"What's Going On" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye, released on January 21, 1971, on the Motown subsidiary Tamla.

[9][better source needed] While there, Benson witnessed police brutality and violence in the city's People's Park during a protest held by anti-war activists in what was hailed later as "Bloody Thursday".

"[10][11] Upset, he discussed what he witnessed with friend and songwriter Al Cleveland, who in turn wrote and composed a song to reflect Benson's concerns.

Gaye, himself, had been inspired by social ills committed in the United States, citing the 1965 Watts Riot as a turning point in his life in which he asked himself, "'With the world exploding around me, how am I supposed to keep singing love songs?

'"[13] Gaye was also influenced by emotional conversations shared between him and his brother Frankie, who had returned from three years of service at the Vietnam War and his namesake cousin's death while serving troops.

Instead of relying on other producers to help him with the song, Gaye, inspired by recent successes of his productions for the vocal act, the Originals, decided to produce the song himself, mixing up original Motown in-house studio musicians such as James Jamerson and Eddie Brown with musicians he recruited himself.

[12] The opening soprano saxophone line, provided by musician Eli Fontaine, was not originally intended.

Respected Motown arranger and conductor David Van De Pitte said later to Ben Edmonds that Jamerson "always kept a bottle of [the Greek spirit] Metaxa in his bass case.

[2] De Pitte recalled that it was a track that Jamerson greatly respected: "On 'What's Going On' though, he just read the [bass] part down like I wrote it.

[2] To add more to the song's laid-back approach, Gaye invited the Detroit Lions players Mel Farr and Lem Barney to Motown Studio B and, along with Gaye and the Funk Brothers, added in vocal chatter, engaging in a mock conversation.

[15] Later Gaye brought Lem Barney and Mel Farr as well as Bobby Rogers of the Miracles to record the song's background vocal track.

[16] The rhythm tracks and the song's overdubs were done at Hitsville, while strings, horns, lead and background vocals were recorded at Studio B.

[12] Anxious for a new Marvin Gaye product, Balk got Motown's sales vice president Barney Ales to release the song on January 17, 1971, pressing 100,000 copies and promoting the single to radio stations across the country.

On the Billboard Hot 100, it reached number two,[18] behind both "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" by the Temptations and "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night.

The song eventually sold more than two million copies, becoming the fastest-selling Motown single at the time.

"[21] Record World called it "a tasteful message song that's sure to go across the board" and said that "mellow and rhythmic, [Gaye's] performance perfectly matches the brilliant production here.

"[24] "What's Going On" was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1972 including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), but failed to win in any of the categories.

American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper covered "What's Going On" for her second studio album True Colors (1986).

The track lasted 13 weeks in total and became her second single to fail to reach the US top ten following "Money Changes Everything".

[53] Lauper's version was nominated at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Cinematography, where she lost to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer".

The version credited to Live Aid Armenia featured Aswad, Errol Brown, Richard Darbyshire, Gail Ann Dorsey, Boy George, David Gilmour, Nick Heyward, Mykaell S. Riley, Labi Siffre, Helen Terry, Ruby Turner, Elizabeth Westwood and the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra.

The B-side was "A Cool Wind Is Blowing", Armenian duduk music played by Djivan Gasparyan.

The singers who participated in the project were C. J. Lewis, Roachford, Yazz, Aswad, Edwin Starr, Peter Cunnah of D Ream, Kim Appleby, Mick Jones of BAD, Rozalla, Tony Di Bart, Paul Young, Paul Carrack, Angie Brown of Ramona 55, Jimmy Ruffin, Omar, Apache Indian, Worlds Apart, Kaos, the Pasadenas, Gus Isidore, Jools Holland, Mark King of Level 42, Nik Kershaw, Larry Adler, and Dannii Minogue.

Jermaine Dupri and Bono produced the radio single version, whose performers included Destiny's Child, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, NSYNC, Darren Hayes of Savage Garden, Jennifer Lopez, Ja Rule, Nas, Lil' Kim, Sean Combs, Mary J Blige, Alicia Keys, Eve, Gwen Stefani, Nelly Furtado, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, Aaron Lewis of Staind, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Wyclef Jean and Gaye's own daughter Nona, among other artists.