‘What’s Going On’ at 50: Marvin Gaye, Music & Politics

A panel discussion around Marvin Gaye’s album ‘What’s Going On’ and its ground-breaking social and ecological politics.

Marvin Gaye’s album ‘What’s Going On’, released in 1971, has been lauded as an aesthetic landmark in black music and for its ground-breaking social and ecological politics. Led by DJ and broadcaster Trevor Nelson, four expert panellists – musicians Emeli Sandé and Corinne Bailey Rae, and the writers Stuart Cosgrove and Nelson George – will discuss their own experiences of ‘What’s Going On’ and asses its influence and ongoing significance at a crucial moment for climate and racial justice, as Glasgow prepares to host the United Nations’ COP26 conference.