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637_12 | He was then signed on to direct a venture starring Kamal Haasan and produced by Kaja Mohideen, and initially suggested a one-line story which went on to become Pachaikili Muthucharam for the collaboration. Kamal Haasan wanted a different story and thus the investigative thriller film Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006), was written with Jyothika, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Prakash Raj, Daniel Balaji and Salim Baig added to the cast. The film told another episode from a police officer's life, with an Indian cop moved to America to investigate the case of psychotic serial killers before returning to pursue the chase in India. During the shooting, the unit ran into problems after the producer had attempted suicide and as a result, Kamal Haasan wanted to quit the project. Menon subsequently convinced him to stay on as they had taken advance payments. He has since revealed that unlike Kamal Haasan's other films, the actor did not take particular control of the script or production of the film. The |
637_13 | film however had gone through change from the original script with less emphasis on the antagonists than Menon had hoped and he also revealed that scenes for songs were forced in and shot without him. The film released in August 2006 and went on to become his third successive hit film in Tamil and once again, he won rave reviews for his direction. Menon later expressed interest in remaking the film in Hindi with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role without the love angle, though the project fell through after discussions. In 2012, he re-began negotiations with producers to make a Hindi version of the film with Shahrukh Khan in the lead role. He had stated his intent on making a trilogy of police episode films, with a possible third featuring Vikram in the lead role, before completing it in 2015 with Ajith Kumar in Yennai Arindhaal. |
637_14 | Success, 2007–08 |
637_15 | His next project, Pachaikili Muthucharam (2007), based on the novel Derailed by James Siegel, featured Sarath Kumar and Jyothika and was released in February 2007. Initially the lead role was offered to Kamal Haasan who passed the opportunity, while actors Cheran and Madhavan declined citing date and image problems respectively. Menon met Sarath Kumar at an event where he cited he was looking to change his 'action' image and Menon subsequently cast him in the lead role. During production, the film ran into further casting trouble with Simran dropping out her assigned role and was replaced by Shobana after another actress, Tabu, also rejected the role. Shobana was also duly replaced by a newcomer, Andrea Jeremiah to portray the character of Kalyani in the film. The film was under production for over a year and coincided with the making of his previous film which was largely delayed. The film initially opened to positive reviews with a critic citing that Menon is "growing with each |
637_16 | passing film. His style is distinctive, his vision clear, his team rallies around him and he manages to pull it off each time he attempts". However the film became a financial failure for the producer, Venu Ravichandran and in regard to the failure of the film, Menon went on to claim that Sarath Kumar was "wrong for the film" and that he tweaked the story to fit his image; he also claimed that his father's ailing health and consequent death a week before the release had left him mentally affected. In mid-2007, Menon announced and began work on a youth-centric film titled Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam featuring Trisha and an ensemble of newcomers. Set in the backdrop of Chennai's booming IT industry, the team began its shoot in September 2007 and continued for thirty days but was later delayed and eventually shelved. In 2011, he revealed that the film was dropped because he felt the actors "needed to be trained", and would consider restarting the project at a later stage. |
637_17 | His next release, Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), saw him re-collaborate with Suriya, who played dual roles in the film. The film illustrates the theme of how a father often came across in his son's life as a hero and inspiration, and Menon dedicated the film to his late father who had died in 2007. The pre-production of the film, then titled Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam began in 2003, with Menon planning it as a romantic film with Suriya as a follow-up to their successful previous collaboration, Kaakha Kaakha. Abhirami was signed and then dropped due to her height before a relatively new actress at the time Asin was selected to make her debut in Tamil films with the project. |
637_18 | The first schedule of the film began in January 2004 in Visakhapatanam and consequently romantic scenes with Suriya and Asin were shot for ten days and then a photo shoot with the pair. The film was subsequently stalled and was eventually relaunched with a new cast including Divya Spandana, Simran and Sameera Reddy in 2006 with Aascar Ravichandran stepping in as producer, who opted for a change of title. Menon has described the film as "autobiographical and a very personal story and if people didn’t know, that 70% of this [the film] is from my life". Throughout the film-making process, Menon improvised the script to pay homage to his late father by adding a family angle to the initial romantic script, with Suriya eventually playing dual roles. The film's production process became noted for the strain and the hard work that Suriya had gone through to portray the different roles with production taking close to two years. The film released to a positive response, with critics heaping |
637_19 | praise on Suriya's performance while claiming that the film was "just a feather in Gautam's hat" and that it was "a classic". The film was made at a budget of 150 million rupees and became a commercial success, bringing in almost 220 million rupees worldwide. It went on to become Menon's most appreciated work till date winning five Filmfare Awards, nine Vijay Awards and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for 2008 amongst other accolades. Post-release of the film, Menon had a public fallout with his regular music composer Harris Jayaraj and announced that they would no longer work together, though they later returned in 2015 for Yennai Arindhaal. In late 2008, during the making of Vaaranam Aayiram, he had signed on with Sivaji Productions to direct Ajith Kumar and Sameera Reddy in an action film titled Surangani. Menon later pulled out of the commitment citing that the producers were not willing to let him take his own time with scripting. |
637_20 | Romance and experimentation, 2010–2014
In 2010, Menon made a return to romantic genre after nine years with the Tamil romantic film |
637_21 | Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010), starring Silambarasan and Trisha. Originally planned as a d Jessie with Mahesh Babu in the lead role, the actor's refusal prompted Menon to make the Tamil version first. The film explored the complicated relationship between a Hindu Tamil assistant director, Karthik, and a Christian Malayali girl, Jessie and their resultant emotional conflicts. The film featured music by A. R. Rahman in his first collaboration with Menon whilst cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa was also selected to be a part of the technical crew. Menon cited that he was "a week away from starting the film with a newcomer" before his producer insisted they looked at Silambarasan, with Menon revealing that he was unimpressed with the actor's previous work. The film was in production for close to a year and throughout the opening week of filming, promotional posters from classic Indian romantic films were released featuring the lead pair. Prior to release, the film became the first Tamil |
637_22 | project to have a music soundtrack premiere outside of India, with a successful launch at the BAFTA in London. Upon release, the film achieved positive reviews, with several critics giving the film "classic" status, whilst also become a commercially successful venture. Reviewers praised Menon citing that "credit for their perfect portrayal, of course, goes to Gautam Vasudev Menon. This is one director who's got the pulse of today's urban youth perfectly" and that "crafted a movie that will stay in our hearts for a long, long time." Soon after the Tamil version began shoot, Menon decided to begin a Telugu version titled Ye Maaya Chesave (2010) and release it simultaneously, with featuring a fresh cast of Naga Chaitanya and debutante Samantha . Like the Tamil version, the film won critical acclaim and was given "classic" status from critics, as it went on to become among the most profitable Telugu films of 2010. In 2016, he revealed that he had scripted a spin-off film from |
