What's Going On

 Marvin Gaye’s 1971 album ‘What’s Going On’ is now considered one of the greatest musical recordings of all time, but it came perilously close to never seeing the light of day.

Put it out or I’ll never record for you again” was Marvin Gaye’s stark warning to Berry Gordy, after the founder of Motown Records refused to release the single “What’s Going On” in the summer of 1970.

Berry – who was Gaye’s brother-in-law at the time – told almost anyone who would listen that he detested Gaye’s protest song, which he thought was too long, too formless and not commercial enough to be played on radio, a prerequisite for the scores of No 1 songs he’d crafted at his Detroit studio known as Hitsville USA. Gordy was even quoted as describing “What’s Going On” as “the worst record I ever heard in my life”.

Gaye held firm during a seven-month power struggle that eventually concluded with the hit single becoming the centrepiece of the ground-breaking album What’s Going On, which explored the issues of poverty, racial discrimination, environmental destruction, urban decay, police brutality, drug abuse, political corruption and the devastating effects of the Vietnam War. David Van DePitte, the album’s arranger, later revealed that Gordy thought Gaye “was absolutely insane” to want to feature social commentary on a record “that was going to be the biggest fiasco that ever was”.

‘What's Going On’ was released as a single peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top spot on U.S. Billboard R&B/Soul Singles.

It is now widely recognized as one of the most important musical works of the 20th century, a song cycle that gave Black artists a licence to push the musical and political boundaries of their art.