Michael Jackson

Dangerous (album)

2009-07-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Dangerous is the eighth album by Michael Jackson, released on November 26, 1991. It became his second to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, where it spent the next four consecutive weeks. In the space of 17 years, media sources state the record has sold as much as 32 million copies worldwide, with 7 million certified shipments in the United States alone, making it a faster selling album than his previous record Bad. The album won one Grammy for Best Engineered Album - Non Classical won by Bruce Swedien & Teddy Riley^[2] and is the most successful New Jack Swing album of all time.^[3]. Dangerous was the first album ever to spawn eight consecutive UK Top 20 hits. "Dangerous" was Michael Jackson's second best-selling album (first was Thriller).

Project

According to the sleeve notes on the later remastered edition of the album, recording sessions began in Los Angeles, California at Ocean Way/Record One Studio 2 on June 25, 1990. The sessions ended at Larrabee North and Ocean Way Studio on October 29, 1991, being the most extensive recording project of Jackson's career at the time (over 16 months compared to the usual 6 spent for his previous three studio albums).

In March 1991, Jackson signed a 15 year, 6 album deal to Sony Music. The press reported that Sony actually handed over $1 billion to Jackson, but that was not the case. At the time, Sony estimated that if the albums Jackson released under the new contract sold at the same level they currently sold, it would generate over $1 billion in profits for them. Additionally, Jackson was awarded the highest royalty rate in the business. By the time the contract expired in March 2006, Michael would have been paid $45 million from Sony ($1 million a year, plus $5 million per album delivered). This does not include money he would have also earned from sales of albums, singles, videos etc. Under this contract, Jackson is estimated to have earned $175 million from album sales alone.

At this point, Dangerous was already in the making, under the producing talents of (Quincy Jones recommended) 22 year old New Jack Swing inventor Teddy Riley and Grammy-winner Bill Bottrell. The previous album, Bad, was Jackson's last designed for the LP industry, conforming to the usual 10-song within 50-minute format, whereas Dangerous was a 77-minute, 14-track compilation, which almost dared the capacity of early Nineties compact discs. Consequently, the record was released as a double album in vinyl.

The album was initially released in a large box with a picture of Jackson's eyes, which folded open to reveal the normal cover (painted by pop surrealist Mark Ryden), in pop-up card, with the CD and booklet in the bottom.

Dangerous was a highly anticipated album, as shown by an incident at the Los Angeles International Airport, where a group of armed robbers stole 30,000 copies before its official release.^[4]

The Album also spawned a worldwide concert tour, The Dangerous Tour.

Commercial reception

Dangerous was released on November 26, 1991 with record-breaking sales. Dangerous was Jackson's fastest-selling album ever in the United States with four million shipped in under two months. This broke the sales record for Bad in 1987, in twice as many months, but the same circulation.

Dangerous also debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Charts with 326,500 copies sold in one week of release. It also managed to stay in the Top 10 for a week in the 65th week, reaching #10 after Jackson received the Grammy Legend Award at the 1993 Grammy Awards. The album received a huge boost in sales in 1993 when he performed at the Super Bowl and was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. This meant Dangerous spent 117 weeks inside the Billboard 200, thirty weeks over Bad. The RIAA certified Dangerous 7x platinum, for shipping 7 million copies.^[5]

In the United Kingdom, the album was even more successful. It debuted at #1, holding off U2's Achtung Baby, but in the second week it was replaced by Queen's Greatest Hits II. Dangerous spent 23 weeks in the Top 10 right up until the 69th week and a total of 96 weeks inside the Top 75.

In worldwide sales, in the UK and US, Bad were 48% of the total worldwide sales. For Dangerous, it is 33%, making it more successful globally (not just restricted to those two regions). The singles from Dangerous were mostly bigger hits in Europe and Australia and more were released than Bad. These were spectacular sales records compared to Jackson's earlier two albums, Thriller and Bad in many European countries and Australia. Dangerous sold very well in both Asia and South America, two emerging and growing record markets.

"Black or White" was produced and co-written by Bill Bottrell and was an instant success. It was, in fact, the biggest hit single since 1982's "Billie Jean". Other singles were successful too, and in all, nine singles were released. "Dangerous" itself, was planned for a single at the end of 1993 but canceled due to the child molestation allegations, and was the same number of singles as Bad. Despite this, "Dangerous" has been performed on stage in since the second leg of the Dangerous Tour towards Jackson's last concert at the Apollo Theatre in 2002. All nine singles were released in the UK, seven reaching the Top 10 - an achievement Jackson had never made before. The major successes from the album were "Black or White", "Remember the Time", "In the Closet", "Heal the World", "Who Is It", and "Will You Be There". In the US, the singles did not perform as well as those from Thriller or Bad - Dangerous produced four Top 10 hits out of seven singles released there.

The album was supported by the Dangerous World Tour. Prior to the release of Jackson's next studio album, HIStory: Past, Present and Future Book I, Dangerous had already sold over twenty-two million copies worldwide.^[6] In the space of 17 years, sources estimate the record has sold between 29 and 32 million copies worldwide making it a faster selling album than his previous record Bad.^[7]^[8]

Music videos

As was becoming the standard for Jackson, the album's music videos were among the most costly and innovative of their time. Several of the music videos taken from the Dangerous album had complex storylines and dance sequences, and featured cameo appearances by celebrities. The video for "Jam", directed by David Kellogg, showed Jackson and Michael Jordan playing basketball and dancing together, while "Remember the Time", directed by John Singleton, was set in an Ancient Egyptian palace, and starred Eddie Murphy, Magic Johnson and Iman as the pharaoh and his queen. "In the Closet" featured Jackson and supermodel Naomi Campbell as lovers. The director of the video was photographer Herb Ritts, who also photographed Jackson in a series of promotional shots for the release of the Dangerous album. A "Dangerous" video was filmed in 1992 by avant-garde director David Lynch, and considered a rarity among collectors.^[9] The video clip for "Who Is It" is notable as it was directed by David Fincher who later went on direct a number of films including Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac.

"Black or White" was originally over ten minutes long, premiering simultaneously on November 14, 1991 on MTV, VH1, BET, and FOX. The video featured one of the earliest examples of computer-generated morphing. The last four minutes of the video also induced much controversy, as it depicted Jackson smashing store windows and destroying a car with a crowbar. However, this destructive behaviour was intended to imply a message of anti-racism and racist graffiti was added in later versions to make the violence more understandable. The music video was also controversial because of Jackson's sexually suggestive dance, which included the crotch grab as well as zipping up his pants. MTV and the other music video networks decided to excise the last four minutes of the "Black or White" video for all subsequent airings, and Jackson issued a statement apologizing to anyone who had been offended, and explaining that he tried to interpret the animal instinct of panthers into a dance. The video featured Macaulay Culkin and an appearance during the morphing scene by young Tyra Banks and was directed by John Landis, also the director of the "Thriller" short film.

Special editions

Alternative editions of the albums became very rare, products almost exclusive for record collectors. The most notable was an edition released in 1992 that folded out to become a diorama.

An international re-release of the album (entitled Dangerous - Special Edition) took place on October 16, 2001, just two weeks before the release of Jackson's studio album Invincible. Simultaneously, Special Editions of Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad were also released. For the occasion, Dangerous was digitally remastered and included a slipcase and a brand new 24-page colorful booklet with revised artwork and previously-unseen photos. The new edition managed to reach #108 in the UK charts (the only one of those four re-releases that didn't enter the Top 75 there). Because of the constraints of Dangerous' running time, previously unreleased songs were not included, however many of them were eventually leaked onto the internet along with various demos of other tracks that appeared on the album. In 2004, some of these leaked tracks were officially released on Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection (namely the "Dangerous" demo and "Monkey Business").

Music awards

American Music Awards:

Best Pop/Rock Album, "Dangerous"
Best Soul/R&B Single, "Remember The Time"
Special International Artist Award for record sales and humanitarian efforts around the world

BMI Awards:

Two of the Most Performed Songs of the Year, "Black or White" and "Remember The Time"

Grammy Awards: Living Legend Award Guinness Book Of World Records:

25th Silver Anniversary Entertainer of the Year Award
Outstanding Music Video, "Black or White"

Soul Train Awards:

Best R&B Single, "Remember The Time"
Best R&B Album, "Dangerous"

World Music Awards:

Best Selling American Artist
World's Best Selling Pop Artist ^[10]

Rhythm and blues

2009-07-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

Rhythm and Blues (also known as R&B, R'n'B or RnB) is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The term was originally used by record companies to refer to recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular.^[1]

The term has subsequently had a number of shifts in meaning. Starting in the 1960s, after this style of music contributed to the development of "rock and roll", the term "R&B" became used - particularly by white groups — to refer to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music. By the 1970s, the term "rhythm and blues" was being used as a blanket term to describe soul and funk. Since the 1990s, the term "Contemporary R&B" is now mainly used to refer to a modern version of soul and funk-influenced pop music.

Etymology

Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine coined the term "rhythm and blues" in 1948 as a musical marketing term in the United States.^[2] It replaced the term "race music", which originally came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world.^[3]^[4] Writer/producer Robert Palmer defined rhythm & blues as "a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans".^[5] He has used the term "R&B" as a synonym for jump blues.^[6] However, Allmusic seperates it from jump blues because of its stronger, gospel-esque backbeat.^[7] Lawrence Cohn, author of Nothing but the Blues, writes that "rhythm and blues" was an umbrella term invented for industry convenience. According to him, the term embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold enough to break into the charts.^[8]

History

Late 1940s

In 1948, RCA Victor was marketing black music under the name "Blues and Rhythm". In that year, Louis Jordan dominated the top five listings of the R&B charts with three songs, and two of the top five songs were based on the boogie-woogie rhythms that had come to prominence during the 1940s.^[9] Jordan's band, the Tympany Five (formed in 1938), consisted of him on saxophone and vocals, along with musicians on trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums.^[10] Lawrence Cohn described the music as "grittier than his boogie-era jazz-tinged blues".^[11] Robert Palmer described it as "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat".^[12] Jordan's cool music, along with that of Big Joe Turner, Roy Brown, Billy Wright, and Wynonie Harris, is now also referred to as jump blues. Also in 1948, Wynonie Harris' remake of Roy Brown's 1947 recording "Good Rockin' Tonight" hit the charts in the #2 spot, following band leader Sonny Thompson's "Long Gone" at #1.^[13]^[14]

In 1949, the term "Rhythm and Blues" replaced the Billboard category Harlem Hit Parade.^[8] Also in that year, "The Huckle-Buck", recorded by band leader and saxophonist Paul Williams, was the #1 R&B tune, remaining on top of the charts for nearly the entire year. Written by musician and arranger Andy Gibson, the song was described as a "dirty boogie" because it was risque and raunchy.^[15] Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers' concerts were sweaty riotous affairs that got shut down on more than one occasion. Their lyrics, by Roy Alfred (who later co-wrote the 1955 hit "(The) Rock and Roll Waltz"), were mildly sexually suggestive, and one teenager from Philadelphia said "That Hucklebuck was a very nasty dance".^[16]^[17] Also in 1949, a new version of a 1920s blues song, "Ain't Nobody's Business" was a #4 hit for Jimmy Witherspoon, and Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five once again made the top 5 with "Saturday Night Fish Fry".^[18]

Early to mid 1950s

Working with African American musicians, Greek American Johnny Otis, who had signed with the Newark, New Jersey-based Savoy Records, produced many R&B hits in 1951, including: "Double Crossing Blues", "Mistrustin' Blues" and "Cupid's Boogie", all of which hit number one that year. Otis scored ten top ten hits that year. Other hits include: "Gee Baby", "Mambo Boogie" and "All Nite Long".^[19] The Clovers, a vocal trio who sang a distinctive sounding combination of blues and gospel, had the #5 hit of the year with "Don't You Know I Love You" on Atlantic Records.^[19]^[20]^[21] Also in July 1951, Cleveland, Ohio DJ Alan Freed started a late-night radio show called "The Moondog Rock Roll House Party" on WJW-AM (850).^[22] Freed's show was sponsored by Fred Mintz, whose R&B record store had a primarily African American clientele. Freed began referring to the rhythm and blues music he played as "rock and roll".

In 1951, Little Richard Penniman began recording for RCA Records in the jump blues style of late 1940s Joe Brown and Billy Wright. However, it wasn't until he prepared a demo in 1954, that caught the attention of Specialty Records, that the world would start to hear his new, uptempo, funky rhythm and blues that would catapult him to fame in 1955 and help define the sound of rock 'n' roll. A rapid succession of rhythm and blues hits followed, beginning with "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally", which would influence performers such as James Brown, Elvis Presley, and Otis Redding.

Ruth Brown on the Atlantic label, placed hits in the top 5 every year from 1951 through 1954: "Teardrops from My Eyes", "Five, Ten, Fifteen Hours", "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" and "What a Dream". Faye Adams's "Shake a Hand" made it to #2 in 1952. In 1953, the R&B record-buying public made Willie Mae Thornton's original recording of Leiber and Stoller's Hound Dog the #3 hit that year.^[23] That same year The Orioles, a doo-wop group, had the #4 hit of the year with Crying in the Chapel.^[24]

Fats Domino made the top 30 of the pop charts in 1952 and 1953, then the top 10 with "Ain't That a Shame".^[25] Ray Charles came to national prominence in 1955 with "I Got a Woman". Big Bill Broonzy said of Charles' music: "He's mixing the blues with the spirituals... I know that's wrong."^[26]

In 1954 The Chords' "Sh-Boom" became the first hit to cross over from the R&B chart to hit the top 10 early in the year. Late in the year, and into 1955, "Hearts of Stone" by The Charms made the top 20.^[27]

At Chess Records in the spring of 1955, Bo Diddley's debut record "Bo Diddley"/"I'm A Man" climbed to #2 on the R&B charts and popularized Bo Diddley's own original rhythm and blues beat that would become a mainstay in rock and roll.

