The 500 - #165 - Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #165
Album Title: Let's Get It On

Artist: Marvin Gaye

Genre: Soul, R&B

Recorded: Hitsville USA and Golden World Studios (Detroit); Hitsville West Studios (Los Angeles)

Released: August, 1973

My age at release: 8
How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #422, dropping 257 spots
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Let's Get It On

It was nearly midnight as the luxury coach pulled away from Saunders Secondary School in London, Ontario, in April, 1983. Aboard were roughly 50 student musicians and a half dozen teachers set to embark on a four-night excursion to Boston, Massachusetts, for a band competition. Eventually, the passengers would find a way to sleep during the 11-hour journey; but that certainly wasn't going to happen for the first few hours -- the excitement was palpable.

As the chartered bus motored its way along Ontario highways toward the New York State border, some students played cards while others listened to music wired from their portable devices into their headphones. One student brought along an impressive boombox and a bag full of D batteries to charge it.

To the delight of many of the passengers, he assumed the role of DJ and cued-up the latest radio hits, including tracks from Culture Club, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson and Toto. He also played a single from soul singer Marvin Gaye, the racy and provocatively titled Sexual Healing from his 17th (and final) studio record, Midnight Love.

Sexual Healing was a massive hit that spring, crossing over from the R&B chart to the pop, dance and adult contemporary hit lists. It reached #1 in several countries, including Canada. That song my first real exposure to this already legendary figure in Motown. Sure, I had heard Gaye's biggest hits, What's Going On?, I Heard It Through The Grapevine and the title track from this week's record, Let's Get It On. But, this was different. Sexual Healing was part of my cultural milieu. I wanted to learn more about the artist dubbed "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul". In a time before the Internet, the information I cobbled together was sparse and unencumbered by fact-checking. However, as I researched his life this week, I realized I wasn't far off in what I learned.

He was born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. in Washington, D.C., in 1939 to Pentecostal Minister Marvin Gay Sr. and domestic worker Alberta Gay. He grew up impoverished, living in public housing. He was also raised in accordance with his father's strict code of conduct. According to biographer David Ritz, Marvin Jr. was subjected to "brutal whippings" for even the smallest transgression and described his homelife as, "living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all powerful king". Gay Sr. also had a troubled childhood  involving domestic abuse, violence and shootings. His decision to become a minister was, in a way, an attempt to escape his own turbulent upbringing. However, as is often the case, abused children become abusers themselves.

Gaye Jr., centre, with his parents.

As a teen, the younger Marvin joined several doo-wop groups, such as The Dippers and the D.C. Tones. He was kicked out of the house at 17 and joined the Air Force, with the hope of working on fighter jets. He was quickly disenchanted with his decision when he, and his peers, were assigned menial tasks. In 1957, he feigned mental illness and received a general discharge. He continued his musical career, forming several vocal groups and improving his songwriting talents. Eventually, he landed a contract with the Motown Studios subsidiary, Tamla Records. It was at this time that he decided to add the silent "e" to the end of his name. In part, he wanted to distance himself from both his father and the unfair negative connotations associated with homosexuality in the ‘60s. However, Gaye also maintained the spelling variation was a tribute to his idol, Sam Cooke, who had added an "e" to his last name.

Gaye was not interested in playing R&B when he began his Motown (Tamla) career. He wanted to perform jazz standards and his first record, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, was a commercial disappointment, causing him to return to the studio as a session drummer for other artists – among them The Marvelletes, The Miracles, and Jimmy Reid, earning about $5 a week ($60 adjusted for inflation).

Persistence and hard work eventually paid dividends and he began racking up hits throughout the ‘60s. In June, 1970, Gaye returned to the Hitsville USA Studios in Detroit to record the influential progressive soul and protest record, What's Going On? It appears at  #6 in the 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, but at #1 on the updated 2020 list. It's a record I intend to write about in April, 2028.

Speaking of which, a year later in April 1984, another luxury coach pulled away from Saunders Secondary School with about the same number of student musicians and teachers. This time, the bus was heading to Washington, D.C., and I was not on board. In the intervening year I had become disenchanted with the school band and opted out of the music program in my final year. I am sure someone was playing the hits of the day on that bus, but I am equally certain a hot topic of conversation was the tragic news that had unfolded on April 1st. Marvin Gaye had been shot. The shooter was already in custody and, to the shock of everyone, it was Gaye's father Marvin Sr. who had fired the gun.

Gay Sr. at his sentencing hearing in 1984.

It emerged that Marvin Jr. had interceded in a fight between his parents in their home in Los Angeles -- one that he had purchased for them in 1973. Marvin Jr., much larger and stronger than his 70-year-old father, began kicking and punching him in the upstairs hallway as wife/mother Alberta Gay screamed for them to stop.

The elder Gay retreated to a bedroom and returned with a Smith and Wesson .38 special revolver -- that Marvin Jr. had given him the previous Christmas. He shot his son twice – once in the shoulder, and the fatal bullet in the chest, perforating his lung, heart and liver. He was rushed to California Medical Centre and, at 1:01 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, and pronounced dead.

Initially charged with murder, Gay Sr. was eventually convicted of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter after it was revealed that he had a brain tumour that, according to his defense team, likely contributed to his decision-making. However, it seems more likely that the cycle of violence that marred both their lives precipitated the tragedy. As the Greek tragedian Euripides stated 1,500 years earlier; "The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children".

Marvin Sr. received a six-year suspended sentence and five years of probation. He lived until 1998 when he died of pneumonia at 84.

Marvin Jr, if alive today, would also be in his mid-eighties, and the world would have likely enjoyed 40 additional years of intelligent, soulful and beautiful music.