The Marvin Gaye Song He Refused to Give Up On

The story of the Motown star who believed America needed to hear something different.

In early 1971, Motown was at the top of its game.

For years, the Detroit label had given America one hit after another. The Supremes, The Temptations, the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were part of the soundtrack of a generation. The songs were polished, melodic and usually about something most people could relate to — love, heartbreak, dancing and romance.

Then Marvin Gaye brought Motown a very different kind of song.

It wasn't about falling in love.

It was about a country at war, young men coming home from Vietnam, violence in the streets, and people wondering what had happened to America.

The song was “What's Going On.”

And at first, Motown wasn't sure anyone wanted to hear it.

A Label Run Like an Assembly Line

Berry Gordy had built Motown on discipline.

He knew what made a hit record, and he was not afraid to tell his artists, writers and producers when something wasn't good enough. That system had helped turn a small Detroit record company into one of the biggest forces in American music.

But Marvin Gaye was beginning to want something different.

By the late 1960s, he was tired of simply being the singer on someone else's record. He wanted to make his own decisions. He wanted his music to say something about the world around him.

And the world around him had become difficult to ignore.

The Vietnam War was dividing the country. Protests were filling American streets. Racial tensions were high, and violence was becoming part of the nightly news.

Gaye was also going through his own troubles. His marriage to Anna Gordy was falling apart. He was dealing with financial and emotional problems, and the illness and death of Tammi Terrell, his beloved duet partner, had left a deep mark on him.

For Marvin Gaye, music was becoming more personal.

He didn't just want to entertain people anymore.

He wanted to say something.

Where the Song Came From

The story of “What's Going On” actually began with another Motown musician.

Renaldo “Obie” Benson of the Four Tops was inspired to write the song after seeing police confront anti-war protesters. The song eventually found its way to Marvin Gaye.

At first, Gaye wasn't even sure he should record it himself. He considered giving it to The Originals, another Motown group.

But the song stayed with him.

Gaye's brother Frankie had returned from Vietnam and told him about what he had experienced there. Those conversations helped deepen Gaye's feelings about the war and the young Americans being sent overseas.

He began to see the song differently.

This wasn't just another Motown single.

It was a chance to ask a simple question that seemed to be on the minds of many Americans:

What's going on?

The recording itself sounded unlike the Motown records people were used to hearing on the radio.

There was no hard-driving dance beat. Gaye's voice was warm and intimate. Strings, percussion, jazz influences and layered background vocals created an atmosphere that felt almost like a conversation.

It sounded less like a typical Motown hit and more like someone sitting down and telling you what was on his mind.

And that was exactly what Gaye wanted.

The Standoff with Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy wasn't convinced.

To him, the song was too political and too far removed from the Motown sound that had made Marvin Gaye a star. There were concerns about the jazz-influenced arrangement and whether Gaye's audience would accept such a dramatic change.

There are several stories about Gordy's reaction. One often-repeated account says he called the record “the worst thing” he had ever heard. But that quote is based on secondhand recollections, so the exact wording is difficult to establish.

What we do know is that Gaye wasn't willing to walk away from the song.

He stood his ground.

Gaye reportedly told Motown that he would not record anything else until “What's Going On” was released.

Think about the risk he was taking.

He was already one of Motown's biggest stars, but he was challenging the man who had built the label — and he was doing it with a song that sounded nothing like a conventional Motown hit.

For once, Marvin Gaye wasn't asking for permission to follow the formula.

He was asking Motown to let him break it.

Release and Results

“What's Going On” was finally released on January 17, 1971.

Even the story of how it finally got released has more than one version. Some accounts say Berry Gordy eventually gave in. Others credit Motown executives Harry Balk and Barney Ales with getting the record out despite Gordy's objections.

But once the record reached the radio, there was no arguing with the audience.

People listened.

The single sold more than 200,000 copies in its first week. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 2 on the Hot 100.

Eventually, it sold more than two million copies.

The song Motown had been so hesitant about had become a major hit.

And Marvin Gaye had made his point.

People were ready for something different.

An Album in 30 Days

The success of the single changed Marvin Gaye's relationship with Motown.

Berry Gordy eventually gave him the freedom to make an entire album on his own terms, with a 30-day deadline.

The result was What's Going On, released in May 1971.

For listeners who had grown up with Motown's singles, the album was something new. It wasn't simply a collection of unrelated songs. It felt like one long conversation about the country and the people living in it.

A soldier comes home from Vietnam. Families struggle. People worry about poverty and violence. And through it all comes a plea for understanding, compassion and peace.

The album produced three successful singles and became the biggest-selling album of Gaye's career up to that point.

But the sales were only part of the story.

Marvin Gaye had finally gained the creative freedom he had been fighting for.

He was no longer simply the voice of a Motown hit.

He had become an artist speaking in his own voice.

Legacy

Gaye's victory over Motown didn't mean their disagreements were over.

The following year, he recorded another socially conscious project. Its title song, “You're the Man,” was considered too political, and the album was shelved. The complete album would not be released until 2019.

Gaye eventually moved in another direction with Let's Get It On in 1973, a very different record that became his best-selling album.

But “What's Going On” remained.

And perhaps that is what makes the song so remarkable.

For Americans who remember the early 1970s, the questions in the song are tied to a very specific moment in history. The Vietnam War was on television every night. Protests were taking place across the country. Families were divided over the war, politics and the direction America was taking.

Yet more than fifty years later, the song still sounds remarkably human.

It isn't simply a protest song.

It is a question.

A question about war. About violence. About compassion. About whether people can stop fighting long enough to listen to one another.

Marvin Gaye asked that question in 1971.

The world is still trying to answer it.

And perhaps that is why “What's Going On” has never really disappeared.

What began as a song Motown wasn't sure it wanted became one of Marvin Gaye's defining recordings — and one of the most enduring songs of its generation.

Sometimes the most important songs aren't the ones that fit the moment.