The term “musical genius” gets tossed around far more often than it should, but it’s hard to think of anyone more deserving of the distinction than Marvin Gaye. How else do you describe a man with a four-octave range who also played drums, piano, percussion and synthesizer, moving up the ranks from Motown session player to one of the label’s most versatile superstars? Perhaps what’s most impressive is just how many different careers he managed to cram into his 27 years of professional music-making. He sang other people’s words early on and did so better than most artists could ever dream of, cranking out iconic hit after hit for Motown both as a solo artist and one of the greatest duet partners of all time, and when the time came to move on to bigger and better things sonically, he went ahead and penned a catalog that landed him in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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He did it all—he was everything from sexy soul man to political activist. Hell, he even made the National Anthem his own. Most artists will never enter the same stratosphere as 1971’s What’s Going On; Marvin Gaye did and came back with Let’s Get It On two years later. Of course, it’s difficult to avoid wondering: How many more classic records would we have had if he hadn’t spent years struggling with substance abuse and mental illness? How many more creative tricks did he have up his sleeve when he was prematurely taken from us, shot dead just one day shy of his 45th birthday by his own father? He was lying in a morgue on a day he should have been blowing out candles, and the close succession of the date we mourn his unimaginable loss and the one when we celebrate his life and incredible talent means the two are forever linked—a bittersweet 48 hours in early April when we both reflect on an unparalleled catalogue of music that brought so much joy to millions and wonder how the man who made it could have been dealing with so many demons.In a way, it's fitting for an artist whose work was full of contradictions—the spiritual and the sensual; the romantic sentiments and the questionable behavior toward women; the radio-friendly, sweet Prince of Motown and the bold, political statements of What's Going On; the gleeful passion of "Let's Get It On" and the heartbreak of 1978’s Here, My Dear. So as the anniversaries of his end and his beginning roll around again and we celebrate what would have been his 80th birthday this year, we've put together this guide to help navigate the many facets of Marvin Gaye.
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So you want to get into: "Prince of Motown" Marvin?
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So you want to get into: Marvin's Duets?
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So you want to get into: Sexy Marvin?
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So you want to get into: Funky Marvin?
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Playlist: "Got to Give It Up" / "In Our Lifetime" / "Rockin' After Midnight" / "A Funky Space Reincarnation" / "Midnight Lady" / "Ego Trippin' Out" / "Funk Me" / "Joy" / "Trouble Man" / "Is That Enough"He dabbled with socially conscious music prior to its release (like his 1970 cover of Dion’s “Abraham, Martin and John,” which pays tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy), but to truly understand the stunning way in which Marvin Gaye used his music to advocate for political and social change, the first thing you need to do is put on What’s Going On and listen to it in its entirety.Even without factoring in the lyrical content (inspired by the letters his brother Frankie sent from Vietnam detailing his experiences in the war as well as the civil rights issues, poverty, environmental concerns and injustice happening at home in the States during that time period), What’s Going On was an enormous musical departure for Gaye, a watershed masterpiece in which he experimented with multi-tracked vocals and some jazz and funk influences. Couple that with the political nature of the songs, and it should come as little shock that Berry Gordy absolutely hated the title track when he heard it, reportedly calling it “the worst thing I ever heard in my life.” But Motown execs Barney Ales and Harry Balk went behind Gordy’s back to release the track, and when it became the label’s fastest selling single at the time, Gordy was forced to eat his words and strike a deal with Gaye: record the full What’s Going On album within 30 days, and he could have creative control over his own music.The record was an enormous turning point in Gaye’s career. (As he told David Ritz in Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, “I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stop crying. The notion of singing three-minute songs about the moon and June didn’t interest me.”) Gaye continued to use his music to address political concerns, as on 1972’s “You’re the Man” (which is featured on the shelved album of the same name recorded that year and released last week), tackling that year’s presidential election and declaring “politics and hypocrites is turning us all into lunatics,” a sentiment that still feels deeply relevant in 2019. Those same sessions produced “The World Is Rated X,” which notes that “they let children see life destroyed, but they won’t let them see its making,” and the gospel-influenced “Piece of Clay,” one of Gaye’s most underrated vocal performances. “Father, stop criticizing your son/Mother, please leave your daughters alone,” he pleads before preaching about how “everybody wants somebody to be their own piece of clay” to mold how they see fit. It’s impossible to listen to it and not be reminded of Gaye’s own refusal to be someone else’s piece of clay. He fought to make his voice heard during a time when that could have been career suicide, and in doing so, he became one of the era’s most essential artists.Playlist: "What's Going On" / "Abraham, Martin and John" / "Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)" / "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" / "Save the Children" / "What's Happening Brother?" / "Piece of Clay" / "Right On" / "The World Is Rated X" / "You're the Man"