What's Going On (song)

"What's Going On"
Single by Marvin Gaye
from the album What's Going On
B-side"God Is Love"
ReleasedJanuary 21, 1971 (1971-01-21)
RecordedJune 1, July 6, 7 and 10, September 21, 1970[1]
StudioHitsville USA Studio A (main tracks), Studio B (supporting tracks), Motown Center (mixdown)[2]
Genre
  • Soul
  • R&B
  • progressive soul
  • psychedelic soul
Length
  • 3:53 (album)
  • 3:40 (single)
LabelTamla
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye singles chronology
"The End of Our Road"
(1970) 		"What's Going On"
(1971) 		"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)"
(1971)

"What's Going On" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye, released on January 21, 1971, on the Motown subsidiary Tamla.[3] It is the opening track of Gaye's studio album of the same name. Originally inspired by a police brutality incident witnessed by Renaldo "Obie" Benson, the song was composed by Benson, Al Cleveland, and Gaye and produced by Gaye himself. The song marked Gaye's departure from the Motown Sound towards more personal material. Later topping the Hot Soul Singles chart for five weeks and crossing over to number two on the Billboard Hot 100, it would sell over two million copies, becoming Gaye's second-most successful Motown song to date.[4] It was ranked at number 4 in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004 and 2010, number 6 on the updated list in 2021 and 2024, and at number 15 on its list of "The 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time" in 2025.[5][6][7][8]

  1. ^ Classic Tracks Back To Back Singles. Thunder Bay Press. 2008. p. 125.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference soundonsound was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Hughes, Keith (2018). "Gaye, Marvin". Don't Forget the Motor City. Ritchie Hardin. Archived from the original on 24 April 2024. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 225.
  5. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2004-12-09. Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  6. ^ "500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Marvin Gaye, 'What's Going On'". Rolling Stone. April 7, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-05-28. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  7. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2021-09-15. Archived from the original on 2021-09-16. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  8. ^ "The 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 27 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
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