What’s Going On: 50 Years Later

It is hard to believe that Marvin Gaye’s classic album What’s Going On is now officially 50 years old. It was released on May 21, 1971, after Motown founder and head Berry Gordy softened to the idea after the success of the title track. Famously (yet surprisingly, in hindsight), Gordy was not initially a fan of the serious, message-centered nature of the album. Think about it: at the time, Motown had recently ended an extremely successful decade(the ’60s), thanks to the music of artists like The Supremes, The Temptations, Martha & the Vandellas, Mary Wells, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, and Marvin himself. The subject matter of their songs was primarily love, romance, heartbreak, and having a good time(hello, “Dancing In The Streets” and “Going To A Go-Go”, the latter of which just happens to be one of my favorites from that last category). It was dubbed the “sound of young America” due to its appeal to youth of all races, which was groundbreaking.

It is somewhat understandable why Berry Gordy wouldn’t want to stray far from a proven formula. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right? However, with a platform such as theirs, it would have been a huge mistake not to address what was going on in the world. I am forever grateful to Marvin and Stevie for advocating for creative freedom, which led to some of the greatest and most introspective music ever put to wax. Ranging from spiritual to socially conscious, sensual to vulnerable, the 70s decade only further ingrained Motown as a musical powerhouse. Dare I say, that may not have been the case if not for the persistence of its premiere artists in attaining creative freedom? Could you even imagine what the world would be like without an album like What’s Going On or Stevie’s Innervisions? Neither could I, and I don’t want to!

With all that said, What’s Going On was exactly what the title stated: Marvin’s commentary on what was going on in the world at the time. (One of the “goings on” was the Vietnam War and the plight of many Americans and soldiers following it, especially minorities.) I often say it’s hard to believe how old the album is because the goings on of the country and the world were ridiculously similar to what is going on in the present. I know it sounds trite, and I know that I have said this too many times to count in the last decade or so. Whether it’s “trigger happy policing”, which he sings about on “Inner City Blues(Make Me Wanna Holler), or the abuse that mother nature takes from mankind that he sings about on “Mercy Mercy Me(The Ecology)”, the album could have been written, recorded, and released TODAY.

In addition to the subject matter still being relevant, the album also still sounds fresh…nowhere near 50 years old. From Marvin’s signature tenor, falsetto, and layered background vocals, to the lush strings, piano arrangements, horns, and driving bass, it is a sound that is needed and missed in the mainstream music industry of today.

Though it is sad that the album applies to current times, it also speaks to the prophetic and visionary talent of Marvin (and Stevie, for that matter). This entry will outline each song on the album and my thoughts on them. If you have never listened to the album from beginning to end, you definitely should! It is like a suite that flows flawlessly from one song to the next. Hugely influential in that regard. (My favorite “set” of songs is Save The Children/God Is Love/Mercy Mercy Me because of that flow).

Happy 50th Anniversary to this monumental album. I wonder what its level of relevance will be in another 50 years…

The Songs

And that’s just the first half of the album, aka Side 1. Here is Side 2: