Motown wasn’t really known for its politically conscious music. Then came “What’s Going On.” Released on May 21, 1971, at the height of the Vietnam War, Marvin Gaye’s album became a monster, spawning three hit singles on its way to becoming Motown’s best-selling album to date. The album also marked a turning point for Motown and for Marvin Gaye as an artist.

Some of the songs on the album speak directly to the state of the world in the early 1970s. The title track, with its timeless lyric “war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate,” condemned the nation’s involvement in Vietnam. But the song provides an insight into the evolution of Gaye’s music to encompass overtly political themes.

“What’s Going On” contrasts with his earlier work from the Vietnam War era that presents a different perspective. For example, “Soldier’s Plea,” the first single from Gaye’s second album, “That Stubborn Kinda Fellow” in 1962, offers a decidedly romantic view of war:

While I’m away, darling how often do you think of me?

Remember, I’m over here, fighting to keep us free.

Just be my little girl and always be true.

And I’ll be a faithful soldier boy to you.

“Soldier’s Plea” fits neatly into Motown’s early business model. Both Berry Gordy — who founded Tamla Records in 1959 and then incorporated it as the Motown Record Co. a year later — and the songwriters he brought in mostly avoided political content.

While song lyrics did not explicitly mention the ongoing civil rights protests emerging across the nation in the 1960s, Motown didn’t entirely ignore racial politics. The label released the spoken-word album “The Great March to Freedom” on the same day as the March on Washington: Aug. 28, 1963.

But the world had changed by 1971. The freedom struggle had taken a more radical turn with the emergence of the Black Power movement, the Chicano movement, the Young Lords and the American Indian movement.

The U.S. musical soundscape shifted alongside these political, social and economic transformations. Art and politics merged through 1969’s Woodstock festival. Alongside this political shift came internal pressure in Motown to give artists more agency over their own output.

Gaye produced “What’s Going On” himself, a revolutionary act at Motown. The result is a painfully beautiful protest album from first track to last.

The opening lines of the album are sung softly, yet urgently:

Mother, mother, there’s far too many of you crying.

Brother, brother, brother, there’s far too many of you dying.

Lyrics grapple with the effects of the war on families and the lives of young men sent overseas. The next song follows one of those young men home to a nation grappling with an unemployment rate of 6%. “Can’t find no work, can’t find no job, my friend,” Gaye laments on “What’s Happening Brother.”

The album’s final track conveys frustration: “Makes me wanna holler how they do my life ... this ain’t living, this ain’t living.”

Yet “What’s Going On” expresses hope. Gaye repeats the affirmation “right on” — a phrase distinctly grounded in black urban vernacular — throughout the album and on a song bearing that name. We first hear this phrase on the title track, “What’s Going On.”

Gaye’s classic album still resonates with audiences on its 50th anniversary. The environmental messages of “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” are just as germane today as 1971, as are the powerful statements on race, war and poverty on other tracks.

As someone who teaches courses on the history of music in the United States, I’ve noticed that most of my students immediately recognize songs from “What’s Going On” — an album released decades before they were born. In a nation where people continue to protest white supremacy, endless wars, environmental damage, police brutality and poverty, “What’s Going On” remains as relevant as ever.

Tyina Steptoe is an associate professor of history at the University of Arizona and wrote this for The Fulcrum, which covers what’s making democracy dysfunctional and efforts to fix our governing systems.