At the urging of Leonard Chess at Chess Records, Chuck Berry had reworked a country fiddle tune with a long history, entitled "Ida Red". The resulting "Maybellene" was not only a #3 hit on the R&B charts in 1955, but also reached into the top 30 on the pop charts. Alan Freed, who had moved to the much larger market of New York City, helped the record become popular with white teenagers. Freed had been given part of the writers' credit by Chess in return for his promotional activities; a common practice at the time.^[28]

Late 1950s

In 1956, an R&B "Top Stars of '56" tour took place, with headliners Al Hibbler, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and Carl Perkins, whose "Blue Suede Shoes" was very popular with R&B music buyers. Some of the performers completing the bill were Chuck Berry, Cathy Carr, Shirley & Lee, Della Reese, the Cleftones, and the Spaniels with Illinois Jacquet's Big Rockin' Rhythm Band. Cities visited by the tour included Columbia, SC, Annapolis, MD, Pittsburgh, PA, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, NY, into Canada, and through the mid Western US ending in Texas. In Columbia the concert ended with a near riot as Perkins began his first song as the closing act. Perkins is quoted as saying, "It was dangerous. Lot of kids got hurt. There was a lot of rioting going on, just crazy, man! The music drove 'em insane." In Annapolis 70,000 to 50,000 people tried to attend a sold out performance with 8,000 seats. Roads were clogged for seven hours.^[29]

Film makers took advantage of the popularity of "rhythm and blues" musicians as "rock n roll" musicians beginning in 1956. Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Big Joe Turner, The Treniers, The Platters, The Flamingos, all made it onto the big screen.^[30]

Two Elvis Presley records made the R&B top five in 1957: "Jailhouse Rock"/"Treat Me Nice" at #1, and "All Shook Up" at #5, an unprecedented acceptance of a non-African American artist into a music category known for being created by blacks.^[31] Nat King Cole, a former jazz pianist who had had #1 and #2 hits on the pop charts in the early 1950s ("Mona Lisa" at #2 in 1950 and "Too Young" at #1 in 1951), had a record in the top 5 in the R&B charts in 1958, "Looking Back"/"Do I Like It".

In 1959, two black-owned record labels, one of which would become hugely successful, made their debut: Sam Cooke's Sar, and Berry Gordy's Motown Records.^[32] Brook Benton was at the top of the R&B charts in 1959 and 1960 with one #1 and two #2 hits. Benton had a certain warmth in his voice that attracted a wide variety of listeners, and his ballads led to comparisons with performers such as Cole, Sinatra and Tony Bennett.^[33] Lloyd Price, who in 1952 had a #1 hit with "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" regained predominance with a version of "Stagger Lee" at #1 and "Personality" at #5 for in 1959.^[34]^[35]

The white bandleader of the Bill Black Combo, Bill Black, who had helped start Elvis Presley's career, was popular with black listeners. Ninety percent of his record sales were from black people, and his "Smokey, Part 2" (1959) rose to the #1 position on black music charts. He was once told that "a lot of those stations still think you're a black group because the sound feels funky and black." Hi Records did not feature pictures of the Combo on early records.^[36]

1960s and later

Sam Cooke‘s #5 hit "Chain Gang" is indicative of R&B in 1960, as is Chubby Checker's #5 hit "The Twist".^[37]^[38] By the early 1960s, the music industry category previously known as rhythm and blues was being called soul music, and similar music by white artists was labeled blue eyed soul.^[39] Motown Records had its first million-selling single in 1960 with The Miracles' "Shop Around", and in 1961, Stax Records had its first hit with Carla Thomas' "Gee Whiz! (Look at His Eyes)".^[40]^[41] Stax's next major hit, the Mar-Keys' instrumental "Last Night" (also released in 1961) introduced the rawer Memphis soul sound that Stax became known for.^[42] In the 1960s, R&B and soul influenced British bands such as The Animals, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Creation, The Action and The Beatles. In Jamaica, R&B influenced the development of ska.^[43]^[44]^[45]

By the 1970s, the term "rhythm and blues" was being used as a blanket term to describe soul, funk, and disco.

In the 2000s, the initialism "R&B" is almost always used instead of the full "rhythm and blues", and mainstream use of the term usually refers to contemporary R&B, which is a modern version of soul and funk-influenced pop music that originated as disco faded from popularity.

Rock and roll

2009-07-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll or rock ’n’ roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s^[1] ^[2] after World War II, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music^[3] and gospel music^[4] scene. Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in country records of the 1930s,^[3] and in blues records from the 1920s,^[5] rock and roll did not acquire its name until the 1950s.^[6] ^[7] An early form of rock and roll was rockabilly,^[8] which combined country and jazz, with influences from traditional Appalachian folk, and Gospel music.^[9] Rock and roll can trace one lineage to the Five Points, Manhattan district of mid-19th century in New York City, the scene of the first fusion of heavily rhythmic African shuffles and sand dances,^[10] with melody-driven European genres, particularly the Irish^[11] and Italian jig.^[12]

The term "rock and roll" now covers at least two different meanings, both in common usage. The American Heritage Dictionary^[13] and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary^[14] both define rock and roll as synonymous with rock music. Conversely, Allwords.com defines the term to refer specifically to the music of the 1950s.^[15] For the purpose of differentiation, this article uses the latter definition, while the broader musical genre is discussed in the rock music article.

Classic rock and roll is usually played with one or two electric guitars (one lead, one rhythm), a string bass or (after the mid-1950s) an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit. In the earliest rock and roll styles of the late 1940s and early 1950s, either the piano or saxophone was often the lead instrument, but these were generally replaced or supplemented by guitar in the middle to late 1950s. The beat is essentially a boogie woogie blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, the latter almost always provided by a snare drum.

The massive popularity and eventual worldwide view of rock and roll gave it a unique social impact. Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll, as seen in movies and in the new medium of television, influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. It went on to spawn various sub-genres, often without the initially characteristic backbeat, that are now more commonly called simply "rock music" or "rock".

Origins of the style

Main article: Origins of rock and roll

The immediate origins of rock and roll lie in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when various popular musical genres of the time - including blues, country music, rhythm and blues, folk music and gospel music - combined to give rise to the new style.

However, elements of rock and roll can be heard in many "hillbilly" and "race music" records of the 1920s and 1930s. This music was often relegated to "race music" outlets (as rhythm and blues stations were referred to at the time) and was rarely heard by mainstream white audiences. A few black rhythm and blues musicians, notably Louis Jordan, the Mills Brothers, and The Ink Spots, achieved crossover success; in some cases (such as Jordan's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie") this was achieved with numbers composed by white songwriters. The Western swing genre in the 1930s, generally played by white musicians, also shared similarities with rock and roll, and in turn directly influenced rockabilly and rock and roll, as can be heard (for example) on Elvis Presley's rendition of "Jailhouse Rock" (1957).

Going back even further, rock and roll can trace one lineage to the old Five Points, Manhattan district of mid-19th century New York City, the scene of the first fusion of heavily rhythmic African shuffles and sand dances with melody-driven European genres, particularly the Irish jig.^[16]. As Alan Freed states in the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock, "[r]ock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat."

Origins of the phrase

In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues and country music for a multi-racial audience. Freed is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music he played. However, the term had already been introduced to US audiences, particularly in the lyrics of many rhythm and blues records. The line "commence to rock and roll" appeared in the swing tune "Get Rhythm in Your Feet and Music in Your Soul" recorded by Benny Goodman and his orchestra in July 1935. Three different songs with the title "Rock and Roll" were recorded in the late 1940s; one by Paul Bascomb in 1947, another by Wild Bill Moore in 1948, and yet another by Doles Dickens in 1949, and the phrase was in constant use in the lyrics of R&B songs of the time. One such record where the phrase was repeated throughout the song was "Rock and Roll Blues", recorded in 1949 by Erline "Rock and Roll" Harris. The phrase was also included in advertisements for the film Wabash Avenue, starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature. An ad for the movie that ran April 12, 1950 billed Ms. Grable as "the first lady of rock and roll" and Wabash Avenue as "the roaring street she rocked to fame".

Before then, the phrase "rocking and rolling", as secular black slang for dancing or sex, appeared on record for the first time in 1922 on Trixie Smith's "My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll". Even earlier, in 1916, the term "rocking and rolling" was used with a religious connotation, on the phonograph record "The Camp Meeting Jubilee" by an unnamed male "quartette".^[17] The word "rock" had a long history in the English language as a metaphor for "to shake up, to disturb or to incite". In 1937, Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald recorded "Rock It for Me," which included the lyric, "So won't you satisfy my soul with the rock and roll". "Rocking" was a term used by black gospel singers in the American South to mean something akin to spiritual rapture.

By the 1940s, however, the term was used as a double entendre, ostensibly referring to dancing, but with the subtextual meaning of sex, as in Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight". The verb "roll" was a medieval metaphor which meant "having sex". Writers for hundreds of years have used the phrases "They had a roll in the hay" or "I rolled her in the clover"^[18]. The terms were often used together ("rocking and rolling") to describe the motion of a ship at sea, for example as used in 1934 by the Boswell Sisters in their song "Rock and Roll",^[19] which was featured in the 1934 film "Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round",^[20]^[21] and in Buddy Jones' "Rockin' Rollin' Mama" (1939). Country singer Tommy Scott was referring to the motion of a railroad train in the 1951 "Rockin and Rollin'". ^[22].

An alternative claim is that the origins of "rocking and rolling" can be traced back to steel driving men working on the railroads in the Reconstruction South. These men would sing hammer songs to keep the pace of their hammer swings. At the end of each line in a song, the men would swing their hammers down to drill a hole into the rock. The shakers — the men who held the steel spikes that the hammer men drilled — would "rock" the spike back and forth to clear rock or "roll", twisting the spike to improve the "bite" of the drill.^[23]

Early rock and roll records

Main article: First rock and roll record

There is much debate as to what should be considered the first rock & roll record. One leading contender is "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (which was, in fact, Ike Turner and his band The Kings of Rhythm recording under a different name), recorded by Sam Phillips for Sun Records in 1951. Four years later, Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" (1955) became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, and opened the door worldwide for this new wave of popular culture. Rolling Stone magazine argued in 2004 that "That's All Right (Mama)" (1954), Elvis Presley's first single for Sun Records in Memphis, was the first rock and roll record^[24]. But, at the same time, Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll", later covered by Haley, was already at the top of the Billboard R&B charts.

Turner was one of many forerunners. His 1939 recording, "Roll 'Em Pete", is close to '50s rock and roll. Sister Rosetta Tharpe was also recording shouting, stomping music in the 1930s and 1940s that in some ways contained major elements of mid-1950s rock and roll. She scored hits on the pop charts as far back as 1938 with her gospel songs, such as "This Train" and "Rock Me", and in the 1940s with "Strange Things Happenin' Every Day", "Up Above My Head", and "Down by the Riverside." . Other significant records of the 1940s and early 1950s included Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight" and Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and Amos Milburn's "Chicken Shack Boogie" (all 1947); Jimmy Preston's "Rock the Joint" and Fats Domino's "The Fat Man" and Big Joe Turner's "Ooo-Ouch-Stop" (all 1949); and Les Paul and Mary Ford's "How High the Moon" (1951).

Both rock and roll and boogie woogie have four beats (usually broken down into eight eighth-notes/quavers) to a bar, and follow twelve-bar blues chord progression. Rock and roll however has a greater emphasis on the backbeat than boogie woogie. Little Richard combined boogie-woogie piano with a heavy backbeat and over-the-top, shouted, gospel-influenced vocals that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says "blew the lid off the '50s." However, others before Little Richard were combining these elements, including Esquerita, Cecil Gant, Amos Milburn, Piano Red, and Harry Gibson. Little Richard's wild style, with shouts and "woo woos," had itself been used by female gospel singers, including the 1940s' Marion Williams. Roy Brown did a Little Richard style "yaaaaaaww" long before Richard in "Ain't No Rockin no More."

Bo Diddley's 1955 hit "Bo Diddley" backed with "I'm A Man" introduced a new, pounding beat, and unique guitar playing that inspired many artists. Other artists with early rock and roll hits were Chuck Berry and Little Richard, as well as many vocal doo-wop groups. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's website, "While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together."^[25] Within the decade crooners such as Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, and Patti Page, who had dominated the previous decade of popular music, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed.

Rockabilly

Main article: Rockabilly

"Rockabilly" usually (but not exclusively) refers to the type of rock and roll music which was played and recorded in the mid 1950s by white singers such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, who drew mainly on the Country roots of the music. Many other popular rock and roll singers of the time, such as Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, came out of the black rhythm and blues tradition, making the music attractive to white audiences, and are not usually classed as "rockabilly".

In July 1954, Elvis Presley recorded the regional hit "That's All Right (Mama)" at Sam Phillips' Sun studios in Memphis. Two months earlier in May 1954, Bill Haley & His Comets recorded "Rock Around the Clock". Although only a minor hit when first released, when used in the opening sequence of the movie Blackboard Jungle, a year later, it really set the rock and roll boom in motion. The song became one of the biggest hits in history, and frenzied teens flocked to see Haley and the Comets perform it, causing riots in some cities. "Rock Around the Clock" was a breakthrough for both the group and for all of rock and roll music. If everything that came before laid the groundwork, "Clock" introduced the music to a global audience.