637_23 | Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa titled Ondraga, where the character of Karthik's life would be followed eight years after the happenings of the previous film. |
637_24 | He next began research and pre-production work on a 1920s period spy thriller titled Thuppariyum Anand in early 2010, with both Ajith Kumar and then Suriya considered for the lead roles, but the film failed to progress. Menon had also made progress over the previous two years directing the psychological thriller Nadunisi Naaygal (2011) featuring his assistant and debutant Veera Bahu and Sameera Reddy . Menon claimed that the film was inspired by a true event from the US, while also claiming that a novel also helped form the story of the film. During the making, he explicitly revealed that the film was for "the multiplex audience" and would face a limited release, citing that "it will not cater to all sections of the audience". He promoted the film by presenting a chat show dubbed as Koffee with Gautham where he interviewed Bharathiraja and Silambarasan, both of whom had previously worked in such psychological thriller films with Sigappu Rojakkal and Manmadhan. The film, which was his |
637_25 | first home production under Photon Kathaas and did not have a background score, told the story of a victim of child abuse and the havoc he causes to women, narrating the events of a particular day. The film opened to mixed reviews with one critic citing it as "above average" but warning that "don’t go expecting a typical Gautham romantic film" and that it "is definitely not for the family audiences", while criticizing that "there are too many loopholes in the story, raising doubts about logic". In contrast another critic dubbed it as an "unimpressive show by director Menon, as it is neither convincing nor appealing, despite having some engrossing moments". A group of protesters held a protest outside Gautham's house on reason for misusing a goddess's name in his film and also showing explicit sex and violent scenes, claiming that it was against Tamil culture. Soon after the release of the film, Menon began pre-production work on a television series featuring Parthiban in the lead role |
637_26 | of a detective, but did not carry through with the idea after he failed to find financiers. |
637_27 | Menon returned to Bollywood with the Hindi remake of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, titled Ekk Deewana Tha (2012), with Prateik Babbar and Amy Jackson . Unlike the South Indian versions, the film opened to unanimously below average reviews, with critics noting the story "got lost in translation", and became a box office failure. Post-release, Menon admitted that he "got the casting wrong", and subsequently other Hindi films he had pre-planned were dropped. During the period, Menon also began pre-production work on the first film of an action-adventure series of films titled Yohan starring Vijay in the title role. However, after a year of pre-production, the director shelved the film citing differences of opinion about the project. |
637_28 | Menon's next releases were the romantic films Neethaane En Ponvasantham (2012) in Tamil and Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu (2012) in Telugu, both co-produced by Photon Kathaas. Jiiva and Nani played the lead roles in each version respectively, while Samantha was common in both films. Ilaiyaraaja was chosen as music composer for the film, which told the story of three stages in the life of a couple. A third Hindi version Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau, was also shot simultaneously with Aditya Roy Kapoor playing the lead role, though the failure of Ek Deewana Tha saw production ultimately halted. The films both opened to average reviews and collections, with critics noting Menon "falls into the trap every seasoned filmmaker dreads -- of repeating his own mandatory formula" though noting that the film has its "sparkling moments". The lukewarm response of the film prompted a legal tussle to ensue between Menon and the film's producer Elred Kumar, prompting the director to release an emotionally charged |
637_29 | letter attempting to clear his name of any financial wrongdoing. Menon was then briefly associated with the anthology film, X, helping partially direct a script written by Thiagarajan Kumararaja before opting out and being replaced by Nalan Kumarasamy. He also began production work on a big-budgeted venture titled Dhruva Natchathiram, signing up an ensemble cast including Suriya, Trisha and Arun Vijay, with a series of posters issued and an official launch event being held. However, in October 2013, Suriya left the film citing Menon's lack of progress in developing the script and the film was subsequently dropped. Later in early 2015, Menon restarted pre-production for the project with Vikram and Nayantara , but again was forced to postpone the film citing financial restraints. |
637_30 | Return to action genre, 2015–present |
637_31 | Following Suriya's withdrawal from Dhruva Natchathiram, Menon moved on to begin a romantic thriller film with Silambarasan and Pallavi Subhash in the lead role from November 2013. The film developed under the title Sattendru Maarathu Vaanilai and was shot for thirty days, before the film was put on hold as a result of Menon getting an offer from producer A. M. Rathnam to begin a film starring Ajith Kumar. Consequently, in April 2014, he began filming for Yennai Arindhaal (2015), the third instalment in his franchise of police films. He described Ajith's character Sathyadev as an "extension" of the protagonists from Kaakha Kaakha and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, while Trisha, Anushka Shetty, Arun Vijay and Parvathy Nair were also selected to portray supporting roles. The film saw him collaborate again with music composer Harris Jayaraj, for the first time since their spat in 2008, while writers Shridhar Raghavan and Thiagarajan Kumararaja were both also involved in the screen-writing |
637_32 | process. Focussing on the story of a police officer's professional and personal life from the ages of thirteen to thirty-eight with the backdrop of tackling an organ-trafficking gang, Yennai Arindhaal opened to mixed to positive reviews in February 2015. Critics from The Hindu wrote it "leaves you feeling like having gone back to a well-known play you have enjoyed a few times over", and that it is "a much-needed intervention in the Tamil commercial cinema space" while also "the most engaging of the three [police films]". Reviewer Udhav Naig of The Hindu added that "Gautham wins as he has reconfigured, albeit not radically, the basic contours of a Tamil cop", and that he "has consistently improved on the character sketch in the last three films." The film also performed well at the box office and gave Menon his first commercially successful Tamil film in five years. Soon after the release, he began work on a sequel to the film and expressed his interest in approaching Ajith again to |
637_33 | work together in the future. Menon also worked as a singer in Radha Mohan's film Uppu Karuvaadu (2015). |
637_34 | After Yennai Arindhaal, Menon resumed work on his film with Silambarasan under the new title of Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada, with Manjima Mohan joining the cast to replace Pallavi Sharda. A Telugu version with Naga Chaitanya and Manjima was simultaneously shot under the title Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo, with Menon revealing that he hoped to finance the Tamil version through the salary he received from the Telugu film's producers. The film developed slowly and was further delayed after Silambarasan refused to shoot for the film following a salary dispute during mid-2016. Menon also has Enai Noki Paayum Thota, a drama featuring Dhanush and Megha Akash in production, with the shoot began during February 2016. |
637_35 | Menon also has several proposed directorial projects in production. He began producing and directing the spy thriller Dhruva Natchathiram in late 2016 with Vikram leading an ensemble cast. Despite regular schedules throughout 2017, the film has been put on hold as Menon looks to raise funds. He has agreed terms to make an anthology film for Netflix, and another film titled Joshua: Adhiyayam Ondru for Vels Film International featuring Varun. He has also completed a web series titled Queen based on the life of political leader Jayalalithaa, which features Ramya Krishnan in the lead role. The series shall be releasing on MX Player. Menon also still aspires to complete his proposed multilingual film titled Ondraaga, which would be a spiritual sequel to Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa.
