Marvin Gaye records What's Going On

1 June 1970: Number 15 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of pop musicUnlike many disputes between labels and artists, the argument between Berry Gordy Jr and his brother-in-law Marvin Gaye over What's Going On doesn't easily reduce to philistine versus visionary. Gordy's instincts had been the sharpest for a decade, and under him Motown was the highest-quality production line in pop's history. His objections weren't that Gaye's new music was too radical, but that it sounded "jazz...

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