Marvin Gaye was one of Motown’s most celebrated artists. He was wide ranging, using elements of Jazz, Blues and R&B to create several hits. He sang of love and peace and was looked at as a Motown sex symbol. Some of his biggest hits were duets with the likes of Tammi Terrell and Mary Wells. The former collapsed in Gaye’s arms during a live performance and was later diagnosed with a brain tumor, which would eventually lead to her death. This had a profound effect on Gaye’s disposition and led to depression and an absence from the music business despite having both national and international success. Marvin also felt like he was a puppet for Motown owner Berry Gordy. Gordy would prove to become Gaye’s antagonist during the recording of his next album, “What’s Going On”.

During the time prior to the recording of “What’s Going On” the world was in a sort of upheaval. Gaye’s brother Frankie was in the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were both assassinated and Gaye was dealing with the loss of duet partner Tammi Terrell. Other social issues were also prevalent, especially to the writer of the title track, Obie Benson. He was on tour with the Four Tops when he saw the violence in the streets of California between protesters and police in a place called People’s Park. The police were beating on the protestors who were protesting non-violently. This led Benson to ask the famous question, “What is going on?” Gaye also recalls local events, like the race riots of 1967 in Detroit that made Marvin look inside of himself and question his musical career and artistic direction.

Despite the genius and originality of “What’s Going On”, Berry Gordy did not want it to be released. He felt that it would negatively impact the image of Motown and also destroy Marvin Gaye’s career. Berry Gordy had been wrong before in regards to Marvin Gaye’s releases. Gordy was also against Gaye’s previous successful singles “Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “Baby I’m For Real”, so it stands to reason that Gordy may have had other motives to these choices to hold back the music of Marvin Gaye – he was married to Berry’s sister and at times tried to use this to influence what Marvin did with his career. This did not work as Gaye proved to be unmoving on his stance with the single. Gaye even refused to record anymore with Motown until they released “What’s Going On”. Despite this stance, Berry Gordy was just as stubborn about the release of the song – it was after all his record label. Eventually, it took the release of the single without Gordy’s knowledge. Several executives at Motown acknowledged that they needed to release something from Marvin Gaye, and all they really had was “What’s Going On”. And so the single was released in January of 1971. Gordy was wrong again as the single went to number 1 on the R&B charts as well as charting internationally. This empowered Marvin to get his album finished, despite Gordy giving Gaye a very short deadline to present a finished mix. It only took Gaye 10 days to track the entire album and he even took the masters to Hollywood to be mixed away from Motown and Berry Gordy’s influence.

“What’s Going On” is now known to be one of the most important albums to ever be recorded. It exhibits a protest album vibe while still showcasing an emotional sensibility and awareness of what is most important – love. “What’s Going On” also was the first concept album to be introduced to the R&B genre. The activities that were going on around the world, and more importantly, inside of Gaye’s heart were interwoven throughout each track. Marvin was not just recording and album of new music, he was recording a record of his emotions that included anger, heartbreak, sorrow and depression.

While “What’s Going On” doesn’t necessarily strike a chord inside of me that it has done to millions of others, I do appreciate the beauty of the creativity that it contains. I often sing the timeless melodies that Gaye constructed on this album and even have recorded songs in groups where samples were taken from this album. I would definitely consider listening to “What’s Going On” to get inspiration before working on new material because the way that Gaye constructed this album is very similar to the emotions that I like to create from myself. It’s very odd in the end that Marvin Gaye had to protest to get his “protest album” released.