Cover versions

Main article: Cover version

Many of the earliest white rock and roll hits were covers or partial re-writes of earlier rhythm and blues or blues songs. Through the late 1940s and early 1950s, R&B music had been gaining a stronger beat and a wilder style, with artists such as Fats Domino and Johnny Otis speeding up the tempos and increasing the backbeat to great popularity on the juke joint circuit. Before the efforts of Freed and others, black music was taboo on many white-owned radio outlets, but artists and producers quickly recognized the potential of rock and roll. Most of Presley's early hits were covers, like "That's All Right" (a countrified arrangement of a blues number), its flip side "Blue Moon of Kentucky", "Baby, Let's Play House", "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Hound Dog".

Covers were customary in the music industry at the time; it was made particularly easy by the compulsory license provision of United States copyright law (still in effect ^[26]). One of the first successful rock and roll covers was Wynonie Harris's transformation of Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight" from a jump blues to a showy rocker. The most notable trend, however, was white pop covers of black R&B numbers. Exceptions to this rule included Wynonie Harris covering the Louis Prima rocker "Oh Babe" in 1950, and Amos Milburn covering what may have been the first white rock and roll record, Hardrock Gunter's "Birmingham Bounce," in 1949.

Black performers saw their songs recorded by white performers, an important step in the dissemination of the music, but often at the cost of feeling and authenticity (not to mention revenue). Most famously, Pat Boone recorded sanitized versions of Little Richard songs, though Boone found "Long Tall Sally" so intense that he couldn't cover it. Later, as those songs became popular, the original artists' recordings received radio play as well. Little Richard once called Pat Boone from the audience and introduced him as "the man who made me a millionaire."

The cover versions were not necessarily straightforward imitations. For example, Bill Haley's incompletely bowdlerized cover of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" transformed Big Joe Turner's humorous and racy tale of adult love into an energetic teen dance number, while Georgia Gibbs replaced Etta James's tough, sarcastic vocal in "Roll With Me, Henry" (covered as "Dance With Me, Henry") with a perkier vocal more appropriate for an audience unfamiliar with the song to which James's song was an answer, Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie."

Blues would continue to inspire rock performers for decades. Delta blues artists such as Robert Johnson and Skip James also proved to be important inspirations for British blues-rockers such as The Yardbirds, Cream, and Led Zeppelin. The reverse, black artists making hits with covers of songs by white songwriters, although less common, did occur. Amos Milburn got a hit with Don Raye's "Down the Road a Piece," Maurice Rocco covered Raye's "Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar,", Chuck Berry's first hit single Maybellene was a rewritten version of Bob Wills' Ida Red, and Wynonie Harris covered "Don't Roll Your Bloodshot Eyes At Me" by Hank Penny and "Oh, Babe" by Louis Prima, for the R&B market.

British rock and roll

Main article: British rock and roll

The trad jazz movement brought blues artists to Britain, and in 1955 Lonnie Donegan's version of "Rock Island Line" began skiffle music which inspired many young people to have a go.^[27] These included John Lennon and Paul McCartney, whose group The Quarrymen, formed in March 1957, would gradually change and develop into The Beatles. These developments primed the United Kingdom to respond creatively to American rock and roll, which had an impact across the globe. In Britain, skiffle groups, record collecting and trend-watching were in full bloom among the youth culture prior to the rock era, and colour barriers were less of an issue with the idea of separate "race records" seeming almost unimaginable. Countless British youths listened to R&B and rock pioneers and began forming their own bands. Britain quickly became a new center of rock and roll.

In 1958 three British teenagers became Cliff Richard and the Drifters (later renamed Cliff Richard and the Shadows). The group recorded a hit, "Move It", marking not only what is held to be the very first true British rock and roll single, but also the beginning of a different sound — British rock. Richard and his band introduced to Britain many important changes, such as using a "lead guitarist" (Hank Marvin) and an electric bass.

The British scene developed, with others including Tommy Steele, Adam Faith and Billy Fury vying to emulate the stars from the U.S. Some touring acts attracted particular popularity in Britain, an example being Gene Vincent. This inspired many British teens to buy records more than ever and follow the music scene, thus laying the groundwork for Beatlemania.

At the start of the 1960s, instrumental dance music was very popular in the UK. Hits such as "Apache" by The Shadows and "Telstar" by The Tornados (produced by Joe Meek), form a British branch of instrumental music.

At the same time, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, R&B fans such as Alexis Korner promoted authentic American blues music directly in London clubs, and elsewhere, at a time when this music was declining in popularity back in the USA. This led directly to the formation of such groups as The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds in London, The Animals in Newcastle, and Them in Belfast. In the USA, such groups became known as part of the British Invasion.

Cultural impact

Alan Freed is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe a mix of both "black" and "white" music played for a multi-racial audience. While working as a disc jockey at radio station WJW in Cleveland, he also organized the first rock and roll concert, called "The Moondog Coronation Ball" on March 21, 1952. The event proved a huge drawing card — the first event had to be ended early due to overcrowding. Thereafter, Freed organized many rock and roll shows attended by both whites and blacks, further helping to introduce African-American musical styles to a wider audience.

Rock and roll appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States were coming to the surface. African Americans were protesting segregation of schools and public facilities. The "separate but equal" doctrine was nominally overturned by the Supreme Court in 1954, and the difficult task of enforcing this new doctrine lay ahead. This new musical form combining elements of white and black music inevitably provoked strong reactions.

After "The Moondog Coronation Ball", the record industry soon understood that there was a white market for black music that was beyond the stylistic boundaries of rhythm and blues. Even the considerable prejudice and racial barriers could do nothing against market forces. Rock and roll was an overnight success in the U.S., making ripples across the Atlantic, and perhaps culminating in 1964 with the British Invasion.

The social effects of rock and roll were worldwide and massive. Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. In addition, rock and roll may have helped the cause of the civil rights movement because both African American teens and white American teens enjoyed the music. It also birthed many other rock influenced styles. Progressive, alternative, punk, and heavy metal are just a few of the genres that sprang forth in the wake of Rock and Roll.

Teen culture

A teen idol was a recording artist who attracted a very large following of (mostly) female teenagers because of their good looks and "sex appeal" as much as their musical qualities. A good example is Frank Sinatra in the 1940s, although a case can be made for Rudy Vallee even earlier. With the birth of rock and roll, Elvis Presley became one of the greatest teen idols of all time. His success led promoters to the deliberate creation of new "rock and roll" idols, such as Frankie Avalon and Ricky Nelson. Other musicians of the time also achieved mass popularity.

Teen idols of the rock and roll years were followed by many other artists with massive appeal to a teenaged audience, including The Beatles and The Monkees. Teen idols were not only known for their catchy pop music, but good looks also played a large part in their successes. It was because of this that certain fan magazines, geared to the fans of teen idols (16 Magazine, Tiger Beat, etc.), were created. These monthly magazines typically featured a popular teen idol on the cover, as well as pin-up photographs, a Q&A, and a list of each idol's "faves" (i.e. favorite color, favorite vegetable, favorite hair color, etc.). Teen idols also influenced toys, Saturday morning cartoons and other products. At the height of each teen idol's popularity, it was not uncommon to see Beatle wigs, Davy Jones' "love beads" or Herman's Hermits lunchboxes for sale.

Dance styles

From its early-1950s inception through the early 1960s, rock and roll music spawned new dance crazes. Teenagers found the irregular rhythm of the backbeat especially suited to reviving the jitterbug dancing of the big-band era. "Sock-hops," gym dances, and home basement dance parties became the rage, and American teens watched Dick Clark's American Bandstand to keep up on the latest dance and fashion styles. From the mid-1960s on, as "rock and roll" yielded gradually to "rock," later dance genres followed, starting with the twist, and leading up to funk, disco, house and techno.

Pop music

2009-07-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Pop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs. While these basic elements of the genre have remained fairly constant, pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, particularly borrowing from the development of rock music, and utilizing key technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.

Terminology

The term "pop song" is first recorded as being used in 1926 in the sense of a piece of music "having popular appeal".^[1] Starting in the 1950s the term "pop music" has been used to to describe a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as a softer alternative to rock and roll.^[2]^[3] In the aftermath of the British Invasion, from about 1967, it was increasingly used in opposition to the term rock music, to describe a form that was more commercial, ephemeral and accessible.^[4] Although pop music is often seen as oriented towards the singles charts, as a genre it is not the sum of all chart music, which have always contained songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs, while pop music as a genre is usually seen as existing and developing separately.^[5]

Characteristics

Musicologists are in general agreement that no single satisfactory definition of pop music exists. However, the following attributes are commonly identified:^[4]^[2]^[6]

Orientated towards the singles market and individual songs
Emphasis on recording over live performance
Emphasis on technology over musicianship
Emphasis on artificiality or craftsmanship over artistic values
Tendency to deal with simple or trivial themes
Tendency to follow existing practice and fashionable trends over progressive developments
Appeal to the general population rather than a sub-culture or ideology

Pop songs

The major medium of pop music is the song, often only between two and a half and three and a half minutes in length, with a simple structure generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style and traditional structure.^[7] Common variants include the verse-chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks, and a chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically and harmonically with the verse.^[8] Typically the beat of the music and the melodies tend to be very simple and "catchy" with limited harmonic accompaniment.^[9] The lyrics of modern pop songs tend to focus on love and romantic relationships, although there are notable exceptions.^[2]

Influences and development

Throughout its development, pop music has absorbed influences from most other genres of popular music. Early pop music drew on the sentimental ballad for its form, gained its use of vocal harmonies from gospel and soul music, instrumentation from jazz and rock music, orchestration from classical music, tempo from dance music, backing from electronic music and has recently appropriated spoken passages from rap.^[2] It has also made use of technological innovation, being itself made possible by the invention of the electronic microphone and the vinyl record, and adopting multi-track recording and digital sampling as methods for the creation and elaboration of pop music.^[2] Pop music was also communicated largely through the mass media, including radio, film, TV and, particularly since the 1980s, video.^[2] Pop music has been dominated by the American (and from the mid-1960s British) music industries, whose influence has made pop music something of an international monoculture, but most regions and countries have their own form of pop music, sometimes producing local versions of wider trends, and lending them local characteristics.^[10] Some of these trends, like the Europop of groups like ABBA, have had a significant impact of the development of the genre.^[2]

King of Pop (album)

2009-07-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

King of Pop is a compilation album released in commemoration of Michael Jackson's 50th birthday. The album differs significantly from each country where it was released as fan voting was employed to determine the songs for each country's version. The album's title comes from the nickname Jackson acquired approximately 20 years earlier. The album's launch was made public on June 20, 2008 with the official announcement of the Australian version. The first release came with the German edition (which is identical to the Swiss edition) on August 22, 2008.

Fans in countries where Sony BMG operates national offices were given the opportunity to vote for songs from a list of Jackson's back catalogue to be included in their country's version of the album. Aside from the tracks selected by fans, a megamix of the single "Thriller" by Jason Nevins was also included in the pool. The album has been released in a total of 26 countries. Each pool list and release date differed slightly by country. There has been no announcement of a release in North America.

Currently the album has reached the top ten in the majority of countries it was released. It has also charted, albeit lower, in other countries due to imported sales.

Background

Prior to the release of King of Pop, Jackson issued the double-disc album Thriller 25, a 25th anniversary edition of Thriller. The set contained the original nine tracks from Thriller, re-mixes and a new song called "For All Time". Two singles were released to moderate success: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008". Thriller 25 was a commercial success, having done particularly well as a re-issue, peaking at number one in eight countries and Europe. It reached number two in the US, number three in the UK and top 10 on over 30 national charts.^[1]^[2]^[3] In the US, Thriller 25 was just 14,000 copies short of reaching the peak position, selling 166,000 copies. It was ineligible for the Billboard 200 chart as a re-release, but entered atop the Pop Catalog chart, where it stayed for 10 non-consecutive weeks and had the best sales on that chart since December 1996.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] In 12 weeks, the album had sold 556,000 copies in the US and 3 million copies worldwide.^[4]^[8]

A few months afterward, Sony began announcing the release of regional edition's of the King of Pop compilation, in celebration of Jackson's 50th birthday. The album title is a reference to the same nickname Jackson acquired approximately 20 years ago.^[9]^[10] Jackson's success resulted in his being dubbed the "King of Pop", a nickname conceived by actress and friend Elizabeth Taylor when she presented Jackson with an "Artist of the Decade" award in 1989, proclaiming him "the true king of pop, rock and soul".^[11] Jackson's record began marketing Jackson as the "King of Pop" to coincide with the release of Dangerous and the music video for "Black or White", the album's first single.^[9]

Versions

Austria

On July 20, the Austrian version of the double disc compilation was announced; it was released on Jackson's birthday. The pool list fans got to choose from contained 100 tracks.^[12]

The album tracks are:

"Man in the Mirror"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Billie Jean"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Black or White"
"Remember the Time"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Human Nature"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Dirty Diana"
"We've Had Enough"
"Give In to Me"
"Will You Be There"
"Heal the World"
"Got the Hots"

"ABC"
"Can You Feel It"
"Say Say Say"
"Thriller"
"Bad"
"Who Is It"
"Earth Song"
"Beat It"
"Rock With You"
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
"We Are the World"
"Stranger in Moscow"
"You Rock My World"
"Scream"
"Ghosts"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[13]

