"Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)" by The Temptations

While they worked in another styles, The Temptations remain best known for such love songs as "My Girl," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," and "I Wish It Would Rain." Regardless, one of their most remarkable songs was not a love song, but a protest song instead. "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)" remains one of the best known protest songs released by Motown, alongside "What's Going On' by Marvin Gaye.

"Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" was written by Motown legends Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Together Messrs. Whitfield and Strong had already written such hits as ""Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got" for Jimmy Ruffin,  "I Heard It on the Grapevine" for Gladys Knight and The Pips (Marvin Gaye's version would be a huge hit for Motown),  "I Wish It Would Rain" (with Rodger Penzabene) for The Temptations, and "Cloud Nine" by The Temptations. Individually or with others, they wrote many more hits for Motown.

It was with their previous songs such as "Cloud Nine" and "Runaway Child" that The Temptations had begun to move away from the love songs they had recorded into a new sound that would be called "psychedelic soul." "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" was the fifth single to be released using this new sound.

Of course, as can be heard in "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today," The Temptations changed not only their overall sound, but their lyrical content. Instead of love and heartbreak, their songs now covered the issues of the day such as civil rights, poverty, drugs, and the Vietnam War. "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" embraced many issues, given it addressed the general state of the United States in the late Sixties and early Seventies. The song makes reference to segregation, pills, taxes, unemployment, and many other topics of the day.

"Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today" was recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit on April 12 and 14 1970. The instrumental track was recorded by The Funk Brothers, the group of session musicians who preformed the music on nearly all of Motown's songs from 1959 to 1972. They recorded nearly eleven minutes worth of music, although ultimately only four minutes was use for the single. The entire instrumental track could later be heard on The Undisputed Truth's cover of the  song on their self-titled debut album.

"Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)" was released on May 7 1970. It peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It did well in Britain as well, where it reached no. 7 on the UK singles chart. Although inspired by the events of the late Sixties and early Seventies, "Ball of Confusion ((That's What the World is Today") remains all to relevant today.