1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. 2 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 2: The stories about soul singer Marvin Gay aren s. He 3 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 2: slept with more women than Chamberlain. He did more cocaine 4 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 2: than John Belushi and Richard Pryor combined. He ate acid 5 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 2: with Bootsy Collins and George Clinton. He could dunk on 6 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 2: Jesse Jackson. And he was born into a god fearing 7 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,880 Speaker 2: home to his sweet, wholesome mother and cross dressing, philandering 8 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 2: Pentecostal preacher who ruled his children with an iron fist. 9 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 2: But despite his strict upbringing, Marvin Gay was able to 10 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 2: find his calling music and use it as a ticket 11 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 2: out of the repressive inner city blues he was raised in. 12 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 2: Marvin Gay was immensely talented. He was also paranoid, dangerous, 13 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 2: and borderline suicidal. He barricaded himself in his Hollywood Hills 14 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,400 Speaker 2: home behind his Ak forty sevens and his attack dogs. 15 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 2: He took a knife to his wife's throat. He did 16 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 2: enough drugs to put a thoroughbread in the ground. But 17 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,679 Speaker 2: through it all he made great music. That music I 18 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 2: played you at the top of the show, and that 19 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 2: wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my 20 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 2: mellotron called Fox Trot Moving Piano low MK one. I 21 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 2: played you that loop because I can't afford the license 22 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 2: for Footloose by Kenny Loggins. And why would I play 23 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 2: you that specific slice of bacon esque sounds Messina cheese? 24 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 2: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 25 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 2: song in America on April first, nineteen eighty four, And 26 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 2: that was the day that Marvin Gay rose his hand 27 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 2: to his father and consequently brought about his own demise. 28 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 2: On this episode, Fox Trot Moving Pianos, bacon Esque cheese, 29 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 2: cross dressing dads, shame and trail, and Marvin Gay, I'm 30 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 2: Jake Brennan and miss his disgraceland. The sound of his 31 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 2: feet in women's pumps putting pressure on the old wooden 32 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,919 Speaker 2: stairs pumped out the sound of shame the trail. How 33 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 2: could his old man do this? His father? For God's sake. 34 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 2: The rest of the family stood by, pretending not to 35 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 2: be bothered by the sight of their patriarch descending from 36 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 2: his second floor bedroom in their home in Washington, DC's 37 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 2: Simple City neighborhood. But how could they not there he 38 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 2: was the man of the house, Marvin Gay, wearing a 39 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 2: poke dress, fake pearls around his neck, the aforementioned pumps 40 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 2: in a crooked wig from Crowns that he had no 41 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 2: doubt picked up from one of the church ladies he'd 42 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 2: preached to on Sundays. Young Marvin couldn't stand it, but 43 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 2: there was nothing he could do about it. His father 44 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,959 Speaker 2: was going to do whatever the hell he wanted to do, 45 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 2: and if that meant wearing ladies clothes at the breakfast 46 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 2: table on a Saturday morning or retreating behind his bedroom 47 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 2: door with fat bottomed women from church while his wife, 48 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 2: Marvin's mother busied herself with making their home downstairs, and 49 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 2: so be it. There was nothing anyone could do about it. 50 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 2: Marvin Gay Senior was going to do whatever the hell 51 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 2: Marvin Gay Senior wanted to do, because Poka Dot dress 52 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 2: or no Poka dot dress, he was still the man 53 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 2: of the house. But it was bad, real bad, bad enough. 54 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 2: Marvin's last name was Gay. But now with the rumors 55 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 2: spreading around the neighborhood that his preacher dad was some 56 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 2: sort of homosexual cross dressing freak, Marvin could barely show 57 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 2: his face out of the house without some neighborhood kids 58 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,839 Speaker 2: starting something. So for young Marvin Gay. This meant one 59 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 2: fistfight after another, but Marvin could hold his own, and 60 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 2: in some way this helped. It made him feel like 61 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 2: he was proving something to himself, to his father, that he, 62 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 2: while even just a boy at the time, wasn't betraying 63 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 2: his manhood like he believed his father was betrayal. It 64 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 2: was a constant, unspoken theme in the Gay household, and 65 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 2: their father, a one time Pentecostal preacher, preached strict adherence 66 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 2: to the Lord's Way, and any deviation from that heavenly 67 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 2: path was seen as a betrayal. It met with strict, 68 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 2: oftentimes violent discipline. But somehow, in nineteen fifties America, to 69 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 2: Marvin's dad, dressing in women's clothing was not a deviation 70 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 2: from the heavenly path progressive nah, more likely extreme hypocrisy. 