What's Goin' On? (1971) 5/13/20

In 1970, after witnessing police brutality at the anti-war gathering in Berkeley, California known as “Bloody Thursday," Obie Benson of the Four Tops got together with Motown songwriter Al Cleveland and wrote a song about it.

After that, the story took a long and twisted route to become a “Great Song of the '70s.”

The Four Tops declined to record it. Obie then turned to his friend Marvin Gaye, who changed the tune a bit, added some different lyrics, and after initially thinking he'd give it to The Originals to record, decided to do it himself.

He ran it past Motown president Berry Gordy, Jr., who thought the idea of Marvin recording a protest song was “ridiculous,” and told him not to do it.

He did it anyway, and when Berry heard the finished song, he thought it was terrible and refused to release it.

At that point, Marvin told Berry he would not record any more songs for Motown and basically went on strike until the song was released.

The standoff lasted a few months until mid-1971, when Motown executives Harry Balk and Barney Ales, in an effort to get Marvin back on the charts, decided to release the song without Berry's knowledge.

Within a few short weeks, “What's Going On” was at the top of Billboard's R&B chart and #2 on the Hot 100. Later on, it was was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Arrangement of Accompanying Vocalist(s).

At that point, Berry had to grudgingly admit he was wrong, and gave Marvin the freedom to record whatever he wanted...whenever he wanted

And there were still more accolades to come, including:

#4 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

#14 on VH-1's list of the Greatest Rock Songs of All Time.

#65 on the Recording Industry of America Association's (RIAA) “365 Greatest Songs of the 20th Century!”

And inclusion on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's list of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll.

Despite Berry Gordy's opinion, “What's Going On” is definitely a “Great Song of the '70s!”

NOTE: An excellent cover version by Cyndi Lauper was released in 1987, and made it's way to #12 on the Hot 100. Marvin:

Cyndi: