Marvin Gaye was one of the most influential recording artists of the 20th century. Why do we need his voice now more than ever?
Most people know who Marvin Gaye was and how he was the embodiment of soul music. Most people know that he sang songs about love, more specifically, how to love. You know exactly what type of healing I’m referring to when writing about him. The vast majority of society, as well as the music world, remembers his distinct silky smooth voice that, when heard, feels as if he’s jumping out of the speaker and kissing you on the cheek. With all that said, Marvin Gaye is much more deeply layered than what meets the eye. The fact of the matter is there are mountains in regard to his actual impact on the world. The illustrious icon that still sends shockwaves through the earth’s core. Who set the standard for modern music, as well as still being a relevant driver in the Civil Rights Movement … from the grave. Most importantly, how he left a mold within humanity’s hearts and souls — giving hope and prayer for a better tomorrow for all people who reside within that moment of time.
Finding Himself
In the late spring of 1961, Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide, Gaye’s first single debuted. Written and produced by Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. Just the same Berry Gordy who single-handedly put a few small names like Jackie Wilson, The Jackson 5, and The Temptations on the map. Surely, Marvin Gaye would be an overnight sensation, right? Nope. Motown Record Corporation was still getting its footing and wasn’t the pinnacle of record labels as it would later become. There’s also the fact that it was founded just a few years prior to Gaye’s first single. Gordy hadn’t been tenured and had only worked with one major artist up to that point, and that was the likes of Jackie Wilson. Nothing against Wilson, but he isn’t Gaye and vice versa.
Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide busted because it simply wasn’t Gaye. It was a product of the final residuals of the doo-wop era. Gaye’s first hit wouldn’t come until late summer of 1962, with the release of Stubborn Kind of Fellow. This hot 100 hit which peaked at number eight, is alienized compared to earlier work. Within the song is the presentation of a rather obscure ensemble of instruments like the flute and cowbell being played not only in the same song not only in the same section but often within the same measures. Gaye found his style and flow in Stubborn Kind of Fellow, and it would become a rhythmic blueprint for many future works.
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
The song that every mother and father has drunkenly gotten up and sung at karaoke night, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, which was released in 1967, is a duet between Gaye and close friend Tammi Terrell. The hit only peaked at nineteen on the hot 100, which is strange because who doesn’t know every lyric for both parts of that song? How is this the case?
Although the song was extremely popular at its initial release, it wasn’t the groundbreaking lover’s anthem as we know it today. The reason for the Ain’t No Mountain High Enough renaissance in modern society is because of its prevalence in Hollywood films. Since the mid-’90s, the song has been featured on eight blockbuster movie soundtracks. Although this may be the case, this song marks a key transition in his career. The year 1967, up to that point, was the deadliest for U.S. troops in Vietnam (11,373 casualties, U.S. National Archives). The song was one of the most played and requested among troops.
Throughout the atrocities and horrors, mere children were living. One can’t even imagine what responsibility, rather the obligation, Gaye must’ve felt for the troops, especially when pertaining to African-American troops. African Americans, throughout the entirety of the Vietnam War, made up 31% of the active military. Whilst only representing 12% of the general U.S. population during the same aligning time frame. This is what systemic inequality looks like. Racism was reduced to percentages — a euphemism for hatred. The country was already divided; fathers, sons, and brothers were dying. For African Americans, dying for a country that beats, segregates, and kills 12% of the population because of deeply rooted bigotry. When looking at the forefathers of the Civil Rights Movement in the ’60s and ’70s, Marvin Gaye, more often than not, isn’t one of the first names to pop into mind. This shouldn’t be the case. Gaye should be recognized as such. He rarely agreed to do interviews and, for the most part, stayed out of politics. An undated quote attributed to Gaye provides more context stating, “An artist, if he is truly an artist, is only interested in one thing, and that is to wake up the minds of men, to have mankind and womankind realize that there is something greater than what we see on the surface.” Gaye spread his beliefs as well as the contents of his heart and soul to be bound to his music and wanted to advocate for change through symphonies of love.
What’s Going On?
In the following years, the climate of the world only declined. Vietnam was still producing an unprecedented amount of casualties. Domestic violence was becoming too prevalent. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The world was spinning in a downward spiral. In June of 1970, Gaye began recording, arguably, the most influential album of the 20th century. One month prior to the recording of the studio album, the shooting on Kent State’s campus occurred. Taking the lives of four and injuring nine others.
One year after the tragedy at Kent State. In May of 1971, Gaye released What’s Going On? Gospel slated across eleven tracks that welcomed with loving arms. It is everything that was needed and still presently needs to be heard by Americans. The album must be heard. It needs to be felt, and it needs to reach the deepest parts of your soul to be truly understood. Unfortunately, the topics and, more importantly, the social issues being addressed within What’s Going On?, for the most part, have gotten far worse. It makes me and many others enraged. The desperation for change. We mustn’t side with political parties or ideologies; this only leads to more divergence. Something that must be in the back of every individual’s head, as Gaye would put it is the fact that “war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate. You know we’ve got to find a way to bring some lovin’ here today.”
Right Now,
As I am finishing this article about Marvin Gaye, another tragedy has occurred not too far from where I go to school. I’ve now seen what pure fear feels like as I looked into one of my closest friend’s eyes. In the early hours of the night, he was on the phone with hometown friends who currently attend Michigan State while they were barricaded in their dorm rooms. All I could hear were trembling voices now burdened by pain and suffering that will haunt them until the day they die. When will we, as a nation and as a people, draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough? How many kids have to die? It’s as if the majority of American society is so desensitized by these atrocities it’s only a blip on their Twitter feed, just a faint white noise.
References
Gaye, Marvin — What’s Going On? (1971)
Gaye, Marvin — Stubborn Kind of Fellow (1962)
Gaye, Marvin — Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide (1961)
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough Movie Soundtracks
Research Guides:
American Minority Groups in the Vietnam War: A Resource Guide, Introduction
Research Guides at Library of Congress
