Marvin Gaye | "What's Going On"
Aug 23, 2016 5:36:57 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2016 5:36:57 GMT -5
I was shocked I couldn't find a thread for this.
#2 on the Hot 100 and #1 Soul Singles in 1971
Rolling Stone ranked it #4 on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time a few years ago. Pitchfork ranked it #3 on their newly released 200 Best Songs of the 1970's:
I love this. One of my favorite songs of all time.
#2 on the Hot 100 and #1 Soul Singles in 1971
Rolling Stone ranked it #4 on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time a few years ago. Pitchfork ranked it #3 on their newly released 200 Best Songs of the 1970's:
It was the dawn of the 1970s, and “What’s Going On” almost wasn’t happening. The Four Tops’ Renaldo “Obie” Benson, inspired to write the tune during a 1969 visit to San Francisco, finished crafting his version with Motown songwriter Al Cleveland. But the Four Tops didn’t want to sing a protest song (“I said no, man, it’s a love song,” Benson maintained). Joan Baez didn’t bite, either. Marvin Gaye, at this point an established Motown hitmaker, liked the song—just enough for the in-house vocal group he’d been producing, the Originals. Benson insisted Gaye sing it himself. Gaye’s wife, Anna, told him, “Marvin, this is a perfect song for you.”
Gaye needed “What’s Going On” right then. His duet partner and confidant Tammi Terrell had died from a brain tumor. His brother Frankie had come back from Vietnam a haunted man. His marriage to Anna, as it happened, was on the verge of combusting. Meanwhile, after singing about love and relationships on past hits like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Gaye was rethinking his artistic vision. He yearned for audiences “to take a look at was happening in the world.” Gaye finished writing “What’s Going On,” and in June 1970, went into the Motown studios to record it. The (inferior) single version wouldn’t slip out until the following January.
Gaye’s production on “What’s Going On” was some of the Tamla/Motown label’s most forward-thinking. The strummy, finger-snapping track stood out from other sleek Detroit assembly-line products for its dreamy saxophone intro, party-like chatter from Detroit Lions football players, and layering of multiple lead vocals, a technique that would become a Gaye trademark. And the song’s laid-back, marijuana-hazy feel still resonates in an era of looser, more impressionistic records. Most of all, Gaye’s airy embrace of love as the balm for social upheaval, and his calm plea not to “punish me with brutality,” remain every bit as relevant today. What’s Going On, Gaye’s 1971 magnum opus, would address other still-timely issues—poverty, the environment—and he would record other major triumphs before his tragic death in 1984. In times of turmoil, few other love songs seem so necessary. –Marc Hogan
Gaye needed “What’s Going On” right then. His duet partner and confidant Tammi Terrell had died from a brain tumor. His brother Frankie had come back from Vietnam a haunted man. His marriage to Anna, as it happened, was on the verge of combusting. Meanwhile, after singing about love and relationships on past hits like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Gaye was rethinking his artistic vision. He yearned for audiences “to take a look at was happening in the world.” Gaye finished writing “What’s Going On,” and in June 1970, went into the Motown studios to record it. The (inferior) single version wouldn’t slip out until the following January.
Gaye’s production on “What’s Going On” was some of the Tamla/Motown label’s most forward-thinking. The strummy, finger-snapping track stood out from other sleek Detroit assembly-line products for its dreamy saxophone intro, party-like chatter from Detroit Lions football players, and layering of multiple lead vocals, a technique that would become a Gaye trademark. And the song’s laid-back, marijuana-hazy feel still resonates in an era of looser, more impressionistic records. Most of all, Gaye’s airy embrace of love as the balm for social upheaval, and his calm plea not to “punish me with brutality,” remain every bit as relevant today. What’s Going On, Gaye’s 1971 magnum opus, would address other still-timely issues—poverty, the environment—and he would record other major triumphs before his tragic death in 1984. In times of turmoil, few other love songs seem so necessary. –Marc Hogan
I love this. One of my favorite songs of all time.