Filmmaking |
637_36 | Menon has stated that he is largely inspired by the "depth and aesthetics" that are created by American films. He usually makes the characters in his films sport identical haircuts and urban casual wear. His films are also known for their strong depiction of female characters, in contrast to other contemporary Tamil films which, according to journalist Sudhish Kamath, are "hero-worshipping star vehicles where the heroine is just a mere prop". Kamath also notes that several defining traits of Menon's films include liberal doses of English and restraint, the villains being "a seriously dangerous threat", his male protagonists being a "picture of grace and dignity" who are yet fallible, who love their fathers and are trying hard to be good men, who respect women and accept them for who they are. The majority of Menon's police films feature a woman, typically the male lead's wife or lover, being fridged. Menon stated that distributors and financiers often lay several limitations and |
637_37 | constraints on his films, that such actions only drift his thoughts and make him feel like he is losing creative control. Though his films are perceived as targeting mainly urban audiences, Menon feels they can be enjoyed by anyone. |
637_38 | According to The Hindus Udhav Naig, Menon's films are "regulated by a matrix of strong middle-class values", and also have biographical elements which, according to Menon, are inspired by his own life. Menon prefers to write the climax of his films only after filming has significantly progressed, stating that though he has an idea about the climax, it always changes when the film starts shooting. He also names his films after classic Tamil phrases and lines from Tamil film songs such as Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada being named after the namesake song from Mannathi Mannan (1960) and Yennai Arindhaal being named after the song "Unnai Arindhaal" from Vettaikkaran (1964). Menon dislikes watching dubbed versions of his own films, and claims his scripts have "a universal theme", citing this as the reason he chose to film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya in Telugu as Ye Maaya Chesave, rather than dub. Menon also makes cameo appearances in the films he directs. Menon's films notably feature |
637_39 | voiceovers, either from the view of the protagonist or the antagonist. |
637_40 | Personal life
Gautham married Preethi Menon and they have 3 sons Arya,Dhruv&Adhitya. Costume designer Uthara Menon is his sister, and has worked on his films following Yennai Arindhaal (2015).
Filmography
As director
Web series
Other roles
Music videos
Awards
Awards
Government of Tamil Nadu- Kalaimamani (2021)
Vijay Award for Favourite Director for Vaaranam Aayiram (2008)
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for Vaaranam Aayiram (2008) and Thanga Meengal (2013)
Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil for Thanga Meengal (2013)
Vijay Award for Best Film for Thanga Meengal (2013)
Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer for Ye Maaya Chesave (2010)
Nandi Special Jury Award for Ye Maaya Chesave (2010) |
637_41 | Nominations
Filmfare Award for Best Director - Tamil for Kaakha Kaakha (2003)
Filmfare Award for Best Director - Tamil for Vaaranam Aayiram (2008)
Vijay Award for Best Director for Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010)
Vijay Award for Favourite Director for Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010)
Filmfare Award for Best Director - Tamil for Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010)
Filmfare Award for Best Director - Telugu for Ye Maaya Chesave (2010)
SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Tamil for Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal (2021)
SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role - Malayalam for Trance (2021)
Honours
Rotary Club of Chennai – Honored for Creative Excellence (2010)
References
External links |
637_42 | Living people
1973 births
21st-century Indian film directors
Film directors from Chennai
Film directors from Kerala
Film producers from Kerala
Filmfare Awards South winners
Nandi Award winners
People from Ottapalam
Screenwriters from Kerala
Tamil film directors
Tamil screenwriters
Telugu film producers |
638_0 | Lauren Susan Green (born June 30, 1958) is the Chief Religion Correspondent for Fox News. Previously she was a headline anchor giving weekday updates at the top and bottom of the hour during morning television show Fox & Friends. She has also appeared as a guest panelist on Fox's late-night satire show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld. She is the first African-American Miss Minnesota.
Early life
Green was born to Robert and Bessie Grissam Green in Minneapolis. She has two sisters, Barbara and Lois, and two brothers, Leslie and Kenneth. In an interview with Bill O'Reilly she admitted that when she was in the sixth grade, Prince had a crush on her, called her to say "I like you", and she hung up on him. She later appeared in the music video for Prince's 1992 song My Name Is Prince, playing a news anchor and using her own name of Lauren Green. She won the Miss Minnesota pageant in 1984, and was third runner-up in the Miss America 1985 pageant. |
638_1 | Green earned her Bachelor of Music in piano performance from the University of Minnesota in 1980, then attended graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Green is a practicing Christian and member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Interview with Reza Aslan
In 2011, Green asked whether Islam "makes believers more susceptible to radicalization." After a 2013 interview with Iranian-American scholar Reza Aslan (who was then promoting his new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth), she received considerable criticism for her questions. Green questioned why a Muslim would write about Jesus, saying, "You're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?" Aslan defended his credentials several times throughout, and clearly stated that his interest was scholarly. Green continued to press him on the same matters, clearly not taking on board anything Aslan said. |
638_2 | Erik Wemple of The Washington Post disparaged Green's questions as "dumb, loaded, and prejudicial," calling for the Fox News Channel to apologize to Aslan. Daniel Politi of Slate speculated that the interview was possibly "the single most cringe-worthy, embarrassing interview on Fox News [...] in recent memory." Matthew J. Franck criticized Aslan for his claim of a degree in the history of religions, as he teaches creative writing and holds a PhD in Sociology of Religion rather than a degree in history. In the interview, Aslan clearly stated that "anyone who thinks this book is an attack on Christianity has not read it yet."
Music
In 2004, Green released an album called Classic Beauty consisting of classical piano music.
Green also played keyboards for Mike Huckabee's band The Little Rockers on the Fox News program Huckabee. |
638_3 | In January 2014 Green performed in the 90th birthday concert for Georg Ratzinger, the brother of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who was also in attendance. She described this in an opinion piece written for Fox News as "the honor of a lifetime."
COVID-19 pandemic
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Green advocated for churches who defied court orders to stop large gatherings. An editorial written by her, and published by Fox News on March 15 featured a stock photo of people holding hands when CDC guidelines at the time advised against it. The article called washing hands, sanitizing homes, and practicing social distancing a "temporary or flimsy barrier to a raging tsunami" and said "To close the churches where people go for comfort and spiritual strength – as an act of fighting against this biological scourge – seems like a surrender to Satan." |
638_4 | Green interviewed Louisiana pastor Tony Spell for a Fox News piece in which she argued that "The fundamental right to freedom of religion in the United States is sacrosanct." In Green's piece Spell claimed the church closings were politically motivated, and that through faith his church members had been "healed of HIV and cancer -- diseases [that are] bigger than COVID-19."
References
External links
Lauren Green at Facebook |
638_5 | 1958 births
African-American classical pianists
African-American television personalities
American classical pianists
American women classical pianists
American television reporters and correspondents
Fox News people
Living people
Medill School of Journalism alumni
Miss America 1980s delegates
Miss America Preliminary Talent winners
People from Minneapolis
University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni
African-American Christians
People of the African Methodist Episcopal church
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American women pianists
21st-century classical pianists
American women television journalists
21st-century American women pianists
21st-century American pianists
African-American women musicians |
639_0 | 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. |
639_1 | What's Going On is a concept album with most of its songs segueing into the next and has been categorized as a song cycle. The narrative established by the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. Gaye's introspective lyrics explore themes of drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War. He has also been credited with promoting awareness of ecological issues before the public outcry over them had become prominent.
