Marvin Gaye "What's Going On"

Marvin Gaye began singing gospel music as a youngster at his father’s church.  As he grew up he continued singing and became a successful Motown artist with many hits songs of the 1960s.  The music he recorded were catchy love tunes that appealed to audiences who were interested in romance and relationships.   As hard times faced the nation during the 1960s and 70s, Marvin’s message started changing and was now based on the troubles of the day.

When the Vietnam War was in effect plus the riots breaking out around the nation Marvin, wrote about the painful issues America had to deal with.  His song “What’s Going On”, speaks about the protest he and many others believed in concerning the issues.   Marvin faced opposition from his producer Berry Gordy, concerning the songs message.  According to “What Went On”, Ben Edmonds article found in The Guardian for Friday, the 7^th of December 2001, Berry stated,

“Marvin, why do you want to ruin your career? Why do you want to put out a song about the Vietnam War, police brutality and all of these things? You've got all these great love songs. You're the hottest artist, the sex symbol of the '60s and '70s...' "

Marvin was willing to take a risk and revamp his career because he felt passionate about the need for change in the world and the events occurring.  He took more of a risk by also changing his image to represent the change he felt.  The biggest obstacle was when his producer refused to release the tune.  Berry Gordy claims, "the worst thing I've ever heard in my life", referring to the song “What’s Going On”.  Marvin was married to Berry’s sister, which made matters tense when family matters arose.  In the end, Marvin broke thru the roadblocks and got the tune released.

The link to the complete article stated above can be found at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/dec/08/extract

“What’s Going On”, was different from the regular songs recorded at Motown due to a vast mix of talented musicians who played on the record.  Marvin played, produced, and conducted the song himself completely controlling the project.  The sound of the song was more orchestrated then songs recorded previously at Motown.   In addition, recorded vocal tracks were doubled creating a better production.  The lyrics were not the usually love song message, setting the tune miles apart from typical Motown lyrics.

I find Marvin Gaye’s remarkable and different approach he used when he wrote and produced “What’s Going On”, a profound way to introduced to Motown a new path for it’s artist to communicate and create music.   In addition, his approach enlightened the recording industry and made the industry more aware and concerned about serious issues that should be addressed in songs.   I feel that Marvin along with many other innovators during this period changed the way producers, artists, and industry officials make decisions concerning what the audience responds to and what will sell records.  Keeping and open mind to new ideas and approaches when writing and recording is something I will remember, as I continue to learn about the music industry.