50 years later, poignant ‘What’s Going On’ still unanswered

It wasn’t only the music of Marvin Gaye that was synonymous with romance. It was also his name.

I can’t say that no other musician has been name-checked and had more songs written about him across a wider genre of music than Gaye. But I’m confident no other singer has been more frequently invoked as a prelude to making love.

The Whispers, on “In the Mood,” sing: “We’ll dance to sweet music How about some Marvin Gaye? Feel like some sexual healing.”

In “Rock Wit’cha,” Bobby Brown suggests:

“How bout a little music now Let’s hear some Marvin Gaye.”

Spandau Ballet, in “True,” talk about:

“Listening to Marvin all night long.”

Most explicitly, in the song “Marvin Gaye,” singers Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor use his name for, well, you know:

“Let’s Marvin Gaye and get it on.”

For Marvin Gaye to be the Avatar of Romance isn’t a stretch for a singer who during the 1960s was Motown’s leading man of love songs and who during the 1970s and 1980s wrote and recorded more erotic songs.

But Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the album that elevated Gaye as an artist and established him as a genius. “What’s Going On” was a suite of nine impeccably crafted songs, each flowing into the next, guided by Gaye’s humane vision and remarkably expressive and elastic voice.

The album was an artist’s soulful and prophetic response to the strife and turmoil of his times — a thoughtful and melodic commentary on racism, the Vietnam War, poverty, the environment, drug addiction and spiritual longing.

The title song, “What’s Going On,” has been called a musical question, but it’s not a question. It’s a demand to be heard, an insistence to listen and learn. Gaye isn’t a seeker looking for answers. Having borne witness to suffering, to the wreckage left in the wake of war, indifference and hate, Gaye is the prophet saying, “Talk to me, so you can see. What’s going on … I’ll tell you what’s going on.”

His fellow genius and Motown legend Smokey Robinson called it the greatest album ever.Last year in a ranking of the 500 greatest albums of all time, Rolling Stone ranked “What’s Going On” No. 1.

It was an album rising from Gaye’s concerns about what was happening in the country and from conversations with his brother about his serving in Vietnam. But it was also an album that grew out of his depression over the death of Tammi Terrell, with whom he’d teamed for memorable duets. In 1967, Terrell collapsed in his arms on stage and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She died in 1970.

Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. thought the album would flop. When the single “What’s Going On” was released in February 1971 and became an immediate hit, Gordy gave Gaye one month to create the rest of the album.

As Curtis Mayfield and Nina Simone had done, Gaye infused Black music with a social conscience, showing it wasn’t only music to dance and make love to but music that could make you think and inspire you to act.

Wedding jazz elements to a funk groove with layered multitracks of his voice gave the impression of a chorus of Marvin Gayes.

Threading through each song is Gaye’s anguished plea for love, understanding and peace. Not only was it Gaye’s most political album, it was his most spiritual.

Because Gaye had complete artistic control over the album, he paved the way for other Motown artists, such as Stevie Wonder, to be given the same creative license. The album inspired more socially conscious music among black artists, most notably with Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff ’s Philly Sound.

Great art is timeless. The social ills Gaye addressed remain. Given only one artist I could listen to, it would be Marvin Gaye. Limited to only one album, it would be “What’s Going On.”

His relevance is as undeniable as his talent. Every day, I see the news and it “make me wanna holler and throw up both my hands.”