and "Bernadette" were made in the Hitsville studio with the Funk Brothers — the house band whose brilliance underpinned essentially every Motown hit. The Funk Brothers' story was told in the 2002 documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown."

The Motown Museum at Hitsville USA is one of Detroit's most visited attractions and one of America's most significant music heritage sites. Studio A — the original recording room — has been preserved exactly as it was during the Motown years. Visitors can stand in the room where "What's Going On," "Heard It Through the Grapevine," and hundreds of other recordings were made. The surrounding neighbourhood has changed significantly since the Motown era, but the building itself is immaculate.