In 1970, Marvin Gaye was pretty much done with being a puppet. He was the "Prince of Motown," a guy who churned out sugary, chart-topping duets and looked great in a tuxedo, but inside? Honestly, he was falling apart.
His favorite singing partner, Tammi Terrell, had just died from a brain tumor at only 24. His marriage was a mess. And then there was his brother, Frankie, who had just come back from Vietnam with stories that made Marvin’s skin crawl.
Frankie talked about the mud, the blood, and the pointlessness of it all. Marvin sat in his house in Detroit, looking at a world that seemed to be burning—police beating protestors at People’s Park in Berkeley, the environment literally choking on smog—and he realized he couldn't sing about "Baby, I Love You" anymore.
That’s the headspace that gave us What’s Going On. It wasn’t just a song; it was a mid-life crisis caught on tape.
The Song Berry Gordy Called "The Worst Thing I Ever Heard"
You’ve got to understand how Motown worked back then. Berry Gordy, the boss, had a formula. It was "The Sound of Young America," and that sound did not include politics. It was supposed to be happy. It was supposed to be escapism.
When Marvin finally brought the title track What’s Going On to Gordy, the reaction was legendary. Gordy hated it. He told Marvin it was too "protesty" and that the jazz-inflected, scat-heavy sound would ruin his career.
"It's the worst thing I ever heard in my life," Gordy supposedly said.
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Marvin didn't blink. He basically went on strike. He told the label that if they didn't release the single, he wouldn't record another note for them. Ever. He even tried to try out for the Detroit Lions football team just to clear his head. Seriously, he spent a summer training with pro athletes because he was that desperate to get away from the "hit machine" mentality.
Eventually, a Motown executive named Barney Ales snuck the single out while Gordy was on vacation. It sold 100,000 copies in the first week.
Gordy, being a businessman above all else, changed his tune real fast. He gave Marvin 30 days to finish a whole album.
That "Mistake" Sound Was Actually Pure Genius
One of the coolest things about the title track is that iconic, hazy sound. You know the one—where it sounds like two Marvins are singing at once?
That was a total accident.
The engineer, Kenneth Sands, had recorded two different lead vocal takes. Marvin asked to hear them both so he could pick the best one. Sands accidentally played them both back at the same time on the monitors.
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Marvin’s eyes lit up. He loved the way the two voices weaved around each other, sort of like a conversation in a crowded room. He told Sands to keep it exactly like that. That mistake became his signature "multi-layered" vocal style that he used for the rest of his life.
Then you’ve got the intro. That famous saxophone line?
Eli Fontaine was just "warming up." He was goofing around, trying to get his reed right. Marvin stopped the tape and told him he could go home. Fontaine was confused—he hadn't even started "playing" the song yet. But Marvin knew. He knew that the raw, unpolished moment was better than anything they could rehearse.
The Bass Player Who Couldn't Sit Up
If you're a music nerd, you know James Jamerson. He’s the guy who played bass on basically every Motown hit you've ever heard. But for What’s Going On, Marvin had to literally drag him out of a bar.
Jamerson was, to put it lightly, not in great shape that night. He was so drunk he couldn't even sit on a stool.
He ended up lying flat on his back on the floor of the studio, looking at the lead sheets. And from that position, he played what many people consider the greatest bass line in the history of recorded music. It’s fluid, it’s melodic, and it’s completely unrepeatable.
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Why What’s Going On Still Hits So Hard Today
It’s kinda spooky how relevant the lyrics still feel.
Take "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)." Marvin was singing about "oil wasted on the ocean" and "fish full of mercury" back in 1971. People weren't even really using the word "ecology" in pop music yet. He was ahead of the curve in a way that’s almost depressing.
The album is structured like a "song cycle." One track bleeds into the next. There are no gaps. It’s meant to be listened to as one long prayer for the world.
- What’s Happening Brother: Written from the perspective of a veteran trying to find a job.
- Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler): A raw look at poverty and the feeling of being trapped by the system.
- Save the Children: A plea for the future that feels just as urgent in 2026 as it did fifty years ago.
The album doesn't have a question mark in the title. Read that again. It’s not "What's Going On?" as a question. It’s "What’s Going On" as a statement of fact. This is what is happening. This is the reality.
The Actionable Legacy
If you want to truly appreciate the depth of this work, don't just put it on as background music while you're cleaning the kitchen. It deserves more than that.
- Listen to the 50th Anniversary Multitracks. If you can find the isolated vocal tracks, do it. Hearing Marvin’s raw, triple-tracked harmonies without the band is a religious experience.
- Read the liner notes. The original 1971 release was one of the first Motown albums to actually credit the session musicians (The Funk Brothers). It was a huge deal for those guys to finally get their names on a sleeve.
- Watch "Standing in the Shadows of Motown." This documentary gives you the full picture of the guys behind the instruments, including the legend of Jamerson on the floor.
Marvin Gaye eventually died at the hands of his own father, a tragic end to a man who spent his greatest creative moment begging for "no more war" between fathers and sons. But What’s Going On remains. It’s the definitive proof that pop music can be "important" without being boring. It’s the sound of an artist finally finding his voice and refusing to let anyone—even the biggest label in the world—shut him up.