What's Going On

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<b>100 Best Albums</b> When Marvin Gaye brought the title track of 1971’s <i>What’s Going On</i> to Motown founder Berry Gordy, Gordy reportedly said it was the worst thing he’d ever heard. The music was too loose, the lyrics too political. Too political? Gaye countered. This is the 1970s: You’ve got the Vietnam War; you’ve got growing poverty and systemic racism; you’ve got an environment under threat. Even Elvis was singing protest songs (1969’s “In the Ghetto”)—why couldn’t Marvin Gaye? The album’s genius is in its lightne. Songs drift and breathe; performances feel natural, even offhand—Eli Fontaine's saxophone part on the title track, for example, was recorded when Fontaine thought he was just warming up. As Sly & The Family Stone channeled their anger into into bitter funk (1971’s <i>There’s a Riot Goin’ On</i>), Gaye sublimated his in lush string sections and Latin percussion—signals not just of musical gentlene, but cultural sophistication. Even in the face of bleakness (the addiction portrait of “Flyin’ High [In the Friendly Sky],” “Inner City Blues [Make Me Wanna Holler]”), he float. .

via Apple Music

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