Marvin Gaye has always been a phenomenal artist. His image was always a soul singer that brought a new flavor to the industry. One of his greatest songs “What’s Going on” is one that is mistaken for a protest song when really it’s a love song says Marvin Gaye. Most of the influence for this song comes from a great depression that Marvin went threw and the views on witch he saw the world in. Marvin Gaye was a very rebel and spiritual guy. He spoke about why so many people are dying and how young kids were separated form their families to go fight in war. Marvin Gaye just wanted to know what was going on. Some of the obstacles that Marvin Gaye went threw in his career when realizing the What’s Going On Track were issues with the label manager Berry Gordy. Berry was against releasing What’s Going On because he didn’t like the song. It wasn’t till Marvin had a rebellious scheme that What’s Going On was released. Marvin did not want to record any other songs until the What’s Going On track was released. He did not record any other song so the label had no choice but to release the track and it sold 100,000 in one day. Marvin wanted this song to be as far away from Motown as he possibly could. He had Jack Ashford on the tambourine, Eddie Brown on the bongos Earl Derougen on the congos and Jack Brokensha on vibes and assorted percussive instruments witch helped him achieve this. As a listener What’s Going On has made me think of the world now and I see that it really hasn’t changed much since that time period. I see that the lyric content is no more then feeling and thoughts all combined in an instrumental manner. As an industry professional this has helped me see how the way something is performed can change the vibe of what the song is about.
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