Australia

The Australian version was announced by Sony BMG Australia on June 20, 2008 and was released on Jackson's birthday. Starting on June 21, 2008, Australian fans had three weeks to vote for their 30 favourite tracks for the album; made up of Jackson's prior material.^[14]^[15] Each fan could choose five songs from the pool; made up of all the tracks from Off the Wall, Thriller (2001 special edition, including "Carousel"), Bad (2001 special edition, including "Streetwalker", "Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu" and "Fly Away"), Dangerous, HIStory, Blood on the Dance Floor, Invincible and the track "For All Time" from Thriller 25. The pool of songs also included seven from Jackson's time in The Jackson 5/The Jacksons. These songs were "Blame It on the Boogie", "Can You Feel It", "State of Shock", "ABC", "I Want You Back", "I'll Be There" and "Ben".^[14]^[15] King of Pop was released in two editions: The first was a limited edition digipak that featured the names of selected voters, messages left by the fans and a fold-out poster that follows Jackson through his musical career; The second edition was a standard release of the album without the poster.^[14]

The track list is:

Disc 1:

"Billie Jean"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Beat It"
"Thriller"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Who Is It"
"Black or White"
"You Rock My World"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Dirty Diana"
"Blood on the Dance Floor"
"Rock With You"
"Stranger in Moscow"
"Remember the Time"

Disc 2:

"Will You Be There"
"Give In to Me"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Say Say Say"
"Scream"
"State of Shock"
"Got the Hots"
"You Can't Win"
"Fall Again"
"Sunset Driver"
"Someone Put Your Hand Out"
"In the Back"
"We Are the World"
"One More Chance"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[16]

Belgium

On July 26, it was announced that the double disc album would be released August 25. Fans could vote for their 5 favorite tracks from a pool of 124, on the web site of the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.^[17]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Beat It"
"Bad"
"Blood on the Dance Floor"
"Say Say Say"
"Can You Feel It"
"Blame It on the Boogie"
"Another Part of Me"
"Baby Be Mine"
"2 Bad"
"Dangerous"
"Dirty Diana"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Earth Song"
"Childhood"
"Beautiful Girl"
"Come Together"
"Butterflies"
"Break of Dawn"
"Cry"

"Heal the World"
"Ghosts"
"Burn This Disco Out"
"Can't Let Her Get Away"
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
"Thriller"
"Give in to Me"
"HIStory"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Human Nature"
"Remember the Time"
"Liberian Girl"
"Scream"
"D.S."
"Girlfriend"
"Jam"
"Rock With You"
"Man in the Mirror"
"For All Time"
"Don't Walk Away" ^[18]

Brazil

The Brazilian edition was released on October 17.^[19]

The album tracks are:

"Thriller"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Billie Jean"
"Black or White"
"Heal the World"
"Say Say Say"
"Beat It"
"Rock With You"
"Human Nature"
"Bad"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Will You Be There"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008"
"The Girl Is Mine 2008" ^[19]

Finland

The Finnish edition was released on October 1.^[20]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Thriller"
"Beat It"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Bad"
"Earth Song"
"Black or White"
"Dirty Diana"
"You Are Not Alone"
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
"Heal the World"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Scream"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Liberian Girl"
"Say Say Say"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" ^[20]

France

"King of Pop - The French Fans' Selection" was released on December 12.

The album tracks are:

Disc 1

"Billie Jean"
"Black Or White"
"Beat It"
"Off The Wall"
"Thriller"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Man In The Mirror"
"Remember The Time"
"Human Nature"
"Ghosts"
"Who Is It"
"Blood On The Dance Floor"
"One More Chance"
"Earth Song"
"Heal The World"
"Say Say Say"
"Thriller Megamix"

Disc 2

"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
"Bad"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"Rock With You"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Dirty Diana"
"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Speechless"
"Whatever Happens"
"Cry"
"Will You Be There"
"Workin' Day And Night"
"You Rock My World"
"Dangerous"
"Got The Hots" ^[21]

Deluxe box set

"King of Pop - The French Fans' Selection" - Deluxe Box Set Edition was released on the same day with a 3rd bonus disc.

Disc 3

"Carousel"
"Rock With You (Original LP Version)"
"Stranger In Moscow"
"The Girl Is Mine"
"The Way You Love Me"
"Is It Scary"
"Childhood"
"Bad (Dance Extended Mix)"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (Extended 12" Mix)"
"Billie Jean (Original 12" Version)"
"Another Part Of Me (Extended Dance Mix)"
"The Way You Make Me Feel (Dance Extended Mix)"
"Black or White (The Civilles & Cole House/Club Mix)" ^[22]

Germany & Switzerland

On July 14, it was announced that German fans had until July 28 to choose their top 30 songs from an extensive pool of 121 tracks; The German version was released on August 22. The German pool list contained almost every song Jackson released in his solo career. Notably expansions on the pool choice included: A larger option of tracks from Thriller 25 and the inclusion of 12 tracks from The Ultimate Collection. There were also 8 tracks included from the singers time in The Jackson 5/Jacksons; slightly more than the other versions.^[23]^[24] The German edition was also released in Switzerland on the same day.^[25]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Beat It"
"Thriller"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Bad"
"Dirty Diana"
"Black or White"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Earth Song"
"Heal The World"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Who Is It"
"Speechless"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"We've Had Enough"
"Remember the Time"

"Whatever Happens"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Say Say Say"
"Liberian Girl"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
"Give In to Me"
"Dangerous"
"Will You Be There"
"Scream"
"You Rock My World"
"Stranger in Moscow"
"Rock With You"
"Got the Hots"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[24]

Greece

The 32-track double-CD Greek edition was released on November 17, 2008.^[26] Sony BMG Greece teamed up with music television channel Mad TV through which fans casted votes for their favourite songs.^[27]

Disc 1:

"Billie Jean"
"Beat It"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Bad"
"Jam"
"Rock With You"
"Dirty Diana"
"Black Or White"
"Scream"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
"In The Closet"
"Liberian Girl"
"The Girl Is Mine"
"Stranger In Moscow"
"Blood On The Dance Floor"
"Dangerous"

Disc 2:

"Thriller"
"Off The Wall"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 with Akon"
"Can You Feel It"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Come Together"
"Human Nature"
"Earth Song"
"You Are Not Alone"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Remember The Time"
"Man In The Mirror"
"Ghosts"
"Invincible"
"Thriller Megamix"

Hong Kong

On August 6, it was announced that the double disc album would be released August 28. Fans could vote for 10 of their favourite tracks on the web site of Sony BMG Hong Kong.

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Bad"
"Say Say Say"
"Thriller"
"Ghosts"
"Will You Be There"
"Heal the World"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Jam"
"Scream"
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
"Black or White"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Come Together"
"We Are the World"

"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Beat It"
"Dangerous"
"Dirty Diana"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Remember the Time"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Earth Song"
"She's out of My Life"
"The Girl Is Mine"
"You Rock My World"
"Blood on the Dance Floor"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"Billie Jean 2008"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[28]

Hungary

On July 9, it was announced that Hungarian fans had until July 27, to choose their songs from an extensive pool of 122 tracks, in a two stage process. The pool list contained almost every song Jackson has released in his solo career. Notably expansions on the pool choice included: A larger option of tracks from Thriller 25 and the inclusion of 12 tracks from The Ultimate Collection (these are not available in the Australian or New Zealand version). In the first round (July 9 - July 15) the fans were able to vote for their top 50 tracks. In round two (July 16 - July 27) the 50 were cut down to the album tracklist.^[29]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Black or White"
"Thriller"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Earth Song"
"Bad"
"Beat It"
"Dirty Diana"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Heal the World"
"Remember the Time"
"Say Say Say"
"Dangerous"
"Give In to Me"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[30]

Italy

"King of Pop - The Italian Fans' Selection" was released on October 3.^[31] It was the first collection to feature the full version of "Carousel" from the Special Edition of Thriller.

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Black or White"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Whatever Happens"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Beat It"
"Off the Wall"
"We've Had Enough"
"Dangerous"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Human Nature"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"Ghosts"
"You Rock My World"
"Earth Song"

"Thriller"
"Tabloid Junkie"
"Liberian Girl"
"Remember the Time"
"We Are the World"
"Who Is It"
"Speechless"
"Morphine"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Bad"
"Blood on the Dance Floor"
"Rock with You"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Heal the World"
"Got The Hots"
"Carousel" ^[31]

Japan

On July 18, the Japanese edition was announced with fans picking from a selection pool of 120 tracks. Out of tune with other versions, the compilation was released on September 24 by Sony Music Japan.^[32]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Thriller"
"Beat It"
"Bad"
"Black or White"
"Heal the World"
"Rock With You"
"Human Nature"
"We Are the World"
"Say Say Say"
"Scream"
"Remember the Time"
"Off the Wall"
"Ben"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[33]

Netherlands

On July 22, it was announced that Dutch fans could vote for their favorite Jackson tracks, choosing 5 songs from a list of 100. The release date of the album was August 22.^[34]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Thriller"
"Beat It"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Dirty Diana"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Man in the Mirror"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Black or White"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Bad"
"Earth Song"
"Ben"
"Heal the World"
"Liberian Girl"
"Rock With You"

"Can You Feel It"
"She's out of My Life"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Stranger in Moscow"
"The Girl Is Mine"
"Remember the Time"
"You Rock My World"
"Human Nature"
"Give In to Me"
"Will You Be There"
"Off the Wall"
"I'll Be There"
"Who Is It"
"Blood on the Dance Floor"
"Say Say Say"
"Blame It on the Boogie"
"Ghosts"
"Got the Hots" ^[35]

New Zealand

On July 3, it was announced that fans in New Zealand would have until July 20, to vote for their version of King of Pop. In New Zealand, the compilation was released on August 25. Fans could vote for five songs in a pool that differed slightly from the Australian song pool. The songs available from Thriller 25 were different; "For All Time" had been replaced by "The Girl Is Mine 2008" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008". "Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu" from Bad (2001 special edition) was not available. While the Australian pool included seven songs from Jackson's group career, the New Zealand pool had only three: "Blame It on the Boogie", "Can You Feel It" and "State Of Shock".^[36]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Thriller"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Black or White"
"Blame It on the Boogie"
"Beat It"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Bad"
"Rock With You"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Heal the World"
"Scream"
"Dirty Diana"
"Remember the Time"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Stranger in Moscow" ^[37]

Philippines

Sony BMG Philippines and MYX Music Channel announced the Philippine release of the King of Pop. Filipino fans were asked to send their Top 10 all-time favorite Michael Jackson tracks via e-mail. The album was released on August 28, 2008.^[38]

The album tracks are:

"Blame It on the Boogie"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Rock With You"
"Off the Wall"
"She's out of My Life"
"The Girl Is Mine"
"Thriller"
"Beat It"
"Billie Jean"
"Human Nature"
"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
"Bad"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Man in the Mirror"
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
"Smooth Criminal"
"In the Closet"

"Remember the Time"
"Heal the World"
"Black or White"
"Gone Too Soon"
"Dangerous"
"Scream"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Earth Song"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Childhood"
"Blood on the Dance Floor"
"Invincible"
"We Are the World"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008"
"Say Say Say"
"Got the Hots"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[39]

Poland

On August 29, it was announced that the double disc album would be released in Poland on October 20. Fans could vote for 20 of their favourite tracks from a pool of 120 on the special web site of Sony BMG Poland. That site was launched on August 29 (on Michael Jackson's 50th birthday) and voting was closed on September 17.^[40]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Black or White"
"Thriller"
"Earth Song"
"Remember The Time"
"Say Say Say"
"Blood On The Dance Floor"
"Scream"
"Who Is It"
"Blame It On The Boogie"
"Ghosts"
"Rock With You"
"Heal The World"
"Human Nature"
"Liberian Girl"
"Dangerous"

"Smooth Criminal"
"Give In To Me"
"Beat It"
"Man in the Mirror"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Can You Feel It"
"Dirty Diana"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"You Rock My World"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Stranger In Moscow"
"Bad"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"We Are The World"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[40]

Portugal

The Portuguese edition was released on December 9, 2008^[41]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Black or White"
"Beat It"
"Bad"
"Smooth Criminal
"You Are Not Alone"
"Thriller"
"Earth Song"
"Man in the Mirror"
"You Rock My World"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Heal The World"
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
"Rock With You"
"Dirty Diana"
"Remember the Time"

South Korea

"King of Pop - The Korean Limited Edition" was released on December 11, 2008.

The album tracks are:

Disc 1

"Billie Jean"
"Beat It"
"Black Or White"
"Heal The World"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Thriller"
"Dangerous"
"Bad"
"We Are The World (Demo)"
"Jam"
"Man In The Mirror"
"The Girl Is Mine (With Paul McCartney)"
"Remember The Time"
"Smooth Criminal"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"History"

Disc 2

"Will You Be There (Radio Edit)"
"I Just Can'T Stop Loving You (Feat. Sieddah Garret)"
"Rock With You"
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
"Come Together"
"Scream (Feat. Janet Jackson)"
"Human Nature"
"Earth Song"
"Dirty Diana"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"You Rock My World"
"She's Out Of My Life"
"You Are My Life"
"Off The Wall"
"Keep The Faith"
"Smile"
"Who Is It"
"Childhood (Theme From Free Willy 2)"^[42]

Spain

"King of Pop - Edición Exclusiva España" was released in Spain on January 13, 2009.

