What's Going On was R&B's first concept album, a suite of seamlessly connected songs tackling everything from police brutality to heroin addiction, inner-city poverty, and the dire state of the environment. When Marvin Gaye first proposed the project, inspired by a song brought to him by Four Tops member Obie Benson, Gordy told him it was career suicide. But when the title track came out, it was an instant smash, and Gordy immediately asked for more.

Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"

The stories behind some of the most essential albums of all time, told by the artists who made them and Rolling Stone’s writers and editors. Each episode focuses on one album from the brand-new, updated version of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums list, featuring fresh conversations with the people who made the music, classic interview audio and expert commentary. Episodes include the late Tom Petty on his solo classic Wildflowers, Taylor Swift talking about her career-changing 2012 album Red, and Public Enemy breaking down their political masterpiece It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Listen to songs featured on the podcast and more hits from the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums list here. Now we’re back with Season Two. Across 10 episodes, you’ll hear Dolly Parton tell the stories behind the songs on her 1971 solo breakthrough Coat of Many Colors; Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr delve into the making of the Beatles’ troubled final album, Let It Be; Britney Spears’ collaborators explain how she made 2007’s Blackout in the eye of a paparazzi hurricane; friends and relatives of Alice Coltrane look back at how she overcame tragedy to create her masterpiece Journey in Satchidananda; Rivers Cuomo and his bandmates reflect on the unlikely birth of Weezer’s Blue Album; and much more. Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums is hosted by Senior Writer Brittany Spanos.

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In the latest episode Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums, Yusuf reflects on his masterpiece "Tea for the Tillerman," and discusses his decision to re-record it last year.

Yusuf/ Cat Stevens' "Tea for the Tillerman"

In this week's episode of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums, Missy Elliott explains the making of her hit album "Supa Dupa Fly" with Tim "Timbaland" Mosley. Missy and Timbaland met as teenagers in Virginia and soon found they were musical soulmates. As they explain to  Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield in the episode, that friendship translated into some of the most lasting and adventurous music to come out of the Nineties.

Missy Elliott's "Supa Dupa Fly"

In this special holiday episode of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums, our new podcast on Amazon Music, we delve into 1963's "A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector", an album that changed the way we look at holiday music. In 2019, Rolling Stone named it the best Christmas album of all time.

Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector", ft. Darlene Love

In the newest episode of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums, we dive into Lucinda Williams' 1998 masterpiece "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road," an album that helped define modern roots music and got Williams' long-overdue recognition as one of America's greatest songwriters.

Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"

In the first episode of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums, we tackle one of hip-hop’s most important albums: Public Enemy’s 1988 political-rap masterpiece "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back", which landed at Number 15 on the magazine’s all-new 500 Greatest Albums list.

Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"

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