The World Is Rated X

Last updated
"The World Is Rated X"
Single by Marvin Gaye
from the album Motown Remembers Marvin Gaye: Never Before Released Masters
B-side "Lonely Lover"
Released1986
Recorded1972, Motown Recording Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre Funk, soul
Length6:27
Label Motown
Songwriter(s) Ezra Bolton, Marilyn McLeod, Mel Bolton and Robert Gordy
Producer(s) Hal Davis
Marvin Gaye singles chronology
"Just Like"
(1985)
"The World Is Rated X"
(1986)
"My Last Chance"
(1991)

"The World Is Rated X" is a socially conscious song recorded by Marvin Gaye culled from sessions of the shelved You're the Man project from 1972, later issued on the Motown compilation album, Motown Remembers Marvin Gaye: Never Before Released Masters and released as a promotional single in 1986.

Contents

Overview

Gaye originally recorded the song in 1972 as he was working on a wide variety of projects. The song had two distinct versions. The initial recording was later issued as a single to promote a compilation album in 1986, while an alternate vocal version would later be included in the Deluxe Edition reissue of Let's Get It On in 2001. Gaye had originally planned to release the song on the album You're the Man, but due to Motown's mild response to that album's title track, it was never released, and Gaye later released Let's Get It On instead.

In 1986, Motown, having helped Columbia Records feature songs on two posthumous studio albums, decided to release more Gaye recordings from the singer's Motown archives. This song was included along with other songs, including Gaye's original recording of the Ashford & Simpson composition, "Dark Side of the World", later recorded by Diana Ross on her self titled debut solo album. While Gaye's 1960s recordings were overdubbed with 1980s production, the singer's 1970s recordings, including this song, were left in their original versions. The song was produced by longtime Motown producer Hal Davis, who was to be the second producer on You're the Man, as he had helped produce other Gaye songs from the sessions, including "Piece of Clay" and "Where Are We Going?"

Recorded in a funk style, it was a biting diatribe of the inner city, much like a previous Gaye track, "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)". in which Gaye delivered in a gospel sermon-inspired vocal, with backup from strings, horns, a solo saxophone riff, and a rhythm section.

To promote the compilation, Motown issued "The World Is Rated X" as a promotional single. It failed to make any chart. It was then issued on Gaye's Anthology set in 1995. The alternate vocal version of the song was released on the Deluxe Edition reissue of Let's Get It On six years later.

Chart performance

The song peaked at number 95 on the UK singles chart. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Whats Going On</i> (Marvin Gaye album) 1971 album by Marvin Gaye

What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records subsidiary label Tamla. Recorded between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, and United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California, it was Gaye's first album to credit him as a producer and to credit Motown's in-house studio band, the session musicians known as the Funk Brothers.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine 1966 song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single to date.

<i>Lets Get It On</i> Album by Marvin Gaye

Let's Get It On is the thirteenth studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on August 28, 1973, by the Motown subsidiary label Tamla Records on LP.

Lets Get It On (song) Song by Marvin Gaye

"Let's Get It On" is a song and hit single by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released June 15, 1973, on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. The song was recorded on March 22, 1973, at Hitsville West in Los Angeles, California. The song features romantic and sexual lyricism and funk instrumentation by The Funk Brothers. The title track of Gaye's album Let's Get It On (1973), it was written by Marvin Gaye and producer Ed Townsend. "Let's Get It On" became Gaye's most successful single for Motown and one of his most well-known songs. With the help of the song's sexually explicit content, "Let's Get It On" helped give Gaye a reputation as a sex symbol during its initial popularity. "Let's Get It On" is written and composed in the key of E-flat major and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 82 beats per minute.

Aint No Mountain High Enough

"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a pop/soul song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and became a hit again in 1970 when recorded by former Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross. The song became Ross's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

I Want You (Marvin Gaye song)

"I Want You" is a song written by songwriters Leon Ware and Arthur "T-Boy" Ross and performed by singer Marvin Gaye. It was released as a single in 1976 on his fourteenth studio album of the same name on the Tamla label. The song introduced a change in musical styles for Gaye, who before then had been recording songs with a funk edge. Songs such as this gave him a disco audience thanks to Ware, who produced the song alongside Gaye.

<i>I Want You</i> (Marvin Gaye album) 1976 studio album by Marvin Gaye

I Want You is the fourteenth studio album by American soul singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye. It was released on March 16, 1976, by the Motown Records-subsidiary label Tamla.