The album tracks are:

"Thriller"
"Billie Jean"
"Bad"
"Beat It"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Black or White"
"Man in the Mirror"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Remember the Time"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Rock With You"
"Blood on the Dance Floor"
"Heal the World"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"Unbreakable"
"We Are The World (Demo)" ^[43]

Sweden

The Swedish edition was released on October 15.^[44]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Thriller"
"Beat It"
"Bad"
"Black or White"
"Smooth Criminal"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Blame It on the Boogie"
"Dirty Diana"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"The Girl Is Mine"
"Heal The World"
"We Are the World"
"Liberian Girl"

"Earth Song"
"Can You Feel It"
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
"I'll Be There"
"Say Say Say"
"Ben"
"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
"Got the Hots"
"Someone Put Your Hand Out"
"On the Line"
"State of Shock"
"We Are Here to Change the World"
"One More Chance"
"We've Had Enough"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008"
"Thriller Megamix" ^[45]

Turkey

"King of Pop - The Turkish Collection" was released on November 24.

The album tracks are:

"Thriller"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Billie Jean"
"Black or White"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Bad"
"Remember the Time"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"In The Closet"
"Beat It"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"Scream"
"Who Is It"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"You Rock My World"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Liberian Girl"
"Off the Wall" ^[46]

United Kingdom

On July 18, the United Kingdom version of the compilation was announced, with a release date of August 25. Sony BMG UK teamed up with GMTV and The Sun allowing fans, until August 10, to pick 18 tracks from the song pool. The pool list, at only 50 tracks, is the least diverse; there were no songs included from Jackson's group career.^[47]^[48]^[49] 66,000 people took part in the vote.^[50]

The album tracks are:

"Billie Jean"
"Bad"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Thriller"
"Black or White"
"Beat It"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"Don’t Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Rock With You"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Remember the Time"
"Scream"
"You Rock My World"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Earth Song" ^[50]

Deluxe box set

In the United Kingdom, a three disc version was released on September 29, 2008. The third disc was advertised as featuring "Rarities and Classic 12"s", although many of the mixes were already remastered and re-released on the 2006 boxset Visionary: The Video Singles.

The album tracks are:

Disc 1

"Billie Jean"
"Bad"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Thriller"
"Black or White"
"Beat It"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Rock With You"
"You Are Not Alone"
"Man in the Mirror"
"Remember the Time"
"Scream"
"You Rock My World"
"They Don't Care About Us"
"Earth Song"

Disc 2

"Dirty Diana"
"Say Say Say"
"Off the Wall"
"Human Nature"
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
"Heal the World"
"Will You Be There"
"Stranger in Moscow"
"Speechless"
"She's out of My Life"
"The Girl Is Mine"
"Butterflies"
"Who Is It"
"Ghosts"
"Blood on the Dance Floor"
"Workin' Day and Night"
"HIStory" ^
"Give In to Me"

^ - This is the "Tony Moran's HIStory Edit", as was used in the music video for said song.

Disc 3

"Can't Get Outta the Rain (Single Version)"
"On the Line"
"Someone Put Your Hand Out"
"Is It Scary (Single Radio Edit)"
"Smile (Short Version)"
"Billie Jean (Original 12" Version)"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (Extended 12" Mix)"
"Bad (Dance Extended Mix Includes 'False Fade')"
"The Way You Make Me Feel (Dance Extended Mix)"
"Another Part of Me (Extended Dance Mix)"
"Smooth Criminal (Extended Dance Mix)"
"Black or White (The Civilles & Cole House/Club Mix)"
"Thriller Megamix (Radio Edit)" ^[51]

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Australia	5 ^[52]
Austria	1 ^[53]
Belgium (Vl)	4 ^[54]
Belgium (Wa)	9 ^[54]
Finland	29 ^[55]
Germany	6 ^[56]
Hungary	4 ^[57]
Ireland (UK version import)	54 ^[56]
Japan	10 ^[58]
Netherlands	4 ^[59]
New Zealand	13 ^[60]
Poland	1 ^[61]
Spain	38 ^[62]
Sweden	9 ^[63]
Switzerland	26 ^[64]
UK	3 ^[65]

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australia	1 ^[52]
Austria	1 ^[66]
Belgium (Vl)	1 ^[66]
Belgium (Wa)	1 ^[66]
Finland	22 ^[67]
Germany	1 ^[66]
Japan	4 ^[68]
Netherlands	1 ^[66]
Spain	1 ^[66]
Switzerland	1 ^[66]

Certifications

Country	Sales	Certification
Australia	35,000 ^[69]	Gold
Austria	10,000 ^[70]	Gold
Belgium	30,000 ^[71]	Platinum
Hungary	7,500 ^[72]	Gold
Japan	100,000 ^[73]	Gold
Poland	20,000 ^[74]	Platinum

Michael Jackson Sets Billboard Charts Record

2009-07-16T22:21:00.000-07:00

The zoom feature is not available for this photo.

Michael Jackson Sets Billboard Charts Record

2009-07-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Getty Images

Been restocking your music collection with some classic Michael Jackson tunes this past week? You're not the only one.

Billboard reports that Jackson's albums dominate this week's Top Pop Catalog Albums chart, thanks to fans snapping up some 415,000 copies of his solo albums since his death last Thursday.

In all, Jackson's solo albums hold a record-breaking eight out of the Top 10 slots, with a Jackson 5 compilation also placing in the Top 10.

Jackson's Number Ones collection takes the top slot, while The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller follow close behind in second and third place. Right behind them is the King of Pop's 1979 classic Off the Wall.

The only non-Jackson-related release to earn a spot in the Top 10 this week is a reissue of the Woodstock movie soundtrack, which takes the Number 10 position.

Wow!

Have your say in the comments section: Have you bought any Michael Jackson music in the past week?

Michael Jackson Makes History On Euro Charts

2009-07-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

In a history-making week on Billboard's European Top 100 Albums, Michael Jackson holds down a spectacular eight of the top ten titles. Meanwhile, "When Love Takes Over" (Positiva/EMI) by David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland starts a second week atop European Hot 100 Singles.

Jackson's domination also represents a near-lockout of the pan-European top ten for Epic/Sony Music Entertainment, in which last year's "King of Pop" compilation again comes out on top. It leads the way in no fewer than eight markets, holding at No. 1 in Germany and Austria, moving 77-1 in the Belgian region of Flanders, 6-1 in neighboring Wallony, 13-1 in Poland, 3-1 in Holland and 2-1 in Switzerland and Spain. It's top five in five other territories.

In the United Kingdom, it's "The Essential Michael Jackson" that rules, with 113,000 new sales last week from a running total in its four years on release of 483,000. That compilation holds at No. 2 Europe-wide, also moving 4-1 in Finland, 3-2 in Switzerland and entering and No. 3 in Norway and Portugal.

Next up, at No. 3 overall, is the original edition of "Thriller," which leaps to the top in Italy (12-1) and Spain (3-1) and is in the top five in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. Its title track single also rises 4-2 in Italy. Jackson's "Number Ones" collection is up 6-4 on Top 100 Albums, sitting at No. 2 in both Ireland and Germany. "The Collection" is his only title in descent on the overall chart, down 3-6 despite holding at No. 1 in Denmark and racing 34-5 in Sweden and 19-9 in Germany.

With the regular volume of "Thriller" at No. 3, the 25th anniversary deluxe reissue also fares well, climbing 14-7 on the composite chart. It's up 12-2 in Hungary, 7-5 in Finland, 41-6 in Spain and 18-9 in the United Kingdom, but falls from the top spot in Switzerland and Poland. "Off The Wall," the studio predecessor to "Thriller," is up 34-8 on Top 100 Albums, fuelled by a 10-3 climb in the United Kingdom on sales of 39,000. Remarkably, that's the album's highest-ever position on the U.K. chart, where it previously peaked at No. 5 in its fourth week on the survey in October 1979.

The biggest leap of all Jackson's albums is taken by "HIStory - Past, Present & Future, Book 1," which zooms 92-9 after reappearing at No. 4 in Germany and 33-17 in the United Kingdom. Jackson also has two singles in the European top ten, holding at No. 7 with "Man In The Mirror" and dipping 9-10 with "Billie Jean."

The only non-Jackson titles in the top ten of the pan-European album chart are Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)" (Interscope/Universal), which holds at No. 5, and labelmate Lady Gaga's "The Fame," down 8-10.

Guetta's single, a former U.K. No. 1, continues to lead the European Hot 100 as it extends its reign in Switzerland, Ireland and Wallony and climbs 6-3 in Austria, 4-3 in Germany and 11-10 in Italy.

MICHAEL JACKSON SONG LYRICS

2009-07-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

He got kicked in the back
He say that he needed that
He hot willed in the face
Keep daring to motivate
He say one day you will see
His place in world history
He dares to be recognized
The fires deep in his eyes

How many victims must there be
Slaughtered in vain across the land
And how many struggles must there be
Before we choose to live the prophet’s plan
Everybody sing…

Every day create your history
Every path you take you’re leaving your legacy
Every soldier dies in his glory
Every legend tells of conquest and liberty

Don’t let no one get you down
Keep movin’ on higher ground
Keep flying until
You are the king of the hill
No force of nature can break
Your will to self motivate
She say this face that you see
Is destined for history

How many people have to cry
The song of pain and grief across the land
And how many children have to die
Before we stand to lend a healing hand
Everybody sing…

Every day create your history
Every path you take you’re leaving your legacy
Every soldier dies in his glory
Every legend tells of conquest and liberty
Every day create your history
Every page you turn you’re writing your legacy
Every hero dreams of chivalry
Every child should sing together in harmony

All nations sing
Let’s harmonize all around the world

How many victims must there be
Slaughtered in vain across the land
And how many children must we see
Before we learn to live as brothers
And leave one family oh…

A soldier dies
A mother cries
The promised child shines in a baby’s eyes
All nations sing
Let’s harmonize all around the world

The moonwalk

2009-07-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

A street dancer doing the moonwalk in Madrid, Spain.

The moonwalk or backslide is a dance technique that presents the illusion that the dancer is stepping forward while actually moving backward, giving the appearance of a person moving along a conveyor belt. The dance gained worldwide popularity after Michael Jackson executed it during his performance of his song "Billie Jean" on the March 25, 1983, television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever,^[1] and was considered his signature move.^[2] The

History

The moonwalk was recorded as early as 1955 in a performance by tap dancer Bill Bailey.^[3] The French mime, Marcel Marceau, used it throughout his career (from the 1940s through the 1980s), as part of the drama of his mime routines, such as in trying to chase a balloon.

David Bowie was probably the first rock musician to perform the move^[4], however he remained stationary. Having studied under British mime Lindsay Kemp who in turn trained with Marcel Marceau, an embryonic version appears in Bowie's 1960s mime pieces. By the time of his 1974 Diamond Dogs Tour, Michael Jackson was among those attending his Los Angeles shows^[5], later remarking on Bowie's strange moves.

James Brown used the move in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. A member of the Electric Boogaloos performance group, Timothy 'Popin Pete' Solomon, also performed the dance move in the Talking Heads video 'Crosseyed And Painless', which aired around 1981.^{[citation needed]}

Michael Jackson executing the moonwalk in "Billie Jean" on Motown 25 in 1983

Jeffrey Daniel was the first person to perform "the backslide" on television, during a performance of Shalamar's "A Night to Remember" on, the British music show, Top of the Pops. The song was a hit in 1982, almost a year before Michael Jackson moonwalked on the Motown 25 broadcast. Jackson was a big fan in the 1970s of Soul Train. He soon met, learned from, and later hired dancer/choreographers from the Soul Train TV show.^{[citation needed]} Dance partners Geron "Casper" Candidate and Cooley Jackson claim that they taught Michael Jackson the moonwalk. Casper also claims that he still has the check stub Michael Jackson used to pay Cooley and himself for teaching Michael the moonwalk.^{[citation needed]}

Variations

The step has two distinct types. One is called the turn walk. This is usually performed very quickly giving the impression that the dancer is walking quickly in a circle. The other circular moonwalk type is known as the 360 or Four-Corner Moonwalk and is often done much more slowly in a floating style. This involves sliding a heel back (usually the left heel), pivoting both heels to change direction, and then pivoting the non-sliding heel 45 degrees. Other moonwalk variants include the "sidewalk" or "side glide", in which the dancer appears to glide sideways, and the "spotwalk", in which the dancer appears to moonwalk in place.^{[citation needed]}

Bad (album)

2009-07-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

Bad

Studio album by Michael Jackson

Released

August 31, 1987

Recorded

November 1986–July 1987 (except Another Part of Me: recorded 1985)

Genre

Soul, R&B, Dance-pop, Urban, Pop rock^[1]

Length

48:16

Label

Epic
EK-40600

Producer

Michael Jackson,
Quincy Jones^[2]

Professional reviews

Allmusic link
Robert Christgau (B+) link
New York Times (favorable) link
Q link
Rhapsody (favorable) link
Rolling Stone 1987
Virgin Encyclopedia link
Yahoo! Music (favorable) link

Michael Jackson chronology

Thriller
(1982)

Bad
(1987)

Dangerous
(1991)

Alternate covers

Special Edition

Singles from Bad

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
Released: July 20, 1987
"Bad"
Released: September 7, 1987
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
Released: November 9, 1987
"Man in the Mirror"
Released: January 9, 1988
"Dirty Diana"
Released: April 18, 1988
"Another Part of Me"
Released: July 11, 1988
"Smooth Criminal"
Released: October 24, 1988
"Leave Me Alone"
Released: February 13, 1989
"Liberian Girl"
Released: July 3, 1989

Bad is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic/CBS Records. The record was released nearly five years after his previous studio album. Twenty years after its release, the album has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and shipped 8 million units in the United States. Bad is the first, and currently only, album ever to feature five Billboard Hot 100 #1 singles.^[3]

This album also saw Jackson have even more freedom over his album than he did with the two previous albums, Off the Wall and the world's best selling album of all time, Thriller, as he wrote and composed 9 of the album's 11 tracks, and co-wrote and produce another; "Man in the Mirror". This album also saw the squeaky clean pop idol turn "Bad" as he went through a surprising new image change. The album continued its success in the late '80s and won 2 Grammys, one for Best Music Video - Short Form for Leave Me Alone and one for Best Engineered Album - Non Classical won by Bruce Swedien & Humberto Gatica.^[4] Bad was also ranked number 43 in the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time of the MTV Generation in 2009 listed by VH1.^[5] It was ranked number 202 on the Rolling Stone magazine 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[6]

History

Recording

Jackson began recording demos for the anticipated follow-up to Thriller a few months after the 1984 Victory Tour with The Jacksons. Recording took place between November 1986 and July 9, 1987^[7] (except for "Another Part of Me" which was recorded for Captain EO in 1986). Jackson wrote a reported sixty songs for the new album and recorded thirty, wanting to use them all on a three-disc set. Longtime producer Quincy Jones cut these down to a ten-track single LP. The CD release also contained a bonus 11th track, "Leave Me Alone".

