I Want You (Marvin Gaye Album) - Legacy and Influence

Legacy and Influence

After critical re-examination of the album, I Want You has been recognized by writers and music writers as one of Marvin Gaye's most controversial and influential works and, much like its predecessor Let's Get It On, has served as a major influence on the quiet storm and contemporary R&B genres. Its standing has also improved among critics following an expanded edition release of the album on July 29, 2003, which featured extensive liner notes and photography by Ryan Null. Following that release, Allmusic praised Gaye's different direction in music and the eroticism portrayed in Leon Ware's smooth-tempo production and Gaye's intimate lyricism. Reviewer Thom Jurek wrote:

Its subject matter is as close to explicit as pop records got in 1976... The feel of the album was one of late-night parties in basements and small clubs, and the intimacy of the music evokes the image of people getting closer as every hour of a steamy night wears on... the most astonishing things about I Want You are its intimacy, silky elegance, and seamless textures... I Want You and its companion, Ware's Musical Massage, are the pre-eminent early disco concept albums. They are adult albums about intimacy, sensuality, and commitment, and decades later they still reverberate with class, sincerity, grace, intense focus, and astonishingly good taste. I Want You is as necessary as anything Gaye ever recorded, and is as compelling in the 21st century as when it was first issued. —Thom Jurek

Such musicians as Todd Rundgren, Robert Palmer and Madonna have stated they were influenced by I Want You, while songs from the album have been sampled by such hip hop artists as EPMD to Mary J. Blige, who sampled the title track for her hit song "Be Happy". The careers of neo soul and R&B musicians including D'Angelo, Musiq Soulchild, R. Kelly, Maxwell (particularly on Urban Hang Suite), Sade, and Prince show the influence of the soulful sound and equally romantic and erotic lyrics of I Want You, Let's Get It On and Leon Ware's Musical Massage. According to one critic, Ware's arrangements "solidified the suite-like theme for the album." Much like Let's Get It On, slow jam music, as well as modern soul and the quiet storm genre, are now viewed by critics to have been engendered by I Want You and by Gaye.