"What's Going On" is one of Marvin's signature songs, but it was written by Al Cleveland, a Motown house producer and Renaldo Benson of the Four Tops who brought it to Gaye.
Marvin was deeply affected by the tumultuous Sixties, the social and political starting with his soldier brother Frankie who returned from war a changed man and told Marvin the stories of things he had seen while in combat. It angered Gaye to the stage that he decided to embrace the turmoil and deliver his point of view to the public.
The first thing you hear on the album is the haunting sax of Eli Fountain that opens the title track, "What's Going On", and it sets the stage for one of the most influential R&B albums of all time.
It was a battle with Motown and Berry Gordy to get this album out there. When the album was delivered to Motown brass, a marketing executive named Phil Jones kept after David Van DePitte to make changes so the song would be more palatable to the public. Gaye's new music did not fit the Motown mold and was looked down upon. Interestingly enough, Stevie Wonder had reached the age of 21 that same year and took total control of his career with Motown's blessing.
Motown felt that the song was "like listening to two radio stations at the same time" After remixing "What's Going On" 83 times, producer David Van DePitte finally decided to release the song as is and on January 20, 1971 it was officially released. Within a day, record distributors were already clamouring for more copies as they were selling out.
