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The song was released in 1971. Marvin Gaye made a new video for the song in 2019, as many of the lyrics still applied then.

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Obie Benson wrote the original version of the song and presented it to Marvin Gaye who added some lyrics, changed the melody, produced the song, and sang the song.

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The song was written about and released for the US.

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The song was written about many social issues at the time, such as the Vietnam War, police brutality, racial injustice, drug abuse, and poverty.

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Gaye's label produced love  songs, not activist or protest songs, and they sat on the song for months. Eventually Gaye threatened to never record there again unless they released it. Although the label didn't understand or approve of the song they released it. The public, however, loved the song. It sold over 200,000 copies in the first week, hit #2 on the Billboard Pop Chart and #1 on the R&B Chart. Gaye's success forced his label, Motown, to give other singers artistic freedom. In addition, his song got people to talk about and recognize the problems in society.

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https://performingsongwriter.com/marvin-gaye-whats-going-on/

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https://www.smoothradio.com/features/the-story-of/whats-going-on-marvin-gaye-meaning-facts-lyrics/

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How does this song represent activism? How is it trying to bring about some sort of change in society?

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How does this song represent activism? How is it trying to bring about some sort of change in society?

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The song represents lots of different activist topics from the 1970s. The song is written from the perspective of a Vietnam War Veteran returning home to see the injustice happening in his country. The idea for this song came to Benson when he saw police beating young, innocent kids who were protesting the Vietnam War. Benson said he started to wonder what was happening, or what was going on. Gaye also wrote some lyrics for the songs based on the Watts riots of 1965, his brother's, Frankie's, point of view after coming home from Vietnam, and his cousin's, Marvin's, death during his service in Vietnam. Although Gaye mostly sang love songs up to this point, he felt that he needed to address all the problems in society that he saw around him. Gaye wanted to promote positive change in American society; he wanted to bring attention to issues such as racism and police brutality, in order to lessen and end the issues. He wanted Americans to be more united, and stop being violent or hateful towards one another.

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Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on

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This line reflects one of the themes within the song, which is police brutality. Gaye is saying not to be violent towards peaceful protesters, but rather talk to them to see what's going on, like what cause are they protesting for and why do they feel it's important.

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Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying

You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, eh eh

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate

You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, oh oh oh

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
Yeah, what's going on
Ah, what's going on

Mother, mother, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply 'cause our hair is long

Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
C'mon talk to me
So you can see
What's going on
Yeah, what's going on
Tell me what's going on