Song · Temptations
“Ball Of Confusion” by Temptations
Released 1997
“Ball Of Confusion” by Temptations appears on 3 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2001 and 2023. It was first released in 1997. Its best result is #557 on the WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,013 indie & aaa song of all time.
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Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" for the Temptations in 1970, and Whitfield produced it for Motown's Gordy label, smack in the middle of the group's psychedelic soul phase. It plays like a news bulletin set to a groove, a roll call of everything going wrong with the world, crime, taxes and drugs included, all wound together into one tangled ball.
The Funk Brothers cut a backing track that ran close to eleven minutes, and just over four of them made the Temptations' record; the full jam later surfaced on the Undisputed Truth's self-titled 1971 debut. The single anchored the group's Greatest Hits II that same year and climbed to number three pop and number two R&B in the US, and number seven in the UK.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1585 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2020 | 557 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2023 | 659 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
Also listed as: Ball of Confusion.
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