Prior to “What’s going on” Marvin Gaye was considered a part of the Mo-Town sound, a sex symbol of the times and the “Prince of Soul”. With hits such as "How Sweet It Is" and "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" Gaye was one of the hottest artist at the time. This was all well and fine, but with the war in Vietnam and incidents such police brutality against anti-war protesters in San Francisco, Gaye and others couldn’t help but wonder…What’s Going On.
The Main influence to Gaye's What's going on was Gaye's brother's accounts of his experience at the Vietnam War and co-writer Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops' disgust of police brutality after seeing anti-war protesters attacked in San Francisco. Originally the song wasn’t intended for Gaye, but for the Four Tops. Not feeling the song calling it a “protest song” they passed it aside for someone else and it eventually fell into the hands of Marvin Gaye. Benson recalls the first time he played the song together with Gaye. "Marvin was the perfect artist for it," he says. "Marvin already felt like this. He was a rebel, and a real spiritual guy. The first time he sang it, I was playing guitar and he was playing piano, and it was so beautiful.”
Even though the song was a hit in the eyes of the creators, quality control at Mo-Town records thought otherwise, shutting down the idea of releasing the record to the public. Preventing Gaye from releasing the song, his brother in law Berry Gordy feared a backlash against the singer's image as a sex symbol. Openly telling him and others that the song ,"Was the worst record I ever heard". Gaye, however, refused to record anything that was Motown's or Gordy's version of him. He later said that recording the song and its parent album "led to semi-violent disagreements between Berry and myself, politically speaking." But, after many trials the song eventually was released and did surprisingly well selling over 100,000 copies the first day of release.
What’s Going on was different than other Mo-town hits at the time. Gaye wanted to stay away from the typical Mo-town beat. And being his first self produced song he held nothing back, even using local football team members from the Detroit Lions for background chatter. Gaye also developed his trademark double lead vocal in the record making process. Which he would use on all his future tracks.
We are all lucky that this great song landed with Marvin Gaye. As an industry professional What’s Going On leaves the impression of perseverance and questioning authority. These are bold moves mark a historic part of not only music culture but human culture as well.
Johnny,
ReplyDeleteMarvin Gaye was indeed the “Prince of Soul” as you stated in the opening of your blog. His style was very smooth and flowed with impeccable soul and rhythm. I enjoyed your section on Marvin’s interests and inspirations in writing the song “What’s Going On.” It is touching how there are still artists out there who are willing to write about true concerns of theirs such as “Gaye's brother's accounts of his experience at the Vietnam War,” as you said. It is sad how now the only topics written about in music seem to be sex, drugs, and paper chasing. You did an excellent job captioning the troubles Marvin encountered during the process of having his music produced and distributed. Great work!
-Patrick