Come Get to This 1973 single by Marvin Gaye

"Come Get to This" is a song written and recorded by American recording artist Marvin Gaye. It was released as the second single off Gaye's album, Let's Get It On following the success of the title track. Recording sessions for the song first occurred in 1970 when Gaye worked on the song in a demo format while he made What's Going On.

Distant Lover

"Distant Lover" is the sixth song issued on singer Marvin Gaye's 1973 album, Let's Get It On and the b-side of the second single from that album, "Come Get to This." A live recording was issued as a single in 1974. The live version of the song was Gaye's most successful single during the three-year gap between Let's Get It On and his following 1976 album, I Want You.

<i>In Our Lifetime</i> (Marvin Gaye album) 1981 studio album by Marvin Gaye

In Our Lifetime? is the sixteenth studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released January 15, 1981, on Motown label Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Marvin's Room in Los Angeles, California, Seawest Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, and at Odyssey Studios in London, England, throughout 1979 and 1980. The album cover was designed by Neil Breeden. Gaye's final album for Motown before leaving for Columbia Records, the album was the follow-up to the commercial failure of Here, My Dear, a double album which chronicled the singer's divorce from Anna Gordy. Entirely written, produced, arranged, and mixed by Gaye, In Our Lifetime? was a departure for Gaye from the disco stylings of his previous two studio efforts and was seen as one of the best albums of the singer's late-Motown period.

<i>Diana & Marvin</i> 1973 studio album by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye

Diana & Marvin is a duets album by American soul musicians Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, released October 26, 1973 on Motown. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1971 and 1973 at Motown Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Gaye and Ross were widely recognized at the time as two of the top pop music performers.

<i>I Heard It Through the Grapevine</i> (album) 1968 studio album by Marvin Gaye

In the Groove! is the eighth studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released on August 26, 1968 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Originally released as In the Groove, it was the first solo studio album Gaye released in two years, in which during that interim, the singer had emerged as a successful duet partner with female R&B singers such as Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. The album and its title track are considered both as Gaye's commercial breakthrough.

<i>Marvin Gaye Live!</i> 1974 live album by Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye Live! is the second live album issued by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released on June 19, 1974, by Tamla Records.

<i>Live at the London Palladium</i> 1977 live album by Marvin Gaye

Live at the London Palladium is a live double album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released March 15, 1977, on Tamla Records. Recording sessions took place live at several concerts at the London Palladium in London, England, in October 1976, with the exception of the hit single "Got to Give It Up", which was recorded at Gaye's Los Angeles studio Marvin's Room on January 31, 1977. Live at the London Palladium features intimate performances by Gaye of many of his career highlights, including early hits for Motown and recent material from his previous three studio albums. As with his previous live album, Marvin Gaye Live!, production of the record was handled entirely by Gaye, except for the studio portion, "Got to Give It Up", which was managed by Art Stewart.

Baby Dont You Do It

"Baby Don't You Do It" is a 1964 single by American singer Marvin Gaye. Released on the Tamla label, this song discusses a man who is at a standstill with his girlfriend, who he feels is neglecting his love stating "Don't break my heart/...I've tried to do my best".

<i>Dream of a Lifetime</i> 1985 studio album by Marvin Gaye

Dream of a Lifetime is the eighteenth and first posthumously released studio album by the American recording artist Marvin Gaye. It included the top five R&B single, "Sanctified Lady".

<i>Romantically Yours</i> 1985 studio album by Marvin Gaye

Romantically Yours is the second posthumous release by American recording artist Marvin Gaye, also released by Columbia Records in 1985.

"Ego Tripping Out" is a 1979 funk-styled dance record released by American soul singer Marvin Gaye, released as a single on the Tamla (Motown) label. The record was originally meant to be the lead single for the singer's aborted Love Man album. However, as the album was scrapped and reworked into In Our Lifetime, the song received further work, before being omitted from the final album tracklist. The single was later included in a 1994 re-release of In Our Lifetime and a 2007 re-release deluxe edition featured two different alternate mixes for the sessions of In Our Lifetime as well as the original Love Man single of it.

"You're the Man" is a song composed by singer Marvin Gaye and songwriter Kenneth Stover and released on the Motown subsidiary, Tamla, in the summer of 1972. Composed primarily on the basis of the 1972 presidential election, the song was supposedly the first release from Gaye's next album, You're the Man, but the song's modest success forced Gaye to shelve the album in protest.

The Sisters Love was an American R&B and funk ensemble active in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

References

  1. "Marvin Gaye on the Official UK Singles Chart" . Retrieved 2018-03-03.