What’s Going On Marvin Gaye

I don't care who you are. Marvin Gaye's 1971 Album "What's Going On" changed the world of music. Whether you were alive or not, to appreciate it, "War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate" were the words that changed the world and ignited a countercultural revolution. In middle or high school, I remember discovering a book, the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and inside #1 was "What's Going On". From that moment on, my life was defined. As a 15 year old with long hair the lines “Oh, but who are they to judge us? Simply because our hair is long” turned me into a diehard fan. I had been apart of the roar of parties, witnessed class struggles downtown, poverty, protest, and I knew the sound well. Growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, this album and it’s themes of social justice sounded of home. "War is Hell When will it end?" bore just as much meaning in my life in 2007 as it did in 1971 when it was first sung.

Marvin Gaye was born in "The Chocolate City" on April Fools Day, 1939. His father was a minister, and his mother was a domestic worker. He grew up in the projects, and his upbringing was forged at the intersection of race, religion, and labor. Marvin had a troubled upbringing and had two half-siblings, one from his mother's previous relationship and one from his father's extramarital affair. He went to high school in D.C., where he began to sing in Doo Wop groups, and his strife with his father began. With incidents occurring where his father would frequently kick him out of the house. At 17 in 1956, Marvin Gaye dropped out of High School & enlisted in the United States Air Force likely to escape these clashes with his father. Quickly disheartened by this experience, to get out of the service, like many of his peers, Marvin faked mental health problems and ultimately received his discharge orders.

 He formed a singing group with a good friend, The Marquees, and they released a single that failed to chart. Even though the group wasn't as successful as they hoped, they began to perform around with Bo Diddley(pretty cool), who helped the group get signed to Columbia adjacent OKeh records. In 1960 The group broke up, and Marvin Gaye moved to Detroit. He met Berry Gordy around this time and performed at his house during the winter holidays of 1960. He began to record Jazz music and standards before ultimately moving over to his trademark mid-late 1960's R & B sound. In 1964, Marvin began to pick up traction when he recorded a duet album with Mary Wells. This album featured two top 20 songs, and the follow-up "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" reached # 6 on the Hot 100 charts. Around this time, Marvin Gaye began to appear on Television. In 1967, riding the Duet Wave again, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell recorded Ain't No Mountain High Enough, which although now a classic peaked at #19 on the charts. In 1968 "I Heard it Through The Grape Vine" became Marvin’s biggest song to date and reached # 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song sold over four million copies, and Marvin Gaye was a star. Gaye Historically said he didn't deserve this #1 and was "Berry's Puppet". Suggesting the success of this song was another artist's vision, not his. The seeds were planted for 1971's break out "What's Going On". The manifestation of Marvin’s internal vision was unstoppable at this point. In 1970, Tammi Terrel died from brain cancer; and interestingly enough, a depressed Gaye had been dabbling with cocaine and he began to play professional Football for the Detroit Lions. Yes. That really happened. What’s Going On. Right on.

In June of 1970, at the iconic Hitsville U.S.A., the Motown capital in Detroit, Marvin recorded the title track to his breakout success "What's Going On". The song was inspired by witnessing an incident of police brutality against Vietnam War protestors. The opening sounds are of a party in full explosion with friends greeting each other, “What’s Happening” and the sounds of inhales as individuals smoke who knows what. Al Cleveland actually wrote this song after having a conversation with a fellow brother about witnessing said incident of police brutality. Al played the song for guitar on Marvin and then Marvin adapted the song into the classic we all know and love. The majority of the rest of the album was penned by Marvin himself. The 2nd song is equally triumphant as the opener, “What’s Happening Brother,” takes the listener into the shoes of a man who recently returned home from War, akin to Marvin’s own experience. Speaking to the poverty and ostracization, many veterans experienced upon returning home. The theme deepens into “Flying High (In the Friendly Sky)” as Marvin takes us into the dangers of addiction “who makes slaves out of men, Flying High in the Friendly Sky” that awaited many veterans on the streets of Detroit, or Washington D.C., or anywhere in the United States. On Save the Children Marvin asks, “Who Really cares?” and then states “There’ll come a time, when the world won’t be singing” as he speaks of the upcoming apocalypse man is ushering in with its foolishness “Who is willing to try, to save a world, that is destined to die” he desperately asks.  Then the mood upticks as the beautiful “God Is Love” plays, “Don’t talk about my father, God is my friend,” a number you would think would make Marvin’s father as proud as a father could be. In my vein of spirituality God is Love and this song is one that can always chill me out but it makes me sad knowing Marvin’s father killed him. “Oh Mercy Mercy Me,” the next song sings as Marvin speaks to the troubled times ahead and the effects of pollution and nuclear war on the planet: “Oh things ain’t what they used to be”. Sonically this song ends in similar territory to The Beach Boy’s Pet Sounds.

“Right On” starts the second half of the album with a low flute tone and a swanky Latin groove “I know that’s alright” Marvin says speaking in that this will be seven minutes to -chill- and preach political doctrine. The Latin flavored backbeat drenches the track climbing higher and higher as the woodwinds and the strings flair around in the background, numbing the nervous system. The social justice and references to class struggles embedded throughout this album ring true once again creating timeless messages, and even sonically, these recordings are still untouchable. John Legend & The Roots came close with 2010’s Wake Up! Wholy Holy slows things down and once again speaks to Marvin’s religious upbringing as he speaks about the good book bringing the people together “cause we all need strength, power, all the feeling”. Another song that makes his closing chapter more bitter to interpret. What a complicated, lifelong relationship Marvin must have had with his father. His father judged him for his pervasive sexual attitudes perpetuated by his music and addictive tendencies, but it sounds like this feud between father and son was primordial and at the inception of their relationship.  The album closes with a bang “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”  is arguably one of the most powerful statements the album makes. “Money, we make it, Fore we see it you take it” speaks to the economic struggles Black Americans have been experiencing since their arrival to this nation. The words “Inflation no chance, to increase finance, Bills pile up sky high, Send that boy off to die” defined the Vietnam era of the late 1960’s and the growing sentiment of the early 1970’s counterculture movement. These lines still resemble the reality facing marginalized Black & Brown youth today (at least military death rates aren’t what they were in Vietnam(END THE WAR!)). The bitter line “Crime is increasing, trigger happy policing” has just as much relevance to 1971, Detroit as it does 2024, North Charleston.

Spread Peace & Love Y’all

RIP Marvin Gaye

Will