71 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 2: And like I said, Marvin Gay Senior did whatever the 72 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 2: hell he wanted to do. He was the powerful male 73 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,719 Speaker 2: head of a family who ruled his household with violence, fear, 74 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 2: and intimidation. His family was petrified of him and thus 75 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 2: powerless to do or say anything about his behavior, however, 76 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 2: hypocritical and embarrassing. Now, ain't that peculiar, but the contradictions 77 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 2: didn't stop there. Despite his own sins, Father as he 78 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 2: was called, tried his best to discipline out any secular 79 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 2: and therefore sinful interest from his kids. Going to the 80 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 2: movies on a Saturday to see Disney's Lady in the 81 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 2: Tramp a betrayal of God, reading Charlotte's Web a betrayal 82 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 2: of God, and singing in a street corner dowop band 83 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 2: as young Marvin was at the time, definitely a betrayal 84 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 2: of God. But Marvin loved music and he was good 85 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 2: at it. He knew it. If hearing his voice bounce 86 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 2: off the walls of the church on Sundays didn't prove it, 87 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 2: then the looks he was starting to get from young 88 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 2: and old women alike sealed it. Gay my ass. He 89 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 2: thought women loved him. How could he be gay, he wondered, 90 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 2: And that shit wasn't hereditary? Was it? Besides? Was his 91 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 2: dad even gay? Despite the women's clothes and his marriage 92 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 2: to Marvin's mom, he was openly sleeping with other women, 93 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 2: so young Marvin Gay. To clear up any confusion, added 94 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 2: an e to the end of his name, just like 95 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 2: Sam Cook before him, and followed his golden voice from 96 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 2: the Street Corner serenades of Washington, d C. The Hitsville, USA, 97 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 2: and the hit factory known as Motown Records. Motown was 98 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 2: great for Marvin, and there was much to learn from 99 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 2: Motown's rich stable of musical talent, The Miracles, Martha and 100 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 2: the Vandellas and the Temptations. Plus Barry Gordy, Motown's founder 101 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 2: and leader, was a genius, modeling his studio and record 102 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 2: label after the neighboring General Motors Auto factory in Detroit. Gordy, 103 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 2: through Motown, pumped out hit hit after hit with his 104 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 2: assembly line approach to record making. House songwriters like the 105 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 2: Holland Doser Holland Team composed the lyrics, the melodies and 106 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 2: the music, and house studio musicians the Funk Brothers laid 107 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 2: down the tracks and contracted stars like The Supremes and 108 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 2: the Four Tops came in and sang the vocal. Finally, 109 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 2: genius producers like Norman Whitfield and the five Tool player 110 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 2: Smokey Robinson saw the track through to completion, mixing it 111 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 2: and readying it for the pressing plant, airwaves, the record stores, 112 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 2: and ultimately the record shells of young Americans, both black 113 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 2: and white everywhere Motown in the early nineteen sixties was 114 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 2: the place for black musicians. Motown's success at the time 115 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 2: was unrivaled, and its unofficial title of Hitsville, USA was 116 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 2: no stretch. Marvin Gay couldn't have found himself in a 117 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 2: better place. He broke in as a studio musician, but 118 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 2: quickly made his vocal talents known and cracked the charts 119 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 2: with the hit single Stubborn Kind of Fellow in nineteen 120 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 2: sixty two. He followed it up with subsequent hits Hitchhike, 121 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 2: Pride and Joy, Can I Get a Witness? And more, 122 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 2: and in no time established himself as one of Motown's 123 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 2: biggest stars. June twenty first, nineteen sixty three, Chattanooga, Tennessee's 124 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 2: Memorial Auditorium, the Motown label's Motortown Review was in town 125 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 2: to put on a show The Temptations, Little Stevie Wonder, 126 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 2: Mary Wells, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and at the 127 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 2: top of the bill Marvin Gay. It was showtime, but 128 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,200 Speaker 2: the headliner was nowhere to be found. Martha Reeves knew 129 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 2: what was up. Marvin's stage fright had probably gotten the 130 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 2: better of him again. She scurried about the backstage looking 131 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 2: for Marvin, and found him huddled in a corner near 132 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 2: the exit, almost with one foot out of the door. Literally, 133 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 2: he was shaking, hunched over, smoking a cigarette, sweating on 134 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 2: the verge of a panic attack. He couldn't do it again. 