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Fascinated / saddened by the effect of modern economic trends on music, but it is what it is. However,

> Before the Temptations sing a word, an instrumental introduction featuring organ, guitar, bass, and a hi-hat cymbal ebbs and flows for more than four minutes.

Seems like this should refer to about 2 minutes of instrumental intro based (ironically?) on my listening to the ca. 7 minute version on Spotify. Am I missing something?

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An oldies band from the 1940s, The Ink Spots, would play a 3-second bass guitar melody before every song. Back then, if the DJ did not announce the name of the band or song, the melody would act as an identifier.

Oh wow! Found here: https://youtu.be/rzTFKTi_cZ4?si=R514OgVC-I0vXTFf

This article is pretty sloppy. There are 2 different versions. The 7 minute release has vocals coming in just under 2 minutes. The 12 minute version has vocals kicking in just under 4 minutes. So the characterization that the intro "ebbs and flows for more than four minutes" is incorrect in all possible counts.

And in aggregate pop music has always been objectively terrible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJV2pWFyfn4 has the vocals come in at 4:02 which I guess very technically is over 4 minutes, but it's a vinyl recording that starts ~5 seconds before the beginning of the song.

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