Asking someone their Top 5 albums is pretty commonplace, especially after we all saw High Fidelity. (Admit it, you loved it.) But what if you got to ask Afrika Bambaataa what his Top 5 are? Well, I did, and now I get to share! We continue our week-long feature of The Godfather of Electro-Funk’s Top 5 albums.
Today’s pick:
Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On
“Very Spiritual.”
DC-born Marvin Gaye signed to Tamla Records, a subsidiary of Motown Records, in the early 60s and was dubbed “The Prince of Motown” or “The Prince of Soul.” His contributions to that genre over his lifetime are immense; besides “What’s Going On,” Gaye is remembered for blockbuster hits such as “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Let’s Get It On,” and “Sexual Healing.” A lot of babies would not have been conceived if not for the work of Marvin Gaye.
“What’s Going On” is Gaye’s 11th studio album, released in 1971, and touches upon much darker themes than the lighthearted singles just mentioned. It chronicles a soldier’s return home from the Vietnam War to political injustice, poverty, discrimination, and drug abuse. The album was initially considered too conceptual by Motown, and its both critical and commercial success was a major breakthrough for Gaye and other artists who wanted more artistic control over what they released.
The title track peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It promotes tolerance and peace in its straightforward lyrics:
Father, father, everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
It is not difficult to understand why this album was so influential to Bambaataa, with its deeply spiritual message and advocation of social awareness. These premises are still valid thirty years later, in today’s political and social environments.
Stayed tuned the rest of this week as we bring you more classic picks. Skool’d by Bambaataa.
