What's Going On

Release type:What's this?
studio album
First released:
May 20 1971

Overview Edit

What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in June 1970 and March–May 1971 at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World and United Sound Studios in Detroit, Michigan and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California.

The first Marvin Gaye album credited as produced solely by the artist himself, What's Going On is a unified concept album consisting of nine songs, most of which lead into the next. It has also been categorized as a song cycle, since the album ends on a reprise to the album's opening theme. The album is told from the point of view of a Vietnam War veteran returning to the country he had been fighting for, and seeing nothing but injustice, suffering and hatred.

What's Going On was the first album on which Motown Records' main studio band, the group of session musicians known as the Funk Brothers, received an official credit. Featuring introspective lyrics about drug abuse, poverty and the Vietnam War, the album was also the first to reflect the beginning of a new trend in soul music. What's Going On was both an immediate commercial and critical success and has endured as a classic of early-1970s soul. A deluxe edition set of the album was released on February 27, 2001 and featured a rare live concert shot at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center where the singer was given the key to the city.

In worldwide critics/artists and public surveys, it has been voted as one of the landmark recordings in pop music history and is considered to be one of the greatest albums ever made. In 2003, the album was ranked number 6 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_Going_On. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

This particular version Edit

Record label:
Catalog number:
064 022
Release dates:
  • Jan 14 2003 in United States

Genres

Classic Rock, Hip-Hop, Motown, Soul, Rhythm & Blues. Vote on Genres

What do Amazon.com customers think?

5 stars Brother, Brother, Brother...
In 1971 I lived in a very well integrated neighborhood. We had the Romants who were Puerto Rican who lived a few doors down from us, the Sakai's, who were Japanesese, lived next door to the Jones and the Jones who were a black family lived next door to us. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were my mom and dad's best friends'. we did everything together. I'm sure we got stared at quite a bit because I guess there were still a few people who couldn't handle seeing black and white people being friendly with each …
Written by John P. Morgan "Light Coach"
2 stars DISAPPOINTED LADY
WARNING....I BOUGHT THIS ON MP3 VERY DISSAPPOINTED I'LL TELL YOU WHY...THE END OF THE SONGS ARE CUT OFF...ON SOME OF THE SONGS THEY HAVE A CHORUS ENDING AND ITS NOT THERE..AMAZON IF THERE WAS A MISTAKE LET ME KNOW...YOU CANT FOOL ME I KNOW EVERY PIECE OF THIS ALBUM BEGINNING TO END..DONT BUY THE MP3 ...
Written by TANGO

Track listing Edit

Credits Edit

Other versions Edit

What's Going On 8 tracks format: 1 x CD
catalog number: 440 013 404-2
release dates: Jan 14 2003
view details
What's Going On 17 tracks format: 1 x CD
catalog number: 440 013 404-2
release dates: Jan 14 2003
view details
What's Going On 9 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Motown Records
catalog number: 530883
release dates: Apr 7 1998 in United States
view details
What's Going On 9 tracks format: 1 x vinyl
record label: Motown Records
catalog number: 11190
release dates: May 20 1971 in United States, Oct 17 1990
view details
What's Going On 35 tracks Deluxe Edition
format: 1 x CD, 1 x unknown format
catalog number: 13404
release dates: Feb 27 2001 in United States
view details
What's Going On 9 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Universal Japan
release dates: Jan 29 2008
view details
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