The album was an immediate commercial and critical success, and came to be viewed by music historians as a classic of 1970s soul. In 2001, a deluxe edition of the album was released, featuring a recording of Gaye's May 1972 concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. |
639_2 | Broad-ranging surveys of critics, musicians, and the general public have shown that What's Going On is regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time and a landmark recording in popular music. In 2020, it was ranked number one on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Background
By the end of the 1960s, Marvin Gaye had fallen into a deep depression following the brain tumor diagnosis of his Motown singing partner Tammi Terrell, the failure of his marriage to Anna Gordy, a growing dependency on cocaine, troubles with the IRS, and struggles with Motown Records, the label he had signed with in 1961. One night, while holed up at a Detroit apartment, Gaye attempted suicide with a handgun, only to be saved from committing the act by Berry Gordy's father. |
639_3 | Gaye started to experience more international success around this time as both a solo artist with hits such as "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and as a dual artist with Tammi Terrell, but Gaye said during this time that he felt he "didn't deserve" his success and he felt like "a puppet - Berry's puppet, Anna's puppet. I had a mind of my own and I wasn't using it." In March 1970, Gaye's singing partner Terrell died of a brain tumor. The singer responded to Terrell's death by refusing to perform onstage for several years. In January 1970, Motown released Gaye's next studio album, That's the Way Love Is, but Gaye refused to promote the recording, choosing to stay at home. During this secluded period, Gaye ditched his previous clean-cut image to grow a beard, and preferred to wear sweatsuits instead of dress suits and sweaters. |
639_4 | The singer also got back in touch with his spirituality and also attended several concerts held by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which had been used for several Motown recordings in the 1960s. Around the spring of 1970, Gaye also began seriously pursuing a career in football with the professional football team the Detroit Lions of the NFL, even working out with the Eastern Michigan Eagles football team. However, his pursuit of a tryout was stopped after the owner of the team advised him that any future injury would derail his career. Gaye befriended three of the Lions teammates, Mel Farr, Charlie Sanders and Lem Barney, as well as then-Detroit Pistons star Dave Bing.
Conception |
639_5 | While traveling on his tour bus with the Four Tops on May 15, 1969, Four Tops member Renaldo "Obie" Benson witnessed an act of police brutality and violence committed on anti-war protesters who had been protesting at Berkeley's People's Park in what was later termed as "Bloody Thursday". Benson later told author Ben Edmonds, "I saw this and started wondering 'what was going on, what is happening here?' One question led to another. Why are they sending kids far away from their families overseas? Why are they attacking their own kids in the street?" Returning to Detroit, Motown songwriter Al Cleveland wrote and composed a song based on his conversations with Benson of what he had seen in Berkeley. Benson sent the song to the Four Tops but his bandmates turned the song down. Benson said, "My partners told me it was a protest song. I said 'no man, it's a love song, about love and understanding. I'm not protesting. I want to know what's going on.'" |
639_6 | Benson offered the song to Marvin Gaye when he participated in a golf game with the singer. Returning to Gaye's home outside Outer Drive, Benson played the song to Gaye on his guitar. Gaye felt the song's moody flow would be perfect for The Originals. Benson eventually convinced Gaye that it was his song. The singer responded by asking for partial writing credit, which Benson allowed. Gaye added new musical composition, a new melody and lyrics that reflected Gaye's own disgust. Benson said later that Gaye tweaked and enriched the song, "added some things that were more ghetto, more natural, which made it seem like a story and not a song ... we measured him for the suit and he tailored the hell out of it." During this time, Gaye had been deeply affected by letters shared between him and his brother after he had returned from service in the Vietnam War over the treatment of Vietnam veterans. |
639_7 | Gaye had also been deeply affected by the social ills plaguing the United States at the time, and covered the track "Abraham, Martin & John", in 1969, which became a UK hit for him in 1970. Gaye cited the 1965 Watts riots as a pivotal moment in his life in which he asked himself, "with the world exploding around me, how am I supposed to keep singing love songs?" One night, he called Berry Gordy about doing a protest record, to which Gordy chastised him, "Marvin, don't be ridiculous. That's taking things too far." The singer's brother Frankie wrote in his autobiography, My Brother Marvin, that while reuniting at their former childhood home in Washington, D.C., Frankie's recalling of his tenure at the war made both brothers cry. At one point, Marvin sat propped up in a bed with his hands in his face. Afterwards, Gaye told his brother, "I didn't know how to fight before, but now I think I do. I just have to do it my way. I'm not a painter. I'm not a poet. But I can do it with music." |
639_8 | In an interview with Rolling Stone, Marvin Gaye discussed what had shaped his view on more socially conscious themes in music and the conception of his eleventh studio album:
Recording |
639_9 | On June 1, 1970, Gaye entered Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studios to record "What's Going On". Immediately after learning about the song, many of Motown's musicians, known as The Funk Brothers noted that there was a different approach with Gaye's record from that used on other Motown recordings, and Gaye complicated matters by bringing in only a few of the members while bringing his own recruits, including drummer Chet Forest. Longtime Funk Brothers members Jack Ashford, James Jamerson and Eddie Brown participated in the recording. Jamerson was pulled into the recording studio by Gaye after he located Jamerson playing with a local band at a blues bar and Eli Fontaine, the saxophonist behind "Baby, I'm For Real", also participated in the recording. Jamerson, who couldn't sit properly on his seat after arriving to the session drunk, performed his bass riffs, written for him by the album's arranger David Van De Pitte, on the floor. Fontaine's alto saxophone riff to open the song was not |
639_10 | originally intended. When Gaye heard the playback of what Fontaine thought was simply a demo, Gaye instantly decided that the riff was the ideal way to start the song. When Fontaine said he was "just goofing around", Gaye being pleased with the results replied, "Well, you goof off exquisitely. Thank you." |
639_11 | The laid-back sessions of the single were credited to lots of "marijuana smoke and rounds of Scotch". Gaye's trademark multi-layering vocal approach came off initially as an accident by engineers Steve Smith and Kenneth Sands. Sands later explained that Gaye had wanted him to bring him the two lead vocal takes for "What's Going On" for advice on which one he should use for the final song. Smith and Sands accidentally mixed the two lead vocal takes together. Gaye loved the sound and decided to keep it and use it for the duration of the album. |
639_12 | That September, Gaye approached Gordy with the "What's Going On" song while in California where Gordy had relocated. According to one account, Gordy didn't like the song, allegedly calling it "the worst thing I ever heard in my life". As a result, Gaye angrily responded to Gordy's alleged putdown by going on strike until Gordy changed his mind. Gordy himself denied this claim, stating he loved the song's jazzy feel but cautioned Gaye that the sound was out of date of the sound of the times and also feared the loss of Gaye's crossover audience by releasing the political song. Gaye continued to record his own compositions during this time, some of which later made his 1973 album, Let's Get It On. Motown executive Harry Balk recalled trying to get Gordy to release the song at the end of the year, to which Gordy replied to him, "that Dizzy Gillespie stuff in the middle, that scatting, it's old." Gordy mentioned later that he feared no one would buy songs with a jazz influence after his |
639_13 | attempt to be a record store owner of a jazz shop folded after a year, years prior to starting Motown. Most of Motown's Quality Control Department team also turned the song down, with Balk later stating that "they were used to the 'baby baby' stuff, and this was a little hard for them to grasp." |
639_14 | With the help of Motown sales executive Barney Ales, Harry Balk got the song released to record stores on January 20, 1971, sending 100,000 copies of the song without Gordy's knowledge, with another 100,000 copies sent after that success. Upon its release, the song became a hit and was Motown's fastest-selling single at the time, peaking at number 1 on the Hot Soul Singles Chart, and peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Stunned by the news, Gordy drove to Gaye's home to discuss making a complete album, stating Gaye could do what he wanted with his music if he finished the record within 30 days before the end of March and thus effectively giving him the right to produce his own albums. Gaye returned to Hitsville to record the rest of What's Going On, which took a mere ten business days between March 1 and March 10. The album's rhythm tracks and sound overdubs were recorded at Hitsville, or Studio A, while the strings, horns, lead and background vocals were recorded at Golden |
639_15 | World, or Studio B. |
639_16 | The album's original mix, recorded in Detroit at both Hitsville and Golden World as well as United Sound Studios, was finalized on April 5, 1971. When Gordy listened to the mix, he worried that no other hit single would emerge from it. To ease Gordy's worries, Gaye and the album's engineers entered The Sound Factory in West Hollywood in early May, integrating the orchestra somewhat closer with the rhythm tracks, while Gaye used different vocal tracks and added extra instrumentation. Presented to Motown's Quality Control department team, they were worried about future hit singles due to its concurrent style with each song leading to the next. Gordy however vetoed their decision, agreeing to put this mix of the album out that month.
