"What's Going On" is the stupidest protest song ever
Seeing What's Going On listed as classic protest music, please note
that the title song in particular has perhaps the most ignorant, trite excuse
for a lyric of any major pop song.
Marvin Gaye was no war protester, or civil rights activist. He gave not a
rat's ass about politics. I don't recall him marching in Selma. This is not a
criticism; there are other things in life than social protest.
In 1970, however, he apparently felt the need to be "socially
relevant" as the wind was blowing in those days. So, he got some words
expressing a broad liberal position, and VOILA! He's a protest singer.
Now, the tune is great, the production and performance are spot on. He was a
singin', songwritin' SOB. You really can't argue against the record. Marvin
was a talented musician. I've spent a good many hours listening to Marvin, and
I'm glad of it.
Father, father, we don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate
However, "only love can conquer hate" constitutes a really stupid,
cheap SENTIMENT, just as trite and deleterious to your ability to deal
effectively with reality as the mushy love songs Frank Zappa bitched about.
It's absolutely, objectively factually not true. Often the only thing that can
conquer hate is getting a big gun and shooting the hater. Why, if we would
just get together with Hussein and Bin Laden, hold hands and sing
Kum-ba-frickin'-ya, it'd all be fine.
Then, consider such lyrics as "Who are they to judge us just because our
hair is long?" Really. When did Marvin have long hair? He was just
sucking up to the hippie establishment, trying to be cool.
Then consider the cheap supposedly "progressive" laundry list that
gets pasted in for lyrics in the rest of the album. Particularly egregious to
any proper sense of Theology and Geometry, "Let's save the children.
Let's save all the children." Oh, HELL no. I'm against that. I say we
feed 'em to the whales- then we EAT the friggin' whales!
Truly, it's generally asking too much to make any kind of specific political
arguments in a song. Music is about emotional expression, not logical
argumentation. If you want to make a serious political statement, write a book
or a newspaper column or something.
Smooth grooves, though.
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