Jackson wrote nine of the eleven tracks himself. Terry Britten (writer of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It") and Graham Lyle wrote "Just Good Friends". Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard wrote "Man in the Mirror". Stevie Wonder sings co-lead vocal on "Just Good Friends", and Steve Stevens contributes the guitar solo for "Dirty Diana".

However, while recording the tracks for Bad, there was some debate between Jackson and Jones on which songs would be put on the album. For example, they both had a hard time deciding on either "Streetwalker" or "Another Part of Me" (which was recorded for Captain EO in 1986) to be put on the album. Jackson wanted "Streetwalker", whereas Jones wanted "Another Part of Me". Ultimately, it was decided by Jackson's manager Frank Dileo. According to Quincy Jones from "Bad: Special Edition", there was a meeting among the three. In the meeting, Jackson played "Streetwalker" first, and Dileo was not impressed. But Dileo started to dance when "Another Part of Me" came on. This is what eventually put "Another Part of Me" onto the album.

"Bad" was originally intended as a duet between Jackson and Prince. A rivalry had developed between the two over the years, and Jackson's plan was to leak stories to the media about rising tensions between himself and Prince, culminating in the release of the song. Prince turned down the project, explaining to Jones that the song "would be a hit without (him) on it".

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was supposed to feature a famous female singer. Reportedly Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston all turned down the offer, before Jones chose R&B singer-songwriter Siedah Garrett.

Reception

By the time Jackson released this album, sales of its predecessor, Thriller, had already reached forty million, raising expectations for Bad. Bad became the first of Jackson's albums to debut at number-one on the Billboard 200 where it remained for the next six consecutive weeks. The RIAA certified Bad for having sold eight million copies in the U.S. alone.^[8] In the U.K, the album sold 500,000 copies in just five days and is currently certified 13x platinum, for sales of 3.9 million making it Jackson's biggest-selling album in the UK. Globally, it's Jackson's overall third best-selling recording, behind Thriller and Dangerous, with 30 million copies sold.^[9]

Jackson set another record with this album, becoming the first, and currently only, artist to have five songs to hit number-one from one album.^[10] In July 2006, it was announced by the The Official UK Charts Company that Bad was the ninth biggest selling album in British history.^[11] It turned out to be the last collaborative effort by Jackson and Jones, as Jackson moved on to write and produce more of his own records, particularly with Teddy Riley, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Rodney Jerkins.

Rolling Stone stated that "even without a milestone recording like "Billie Jean", Bad is still a better record than Thriller."^[12] The magazine further went on to say that the "filler" content in Bad - including songs such as "Speed Demon", "Dirty Diana" and "Liberian Girl" - is written by Jackson himself, making Bad "richer, sexier and better than Thriller's forgettables."^[12]

Despite the records success, in a poll of 23,000 US citizens, released by Rolling Stone, Jackson won "worst album" for Bad and "worst single" for "Bad". TIME gave the opinion that the singer was suffering a backlash in certain parts of the US. The publication suggested that the singer's media image was triggering the poll, not the music.^[13]

In 2001, a special edition was released with three new songs and a new booklet containing lyrics and never-before-seen photos.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 202 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[14]

Marketing

Main articles: Captain EO, Moonwalker, and Bad World Tour

During the Bad period was one of the first times Jackson used marketing to his advantage, more so than he had with Thriller. A year before Bad, Jackson used several tactics to get the media interested in his short film, Captain EO, during the recording of Bad. Jackson played a space captain in the mini-film, which was produced by George Lucas. By the time Jackson released Bad, he produced a commemorative special on his life, "The Magic Returns", which aired on CBS. At the end of the documentary, the channel debuted Jackson's "Bad" short film, which featured then up-and-coming actor Wesley Snipes. Jackson's marketing strategy, mastered by Frank DiLeo among others, also included Jackson producing another mini-movie around the time of the Bad World Tour. That film, Moonwalker, included performances of songs from "Bad" including "Speed Demon", "Leave Me Alone" and "Smooth Criminal", the latter two released as sole videos at the end of the film. Jackson also used the opportunity to write about his life up until that point releasing 1988's Moonwalk. Jackson's tour for Bad did well, grossing $125 million by the end of its tenure. Though Jackson furthered his stance as a global pop superstar, in America, he failed to match to the sales of Thriller, the greatest selling album of all time, having some in the media calling it a "disappointment" compared to Thriller.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Track listing

#	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Bad"	Michael Jackson	4:07
2.	"The Way You Make Me Feel"	Jackson	4:58
3.	"Speed Demon"	Jackson	4:03
4.	"Liberian Girl"	Jackson	3:53
5.	"Just Good Friends" (duet with Stevie Wonder)	Terry Britten, Graham Lyle	4:08
6.	"Another Part of Me"	Jackson	3:54
7.	"Man in the Mirror"	Glen Ballard, Siedah Garrett	5:19
8.	"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (duet with Siedah Garrett)	Jackson	4:13
9.	"Dirty Diana"	Jackson	4:41
10.	"Smooth Criminal"	Jackson	4:17
11.	"Leave Me Alone"	Jackson	4:40

2001 Special Edition ^[15]
#	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #1"		4:03
13.	"Streetwalker" (previously unreleased)	Jackson	5:49
14.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #2"		2:53
15.	"Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu" (Spanish version of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", previously unavailable)	Jackson, Rubén Blades	4:05
16.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #3"		2:30
17.	"Spoken intro to Fly Away"		0:08
18.	"Fly Away" (previously unreleased)	Jackson	3:26

Re-issues of Bad feature a number of changes when compared to the original 1987 release:^[16]

"Bad" has a modified horn arrangement.
"The Way You Make Me Feel" has richer vocalizations and background vocals.
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" omits Jackson's spoken intro.
"Dirty Diana" is replaced with the 7-inch edit of the song.
"Smooth Criminal" omits the dramatic breathing within the intro.

Off the Wall (album)

2009-07-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

Off the Wall

Studio album by Michael Jackson

Released

August 10, 1979

Recorded

December 4, 1978 – June 3, 1979
Allen Zentz Recording
Westlake Audio
Cherokee Studios
(Los Angeles, California)

Genre

R&B, club/dance, disco, dance-pop, funk, urban, pop/rock^[1]

Length

42:16

Label

Epic
EK-35745

Producer

Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Professional reviews

Allmusic ^[1]
Blender ^[2]
Robert Christgau (A−)^[3]
Melody Maker (favorable) ^[4]
Q ^[5]
Rolling Stone (favorable)^[6]
Yahoo! Music (favorable)^[7]

Michael Jackson chronology

Singles from Off the Wall
Forever, Michael (1975)	Off the Wall (1979)	Thriller (1982)
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" Released: July 28, 1979 "Rock with You" Released: November 3, 1979 "Off the Wall" Released: February 2, 1980 "She's Out of My Life" Released: April 19, 1980 "Girlfriend" Released: July 1980

Special Edition

Off the Wall is the fifth studio album by the American pop musician Michael Jackson, released August 10, 1979 on Epic Records, after Jackson's critically well received film performance in The Wiz. While working on that project, Jackson and Quincy Jones had become friends, and Jones agreed to work with Jackson on his next studio album. Recording sessions took place between December 1978 and June 1979 at Allen Zentz Recording, Westlake Recording Studios, and Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, California. Jackson collaborated with a number of other writers and performers such as Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Rod Temperton. Jackson wrote several of the songs himself, including the lead single, "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough".

The record was a departure from Jackson's previous work for Motown. Several critics observed that Off the Wall was crafted from funk, disco-pop, soul, soft rock, jazz and pop ballads. Jackson received positive reviews for his vocal performance on the record. The record gained positive reviews and won the singer his first Grammy Awards since the early 1970s. With Off the Wall, Jackson became the first solo artist to have four singles from the same album peak inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The album was a commercial success, to date it is certified for 7× Multi-Platinum in the US and has sold 20 million copies worldwide.

On October 16, 2001, a special edition reissue of Off the Wall was released by Sony Records. Recent reviews by Allmusic and Blender have continued to praise Off the Wall for its appeal in the 21st century. In 2003, the album was ranked number 68 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The National Association of Recording Merchandisers listed it at number 80 of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. In 2008, Off the Wall was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Background

Starting in 1972, Michael Jackson released a total of four solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben. These were released as part of The Jackson 5 franchise, and produced successful singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben" and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin". The Jackson 5's sales, however, began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input.^[8] Although the group scored several top 40 hits, including the top five disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", The Jackson 5 (minus Jermaine Jackson) left Motown in 1975.^[8] The Jackson 5 signed a new contract with CBS Records in June 1975, first joining the Philadelphia International Records division and then Epic Records.^[8] As a result of legal proceedings, the group was renamed The Jacksons.^[9] After the name change, the band continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984. From 1976 to 1984, Michael Jackson was the lead songwriter of the group, writing or co-writing such hits as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel" and "Can You Feel It".^[10]

In 1978, Jackson starred as Scarecrow in the film musical The Wiz.^[11] The musical scores were arranged by Quincy Jones, who formed a partnership with Jackson during the film's production and agreed to produce the singer's solo album Off the Wall.^[12] Jackson was dedicated to the role, and watched videotapes of gazelles, cheetahs and panthers in order to learn graceful movements for his part.^[13] Jones recalled working with Jackson as one of his favorite experiences from The Wiz, and spoke of Jackson's dedication to his role, comparing his acting style to Sammy Davis, Jr.^[13] Critics panned The Wiz upon its October 1978 release.^[14]^[15] Jackson's performance as the Scarecrow was one of the only positively reviewed elements of the film, with critics noting that Jackson possessed "genuine acting talent" and "provided the only genuinely memorable moments."^[16]^[17] Of the results of the film, Jackson stated: "I don't think it could have been any better, I really don't".^[18] In 1980, Jackson stated that his time working on The Wiz was "my greatest experience so far...I'll never forget that".^[17]

In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty surgery was not a complete success, and Jackson complained of breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and other subsequent operations.^[19]

Production

When Jackson began the Off the Wall project he was not sure what he wanted as the final result. However he did not want another record that sounded like The Jacksons. He wanted more creative freedom, something he had not been allowed on prior albums.^[20] Jones and Jackson jointly produced Off the Wall, whose songwriters included Jackson, Heatwave's Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.^[21] All sessions took place at Los Angeles County-based recording studios. Rhythm tracks and vocals were recorded at Allen Zentz Recording, the horn section's contributions took place at Westlake Audio, and string instrumentation was recorded at Cherokee Studios in West Hollywood. Following the initial sessions, audio mixing was handled by Grammy-winning engineer Bruce Swedien at Westlake Audio, after which the original tapes went to the A&M Recording Studio, also located in L.A., for mastering.^[22] Swedien would later mix the recording sessions for Jackson's next album and his most well-known work, 1982's Thriller.^[22] Jones recalled that, at first, he found Jackson to be very introverted, shy and non-assertive.^[23]

"She's out of My Life" was written by Jones three years prior, Jackson heard and enjoyed it, Jones allowed him to use it on the record.^[21] Jones called in Rod Temperton to write three songs. The intention was for Jackson and Jones to select one of his songs, but Jackson, liking them all, included all of them in the final cut.^[21] Jackson stayed up all night to learn the lyrics to these songs instead of singing from a sheet. He finished the vocals to these three Temperton songs in two recording sections.^[21] Temperton took a different approach to his song writing after spending some time researching the background to Jackson's music style. Temperton mixed his traditional harmony segments with the idea of adding shorter note melodies to suit Jackson's aggressive style.^[21] Jackson wrote "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" after humming a melody in his kitchen.^[24] After listening to hundreds of songs, Jackson and Jones decided upon a batch to record.^[24] In hindsight, Jones believed they took a lot of risks in the production of Off the Wall and the final choice of album tracks.^[21]

Attention was also paid to the album cover, which shows Jackson smiling, wearing a tuxedo and trademark socks. His manager stated, "The tuxedo was the overall plan for the Off the Wall project and package. The tuxedo was our idea, the socks were Michael'".^[25]