Music and lyrics |
639_17 | "What's Going On," the title track, features soulful, passionate vocals and multi-tracked background singing, both by Gaye. The song had strong jazz, gospel, classical music orchestration, and arrangements. Reviewer Eric Henderson of Slant stated the song had an "understandably mournful tone" in response to the fallout of the late 1960s counterculture movements. Henderson also wrote that "Gaye's choice to emphasize humanity at its most charitable rather than paint bleak pictures of destruction and disillusionment is characteristic of the album that follows." |
639_18 | This is immediately followed in segue flow by the second track, "What's Happening Brother", a song Gaye dedicated to his brother Frankie, in which Gaye wrote to explain the disillusionment of war veterans who returned to civilian life and their disconnect from pop culture. "Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)", which took its title from a United Airlines tag, "fly the friendly skies", dealt with dependence on heroin. The lyric, "I know, I'm hooked my friend, to the boy, who makes slaves out of men", references heroin as "boy", which was slang for the drug. "Save the Children" was an emotional plea to help disadvantaged children, warning, "who really cares/who's willing to try/to save a world/that is destined to die?", later crying out, "save the babies". A truncated version of "God Is Love" follows "Save the Children" and makes references to God. |
639_19 | "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" was another emotional plea, this time for the environment. According to Motown legend, musician and Funk Brothers leader Earl Van Dyke once mentioned that Berry Gordy didn't know of the word "ecology" and had to be told what it was though Gordy himself claimed otherwise. The song featured a memorable tenor saxophone solo from Detroit music legend Wild Bill Moore. "Right On" was a lengthy seven-minute jam influenced by funk rock and Latin soul rhythms that focused on Gaye's own divided soul in which Gaye later pleaded in falsetto, "if you let me, I will take you to live where love is King" after complying that "true love can conquer hate every time". "Wholy Holy" follows "God Is Love" as an emotional gospel plea advising people to "come together" to "proclaim love [as our] salvation". The final track, "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", focuses on urban poverty, backed by a minimalist, dark blues-oriented funk vibe, with its bass riffs composed and |
639_20 | performed by Bob Babbitt, who also performed on "Mercy Mercy Me" (Jamerson played on the rest of the album). The entire album's stylistic use of a song cycle gave it a cohesive feel and was one of R&B's first concept albums, described as "a groundbreaking experiment in collating a pseudo-classical suite of free-flowing songs." |
639_21 | David Hepworth described the album as "like a jazz record not merely because it had jazz manners and was slathered in strings and employed congas and triangle as its most prominent form of percussion...But it's also jazz in the sense that...[i]t plays like one long single."
The Absolute Sound described the album as "a brilliant psychedelic soul song-cycle". |
639_22 | Release and promotion
Released on May 21, 1971, What's Going On became Gaye's Top 10 entry on the Billboard Top LPs, peaking at number six. It stayed on the chart over a year, selling some two million copies within twelve months. It was Motown's (and Gaye's) best-selling album to that date - until he released Let's Get It On in 1973. It also became Gaye's second number-one album on Billboards Soul LPs chart, where it stayed for nine weeks, remaining on the Billboard Soul LPs chart for 58 weeks throughout 1971 and 1972. The title track, which had been released in January 1971 as the lead single to promote the album, sold over 200,000 copies within its first week and two-and-a-half-million by the end of the year. It hit #1 in Record World, #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (behind Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World"), #1 on the Cash Box Top 100, and held the pole position on Billboard's Soul Singles chart five weeks running. |
639_23 | The follow-up single, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", peaked at number-four on the Hot 100, and also went number-one on the R&B chart. The third, and final, single, "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", peaked at number-nine on the Hot 100, while also rising to number-one on the R&B chart, thus making Gaye the first male solo artist to place three top ten singles on the Hot 100 off one album, as well as the first artist to place three singles at number-one on any Billboard chart (in this case, R&B), off one single album. The album had a modest commercial reception in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom; "Save the Children" reached number 41 on the latter country's singles chart, while the album reached number 56 twenty-five years after its original release. In 1984, the album re-entered the Billboard 200 following Gaye's untimely death. In 1994, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States for sales of half a |
639_24 | million copies after it was issued on CD. According to Nielsen SoundScan, it has vended over 1.6 million copies since sales tracking began (in 1991). It was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments of 300,000 albums. |
639_25 | Six months after the release of What's Going On, Sly and the Family Stone released There's a Riot Goin' On (1971), titled in response to Gaye's album.