135 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 2: He told her he couldn't go on stage. The band 136 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,720 Speaker 2: wasn't ready. Of course they are, Marvin, they always are. 137 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 2: Martha told him he wasn't ready. You're a star, Marvin, 138 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 2: you were born ready, baby, Martha reassured him. The crowd 139 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 2: wasn't right. There was going to be empty seats. Marvin. 140 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,079 Speaker 2: It's a packed house, just like it is every night, 141 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 2: and everyone in there is dying to see you perform. 142 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 2: Marvin thought to himself that all these things may have 143 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 2: been true, but regardless whether the band was in tip 144 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 2: top shape, whether the house was packed, and whether or 145 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 2: not the crowd was dying to see him, none of 146 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 2: that will keep the rumors for being whispered, the rumors 147 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 2: that Marvin gay was well gay. Marvin couldn't stand them. 148 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 2: It was just like the old neighborhood, except it wasn't 149 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:57,719 Speaker 2: his dad's cross dressing that was stoking the rumor mill 150 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 2: about his sexuality. It was Marvel fan's on stage vibe. 151 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 2: He was a star and a sex symbol, sure, but 152 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 2: he wasn't necessarily manly, not exactly the pro football Jim 153 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 2: Brown's stud type. He had soft eyes, he was sensitive, 154 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 2: a touch effeminine, and to those who doubted his masculinity, 155 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 2: Marvin's last name kind of said at all with or 156 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 2: without the E. And of course there was the way 157 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 2: he danced on stage at the Motortown Review. It was 158 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 2: queer peculiar, to say the least. To think that there 159 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 2: was a time when Marvin Gay, the smoothest operator of 160 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 2: them all, couldn't dance is almost unthinkable, but it's true. 161 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 2: Go back in YouTube some of the early sixties footage 162 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 2: and you'll find a man trying to do the hitchhike 163 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:47,959 Speaker 2: but instead doing the Elaine benis no joke. But all 164 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 2: of that aside, there was what was inside Marvin. Was 165 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 2: he gay? He didn't know for sure. No, of course 166 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 2: he wasn't. He was one of the biggest sex symbols 167 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,959 Speaker 2: in the land. On tour, they practically had to beat 168 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 2: the women off of him with a stick. Plus, being 169 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 2: gay just wasn't allowed. His dad would never have accepted it, 170 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 2: and not to mention the closed mind in machismo culture. 171 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 2: Back at Hitsville in America in the early nineteen sixties. 172 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 2: Never he thought his dad betrayed his own manhood by 173 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 2: cross dressing. Marvin never would. He was a man's man. 174 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:26,839 Speaker 2: So Marvin did what he thought he was supposed to do. 175 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 2: He jumped up on stage and played the part. And 176 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 2: when the show was over, he jumped into the beds 177 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 2: of beautiful women everywhere and played the part there too. 178 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,320 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this word word word. 179 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:47,600 Speaker 2: Marvin leaned back in his chair and took a hit 180 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 2: off the joint and then turned to his friend Smokey Robinson. Smoke, 181 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 2: I'm going to do it, Marvin, you crazy man. No, 182 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 2: for real, I'm going to do it. Fuck Berry Gordy. 183 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 2: I don't need Motown. I don't even need music, Marvin. 184 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 2: You can't play football. You'll get killed out there. Besides, 185 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 2: the Detroit Lions don't need no stoned soul singer playing 186 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 2: wide out. You watch Smoke, I'm gonna do it. Since 187 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 2: the days of the Motortown Review, Marvin Gay had done 188 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 2: almost as much for motown as motown had done for 189 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 2: Marvin Gay. His single I Heard It Through the Grapevine 190 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,079 Speaker 2: was a smash hit number one on the charts, the 191 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,680 Speaker 2: R and B charts, and the pop charts. The album 192 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 2: he'd fought tooth and nailed to make, What's Going On, 193 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 2: an album he had complete creative control over, a protest album, 194 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 2: was a massive smash commercially and critically. Think about that 195 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 2: for a minute. You're Marvin Gay. You're a part of one, 196 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,760 Speaker 2: if not the most successful hit making machines of all time, 197 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 2: motown records, with a tried and true, can't beat recipe 198 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 2: for success. And you decide you want to do it differently. 