For Educational Use Only
Peace Bloggers,
Today I will be giving a little background about Marvin Gaye, and how he influence music. Marvin Gaye’s image prior to ‘What’s Going on’ was that of a sex symbol. His music was silky and sensual. There is no doubt that he was the king of soul music. Oddly enough Marvin Gaye never wanted to be an R&B singer, he wanted to be more like Nat King Cole, with instrumentation predominately Jazz. His choice the do R&B was directly linked to the desires of Motown, and their image they have spent so much time building. The social and national concerns that changed his mind, and the coarse of his music, was the horrific account told to him about the Vietnam War by his brother. He was dumbfounded by the bloodshed and the total disregard for human life. And the children whom were innocent victims, being sent to war against their will, and the children in the aftermath of violent discourse. The original idea for the song, ‘What’s Going On’ came about after Renaldo “Obie” Benson of the “Four Tops” witnessing police officers beating children in the park for what appeared to be for no reason at all, which led to the question, what’s is going on? The “Four Tops” did not want anything to do with the song stating that it was a protest song. Even after Obie explained that it was in fact a love song, he still did not get through to them. In hindsight, everything worked out for the best, because Marvin Gaye was ready to sing this song, cosigned by his wife and thus history was about to change forever. Marvin, on board with this project, worked hard with a very focused effort to make this record a success. When it was finally done, it was presented to the president of Motown, Berry Gordy. The album was met with disappointment, Berry asking Marvin, “Why do you want to ruin your career?.” Berry Gordy went on to say that it was the worst song he has ever heard. After much protest and the refusal to work, the label released the song without the knowledge of Berry Gordy because their fans were screaming for more Marvin Gaye. Berry Gordy was livid until he found out that 100,000 copies had been sold in the first day of release. What set this album apart from previous albums was that this was a social conscience exploit that was designed to heal, inform, educate, and with no apologies, a call to action. Unlike the music previously released by the Motown label, most of the instrumentation was masterfully preformed and influenced by Jazz Artist. Most of them were hand picked by Marvin. He did not want the same sound associated with Motown. As a fan, listener, and industry professional, I was greatly influenced by Marvin Gaye. Its like the old saying, you don’t know what you have until its gone. As a listener in my youth he taught me how treat women, how to be a man, and most of all it was imperative that I be myself. Of coarse he did not do all of this by himself, but he did influence our fathers and other artist alike. He set the tone for love, peace, and understanding, even if it was just for a little while. All we had to do was push play. As always feel free to chime in and don’t be shy. Peace
APA
(American Psychological Assoc.)
References
Neal, M. (1998). Trouble Man: The Art and Politics of Marvin Gaye. Western Journal Of Black Studies, 22(4), 252.
APA
(American Psychological Assoc.)
References
Keizer, G. (2013). LOVE IS HERE AND NOW YOU’RE GONE. Virginia Quarterly Review, 89(4), 44-59.