Critical reception |
639_26 | What's Going On was generally well received by contemporary critics. Writing for Rolling Stone in 1971, Vince Aletti praised Gaye's thematic approach towards social and political concerns, while discussing the surprise of Motown releasing such an album. In a joint review of What's Going On and Stevie Wonder's Where I'm Coming From, Aletti wrote, "Ambitious, personal albums may be a glut on the market elsewhere, but at Motown they're something new ... the album as a whole takes precedence, absorbing its own flaws. There are very few performers who could carry a project like this off. I've always admired Marvin Gaye, but I didn't expect that he would be one of them. Guess I seriously underestimated him. It won't happen again." Billboard described the record as "a cross between Curtis Mayfield and that old Motown spell and outdoes anything Gaye's ever done". Time magazine hailed it as a "vast, melodically deft symphonic pop suite". The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was less |
639_27 | impressed. Writing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), he deemed it both a "groundbreaking personal statement" and a Berry Gordy product, baited by three highly original singles but marred elsewhere by indistinct music and indulgent use of David Van De Pitte's strings, which Christgau called "the lowest kind of movie-background dreck". |
639_28 | According to Paul Gambaccini, Gaye's death in 1984 prompted a critical re-evaluation of the album, and most reviewers have since regarded it as an important masterpiece of popular music. In MusicHound R&B (1998), Gary Graff said What's Going On was "not just a great Gaye album but is one of the great pop albums of all time", and Rolling Stone later credited the album for having "revolutionized black music". The Washington Post critic Geoffrey Himes names it an exemplary release of the progressive soul development from 1968 to 1973, and Pitchforks Tom Breihan calls it a prog-soul masterpiece. BBC Music's David Katz described the album as "one of the greatest albums of all time, and nothing short of a masterpiece" and compared it to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue by saying "its non-standard musical arrangements, which heralded a new sound at the time, gives it a chilling edge that ultimately underscores its gravity, with subtle orchestral enhancements offset by percolating congas, expertly |
639_29 | layered above James Jamerson's bubbling bass". In his 1994 review of Gaye's re-issues, Chicago Tribune reviewer Greg Kot described the album as "soul music's first 'art' album, an inner-city response to the Celtic mysticism of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, the psychedelic pop of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [and] the rewired blues of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited." Richie Unterberger found the album somewhat overrated, writing in The Rough Guide to Rock (2003) that much of its "meandering introspection" paled in comparison to its three singles. |
639_30 | A remastered deluxe edition with 28 additional tracks was released on May 31, 2011, to similar acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 100, based on ten reviews. |
639_31 | Accolades |
639_32 | In 1985, writers on British music weekly the NME voted it best album of all time. In 2004, the album's title track was ranked number four on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. A 1999 critics' poll conducted by British newspaper The Guardian named it the "Greatest Album of the 20th Century". In 1997, What's Going On was named the 17th greatest album of all time in a poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1997, The Guardian ranked the album number one on its list of the 100 Best Albums Ever. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 97, while in 2001 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 4. In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. What's Going On was ranked number 6 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, one of three Gaye albums to be included, succeeded by 1973's Let's Get It |
639_33 | On (number 165) and 1978's Here, My Dear (number 462). The album is Gaye's highest-ranking entry on the list, as well as several other publications' lists. In a revised 2020 list, this time voted on by musicians instead of music critics, the album moved up to the top spot, replacing The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. |
639_34 | Track listing
All songs produced by Marvin Gaye.
Standard edition
2002 CD bonus tracks
2001 Deluxe Edition
In 2001, a "Deluxe Edition" 2-CD version of the album was released by Motown, which included the original LP as released, the discarded "Detroit Mix" of the album, and the mono 45 rpm mixes of the singles. Also included was a recording of Gaye's first live concert performance after two years away from the stage following Tammi Terrell's illness and death, performed at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall in his native Washington, D.C., on May 1, 1972. |
639_35 | 2011 Super Deluxe Edition
Disc 1 (original album)
Disc 1 (bonus tracks)
"What's Going On" (Original Rejected Single Mix)
"Head Title (Distant Lover)" (Demo)
"Symphony" (Demo)
"I Love the Ground You Walk On" (Instrumental)
"What's Going On" (Mono Single Version)
"God is Love" (Mono Single Version)
"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" (Mono Single Version)
"Sad Tomorrows" (Mono Single Version)
"Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" (Mono Single Version)
"Wholy Holy" (Mono Single Version) |
639_36 | Disc 2 ("The Detroit Instrumental Sessions and More")
"Checking Out (Double Clutch)"
"Chained"
"Country Stud"
"Help the People"
"Running from Love" (Version 1)
"Daybreak"
"Doing My Thing"
"T Stands for Time"
"Jesus is Our Love Song"
"Funky Nation"
"Infinity"
"Mandota" (Instrumental)
"Struttin' the Blues"
"Running from Love" (Version 2 with Strings)
"I'm Going Home (Move)"
"You're the Man" (Parts I & II)
"You're the Man" (Alternate Version 1)
"You're the Man" (Alternate Version 2)
LP (Original Detroit Mix – April 5, 1971)
"What's Going On" (Detroit Mix) – 4:08
"What's Happening Brother" (Detroit Mix) – 2:43
"Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)" (Detroit Mix) – 3:49
"Save the Children" (Detroit Mix) – 4:02
"God Is Love" (Detroit Mix) – 1:47
"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" (Detroit Mix) – 3:08
"Right On" (Detroit Mix) – 7:32
"Wholy Holy" (Detroit Mix) – 3:08
"Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" (Detroit Mix) – 5:46
Personnel |
639_37 | All lead vocals by Marvin Gaye
Produced by Marvin Gaye
Members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Conducted and Arranged by David Van De Pitte
Background vocals:
Marvin Gaye
The Andantes (Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps)
Mel Farr, Charlie Sanders and Lem Barney of the Detroit Lions
Dave Bing of the Detroit Pistons
Bobby Rogers of The Miracles
Elgie Stover
Kenneth Stover
Strings, Woodwinds and Brass
Gordon Staples, Zinovi Bistritzky, Beatriz Budinzky, Richard Margitza, Virginia Halfmann, Felix Resnick, Alvin Score, Lillian Downs, James Waring – violins
Edouard Kesner, Meyer Shapiro, David Ireland, Nathan Gordon – violas
Italo Babini, Thaddeus Markiewicz, Edward Korkigan – cellos
Max Janowsky – double bass
Carole Crosby – harp
Dayna Hardwick, William Perich – flutes
Larry Nozero, Angelo Carlisi, George Benson, Tate Houston – saxophones
John Trudell, Maurice Davis – trumpets
Nilesh Pawar – oboe
Carl Raetz – trombone |
639_38 | The Funk Brothers – Instrumentation, spoken interlude ("What's Going On") and Solo Horns
Eli Fountain – alto saxophone "What's Going On"
Wild Bill Moore – tenor saxophone "Mercy Mercy Me"
Marvin Gaye – piano, Mellotron ("Mercy Mercy Me"), box drum ("What's Going On")
Johnny Griffith – celeste, additional keyboards
Earl Van Dyke – additional keyboards
Jack Brokensha – vibraphone, percussion
Joe Messina, Robert White – electric guitars
James Jamerson – bass guitar "What's Going On", "What's Happening Brother", "Flyin' High", "Save the Children", "God Is Love", and the b-side "Sad Tomorrows"
Bob Babbitt – bass guitar "Mercy Mercy Me", "Right On", "Wholy Holy" and "Inner City Blues"
Chet Forest – drums
Jack Ashford – tambourine, percussion
Eddie "Bongo" Brown – bongos, congas
Earl DeRouen – bongos and congas "Right On"
Bobbye Hall – bongos "Inner City Blues"
Katherine Marking – graphic design
Alana Coghlan – graphic design
John Matousek – mastering |
639_39 | Vic Anesini – Digital Remastering
James Hendin – Photography
Curtis McNair – Art Direction |
639_40 | Charts
Album
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Singles
Certifications
See also
Album era
List of number-one R&B albums of 1971 (U.S.)
[[What's Going On Live|What's Going On Live]], a 2019 album
References
Sources
External links
"Marvin Gaye: What's Going On Now"—an episode of the BBC World Service radio program The Documentary'' on the making of the album, on the 50th anniversary of its release
1971 albums
Marvin Gaye albums
Albums produced by Marvin Gaye
Concept albums
Tamla Records albums
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
Albums recorded at Hitsville U.S.A.
Orchestral pop albums
Pop albums by American artists
Psychedelic soul albums
Psychedelic music albums by American artists
United States National Recording Registry albums |
640_0 | SS Thistlegorm was a British cargo steamship that was built in North East England in 1940 and sunk by German bomber aircraft in the Red Sea in 1941. Her wreck near Ras Muhammad is now a well-known diving site.
