Born in 1939 in Washington DC to a domestic worker mother and a church minister father, Marvin Gaye started singing gospel music at a young age, before becoming an essential part of the influential recording label Motown in the 60’s, as a drummer. On 1971 Gaye, who had already a substantial and celebrated career in soul and R&B, released his eleventh studio album, What’s Going On which turned 50 years old last Friday. The album was the first in an evolution that few popular musicians go through.

The context of Gaye’s life and the state of the US and the world at the time of the release of What’s Going On is as complex as the sound the legendary soul artist crafted with care and purpose in its 9 succulent songs. At the end of the 60’s, Marvin Gaye was struggling with depression enlarged by a failed marriage, cocaine abuse and struggles both with Motown and the IRS. The US was as equally conflicted as the artist. The increasingly divisive presence of the US army in the Vietnam War, which is a driving subject in the record, created a heated social environment, further fueled by the Civil Rights Movement and the exaggerated police reaction to it.

What’s Going On holds its own as one of the most important recordings of the soul genre. An influential piece of music, that pretty much redefined Gaye’s career, and gave him a high-regarded place in the canon of popular music. So much so, that Rolling Stone magazine, in the third edition of their 500-Greatest Albums of All Time list, placed What’s Going On in the top spot. Say what you will about the popular magazine’s current role in the musical landscape, but they have the knowledge, and definitely this deserved praise for Gaye’s 1971 masterpiece is as accurate as that list gets. (The 2020 version of the list is actually the most reasonable and agreeable, in this writer’s opinion, despite typical egregious decisions from RS).

That of course is completely subjective. But, in my opinion, there’s no denying that What’s Going On is a work of profound conflict, one that generates questions as it transports you with well-produced, beautiful sounds; a nuanced and soulful record that imagined a marvelous musical endeavour with strong social commentary. It’s all there condensed in the masterpiece ‘Right On’, that serves as a nucleus around which the other songs revolve. It’s long and winding, a socially conscious soul anthem of addictive rhythm, which never rushes. And it’s piercingly direct too: “Some of us feel the icy wind of poverty blowing in the air” sings Gaye with his remarkable voice, signaling and condemning the injustice and an unfair system.

The tracks tie into themselves, flowing like a natural cycle, one that is revealing and relevant, showcasing the troubled mind of an artist that wanted more answers about the challenges humanity and himself were confronted to in the second part of the 20th century. ‘God is Love’ is quintessential 70s soul that reminds me a bit of Gaye’s peer Stevie Wonder. Despite the central deity in the tune, the message of unconditional love spreading to everyone near you is a simple but still powerful one. On ‘Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)’ Gaye even took time to gave a poetical stance on environmental destruction, yes, 50 years ago: “What about this overcrowded land/How much more abuse from man can she stand?” Talking about poignancy.

Later in the 70s, Marvin Gaye’s music would become considerably more popular (and horny). His sensual and funky but still compelling approach to his music later in his career would become the most well-known aspect of it. What’s Going On is not only the marvelous threshhold that invited the public to Gaye’s discography and talent, is also a portentuous record that more or less gave the 70’s music scene a cornerstone, an album that had no intention of hiding what his creator was thinking and wanted to spread to the whole world but that anyway sounds as essential as any other in the genre to just play and let go. Half a century later its potency has all but diminished. Maybe it is the greatest album ever recorded. I’ll leave it to you.

Ah true love can conquer hate every time
Give out some love and you’ll find peace sublime
And my darling, one more thing
If you let me, I will take you to live where love is king