What's Going On

Prior to making What’s Going On in 1970 Marvin Gaye had become Motown’s top selling solo artist with hits like I Heard it Through the Grapevine and “How Sweet it is

(To Be Loved by You)”. His early years at Motown were used to craft his skill. He was a session drummer who played for various acts at Motown and provided the drums for several albums and singles. His own music prior to What’s Going On was primarily consisted of jazz songs and standards rather than R&B, which was typical of Motown.

After brief success in the early to mid 60’s Marvin’s life would take an unexpected

turn for the worse. In 1966 he paired with singer Tami Terrel after his former duet partner

Kim Westen left.

For the next 18 months they would go on to record a string of hit records until 1967 when Tami was diagnosed with brain cancer. She would eventually pass away from cancer in 1970. This would eventually cause Marvin to have deep depression, which gave him stage fright and made him not want to perform with another female.

After a failed attempt to earn a spot on the Detroit Lions football team he headed back to Motown with two Lions players to start work on his next album.

After a failed attempt to get folksinger Joan Baez to perform his new song, along with his fellow group The Four Tops, Renaldo Benson would place the a song in Marvin Gaye’s lap that would become one of the greatest songs ever written.

What’s Going On became an idea after Mr. Benson witnessed police brutality during a tour stop in San Francisco. He than began to question why kids were being sent off to war and being attacked in their homeland. Marvin eventually went to work on the song after

Being convinced by his Anna who by the way was the older sister of Berry Gordy.

Marvin’s inspiration for this song and album came from his brothers’ stint in the Vietnam War. His brother would send him letters home describing what he was going through and when he came home Marvin was there with open ears. Marvin’s brother Frankie often discussed his tour with Marvin. Writer Ben Edmonds quotes Frankie in his article What

Went On speaking about his conversations with his brother saying

“He wanted to know everything. I cried a lot during our talks. War is hell believe me.

The value of life is unbelievably low. Nothing you’ve ever experienced can prepare you for terror and the blood; all my memories of that time are swimming in blood.

This horrified Marvin but what moved him most was the image of children eating out of the garbage cans. That was hard for him to get past. It’s a sight that I don’t think anybody wants to see: people –children –trying to live off what you throw away. Our garbage cans were always clean. When I saw that I always tried to leave some food on my plate so that they would something to eat. A lot of other GIs did the same. After my brother heard me and saw my tears, he began to understand.” 

Marvin’s biggest challenge was getting Berry Gordy to approve his new material. Besides getting over the death of Tami Terrel, getting this the green light on this record would be his biggest obstacle. Motown at this time was known for its ballads and radio friendly music, which is why Barry was so reluctant to approve this song. He also thought that this would ruin Marvin’s image.

Eventually the song was released and it instantly raced up the charts. At this time Berry Gordy requested a full album. The album was labeled as a song cycle, which meant that its songs were performed in sequence and as a single entity. This album was also the first album that the legendary Funk Brothers would get official credits on.

As a listener and black man who seen his share of police brutality and war within America, I feel like this album has had a profound impact on my life. I can remember listening to this album when I was a child sitting between my mothers’ legs. I was only a few years old then but I remember what it was like. As I grew older I began to study this albums lyrical content and it is truly amazing.

As a professional I think this album is one of the greatest. What’s most remarkable to me was his ability to combine jazz and classical music arrangements and instrumentation to complete the album because in the past he felt like he was putting his audience to sleep with it. Overall this album has greatly influenced my life and will remain in my collection until I pass on.