Building
J.L. Thompson and Sons built Thistlegorm in Sunderland, County Durham, as yard number 599. She was launched on 9 April 1940 and completed on 24 June. Her registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . Her tonnages were and . The North Eastern Marine Engineering built her engine, which was a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine rated at 365 NHP or 1,850 IHP.
Thistlegorm was built for Albyn Line, who registered her at Sunderland. Her UK official number was 163052 and her wireless telegraphy call sign was GLWQ.
The Ministry of War Transport partly funded Thistlegorm. She was a defensively equipped merchant ship (DEMS) with a mounted on her stern and a heavy-calibre machine gun for anti-aircraft cover. |
640_1 | The ship completed three successful voyages in her career. The first was to the US to collect steel rails and aircraft parts, the second to Argentina for grain, and the third to the West Indies for rum. Prior to her fourth and final voyage, she had undergone repairs in Glasgow.
Final voyage |
640_2 | She left Glasgow on her final voyage on 2 June 1941, destined for Alexandria, Egypt. The ship's cargo included: Bedford trucks, Universal Carrier armoured vehicles, Norton 16H and BSA motorcycles, Bren guns, cases of ammunition, and 0.303 rifles as well as radio equipment, Wellington boots, aircraft parts, railway wagons and two LMS Stanier Class 8F steam locomotives. These steam locomotives and their associated coal and water tenders were carried as deck cargo intended for Egyptian National Railways. The rest of the cargo was for the Allied forces in Egypt. At the time Thistlegorm sailed from Glasgow in June, this was the Western Desert Force, which in September 1941 became part of the newly formed Eighth Army. The crew of the ship, under Captain William Ellis, were supplemented by nine naval personnel to man the machine gun and the anti-aircraft gun. |
640_3 | Due to German and Italian naval and air force activity in the Mediterranean, Thistlegorm sailed as part of a convoy via Cape Town, South Africa, where she bunkered, before heading north up the East coast of Africa and into the Red Sea. On leaving Cape Town, the light cruiser joined the convoy. Due to a collision in the Suez Canal, the convoy could not transit through the canal to reach the port of Alexandria and instead moored at Safe Anchorage F, in September 1941 where she remained at anchor until her sinking on 6 October 1941. HMS Carlisle moored in the same anchorage. |
640_4 | There was a large build-up of Allied troops in Egypt during September 1941 and German intelligence (Abwehr) suspected that there was a troop carrier in the area bringing in additional troops. Two Heinkel He 111 aircraft of II Staffeln, Kampfgeschwader 26, Luftwaffe, were dispatched from Crete to find and destroy the troop carrier. This search failed but one of the bombers discovered the ships moored in Safe Anchorage F. Targeting the largest ship, they dropped two 2.5 tonne high explosive bombs on Thistlegorm, both of which struck hold 4 near the stern of the ship at 0130 on 6 October. The bomb and the explosion of some of the ammunition stored in hold 4 led to the sinking of Thistlegorm with the loss of four sailors and five DEMS gunners. The survivors were picked up by HMS Carlisle. Captain Ellis was awarded the OBE for his actions following the explosion and a crewman, Angus McLeay, was awarded the George Medal and the Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea for saving another crew |
640_5 | member. Most of the cargo remained within the ship, the major exception being the steam locomotives from the deck cargo which were blown off to either side of the wreck. |
640_6 | Discovery by Cousteau
In the early 1950s, Jacques Cousteau discovered her by using information from local fishermen. He raised several items from the wreck, including a motorcycle, the captain's safe, and the ship's bell. The February 1956 edition of National Geographic clearly shows the ship's bell in place and Cousteau's divers in the ship's lantern room. Cousteau documented diving on the wreck in part of his book The Living Sea.
Rediscovery and recreational dive site
Following Cousteau's visit, the site was forgotten about except by local fishermen. In the early 1990s, Sharm el-Sheikh began to develop as a diving resort. Recreational diving on Thistlegorm restarted following the visit of the dive boat Poolster, using information from another Israeli fishing boat captain. |
640_7 | The massive explosion that sank her had blown much of her midships superstructure away and makes the wreck very accessible to divers. The depth of around 30 m (100 feet) at its deepest is ideal for diving without the need for specialist equipment and training.
The wreck attracts many divers for the amount of the cargo that can be seen and explored. Boots and motorcycles are visible in Hold No. 1. Trucks, motorcycles, Wellington boots, rifles, Westland Lysander wings, about twenty Bristol Mercury radial engine exhaust rings and a handful of cylinders and Bristol Blenheim bomber tailplanes are visible in Hold No. 2. Universal Carrier armoured vehicles, RAF trolley accumulators, and two Pundit Lights can also be found. Off to the port side of the wreck level with the blast area can be found one of the steam locomotives which had been stored as deck cargo and the other locomotive is off the starboard side level with Hold No. 2. |
640_8 | In 2007 The Times named Thistlegorm as one of the top ten wreck diving sites in the world. The wreck is rapidly disintegrating due to natural rusting. The dive boats that rely on the wreck for their livelihood are also tearing the wreck apart by mooring the boats to weak parts of the wreck, leading to the collapse of parts of the wreck. For this reason, in December 2007 the non-governmental Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) installed 32 mooring buoys around the wreck and drilled holes in the hull to allow trapped air to escape. During this work, the ship was closed off to recreational diving. However, by 2009 none of these moorings remained as the blocks themselves were too light. Moored ships dragged them and the lines connecting the moorings to the wreck were too long (meaning with the strong currents in the area, people would find it impossible to transfer from the mooring to the actual wreck). All boats now moor directly to the wreck again. |
640_9 | Common interesting animals around the wreck are tuna, barracuda, batfish, moray eel, lionfish, stonefish, crocodilefish, scorpionfish, and sea turtle.
In February 2021 it was announced that Simon Brown was the winner of the General Science category of the Royal Photographic Society's Science Photographer of the Year for his orthophoto (aerial photograph adjusted to have uniform scale) of the submerged wreck of Thistlegorm, made from 15,005 merged frames.