199 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 2: You decide you don't want to work with house songwriters, 200 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 2: you want to write the songs yourself. And you decide 201 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 2: you don't want to be limited to house musicians. You 202 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 2: want to use whatever musicians you want to use, and 203 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 2: you want to produce the record yourself. And oh yeah, 204 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 2: fuck that bubblegum baby love shit, it's the same old song. No, 205 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 2: you're gonna make an album of protest songs, and you do, 206 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,319 Speaker 2: and you nail it. What's Going On was a massive 207 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:37,440 Speaker 2: success by any creative or financial measure. But if the 208 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 2: true measure of being an artist is taking risks to 209 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 2: express yourself, to give voice to others through what you create. 210 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 2: The Marvin Gaye was the early seventies pop music what 211 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:52,560 Speaker 2: Pablo Picasso was the twentieth century visual art. And still 212 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 2: Barry Gordy wasn't going to give Marvin what he wanted, 213 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,400 Speaker 2: a new contract in his own recording studio to continue 214 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 2: making records. It's his way, so fuck it. Marvin would 215 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 2: quit the business altogether. He'd go play football in the 216 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 2: National Football League for the Detroit Lions. A tryout was arranged, 217 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 2: and Marvin wasn't terrible, but the coach had mercy and 218 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 2: did Marvin a favor by not inviting him to camp. 219 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 2: The thought of Dick Budkiss and Deacon Jones teeing off 220 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 2: on Marvin gay was too much, so Marvin continued to 221 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 2: negotiate with Barry Gordy and ultimately got what he wanted. 222 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,480 Speaker 2: Two years later, Marvin emerged from his new studio with 223 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 2: the long player Let's Get It On, And it was 224 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 2: a stunning creative achievement. Except the subject matter of this 225 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:44,080 Speaker 2: album wasn't social unrest, it was sex. Marvin Gaye was 226 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 2: a freak, and Let's Get It On brought out something 227 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 2: else and him as a writer and performer, something the 228 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 2: world hadn't seen in him before. A sea was storming 229 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 2: inside of him. He'd been trying to hold back this 230 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 2: feeling for so long, but now it was time to 231 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 2: let the love come out. If Marvin couldn't improve his 232 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 2: manhood on the football field, then he would in America's bedroom. 233 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 2: Let's Get It On was unapologetically horny, sensual, and smooth. 234 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 2: No one was smoother than Marvin Day. He'd always been 235 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 2: capable of gripping listeners with the singing at once intimate, rough, vulnerable, 236 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 2: dirty and innocent. But when the subject matter was sex 237 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 2: and only sex, well, his voice was a Spanish flag trap. 238 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 2: An off record and out on the town. Marvin's sexual 239 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 2: conquests were the stuff of legend. Everyone wanted him, and 240 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 2: Marvin was down to freak. Despite an irrational jealous streak 241 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 2: that was being fueled by increasing cocaine use, Marvin encouraged 242 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 2: his girlfriend and later wife, Jan Hunter to have sex 243 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 2: with other men, and not just any other men, his 244 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 2: young protegee singer Rick James, and his biggest singing rival 245 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 2: at the time, Teddy Pendergrass. Rumor was circulating that Marvin 246 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 2: and Jan slept with Mick Jagger and his girlfriend Jerry 247 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 2: Hall after a night out at Studio fifty four, and 248 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 2: that he was sleeping with actress Margot Kidder as well 249 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 2: as with the girlfriend of Love Story actor Ryan O'Neill 250 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 2: while O'Neill was doing his best to creep on Marvin's wife, Jan. 251 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 2: Marvin didn't mind these rumors. They burnished his manly image. However, 252 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:29,360 Speaker 2: stories about Marvin's bisexuality, sex with Richard pryor sex with 253 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 2: Marlon Brando would not surface until years later. After Let's 254 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 2: get it on. The sex, the drugs. It was all 255 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 2: becoming too much for Marvin. He was one of the 256 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 2: biggest stars in the Lamb, but despite the fact that 257 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 2: the entire world wanted him, Marvin Gaye retreated with his 258 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,240 Speaker 2: wife into his cabin in the woods, on top of 259 00:16:49,280 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 2: a mountain of cocaine and under a blanket of paranoia. 