What's Going On?

Marvin Gaye was a man who never settled for what he was given; he always aspired to be more successful and do it on his own terms. Marvin had hoped to gain notoriety by singing jazz tunes and commercial pop music like some of his contemporaries, but his initial attempt didn’t garner the type of results he had desired. He did however have success in the R&B genre; singing tunes that would make women swoon, solidifying him as a “ladies man.” Still not satisfied with his newfound popularity, he tried yet again to emerge as a jazz vocalist but to no avail. He had decided to never try his hand at jazz again and with that, he proceeded to make more hits as part of two separate duet teams, one with Kim Weston and the other with Tammi Terrell; the latter being the most acclaimed of his collaborations. After three albums as a tandem, Tammi Terrell passed away and Marvin receded into seclusion, dealing with his sadness the best he could. BBC News reported, “His mood was compounded by other personal problems - his marriage was crumbling and he was having continual arguments with Motown over the material they wanted him to record.” It was during this time that the idea for one of the greatest songs in music history would be conceived.

One could say the concept of What’s Going On stemmed directly from an incident witnessed by songwriter and Four Tops member Renaldo Benson. While on tour in San Francisco, he had seen peace protesters attacked and beaten by police officers. This, along with Marvin’s brother Frankie’s recounting of his time served in the Vietnam War, sparked the creativity needed to craft this classic. These situations might have inspired the composition, but coming off of some of the most prominent moments of the Civil Rights Movement and facing racial inequality all of his life served as the foundation for such a timely song. What’s Going On was a “call to action” for people to wake up, open their eyes and make a change. When Marvin says, “Mother, mother there’s too many of you crying. Brother, brother, brother there’s far too many of you dying. You know we’ve got to find a way to bring some lovin’ here today.” Marvin wasn’t just pointing out the flaws of society, he was commanding us to be accountable for our roles in the degeneration of humanity. Marvin’s message was clear and understood, but there was fear amongst industry professionals (primarily the CEO of Motown Records, Berry Gordy) that a song containing this subject matter wouldn’t sell any records. Additionally, Gordy supposedly was concerned that a song with such a strong stance and theme would derail all the momentum that had been put behind Gaye being showcased as a sex symbol. There are many stories circulating that Gordy held this project up for multiple reasons, but Berry Gordy set the record straight when he spoke to journalist Marc Myers. According to Gordy, Marvin reached out to him saying he wanted to do a protest song, and Gordy was stunned because, up to that point, Marvin’s strayed from such provocative issues. Berry grew accustomed to Marvin coming to him with outlandish ideas, and because Berry regarded Marvin as a brother, he felt it was his duty to alert him of the possible consequences of his actions. Gordy’s stance was starting to loosen once Marvin explained his need to “awaken” the masses, but issues remained with a few of the words chosen for his song. Marc Myers writes, “Mr. Gordy still had reservations about some of Gaye's lyrics for "What's Going On," specifically the line about police brutality. "I told Marvin he couldn't generalize like that, that the people in the Detroit Police Department were my friends and that every policeman wasn't brutal…" When asked about the four-month gap between the completion of the single and its release, Berry went on to say “The other labels would put out their big releases in September and October for Christmas," Mr. Gordy said. "But we would typically wait until after the holiday season to release singles on our major artists so the field would be clear." There’s no denying that Marvin had his obstacles when it came to releasing his controversial single, but similar to an urban legend, these stories of marvelous proportions start to take on a life of their own and the truth can gradually become distorted.

There were a few key characteristics that separated What’s Going On from other Motown productions. Marvin wanted to be sure that his song didn’t have the traditional Motown sound, so he and his arranger David Van DePitte enlisted a slew of percussionists that had no affiliation with the Hitsville, USA label. Marvin was about to finally live his dream; he was able to incorporate his love for jazz into his production. The sax playing in the beginning of the piece was actually the saxophone player warming up, not his intended take. Marvin implemented scatting into his song (another supposed turn-off for Berry Gordy), and stumbled upon what would become the future of multi-layer vocal recording (a mistake made by the engineer when he played both of Marvin’s lead vocals through a mono speaker, instead of separating them on individual tracks so that Marvin could choose which one was better.) This was the beginning of Marvin distancing himself from the pop sounds that Motown was so known for at the time. The song was an instant hit and held the #1 spot on the R&B charts and the #2 spot on the Pop charts; a sign of its amazing crossover appeal. The album went on to sell 2.5 million copies and became Motown’s fastest selling single at that time.

What’s Going On has a lot of significance to me; I grew up listening to Marvin Gaye. My Mother and my Uncle would play his albums every year on April 1 and April 2 as a tribute to one of the greatest artists that ever recorded. From a cultural standpoint, I’ve always felt that when I listened to What’s Going On I was the main character in the story he was telling. The album wasn’t directed specifically to one demographic, it wasn’t made for one race or gender; but his stances on love and acceptance are subjects that minorities have fought and literally died for. We continue that very same fight today… for equality. Sure, Marvin spoke about the Vietnam War, but those very same principles apply to the people of different nationalities and creeds that make up this country as well. Marvin’s album still gives me goose bumps as if it was the first time I heard it. From a musical standpoint, the multi-layer vocals really set this album apart from other albums. There was so much emotion in his voice and it felt like it was being thrown at you from different directions. I’m happy Marvin was able to integrate his love for jazz into his work on What’s Going On; it added a fresh element to the R&B/Soul production. To me, this album is a living organism; it breathes, it grows and it procreates. Unfortunately Marvin is not here to see the longevity his work sustains, but his message will undoubtedly live on forever.