Marvin Gaye

[Guest deleted_19765]

The search engine sucks, so I don't know if either AgainstAllOdds or Ohdistortedsmile1789 have made this thread already.

Marvin Gaye is one of the best singers ever and one of my favorite musical artists. He was the bestselling solo artist on Motown in the 60s, recorded some of the best duets in Pop history (with Tammi Terrell), and was the first Soul singer to make albums like Rock was, opening doors for others such as Stevie Wonder. Marvin was also revolutionary in that, starting with What's Going On, his music was always filled with theological and philosophical themes that sometimes coalesced and sometimes ran against one another. As funky and soulful and wonderful as the music always is, as such, it never ceases to be intellectually interesting. You could also argue that the "confessional" leanings of subsequent singers (ie. Usher) originate with Marvin. He definitely deserves his status as one of the preeminent figures in popular music of the last century.

Here are a couple examples of Marvin's amazingness, live and in person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1w46QINlh8

[Guest Len B'stard]

Marvins the fuckin man...never far from any pile of CDs that i'll have anything to do with, brilliant brilliant singer and i'm never one for those kinda textbook good voices but the man was jus brilliant, from social commentary shit to seductive shit to flat out love songs to...ugh, he just did it all, didn't he? Trouble Man, how fuckin dope is that song on a scale of 1 to 10 that shits a fuckin 100000000000000000000000000000000000000...Marvin Marvin Marvin, all day every time, it is all about Marv'. The man hated his voice too, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU BOY?!?!?!

Also, he was a porn addict and gun nut, which is always a good combination. Apparently he did an ounce of Ching Zing in one sitting once which is fucking legendary.

But that all that is just pheriperal bullshit, as an artist, he was 2nd to none. Apparently when he really got into his shit he was a proper lil' studio fiend too, getting in on the producers table, all that. Love him. Legend. And that shit with Tammy dying on him like, after a performance...Jesus...that's a tricky lick to take on the chin.

[Lithium]

One of my all-time favourite artists as well. When it comes to soul, he's right up there with Sam Cooke in my book.

My favourite Marvin song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tOpwgrqshU&feature=related

[dalsh327]

Inner City Blues

Trouble Man

I Want You

These are a couple of clips from a documentary he did in 80-81. Article explains more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2005/nov/19/onlocationfilminspiredtravel.belgium.pop

I think this is the whole thing, but the narration is in Belgian, but Marvin Gaye does most of the talking and singing..

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7426800780311471062#

[Guest deleted_19765]

Inner City Blues

Trouble Man

I Want You

These are a couple of clips from a documentary he did in 80-81. Article explains more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2005/nov/19/onlocationfilminspiredtravel.belgium.pop

I think this is the whole thing, but the narration is in Belgian, but Marvin Gaye does most of the talking and singing..

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7426800780311471062#

Nice, I think that contains the clip I posted earlier.

Has anyone on here ventured into I Want You or Here, My Dear? Two fantastic records.

G-Unit took this one straight to the bank:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lpz5zrXig0

Edited October 7, 2010 by AgainstAllOdds

[Spoon87]

He's one of my all-time favourite artists! I think I keep coming back to his music at least once a month! There's nothing like sitting back with a jug of coffee and getting carried away by his voice!

[dalsh327]

Againstallodds - "Here My Dear" is great because it's pretty bitter and raw, "I Want You" is a gem, the Marvin/Diana songs are "retro" when they came out, prob. songs he would've done with Tammi but never got to. "Midnight Love"is good but that posthumous "Dream of a Lifetime" which was a bunch of outtakes (not to be confused with "In Our Lifetime", which had a deluxe edition released a couple of years ago) is kind of funny because it's raunchy at times. Supposedly he dove back into drugs when he did it, but it just sounded like screwing around in the studio, and getting ideas.

He wrote but never sang "The Bells", which is one of my favorite "old school jams" done by others.

When I've read about how he was shot - he must have been a major pain in the ass. Here he was, one of the biggest singers in the world, living with his parents in Crenshaw because his drug habits kept leaving him broke, (I'm sure even if you're not from LA, you've heard it mentioned in a few rap songs) locked in his room doing coke, had a gun on him because he was paranoid, and got into a fight with his dad. What his dad did was wrong, without a doubt, but I think he was worried his son was going to kill the family. He turned himself in and died about 12 years ago.

What causes confusion is when someone's buried at Forest Lawn, because there's a few of them throughout LA county. Michael Jackson's buried at a different Forest Lawn (Glendale), Gaye's buried at the one in Hollywood Hills.