References
External links
The Thistlegorm Project Archaeological and 3D Survey
The Thistlegorm SS on the wreck site
Diving the SS Thistlegorm
Dive spot description plus underwater pictures and videos of the Thistlegorm wreck
Briefing map, active dive centers, photographs, weather, and dive-logs
The Plane Truth about the Thistlegorm
Thistlegorm wreck dive site |
640_10 | Maritime incidents in October 1941
Ships sunk by German aircraft
Shipwrecks in the Red Sea
Underwater diving sites in Egypt
World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom
World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean
Wreck diving sites
1940 ships
Ships built on the River Wear
Merchant ships sunk by aircraft
1950s archaeological discoveries |
641_0 | The PACE Award is an annual award from Automotive News. The focus of the award is an innovation (i) developed primarily by a supplier, (ii) that is new to the automotive industry, (iii) that is in use (e.g., used on a vehicle in production), and (iv) that "changes the rules of the game." Awards have been given for products, materials, processes, capital equipment, software and services. A panel of independent judges from industry, finance, research, and academia choose finalists from the initial applicants, make site visits to evaluate the innovation, and then gather to select winners, independent of the sponsors. Winners to date include suppliers from Japan, Korea, China, the US, Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Poland and other European countries. Among the most awarded companies over the years are BorgWarner, Delphi Automotive, Federal-Mogul (acquired in 2018 by Tenneco), Valeo and PPG Industries as well as Robert Bosch GmbH, Gentex Corporation, and Siemens. |
641_1 | Automotive News and Ernst & Young founded the program, which gave out the first awards in 1995 to celebrate innovation, technological advancement and business performance among automotive suppliers. The black-tie awards ceremony has been held just prior to the annual SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) convention in Detroit. The costs of the program (administration, judges out-of-pocket expenses, and the award ceremony) are paid by a combination of application fees and money from sponsors. For the 2019-20 the sponsors were Deloitte, APMA (the Ontario, Canada Automotive Modernization Program) and Invest Canada. Historically the annual award cycle began with gathering applications (through the end of summer, with online submissions); the selection of 30-35 finalists, who were announced at the auto industry's annual Global Leadership Conference in October at the Greenbrier; site visits by judges in November and December; the selection of winners in late January or early February; and |
641_2 | the announcement of winners at a black tie event in Detroit in March or April. |
641_3 | For the 2019-2020 award cycle PACE added recognition as a PACE Pilot, which targeted pre-commercial innovations, to try to capture the rise of innovations tied to safety, fuel efficiency, vehicle electrification and driving assist/driving automation. This award attempts to capture innovations earlier in the development cycle, e.g. when they show up in announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 awards were made online. No decisions have been made on how the Awards process will adapt in 2020-21 in the face of the pandemic. |
641_4 | Awards programs such as PACE are potential sources for studying the nature of technological change. One such attempt is in Smitka and Warrian (2017). In Chapter6, "Automotive Innovation Model and the Supply Chain: PACE Awards", they find that:
"The results indicate that technology-pull is dominant, not technology-push. We do observe some innovation that seems to represent using new materials to implement a well-understood approach that was not previously cost-effective or otherwise was not used. We also find the occasional bright idea that in some cases could have been implemented decades ago, had anyone thought to try. However, overall we find that new vehicle technologies are responses to regulatory pressure to improve safety, limit emissions, and improve fuel efficiency."
Similarly, David Andrea notes in Forbes that: |
641_5 | "While the popular press is having an interesting debate on whether Detroit or Silicon Valley will have the greatest influence over the mobility revolution, the 2019 PACE awards are dominated by the suppliers with the deepest R&D capabilities and longest histories of commercializing innovation. Reviewing the finalists, it is interesting that the vast majority, 26 of the 31 come from what would be considered "traditional suppliers." And only 6 of the firms are located outside 100 miles of industry's Detroit epicenter. Perhaps this is the result of selection bias as the process to submit applications, meet with judges, produce promotional materials and the like is not small in budget of executive time and funds, two resources always in short supply in smaller firms or start-ups." |
641_6 | Winners
From 1997, citations describing the winning innovations are available on the Automotive News PACE Award web site. Winners for years not listed below, as well as citations that provide a one-paragraph overview of the innovation, can be found on the PACE Awards web site.
1995
AP Technoglass Company
Dana
Gentex Corporation
Johnson Controls
Philips Service Industries
1996
Cherry GmbH
Delco Electronics
Fayette Tubular Products
Gage Products Company
Progressive Tool and Industries Company (PICO)
1997
Robert Bosch GmbH
Dana - Auto Mate 2
Gentex Corporation - Gentex Metal Reflector
Johnson Controls - HomeLink
Rapid Design Services |
641_7 | 1998
Benteler International - Thermally Efficient, Air-Gap Manifold and Exhaust Tube Applications, Parts and Systems
Cooper Automotive/Wagner Lighting - Chrysler Dakota and Durango Front Lamp Assembly and Related Manufacturing and Assembly Process
Dürr AG - Radiant Floor Construction (RFC) Paint Oven
Eaton Corporation - Eaton Spicer Solo
Gentex Corporation - Aspheric Auto-Dimming Exterior Mirror
Johnson Controls - CorteX
1999
ASHA Corporation - GERODISC (limited slip, hydro-mechanical coupling device)
Benteler International - WIN88 Rear Twist Beam Axle
Delphi Corporation - Stabilitrak
Goodyear - run-flat tires
Meritor - RHP Highway Parallelogram Trailer Air Suspension System
Motorola - 32-bit engine management controller
Stackpole Limited - high load-bearing Powdered Metal Parts
Teleflex Automotive Group - Adjustable Pedal System |
641_8 | 2000
Autoliv - ASH-2 inflationary device
Delphi Delco Electronics Systems - Adaptive Cruise Control
Gentex Corporation - Binary, Complementary Synthetic-White LED Illuminators
The Gleason Works - Power Dry Cutting/UMC Ultima Axle Gear Manufacturing
Lumileds - SnapLED
PPG Industries - Powder Clearcoat Paint
Rieter - Ultra Light acoustic vehicle treatment
Siemens - keyless entry system
2001
Product Innovation:
Hendrickson International - Integrated Front Air Suspension and Steer Axle System
PPG Industries - Acoustic Coating
Raytheon - Night Vision
Tenneco - ASD (Acceleration Sensitive Damping)
Information Technology/Internet:
Delphi Automotive - Math Based Metal Removal (MBMR) software
Quality Measurement Control - CM4D Analyze software system
Management Practice:
ZF Friedrichshafen - Ergonomically based job assignment employee rotation process in its Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant
Manufacturing Process:
Nucap Industries - NUCAP Retention System |
641_9 | Europe:
Micronas - Linear Hall effect sensors
Robert Bosch GmbH - High Pressure Common Rail
Open Category - Enduring Innovations:
Shape Corporation - Tubular High Strength Swept Bumpers
Open Category - Environmental:
BASF - Integrated Process
2002
Product Innovation:
Delphi Automotive - Quadrasteer
Delphi Deco Electronics Systems - Passive Occupant Detection System, Generation II (PODS II)
Goodyear - Wrangler maximum traction/reinforced, off-road tire (MT/R)
PPG Industries - Transportation Coating - FrameCoat Electrocoating
The POM Group - Direct Metal Deposition process
Europe:
Robert Bosch GmbH - Aerotwin windshield wipers
ZF Getriebe GmbH
Information Technology:
Engineous Software - iSight software for process integration and design optimization |
641_10 | 2003
Product Innovation:
3M - Solar Reflecting Film
Delphi Automotive - MagneRide variable suspension damping
Federal-Mogul Corporation - Wagner ThermoQuiet Brake Pads and Shoes
Material Sciences Corporation - Acoustically engineered steel laminate Quiet Steel
PPG Industries - Ceramic clearcoat paint
Product Europe:
Siemens VDO Automotive - Piezo Common Rail Diesel Direct Injection System
Manufacturing Process & Capital Equipment:
Bishop Steering Technology - Warm Forging Die and Integrated Automatic Precision Forging Cell
Dürr AG - RoDip 3 electro-coating
The POM Group - RapiDIES foam forming process
Robert Bosch GmbH - Cassette Chrome Plating Process
Information Technology & Services:
Perceptron Inc. - AutoGauge FMS In-Process Measuring System |
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