Music and vocals

Music critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Stephen Holden observed that Off the Wall was crafted from funk, disco-pop, soul, soft rock, jazz and pop ballads.^[26]^[6] Prominent examples include the ballad "She's out of My Life", and the two disco tunes "Workin' Day and Night" and "Get on the Floor".^[26] "I Can't Help It" is a jazz piece.^[25] "She's out of My Life" and "It's the Falling in Love" (a duet with R&B singer Patti Austin) are melodic pop ballads.^[24] The end of the former song showed an "emotional" Jackson crying as the track concluded.^[25] Of the song R&B writer Nelson George proclaimed, "[It] became a Jackson signature similar to the way "My Life" served Frank Sinatra. The vulnerability, verging on fragility that would become embedded in Michael's persona found, perhaps, it's richest expression in this wistful ballad".^[12] "Rock With You" is a romantic, mid-tempo song.^[24]

With the arrival of Off the Wall in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist".^[26] At the time, Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbered tenor is extraordinary beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly".^[27] John Randall Taraborrelli expressed the opinion that Jackson sings with "sexy falsetto" vocals in "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough".^[24]

Critical reception

Off the Wall was hailed as a major breakthrough for Jackson, while receiving critical recognition, along with praises, from major music publications. In a 1979 review of the album, Rolling Stone magazine contributor Stephen Holden praised Jackson's maturity and transition from his early Motown material, while calling the album a "slick, sophisticated R&B-pop showcase with a definite disco slant". Holden went on to compare Jackson to Stevie Wonder, another Motown performer who began recording at a young age and gained critical acclaim for his transition.^[6]

Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a positive (A−) grade believing that Off the Wall was "the dance groove of the year" and the album presented Jackson as a grown up.^[3] In a review for Melody Maker Phil McNeill expressed the opinion that in Off the Wall Jackson sounded comfortable, confident and in control. He believed "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" had a "classy" introduction and that it was the best song on the album. He also praised "Rock With You", describing it as "masterful". The reviewer concurred with a colleague that Jackson was "probably the best singer in the world right now in terms of style and technique".^[4]

In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Single (for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough").^[28] That year, he also won Billboard Music Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough").^[28] Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release.^[29]^[28] In particular, Jackson was angry that he had won only a single Grammy Award at the 1980 Grammys, a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough".^[30] Jackson stated that "It was totally unfair that it didn't get Record of the Year and it can never happen again".^[31]

Release, singles and commercial reception

Writer, journalist and biographer John Randall Taraborrelli stated, "Fans and industry peers alike were left with their mouths agape when Off the Wall was issued to the public. Fans proclaimed that they hadn't heard him sing with such joy and abandon since the early Jackson 5 days".^[25]

On July 28, 1979, Off the Wall's first single, "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough", was released. It peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number three in the UK.^[32]^[28] On November 3, 1979 the second single from the album, "Rock with You" was released, again it peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100.^[33] In February, the album's title track was released as a single and went to number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became a top 10 hit in four countries.^[34] "She's out of My Life", also reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June.^[35] Thus Off the Wall became the first album by a solo artist to generate four US top 10 hits.^[28]

Today, Off the Wall is certified 7× Multi-Platinum in the US for shipments of seven million units and sold over 20 million copies worldwide.^[36]^[37]^[38] The album's success lead to the start of a 9-year partnership between Jackson and Jones, their next collaboration would be Thriller, which is the world's best selling album of all time.^[39]

Contemporary appeal

“	...the album that established him as an artist of astonishing talent and a bright star in his own right. This was a visionary album, a record that found a way to break disco wide open into a new world where the beat was undeniable.	”
—Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic, ^[26]

On October 16, 2001, a special edition reissue of Off the Wall was released by Sony Records.^[26] The material found strong praise from critics more than 20 years after the original release. Allmusic gave the record a five star review, praising the record's disco-tinged funk and mainstream pop blend, along with Jackson's songwriting and Jones' crafty production.^[26] The publication believed, "[Off the Wall] is an enormously fresh record, one that remains vibrant and giddily exciting years after its release".^[26]

In recent years Blender gave the record a full five star review stating that it was, "A blockbuster party LP that looked beyond funk to the future of dance music, and beyond soul ballads to the future of heart-tuggers—in fact, beyond R&B to color-blind pop. Hence, the forgivable Wings cover".^[2]

In 2003, the album was ranked number 68 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[40] The National Association of Recording Merchandisers listed it at number 80 of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.^[41] In 2004, Nelson George wrote of Jackson and his music, "the argument for his greatness in the recording studio begins with his arrangements of "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough". The layers of percussion and the stacks of backing vocals, both artfully choreographed to create drama and ecstasy on the dance floor, still rock parties in the 21st century".^[12] In 2008, Off the Wall was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[42]

Sales

Country	Certification	Shipments/sales
Australia	5× Platinum^[43]	350,000^[43]
Brazil	Gold^[44]	60,000^[44]
Canada	Platinum^[45]	100,000^[45]
France	2× Platinum^[46]	400,000^[46]
New Zealand	6× Platinum^[46]	90,000^[47]
UK	Platinum^[48]	300,000^[48]
USA	7× Multi-Platinum^[37]	7,000,000^[37]
Worldwide	—	20,000,000^[36]

Track listing

#	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"	Michael Jackson	6:05
2.	"Rock with You"	Rod Temperton	3:40
3.	"Workin' Day and Night"	Jackson	5:14
4.	"Get on the Floor"	Jackson, Louis Johnson	4:39
5.	"Off the Wall"	Temperton	4:06
6.	"Girlfriend"	Paul McCartney	3:05
7.	"She's out of My Life"	Tom Bahler	3:38
8.	"I Can't Help It"	Susaye Greene, Stevie Wonder	4:28
9.	"It's the Falling in Love" (with Patti Austin)	David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager	3:48
10.	"Burn This Disco Out"	Temperton	3:40

2001 Special Edition
#	Title	Length
11.	"Quincy Jones Interview 1"	0:37
12.	"Introduction to Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough demo"	0:13
13.	"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (original demo from 1978)	4:48
14.	"Quincy Jones Interview 2"	0:30
15.	"Introduction to Workin' Day and Night demo"	0:10
16.	"Workin' Day and Night" (original demo from 1978)	4:19
17.	"Quincy Jones Interview 3"	0:48
18.	"Rod Temperton Interview"	4:57
19.	"Quincy Jones Interview"	1:32

Personnel

Michael Boddicker – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Larry Carlton – guitar
George Duke – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
David Foster – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Gary Grant – trumpet, flügelhorn
Marlo Henderson – guitar
Jerry Hey – trumpet, flügelhorn
Kim Hutchcroft – saxophone, flute, trumpet, flügelhorn
Michael Jackson – lead vocals, background vocals, producer
Louis Johnson – bass guitar
Quincy Jones – producer
Greg Phillinganes – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Steve Porcaro – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
William Reichenbach – trombone
John Robinson – drums
Bruce Swedien – recording engineer
Phil Upchurch – guitar
Bobby Watson – bass guitar
Wah Wah Watson – guitar
David Williams – guitar
Larry Williams – saxophone, flute

Horn and string arrangements by Jerry Hey and performed by The Seawind Horns, Ben Wright, Johnny Mandel.

References

Campbell, Lisa (1993). Michael Jackson: The King of Pop. Branden. ISBN 082831957X.
George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection liner notes. Sony BMG.
Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, WV: Headline. ISBN 0-330-42005-4.

Black or White

2009-07-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

"Black or White"

Single by Michael Jackson

from the album Dangerous

Released

October 11, 1991

Format

7" single
12" single
CD single

Recorded

1990

Genre

Pop

Length

3:22 (radio edit)
4:16 (album version)

Label

Epic

Writer(s)

Michael Jackson

Producer

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson singles chronology

"Liberian Girl"
(1989)

"Black or White"
(1991)

"Remember the Time"
(1992)

Dangerous track listing

"Heal the World"
(7)

"Black or White"
(8)

"Who Is It"
(9)

HIStory track listing

"The Way You Make Me Feel"
(2)

"Black or White"
(3)

"Rock with You"
(4)

Alternate cover

"Black or White (The Clivillés & Cole (C&C) Remixes)" cover.

"Black or White" was the first single taken from Michael Jackson's Dangerous album, released on November 1991. The single is considered the biggest selling rock song of the 1990s. "Black or White" is a mix of hard rock, dance and rap, but basically it is a hard rock song like "Beat It".

Written, composed, and arranged by Jackson with the rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell, it is a song that promotes racial unity. The song's introduction and main riff, reminiscent of that of "Hurts So Good" by John Mellencamp are performed by guitarist Slash and Bill Bottrell.

The song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, as well as in 18 other countries.

History

Release

To prepare the audience for the special occasion of the televised premiere of the "Black or White" video, Epic records released the song (without the accompanying images) to radio stations just two days in advance.^[1] In a period of twenty-four hours, "Black or White", described by the record company as "a rock 'n' roll dance song about racial harmony", had been added to the playlists of 96 percent of 237 of the United States of America's top forty radio stations the first day of release.^[1]^[2]

"Black or White" was the first single off of Dangerous, produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell, it began to be promoted on radio stations the first week of November 1991 in New York and Los Angeles.^[3]^[2] "Black or White" was officially released one week later.^[2] It was written and composed by Jackson with rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell, the song's introduction and main riff were played by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash and Bill Bottrell.^[3]

"Black or White" is also described as a mix of hard rock, dance and rap, but basically it is a hard rock song like "Beat It".^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] These songs are also compared by Rolling Stone's Allan Light in his Dangerous review, he says, "Neither this slow-burn solo nor the Stones-derived riff on 'Black or White' offers the catharsis of Eddie Van Halen's blazing break on 'Beat It'".^[9]

Reception

"Black or White" stormed into Billboard's Hot 100 at number thirty five.^[10] A week later it shot up to number three and on its third week, December 7 1991, it ascended to number one, making it the fastest chart topper since the Beatles' "Get Back" also won the Hot 100 in just three weeks in 1969.^[10]^[11] It achieved the year at number one, and remained at the top of the singles chart into 1992, for a total of seven weeks, making Michael Jackson the first artist to get number one popular hits in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.^[11]

The single also made an extraordinary and amazing debut in the UK, where it became the first single by an American to go into the singles chart at number one since 1960, when "It's Now Or Never" by Elvis Presley did in the same manner.^[10] Around the world, "Black or White" hit number one in the US, UK, Mexico, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweeden, Switzerland and the Euro Chart Hot 100, number two in Germany and number three in Holland.^[11]^[10] The single was certified platinum in the US, selling over one million copies.^[11]

Music video

Synopsis

The music video for "Black or White" was first broadcast on MTV, BET, VH1, and FOX (giving them their highest Nielsen Ratings ever)^[12] on November 14, 1991.^[13] Along with Jackson, it featured Macaulay Culkin, Tess Harper, and George Wendt. It helped usher in morphing as a new technology in music videos, pioneered by Godley & Creme's "Cry" video in 1985 (the sequence begins with extra, Let Mon Lee, and features supermodel Tyra Banks). The video was directed by John Landis, who also directed Thriller.

The first few minutes of the video featured an extended version of the song's intro, in which a young kid (Macaulay Culkin) is playing loud music in his bedroom at night, and is yelled at by his enraged father (George Wendt), who demands he stops playing the music and go to bed. Culkin decides to forego his father's request to go to sleep by setting up large speaker cabinets behind his father's reclining chair, donning leather gloves and sunglasses, and playing an extremely loud power chord on an electric guitar.^[12] The sound then shatters the house's windows and sends his father (seated in his chair) halfway around the world, where the actual song begins.^[12] Culkin's mother (Peggy Lipton) declares that his father will be "very upset" upon his return. The song from the CD does not use Culkin's nor Wendt's voice; they are replaced by voice actors performing a similar intro. Wendt winds up in Africa, and Jackson begins to sing "Black or White", surrounded by various different cultures scene-by-scene. The scene features Michael Jackson dancing with many country peoples, included dancing with African peoples, video in Thailand, four Thai girls dancing with Michael Jackson, in Mumbai, India, an Indian girl dancing with Michael Jackson, snow drizzling, in Moscow, Russia, six Russian men are dancing with Michael Jackson, last then featured two babies sitting in Earth playing with Russian doll. ^[13]

A young Tyra Banks, just beginning her career as a supermodel, is seen dancing to the song in the ending of the video, as well as actress Cree Summer. End the video, the black cat appears standing in video, goes and walking entered in the blue-shadowed wench, the black cat transforms Michael Jackson.^[14]

Controversy

Controversy was generated concerning the last four minutes of the original music video. Jackson walks out of the studio as a black panther and then morphs into himself.^[13] Then he walks outside to perform some of his most physically complicated dance techniques, in a similar way to "Billie Jean". This part contained sexually suggestive scenes when Jackson starts to grab his crotch^[12], and then zips his pants up. In the original version, Jackson is seen smashing windows^[12], destroying a car and causing an inn (called the "Royal Arms") to explode. Jackson later apologized saying that the violent and suggestive behaviour was an interpretation of the animal instinct of a black panther, and MTV and other music video networks removed the last four minutes from subsequent broadcasts.^[13] To make the vandalism more palatable to viewers, racist graffiti was digitally added to the windows that Jackson smashes (reading "KKK Rules", "Nigger Go Home", "Hitler Lives" and "No More Wetbacks").

