Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” Is All The (Black) Rage
Marvin Gaye was a pivotal artist from the early 1960s until his death in 1984. His critically acclaimed 1971 album, What’s Going On was written and produced amidst the Vietnam War, police brutality protests, and high U.S. unemployment rates (Mosley). This album, though pivotal for its production time period, has become an enduring and ever-relevant expression of Black rage. Through soulful instrumentation and poignant lyricism, Gaye paints a portrait of the political, mental, emotional, and social struggle of Black America. Utilizing chapters from William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs’ Black Rage, I will analyze how a multitude of songs on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album point to specific sects of Black rage. I hold that Gaye’s expression of rage accurately and artfully articulates the rage of Black America not only during the 1970s but in our present day.
Before detailing Marvin Gaye’s expressions of Black rage, it is imperative to first have an understanding of Black rage. For the sake of argumentation, What’s Going On’s expression of Black rage is one that is “a response to the persistent grief and disparate treatment at the hands of white Americans” (Jones). This disparate treatment is evidenced in 1970s urban Black America, a time in which citizens resided in overcrowded and underdeveloped living conditions, partially as a result of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1968 housing program, Section 235 (Zandonella). Additionally, disparate treatment was evident in the ever-present police brutality incidents across America. The persistent grief was apparent as Black America was exiting a tumultuous decade full of the loss of imperative leaders including, but not limited to, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Fred Hampton. This national loss, combined with the personal losses of families who had to bury their war-fallen Black sons and fathers, as well as the consistent weight of being Black in America, created an ever-dimming pulse on the heart of hope in Black America.
Amidst this grief and maltreatment enters Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Though every song on this album is arguably an expression of Black rage, this paper will focus on: “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”, “What’s Happening Brother”, and “What’s Going On”. These three songs encapsulate Black rage in all relevant social and political aspects.
“Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” chronicles the day-to-day life of Black Americans, specifically those that live in urban ghettos. As outlined by Grier and Cobbs, “Men and women, even children have been slain for no other earthly reason than their blackness. Property and goods have been stolen and the victims then harried and punished for their poverty” (Grier and Cobbs, 206). This slaying may be at the hands of police brutality, senseless war, or slow death by the white supremacist American machine. As expressed by Gaye, the first round of slaying is: “Inflation, no chance/To increase finance/ Bills pile up sky high” (Gaye). Here, Gaye chronicles the constant struggle of Black America to accrue wealth. With a Black poverty rate of 32.2% in 1969 and an average unemployment rate of 10.9% (while white America sat at 5%), the bills piling up high were no surprise (Austin). And with rising inflation rates, especially due to America’s presence in Vietnam, Black America’s chance at increasing finance was beyond dismal. This led to Marvin Gaye chronicling “Bad breaks, setbacks/Natural fact is (Oh, honey that)/I can’t pay my taxes” (Gaye). This snowballing of struggle and strife leaves Black America to do one of the things white Americans pride themself most on: paying taxes. An avenue that, in theory, affords you proper rights as an American and allows you to wear your citizen badge of honor, was yet again closed to Black Americans.
As Black America grappled with financial slaying, there was still the pain that accompanied “send[ing] that boy off to die” in the Vietnam War. In looking at Vietnam War statistics, Black soldiers suffered 12.5% of deaths while nationally, only 13.5% of Black men were of military age (USA War Dogs). Black families were forced to grapple with losing their Black men abroad, while also losing them to day-to-day violence occurring in their own communities, whether at the hands of one another or the police. These slayings lead to Marvin Gaye expressing his rage, saying “Oh, make me wanna holler/The way they do my life/Make me wanna holler/The way they do my life” (Gaye). This hollering, this verbal and obvious expression of Black rage, is a result of a continuous compilation of outrageous situations and experiences.
“What’s Happening Brother” is a double entendre as it highlights conversations Marvin Gaye had with his brother, who fought in Vietnam, while also mimicking conversation Gaye could very well have with his general Black brother. As highlighted by Grier and Cobbs, “…the United States seems to have a domestic objective of “business as usual,” with no change needed or in fact wanted” (203). America has a tendency to be willfully ignorant of racial tension, disenfranchisement and oppression (at every level), and the persistent grief and mistreatment of Black Americans. This is evident in Marvin Gaye’s saying “Are things really getting better, like the newspaper said” (Gaye). This line, spoken from the perspective of a soldier returning from Vietnam, highlights the “business as usual” position. America, then and now, utilizes media to paint a portrait of America that doesn’t always necessarily exist, especially for that of the Black American. With full knowledge of this, the soldier must ask “What else is new my friend, besides what I read” (Gaye). Here, he requests not only an understanding of America at large, but specifically within his own Black community, as that provides a better explanation of what exactly he is returning to.
