berry gordy. >> ironically he was trying to make black music to cross over to the white world and ended." and kill. >> marvin gaye wanted to be frank sinatra. he was clean, svelte. all that changed in the '70s. >> marvin wanted to compete at a high level. why can't i make a record like the beatles? i'm selling records like they sell. why can't i have that artistic expression? ♪ punish me with brutality ♪ talk to me ♪ so you can see ♪ what's going on what's going on ♪ ♪ yeah what's going on ♪ tell me what's going on ♪ ooh >> marvin gaye was affected by the vietnam war. his brother was in vietnam. he is hearing all these stories about what is going on over there. seeing the protests here, and it changes him. he holds up a mirror to america. look at yourselves, america. >> he is talking about the war, poverty. he is changing into an artist that berry gordy is not super happy about. ♪ everybody thinks we're wrong they do ♪ >> initially he did not want marvin to do "what's going on." >> motown was supposed to be nonthreatening, and here you now have marvin gaye making a protest record about