Jeremy Helligar At the beginning of the 1970s, mainstream Black music was a massive singles scene. A handful of Motown acts, including the Supremes and the Temptations, had managed to score Top 10 albums during the ‘60s, but with the exception of Aretha Franklin’s Atlantic Records releases post-“Respect” and Ray Charles’ run of early ‘60s hits on ABC, Black artists weren’t typically creating classic album-length artistic statements on par with The Beatles’ “Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde.”Then along came Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” a 1971 game-changer that turns 50 on May 21.
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