260 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 2: Marvin put the knife down. I loved you too much, Jan, Marvin, 261 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 2: take the knife away from my throat. Jan. This love 262 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 2: is killing me. I beg you to provoke me. Provoke 263 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 2: me right now so I can take us both out 264 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:33,120 Speaker 2: of our misery. Marvin Gaye was high as fuck and 265 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 2: drunk on paranoia, a mix of psychedelic mushrooms, pharmaceutical gray cocaine, 266 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,120 Speaker 2: and the recent realization that his wife Jan had taken 267 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 2: him at his word that she should sleep with singer 268 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 2: Teddy Pendergrass, and it had driven Marvin into a violent ranch. 269 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:51,640 Speaker 2: But before things got all Oj and Nicole, Marvin got 270 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 2: hip and dropped the knife. Jan split with the kids, 271 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 2: and Marvin eventually got himself ready for a world tour, 272 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 2: which was saying something thing because Marvin Gay hated touring, 273 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 2: he hated performing, and by the late seventies and early 274 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 2: eighties he'd managed to at least morph the goofy Olaye 275 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:13,720 Speaker 2: Venice dance moves into something passing as smooth on stage. 276 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,200 Speaker 2: But Marvin's stage act as of late was now bordering 277 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 2: on a parody of himself high to the gills on cocaine, 278 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,480 Speaker 2: nightly paranoid. It was something to prove I'm not gay, Dad, 279 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,960 Speaker 2: I swear Marvin the Ladies Man reduced himself to stripping 280 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 2: down to his underwear on stage to close out the show. 281 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 2: If his natural talent, even in this drugged out Hayes, 282 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 2: hadn't been so immense, it would have been pathetic. But 283 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 2: somehow the show managed to stay on the rails on stage. Anyway, 284 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 2: off stage, things were about as far off the fucking 285 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 2: rails as they could get. Marvin's drug use would have 286 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 2: made Keith Richards blush. His blood type was cocaine, and 287 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 2: his fear had him firmly in its grips. Fear of 288 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:01,720 Speaker 2: not being able to perform, fear of his fans turning 289 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 2: their back on him, fear of the Lord's wrath. And 290 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:09,199 Speaker 2: all these fears weren't unfounded. Marvin's ability to perform was 291 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 2: in question. His shows because of his drug use were suffering, 292 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,240 Speaker 2: and not every show was a sold out smash. And 293 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 2: as for the Lord, well, Marvin, going as far back 294 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 2: to his early Motown days, had always felt pangs of guilt, 295 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,359 Speaker 2: shame for going secular and eskewing the Lord's path, and 296 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 2: for disappointing his father, the Preacher. And of course there 297 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 2: was always the fear, the voice in his head, the 298 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 2: one that questioned his manhood, his sexuality. To allay these 299 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 2: fears on the road, Marvin traveled with two men to 300 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 2: help him through the darkness, one his coke dealer, the 301 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 2: other his priest. Marvin's hotel suites would have one room 302 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 2: adjacent for one and another adjacent for the other, and 303 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,199 Speaker 2: Marvin before and after his shows would run back and 304 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 2: forth between each to get high and then to seek 305 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 2: the Lord's forgiveness. Literally caught between heaven and hell. Something 306 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 2: had to give. Marvin couldn't keep up with the madness. 307 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 2: He was capsizing. After the sexual Healing Tour ended in 308 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three, Marvin retreated to the home he bought 309 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 2: his parents in the West Adams District of Los Angeles. 310 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 2: Now living under the same roof with his domineering, judgmental dad, 311 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:26,640 Speaker 2: Marvin was a shell of himself, reduced to being a high, insecure, 312 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,639 Speaker 2: paranoid little boy and a mama's boy. At that nothing 313 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 2: had changed from when he was a little kid. Marvin 314 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,679 Speaker 2: still sought solace from his father's verbal abuse in his 315 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,399 Speaker 2: mother's arms. And father, as Marvin's dad was called, was 316 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,119 Speaker 2: still cross dressing, still constantly on his back about his 317 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,640 Speaker 2: sinful lifestyle, doing drugs, betraying the Lord through the Devil's music, etc. 318 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 2: And Marvin felt the shame of it all well. However, 319 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 2: different and no matter the conflict, Marvin Gay and Marvin 320 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 2: Gay Senior had one thing in common there need to 321 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 2: be received as men. What we now call toxic masculinity 322 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 2: was a cloud that hung heavy over the Gay household. Marvin, 323 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 2: eager to impress upon his father his capacity to protect 324 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 2: their family, gave father a thirty eight caliber smith and Wesley. 