"Gaye's critique of the Vietnam war, for example, which was informed by his brother Frankie's experiences of the conflict, was disarmingly distinctive. So, too, was Gaye's growing maturity, in which Black fans heard both his commitment to Black life and their own potential. 'Beyond the brilliance of the string arrangements and the improvised basslines by James Jamerson, he was making power moves to give us what we needed,' music historian Rickey Vincent recently told me. 'It was motivation music. Because we could tell Marvin was motivated.'"
Emily Lordi at The Guardian marks the 50th anniversary of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On.
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