By shelz.

Turbulence and confusion marked much of the music of the early 70’s.  Watergate, the ongoing Vietnam conflict, a growing drug epidemic, and a waning faith in the promise of the 60’s ribboned through the music as the artists in the midst of the mayhem attempted to make sense of all that they were forced to endure.  Fluffy pop sensibilities were usurped by darker, more cinematic construction while lyrics of love and yearning were replaced with social anthems that sobbed for inner cities, mother earth and all who inhabited them.  Plenty of musicians took the path of the concerned citizen through their impassioned songs, but the two albums released during this period that led the brigade were Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions.  However, one has to be better. 

Both Gay and Wonder stood aghast as the gains of the previous decade eroded in a hail of drugs and rising crime in black communities. Similarly, they surveyed the damage to these neighborhoods and laid it out on wax in sensitive, pleading tones. Their label Motown was built on a commercial, crowd-pleasing sound that wasn’t found in either of these recordings.

Gordy heard the title cut from What’s Going On and objected immediately.  After acquiescing, he still told everyone who would listen that Gaye’s 10^th album would be a flop.  It was quite the opposite however and the phenomenal popularity of the album paved the way for Wonder’s release 2 years later.

What’s Going On was Marvin’s first step outside the box of love crooner. The album managed to add layers to the buttoned up preppie aesthetic that colored most of his career to that point.  After dialing back the romance, his reemergence was personal and sensitive.  His take on the bleak city streets and the sad souls who filled them was something that lived inside his creative spirit for years, but was now free to permeate his music.  Also, the soul underpinnings were tinged with melancholy jazz and dramatic orchestral compartments that were foreign, not just to Marvin’s music, but to the R&B landscape as a whole.

The album captured the climate of the times more perceptively than anything else released in 1971. However Marvin’s presentation was not angry nor was it filled with calls to arms for the downtrodden.  It was a woeful presentation of drugs, guns and poverty that shed a single aural tear for all those who had to live through the pain.  He tackled Vietnam with “What’s Happening Brother,” being a slave to heroin in “Flyin’ High,” police brutality in the title track and corporations raping the environment in “Mercy Mercy Me.”  To some it was a hard listen but Marvin knew hearing it was far easier than living it and he had to speak for the muted voices that did so every day.

What’s Going On was immediately received as a phenomenal piece of music and made Berry Gordy re-think the formula of success.  So when it was time for Motown to green light its next piece of socio-political themed music, Innervisions, it wasn’t a hard decision to make at all.

Innervisions was a true one man band production.  Not only were the drums, piano, organ, and deep basslines all constructed and performed by Stevie with his new secret weapon, the Moog synthesizer, but the imagery created by his lyrics was crystal clear.

Wonder dealt with the pitfalls of urban America in no uncertain terms.  The hyperactive funk backgrounds of songs like “Higher Ground” and “Living For the City” mirrored the fast pace and easy trouble that can accompany big city life.  The album was scattered just as that life is; religion, love, scandalous leaders, drugs all inserted in between the flaps of an album cover. However, Innervisions had a noticeable balance that eluded What’s Going On.

The album was more eclectic in thought as Wonder down shifted the urban peril enough to present “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing,” a song about taking things in stride and learning how to travel through your life stress free.  There were the love songs “All In Love is Fair” and “Golden Lady.” He even covered transcendental meditation in “Jesus Children of America,” possibly as a tool to combat all the hazards covered earlier in the LP.

Innervisions and What’s Going On are the archetypes of urban music commentary. Both ushered in new ideas in thematic construction and socio-economic and political critique and did so while expanding the foundation of the soul track.  Also, both albums have stood the test of time standing just as relevant and intriguing as they were almost 40 years ago.  But which one is the soundtrack of the 70’s?  You be the judge.