Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
I can’t let this month get by without recognizing the 50th anniversary (May 21, 1971) of the release of Marvin Gaye’s
masterpiece album, What’s Going On.
“OK, let’s just get this out of the way. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On LP is a masterpiece. If it’s not in your top five
or at least within the realm of your top 10 albums of all-time, then I seriously think you need to reevaluate your list.
Not many albums give you a snapshot of the world at the time of its release and still remain very relevant decades later.
What’s Going On most certainly does.” — Terry Nelson (albumism.com)
Gaye released the single, What’s Going On, after co-writer Renaldo “Obie” Benson saw police in Berkeley, Calif.,
brutality beat anti-Vietnam War protesters. Gaye would later say, “What mattered was the message. For the first time,
I felt like I had something to say.”
The album went platinum, and Rolling Stone would place it among the greatest albums of all time.
Now fifty years out, its influences are evident today as the nation wrestles with inequality and a racial reckoning.
— kenne
Fantastic!