The soldier also laments that “War is hell, when will it end?/When will people start getting together again?” (Gaye). This concept of war is an intriguing one, as it not only references the Vietnam War, but the daily war that is the Black American experience, especially in the ’70s. A soldier leaves war just to return to a new one in which he “Can’t find no work, can’t find no job, my friend/Money is tighter than, it’s ever been” (Gaye). This continuous economic war, coupled with a lack of unity in America, leads to an expression of rage in the form of persistent questioning. The question “What’s Happening Brother”, though at surface level is a simple one Marvin Gaye poses to his brother, is one that has plagued Black America for centuries. Just as much as this question asks for the “what”, it pulls us to look at the “why is this happening brother?”. Why are we in a continuous state of rage, of grief, of struggle? Why must we constantly fight to survive? This rage is one that is not easily cured with a simple holler, nor with a simple answer. It is a rage that will persist so long as “Americans characteristically are unwilling to think about the past…”, ignoring the history that has created this accumulation of questions and misfortunate scenarios within Black America (23).
Lastly, Marvin Gaye’s title track “What’s Going On” is an expression of Black rage as it highlights interfamilial issues, the Black community’s grappling with the Vietnam War, and continuous Black protest across the country. This track points to one of Grier and Cobbs primary points within Black Rage. They highlight that “[f]or white America to understand the life of the black man, it must recognize that so much time has passed and so little has changed” (38). In the same way, Gaye urges that “Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way/To bring some understanding here today” (Gaye). This continuous misunderstanding of Black and white America results in what Marvin Gaye chronicles as the crying, dying, picket lines, picket signs, and brutality that Black America experiences. Because of white America’s misunderstanding, Black America is left to beg “don’t punish me with brutality” as a response to police brutality (Gaye). Marvin Gaye urges that we can only get to the bottom of what’s going on if we “find a way/To bring some loving here today” and talk to one another (Gaye). “What’s Going On” is not only an expression of rage through its poignant lyrics and choice of including jive language, but because it highlights the newest marker “of bondage that has been passed from generation to generation (31). What was once slavery, Civil Rights, and Black Power became a new era of global war and national racial implosion.
Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On is a timeless expression of Black rage. Though it was penned to specifically address issues faced by 1970s Black America, such as housing crises and Red Hot Summers, its themes have persisted for over 50 years. It has become a record that has gotten multiple generations, including this one, through their own feelings of Black rage. Gaye’s vulnerability and intimate pulse on the Black American experience allowed for a master crafting of the Black American experience. What is most outrageous though, is how relevant this work continues to be. That we are still saying there are too many mothers crying, brothers, dying, and trigger happy policing (Gaye). We, Black America, can never seem to stop asking each other “what’s happening” and “what’s going on?”. What’s Going On serves as a temporary antidote for our current Black rage, as it allows Black America to feel seen, heard, and understood. This temporary antidote, however, will not suffice. Permanent social and political change must be in America so that we might finally stop asking questions and get to living.
Works Cited
Austin, Algernon. “The Unfinished March”. Economic Policy Institute, 2013. Web.
https://www.epi.org/publication/unfinished-march-overview/
Grier, William H. and Cobbs, Price M. Black Rage. Basic Books, 1968. Print.
Jones, Brandon. “Black Rage Definition”. Lecture Slides. 2021.
Mosley, Tonya. “50 Years Later, Why Marvin Gaye’s Seminal Album ‘What’s Going On’ Endures”. WBUR, 2021. Web.
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/03/01/marvin-gaye-whats-going-on
“Vietnam War Statistics”. USA War Dogs. Web.
http://www.uswardogs.org/vietnam-statistics/
Zandonella, Catherine. “Race for profits: Taylor’s research on ’70s urban housing crisis exposes a familiar history”. Princeton University, 2017. Web.
