Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" has aged like a fine wine
The year is 1971. The United States is mired down by the war in Vietnam. We've been there for more than a decade and it doesn't look like it will be coming to an end anytime soon. Each night on the national news, the American public is shown scenes of our young people fighting in Southeast Asia. They're also shown scenes of protests over the war that are occurring throughout the United States. The country is divided over the war.
The war is not the only thing our country is divided over. It's only been seven years since Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. It's only been three years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. While things seem to be getting better, there's still plenty of racial injustice in America.
It's not only those two issues that divide America. There's also economic inequality, police brutality, religion, and the environment. The United States was very much a nation of the haves vs the have nots...and the have nots were not taking it anymore.
The musicians of that time were taking note of all of this. Album themes became more personal. It wasn't enough to make hits. Your music needed to make a statement, too.
You wouldn't think Motown would be the label to put out these types of records. They didn't call it Hitsville USA for nothing. Music from Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Supremes and the Four Tops were huge sellers. Marvin Gaye had more than his share of hits songs with "Can I Get A Witness", "Ain't That Peculiar" and 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine", which became his first number one hit.
But like so many of us, Gaye was dismayed by what he was seeing. After witnessing a war protest in Berkeley, California that turned violent, he wrote and recorded the song "What's Going On." Motown founder Berry Gordy didn't want to release it because he felt it was too political. Gaye responded by saying until the record was released, he wouldn't work on anything new. "What's Going On" sold more than two million singles and reached the number two spot on the Billboard charts.
That led to the recording of the "What's Going On" album. Nine songs that touched on the issues of the time. Highlights of the album include the songs "Mercy Mercy Me" and "Inner City Blues", both becoming top ten selling singles. The album sold more than two million copies as well as receiving rave reviews. Rolling Stone magazine called it their album of the year for 1971.
Through the next fifty years, the appreciation and accolades for the album continued. In 1985, NME rated it the number one album of all-time. In 2005, Sounds, a weekly music newspaper in the UK, gave it the same rating. In 2003, Rolling Stone had it in the number six spot in their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.
It's now fifty years since the release of "What's Going On." Many of the issues that Marvin Gaye wrote about in 1971 are still at the forefront of life in America today. If you were hearing the album now for the first time, you would think it was recorded in 2020/21. The songs that were relevant fifty years ago are still relevant today.
Last year, Rolling Stone revisited their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All-time. One of their changes was elevating 'What's Going On" to the number one spot. In a career full of highlights, "What's Going On" has become the biggest part of Marvin Gaye's legacy. Like a fine wine that has aged to perfection, "What's Going On" continues to satisfy like a vintage Dom Perignon.
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