What's Going On (song)
| "What's Going On" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Marvin Gaye | ||||||||||
| from the album What's Going On | ||||||||||
| B-side | "God Is Love" | |||||||||
| Released | January 20, 1971 | |||||||||
| Format | Vinyl record (7" 45 RPM) | |||||||||
| Recorded | June 1, July 6, 7 and 10, September 21, 1970 – Hitsville USA (Studio A) | |||||||||
| Genre | Soul, psychedelic soul | |||||||||
| Length | 3:40 3:56 (7-inch version) |
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| Label | Tamla (T 54201) | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Al Cleveland, Renaldo Benson, Marvin Gaye | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Marvin Gaye | |||||||||
| Marvin Gaye singles chronology | ||||||||||
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| "What's Going On" | ||||
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| Single by Cyndi Lauper | ||||
| from the album True Colors | ||||
| B-side | "One Track Mind" | |||
| Released | March 1987 | |||
| Format |
Vinyl (7") Vinyl (12") Vinyl (10") |
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| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 4:41 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer(s) | Cyndi Lauper, Lennie Petze | |||
| Cyndi Lauper singles chronology | ||||
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| "What's Going On" | |
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| Single by Live Aid Armenia | |
| A-side | "What's Going On" |
| B-side | "A Cool Wind Is Blowing" |
| Released | 1989 |
| Format | Vinyl (7"), 12", 12" Maxi |
| Recorded | 1989 |
| Genre | Pop |
| Length | 8:48 |
| Label | Epic |
| Producer(s) | Steve Levine (producer) Fraser Kennedy and Jon Dee (executive producers) |
| What's Going On | |
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| Remix album by Artists Against AIDS Worldwide | |
| Released | October 30, 2001 |
| Recorded | 2001, Battery Studios, New York City |
| Genre | R&B, dance |
| Length | 47:29 (US maxi) 22:02 (US vinyl maxi) |
| Label | Columbia |
| Producer | Jermaine Dupri, Bono, The Neptunes, Moby |
"What's Going On" is a song by American recording artist Marvin Gaye, released in 1971 on the Motown subsidiary Tamla. 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.
The song topped Detroit's Metro Times list of the 100 Greatest Detroit Songs of All Time, and in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the fourth-greatest song of all time; in its updated 2011 list, the song remained at that position. It is included in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list, along with two other songs by the singer. It was also listed at number fourteen on VH-1's 100 Greatest Rock Songs.
The song's inspiration came from Renaldo "Obie" Benson, a member of the Motown vocal group the Four Tops, after he and the group's tour bus arrived at Berkeley on May 15, 1969. While there, Benson witnessed police brutality and violence in the city's People's Park during a protest held by anti-war activists in what was hailed later as "Bloody Thursday". Upset by the situation, Benson said to author Ben Edmonds that as he saw this, he asked, "'What is happening here?' One question led to another. Why are they sending kids so far away from their families overseas? Why are they attacking their own children in the streets?"
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Wikipedia