What's Going On

Recorded in 1970 and 1971 at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World and United Sound in Detroit and The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, and released on Tamla in May 1971. After the title single succeeded, Berry Gordy gave Gaye until the end of March to finish an album, and he cut it in about ten working days between 17 and 30 March. Rhythm tracks and overdubs were made at Hitsville, strings, horns and vocals at Golden World. A mix finished on 5 April worried Gordy that no further hit would come from it, so Gaye and his engineers remixed in West Hollywood in early May, bringing the orchestra closer to the rhythm tracks. Gaye's layered vocals began by accident, when the engineers Steve Smith and Kenneth Sands mixed two lead takes together and Gaye kept the result. On the cover, photographed by Jim Hendin in Gaye's backyard, sleet turned his hair white.

The songs run into one another as a cycle told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning home. The album stayed on the Billboard chart for over a year, reached number six, and spent nine weeks at number one on the Soul LPs chart. The title song reached number two on the Hot 100, Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) number four and Inner City Blues number nine, which made Gaye the first male solo artist with three top ten singles from one album. Vince Aletti wrote in Rolling Stone in 1971 that he had underestimated Gaye and that it would not happen again. Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork quoted Ben Edmonds calling the title song the most avant-garde hit Motown ever had, and said Gaye found his signature voice on the album, soft and airy. NME writers voted it the best album of all time in 1985. Rolling Stone ranked it sixth in 2003 and first in its revised 2020 list, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2003.