325 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 2: Marvin owned a few firearms himself, purchased because of his 326 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:25,480 Speaker 2: increased conduced paranoia, but arming his dad would prove to 327 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 2: be a disastrous decision. April first, nineteen eighty four, Marvin 328 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:34,080 Speaker 2: heard his mother yelling in fear from down the hall. 329 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 2: He could hear his father's voice shouting her down, and 330 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 2: then his mother again crying out in pain. Father was 331 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 2: beating his woman, Marvin's mom something fierce. Marvin felt his 332 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 2: eyes cross in anger. His throat went dry despite the 333 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,440 Speaker 2: cocaine dripping from the back of his nose. His hands 334 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 2: started to shake, his pulse started rapidly pumping blood to 335 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 2: his brain, which was now a black box of shame anger. 336 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 2: He literally felt something in him snap as he rose 337 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 2: out of his bed and just his bathrobe and beanie cap. 338 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 2: The sound of his feet hurriedly pounding the wooden floorboards 339 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,920 Speaker 2: of the upstairs hallways sent notice to father that this 340 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 2: beating might not go unchallenged. Just then, Marvin burst into 341 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 2: his mother's bedroom and did what he'd been wanting to 342 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 2: do his whole life. Beat the living hell out of 343 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 2: his old man. That hell had it coming. That hell 344 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,680 Speaker 2: was an impenetrable cage. That stole part of Marvin's childhood, 345 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 2: stole part of his confidence, stole part of his identity. 346 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 2: That hell was on the ropes. Marvin, in a blind rage, 347 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 2: rained blow upon blow on to his father until Marvin 348 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 2: finally snapped back into reality. He looked at father, crumpled 349 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,719 Speaker 2: on the floor. He'd be all right, but Marvin, Marvin 350 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 2: had that old feeling again, a mix of shame and betrayal. 351 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 2: He headed back to his room, sank into bed, and 352 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,720 Speaker 2: steeled himself for his coming depression. But he should have 353 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 2: steeled himself for the coming storm that was the wrath 354 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 2: of his father. For in what seemed like an instant, 355 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 2: Marvin Gaye's dad was standing above him in his bedroom, 356 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,359 Speaker 2: looking down on the boy he'd brought into this world 357 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,719 Speaker 2: and the man he'd take out of it. His eyes 358 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,160 Speaker 2: were black like a doll's. You could smell the meen 359 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,639 Speaker 2: on him. At his side. In his hand the thirty 360 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,440 Speaker 2: eight Smith and Wesson that Marvin gave him. He took 361 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:31,720 Speaker 2: aim at his son point blank. Marvin knew what was coming, deliverance. 362 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 2: His father pulled the trigger two shots, one in the shoulder, 363 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 2: one in the chest. Marvin Gaye died almost instantly, sad 364 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 2: and senseless. But Marvin was free, free from the shame, 365 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 2: free from the betrayal, free from the paranoia and the addiction. 366 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 2: And there's a theory that Marvin Gay deliberately antagonized his 367 00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 2: father as part of some paternal suicidal death wish, knowing 368 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,560 Speaker 2: that his dad, armed with the gun he'd given him, 369 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 2: would be unable to let it go and would finally 370 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 2: do what the cocaine was unable to do. The liver 371 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 2: Marvin gave from the shame and the pain to set 372 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 2: him free, and remarkably, Marvin Gay Senior was also free. 373 00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:23,120 Speaker 2: He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and received what amounted 374 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 2: to a slap on the wrist, five years suspended sentence 375 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 2: for killing for killing his son. His whole life, Marvin 376 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,880 Speaker 2: gay struggled with the shame of his father, the cross dresser, 377 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,680 Speaker 2: and the notion repeatedly reinforced by his father that Marvin. 378 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 2: Despite his success, he was somehow an embarrassment. Somehow he 379 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,199 Speaker 2: was someone who'd betrayed the Lord and betrayed his family 380 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 2: by making a living in the Devil's Workshop as a 381 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 2: secular entertainer. But in the end, it was his father 382 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:58,120 Speaker 2: who committed the ultimate betrayal, betraying the parental covenant, breaking 383 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 2: the one rule every parent should until their dying breath 384 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 2: to protect their children. Shameful, some would say a disgrace. 385 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan in this this Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created 386 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 2: by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. 387 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 2: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 388 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 2: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. 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