Whether this constitutes a deliberate death wish or the chaotic self-destruction of a profoundly ill person—that is a line that cannot be drawn with certainty from the available evidence.
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PART TWENTY-THREE: THE MUSIC THAT OUTLIVED EVERYTHING
When the argument on Gramercy Place ended and the smoke settled and the paramedics left and the LAPD took Gay Sr. away, what remained was the music.
More than 60 years after Marvin Gaye first walked into Hitsville U.S.A. as a nervous young drummer from Washington, D.C., his recordings continue to do what they always did: they move people.
“What’s Going On” has been licensed more times than anyone has bothered to count. It appears in films and advertisements and political speeches and graduation ceremonies. It has been covered by dozens of artists. In 2001, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry, on the grounds that it is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
“Sexual Healing” remains one of the most recognizable recordings of the 1980s—a record so embedded in popular culture that its opening synthesizer pattern is immediately identifiable to millions of people who couldn’t name when it was recorded.
“Mercy Mercy Me” has become an anthem for the environmental movement, deployed regularly in contexts its creator could not have imagined.
“I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” recorded for Motown in 1968 and held from release for over a year before becoming the fastest-selling Motown single to that point, became one of the defining recordings of the classic soul era.