What's Going On (album): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:34, 16 June 2007

Revision as of 07:56, 20 June 2007

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Marvin Gaye had fallen into a deep [[depression (mood)|depression]] after the death of his singing partner [[Tammi Terrell]] in March 1970. He refused to record and perform, and went as far as to attempt a career in [[American football|football]] with the [[Detroit Lions]]. After an unsuccessful Lions tryout, Gaye came in contact with [[Al Cleveland]] and the [[Four Tops]]' [[Renaldo "Obie" Benson]], who were working on a politically conscious song called "[[What's Going On (song)|What's Going On]]". Gaye helped Cleveland and Benson complete the composition, and planned to produce it as a recording for Motown act [[The Originals]]. Cleveland and Benson persuaded Gaye to record the song himself, and in June 1970 Gaye recorded "What's Going On" and his own composition, "God is Love".

When Gaye delivered the songs as the sides for his next 45 single, Motown CEO [[Berry Gordy]] refused to release them. He considered "What's Going On" far too political and unfamiliar in sound to be commercially successful. Gaye stood his ground; he wanted to be able to express himself, and not Gordy's or Motown's version of himself, on record. Gordy eventually gave in, certain that the record would flop. "What's Going On" became Motown's fastest selling single at that point, going to the number-one spot on the R&B charts for fivetfive weeks and nmbernumber-two for three weeks on the Pop listings, with "[[Joy to the World (Hoyt Axton song)|Joy to the World]]" by [[Three Dog Night]] retaining the top spot. After this success, Berry Gordy requested an entire accompanying album.

Gaye began recording the tracks that would eventually comprise his best-known work, the ''What's Going On'' album, handling all of his own [[record producer|production]] and some of his own [[songwriting]]. ''What's Going On'' was a politically charged and deeply personal Motown album, notable for including elements of [[jazz]] and [[european classical music|classical music]]. The record was among the first soul albums to place emphasis on political and social concerns such as [[environmentalism]], [[political corruption]], [[drug abuse]], and the [[Vietnam War]].

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The critical and commercial success of the album was immediate and significant. ''What's Going On'' remained on the [[Billboard 200|Billboard Pop Album Charts]] for over a year and sold over two million copies until the end of 1972, making it Marvin Gaye's best-selling album to that date, until Gaye broke his own record with the release of ''[[Let's Get It On]]'' in the fall of 1973.

In addition, ''What's Going On'' received the highest ratings from several leading magazines and newspapers, including ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' (who named it "Album of the Year"), ''[[The New York Times]]'', and ''[[Billboard magazine|Billboard]]'', who gave it the Billboard TrendsetterTrend setter Award of 1971. It was ranked number six on ''Rolling Stone'''s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003, while its title song was ranked fourth on the magazine's 500 greatest songs of all time. A 1999 critics poll conducted by British newspaper ''Guardian/Observer'' named it the "Greatest Album Of the 20th Century".

In 1997, ''What's Going On'' was named the 17th greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted by [[HMV]], [[Channel 4]], ''[[The Guardian]]'' and [[Classic FM (UK)|Classic FM]]. In 1998 [[Q (magazine)|''Q'' magazine]] readers placed it at number 97, while in 2001 the [[TV network]] [[VH1]] placed it at number 4. In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the [[Library of Congress]] to be added to the [[National Recording Registry]], and was ranked as number 6 on Rolling Stone's [[500 Greatest Albums of All Time]].