To date, the uncut version has generally been seen in the United States on MTV2 only between the hours of 01:00 and 04:00, as part of their special uncensored airing of the "Most Controversial Music Videos" of all time. The extended version is also available on Jackson's DVDs. The original version (without graffiti) is available only on the VHS cassette HIStory - The Video Greatest Hits and online at MTVMusic.com. The DVD with the same name contains only the "graffiti version". The video was parodied by the sketch comedy TV show In Living Color, and by the band Genesis in their video for "I Can't Dance" in which Phil Collins imitates Michael's 'panther' fit in front of a stark white background. It was still shown in its entirety for some years in Europe. Indeed, it was seen on VH1 in the UK as recently as October 11th 2008, though most recent airings have omitted the last portion of the video, which also included a brief cameo by Bart and Homer Simpson before the "prejudice is ignorance" image. The version available in the iTunes Music Store contains neither the panther scene nor the Simpsons cameo, and is cut after the morphing sequence.

Starting in 1992, Nocturne Video Productions began playing the "Panther Segment" of the video as an interlude during Michael's Dangerous and HIStory World tours. The clip is 20 seconds shorter than the original with all the violence and the sexually suggestive scenes removed.^[13] However, the part where he re-zipped his pants was kept in.

The video shows scenes in which Africans, begin dancing like Jackson; so do, in sequence, Indonesians, American Indians, a woman from India and a set of Russians.^[12] Jackson walks through visual collages of fire (defiantly declaring "I ain't scared of no sheets; I ain't scared of nobody"), referring to KKK torch ceremonies before a mock rap scene shared with Culkin and other children.^[13] The group collectively states, "I'm not gonna spend my life being a color." At the end of the song, different people dance as they morph into one another (shown as "talking heads"), which is reminiscent of the earlier music video for the Godley & Creme song "Cry". This technique, known as morphing, had been previously used only in films such as Willow and Terminator 2. The morphing visual effects were created by Pacific Data Images.

The short, censored version continues to air periodically to this day.

The video was voted #1 on Australian VH1's "90's Cameo Appearances" top 10.

Clivillés & Cole Remixes

Black or White was remixed in 1992. The singles was known as "Black or White Clivilles & Cole Remix" or simply as "Black or White (Remix)"

The single was released in October 1991 in several European countries, charting in the UK, where it reached #14, and in Ireland, peaking at #11. The single also surprisingly peaked at #18 in Australia^[15]. Despite the favourable European response to this remix, it was never included on a Michael Jackson album or compilation, except on the third disc of the French version of Jackson's greatest hits album 'King Of Pop'.

Covers

In 2008, Australian Idol contestant (and eventual winner) Wes Carr covered the song in the top 5 of the show. His performance was highly praised by all judges and received a touchdown from Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine Jackson.

The British pop/rock band McFly covered this song on their 2008 Radio:ACTIVE tour. They had the vocalist from the band V rap for them.

In 2009, American Idol contestant, Adam Lambert covered the song in the top 13 of the show. His performance received excellent reviews from all four judges, and Simon Cowell said it was in a different league from the other performances.

Weird Al Yankovic asked Jackson for permission to parody the song, but he refused, saying the meaning was too important. Therefore, the song was never release as a single or on an album, but a portion of it has been performed in concert.

Parodies

The song and its music video are spoofed on the FOX sketch comedy series In Living Color as "Am I Black or White," a reference to Jackson's skin color turning brighter. At the end of the video, Jackson (played by Tommy Davidson) breaks a car window and is subsequently arrested by police, causing Jackson to declare that he must be black.
Rock band Alien Ant Farm parodied the controversial car-wrecking scene in their cover of the Michael Jackson song, "Smooth Criminal". The only difference is that in the band's video, lead singer Dryden Mitchell grabs his crotch and screams, causing the windows to shatter.

Track listing

Original release

"Black or White" (7" Version) – 3:22
"Black or White" (Instrumental) – 3:22
"Smooth Criminal" – 4:10

Black or White: The Remixes

The Clivillés & Cole House/Club Mix
The Clivillés & Cole House/Dub Mix
The Underground Club Mix
House With Guitar Radio Mix
Tribal Beats

Visionary single

CD side

"Black or White" (Single version) – 3:22
"Black or White" (Clivillés & Cole House Guitar Radio Mix) – 3:50

DVD side

"Black or White" (Music video)

Mixes

Album version – 4:17
Single version – 3:22
Instrumental – 3:22
Clivillés & Cole House/Club Mix - 7:32
Clivillés & Cole Radio Mix – 3:33
Clivillés & Cole House w/Guitar Radio Mix – 3:50
Underground Club Mix

Charts

Chart (1991)	Peak position
United States Billboard Hot 100	1
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1
Belgium	1
Canada	1
France	1
Ireland	1
Italy	1
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1
Norway	1
Spain	2
Sweden	1
Switzerland	1
United Kingdom	1
Brazil	1
Austria	2
Germany	2
Denmark	3
Netherlands	2
Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Charts	6
New Zealand Singles Chart	16^[16]
UK Singles Chart	25^[17]

Certifications

Country	Certification	Sales
Australia	2xPlatinum^[18]	140,000+
New Zealand	Platinum^[19]	15,000+^[20]

Credits

Written and composed by Michael Jackson
Rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell
Produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell
Recorded and mixed by Bill Bottrell
Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson
Drums: Bryan Loren
Percussion: Brad Buxer and Bill Bottrell
Bass: Bryan Loren (moog) and Terry Jackson (bass guitar)
Keyboards: Brad Buxer, John Barnes and Jason Martz
Guitar: Bill Bottrell
Heavy metal guitar: Tim Pierce
Speed sequencer: Michael Boddicker and Kevin Gilbert
Morphing Sound Effect: Scott Frankfurt
Rap performed by L.T.B.
"Intro":
- Special guitar performance by Slash
- Directed by Michael Jackson
- Composed by Bill Bottrell
- Engineering and sound design: Matt Forger
- Son played by Andres McKenzie
- Father played by L.T.B.

Thriller (album)

2009-07-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Thriller

Studio album by Michael Jackson

Released

November 30, 1982

Recorded

April 14 – November 8, 1982
Westlake Recording Studios
(Los Angeles, California)

Genre

R&B, dance, dance-pop, pop/rock, funk^[1]

Length

42:19

Label

Epic
EK-38112

Producer

Michael Jackson
Quincy Jones

Professional reviews

Allmusic ^[1]
Robert Christgau (A−)^[2]
Melody Maker (unfavorable) 1982^[3]
Q ^[4]
Rolling Stone ^[5]
Slant ^[6]
Stylus (favorable)^[7]
The New York Times (favorable)^[8]

Michael Jackson chronology

Off the Wall
(1979)

Thriller
(1982)

Bad
(1987)

Singles from Thriller

"The Girl Is Mine"
Released: October 18, 1982
"Billie Jean"
Released: January 3, 1983
"Beat It"
Released: February 14, 1983
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
Released: May 8, 1983
"Human Nature"
Released: July 3, 1983
"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
Released: September 19, 1983
"Thriller"
Released: January 23, 1984

2001 Special Edition

Thriller is the sixth studio album by convicted child molester Michael Jackson. The album was released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall. Thriller explores similar genres to those of Off the Wall, including funk, disco, soul, soft rock, R&B, and pop. Thriller's lyrics deal with themes including paranoia and the supernatural.

With a production budget of $750,000, recording sessions took place between April and November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California.^[9] Assisted by producer Quincy Jones, Jackson wrote four of Thriller's nine tracks. Following the release of the album's first single "The Girl Is Mine", some observers assumed Thriller would only be a minor hit record. With the release of the second single "Billie Jean", the album topped the charts in many countries. At its peak, the album was selling a million copies a week worldwide. In just over a year, Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time. Sales are estimated to be between 47–109 million copies sold worldwide. Seven of the album's nine songs were released as singles, and all reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammys. Despite numerous five-star reviews, Thriller was not universally praised.

Thriller cemented Jackson's status as one of the predominant pop stars of the late 20th century, and enabled him to break down racial barriers via his appearances on MTV and meetings with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools—the videos for "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV. In 2001, a special edition issue of the album was released, which contains additional audio interviews, a demo recording and the song "Someone In the Dark", which was a Grammy-winning track from the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook.^[10] In 2008, the album was reissued again as Thriller 25, containing re-mixes that feature contemporary artists, a previously unreleased song and a DVD.

Thriller ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in its Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. Thriller was preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry, as it was deemed "culturally significant".

Background

Jackson's previous album Off the Wall (1979) was a critical success and received generally favorable reviews.^[11]^[12] It was also a commercial success, eventually selling over 20 million copies worldwide.^[13]

The years between Off the Wall and Thriller were a transitional period for the singer, a time of increasing independence and struggles with his family. In 1973, Jackson's father Joseph began a secret affair with a woman 20 years younger than he; the couple had a child in secret. In 1980, Joseph told his family of the affair and child. Michael, already angry with his father over his childhood abuse, felt so betrayed that he fell out with Joseph for many years.^[14] The period saw the singer become deeply unhappy; Jackson explained, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ... I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."^[15] When Jackson turned 21 in August 1979, he fired Joseph as his manager and replaced him with John Branca.^[16]

Jackson confided in Branca that he wanted to be "the biggest star in show business" and "the wealthiest". The singer was upset about what he perceived to be the under-performance of Off the Wall, stating, "It was totally unfair that it didn't get Record of the Year and it can never happen again."^[17] He also felt undervalued by the music industry; in 1980 when Jackson asked the publicist of Rolling Stone if they would be interested in doing a cover story on him, the publicist declined, to which Jackson responded, "I've been told over and over that black people on the cover of magazines doesn't sell copies ... Just wait. Someday those magazines are going to be begging me for an interview. Maybe I'll give them one. And maybe I won't."^[17]

Recording

Jackson reunited with Off the Wall producer Quincy Jones to record his sixth studio album. The pair worked together on 300 songs, nine of which were eventually included.^[18] Thriller was recorded between April and November of 1982, with a production budget of $750,000. Several members of the band Toto were also involved in the album's recording and production.^[18] Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney), "Beat It" and "Billie Jean".^[19] Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write these songs on paper. Instead, he would dictate into a sound recorder; when recording he would sing from memory.^[20]^[21]

The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the album's recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance steps alone.^[21] When the album's nine songs were completed, both Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the result and remixed every song, spending a week on each.^[21] Jones believed that "Billie Jean" was not strong enough to be included on the record, but Jackson disagreed and kept it. Jones told Jackson that Thriller would be unlikely to sell successfully like Off the Wall had, because the market had since weakened. In response, Jackson threatened to cancel the album's release.^[18]

Jackson was inspired to create an album where "every song was a killer," as with Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and developed Thriller on that concept.^[22]^[23] Jones and songwriter Rod Temperton gave detailed accounts of what occurred for the 2001 reissue of the album. Jones discussed "Billie Jean" and why it was so personal to Jackson, who struggled to deal with a number of obsessed fans. Jones wanted the long introduction on the song to be shortened; however, Jackson insisted that it remain because it made him want to dance.^[19] The ongoing backlash against disco made it necessary to move in a different musical direction from the disco-heavy Off the Wall.^[23] Jones and Jackson were determined to make a rock song that would appeal to all tastes and spent weeks looking for a suitable guitarist for the song "Beat It", a song Jackson wrote and played drums on. Eventually, they found Eddie Van Halen of the rock band Van Halen.^[19]^[21]

When Rod Temperton wrote the song "Thriller", he originally wanted to call it "Starlight" or "Midnight Man" but settled on "Thriller" because he felt the name had merchandising potential.^[21] Always wanting a notable person to recite the closing lyrics, Temperton brought in actor Vincent Price, who completed his part in just two takes. Temperton wrote the spoken portion in a taxi on the way to the recording studio. Jones and Temperton said that some recordings were left off the final cut because they did not have the "edginess" of other album tracks.^[19]

Music

According to Steve Huey of Allmusic, Thriller refined the strengths of Jackson's previous album Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads were softer and more soulful.^[25] Notable tracks include the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human Nature", and "The Girl Is Mine"; the funk pieces "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"; and the disco set "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".^[25]^[6]^[1]^[5] "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was written a few years prior to 1982 and has a similar sound to the material on Off The Wall. The song is accompanied by a bass and percussion background and the song's centerpiece, a climaxing Swahili chant, gave the song an international flavor.^[26] "The Girl Is Mine" tells of two friends' fight over a woman, arguing over who loves her more and concludes with a spoken rap.^[26]^[21]

Despite the light pop flavor of these two records, Thriller, more so than Off the Wall, displayed foreshadowings of the contradictory thematic elements that would come to characterize Jackson's later work.^[27] With Thriller, Jackson would begin his association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery.^[5] This is evident on the songs "Billie Jean", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Thriller".^[1] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers; in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossips and the media.^[25]^[5] In the former song, Jones had Jackson sing vocal overdubs through a six-foot-long cardboard tube, and brought in jazz saxophonist Tom Scott to play a rare instrument, the lyricon, a wind-controlled analog synthesizer. Bassist Louis Johnson ran through his part on a Yamaha bass guitar. The song opens with a long bass-and-drums introduction.^[28] In the song "Thriller", sound effects such as creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard.^[21]

The anti-gang-violence "Beat It" became a homage to West Side Story, and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece.^[25]^[29] Jackson later said of "Beat It", "the point is no one has to be the tough guy, you can walk away from a fight and still be a man. You don't have to die to prove you're a man".^[26] "Human Nature" is moody and introspective, as conveyed in lyrics such as, "Looking out, across the morning, the City's heart begins to beat, reaching out, I touch her shoulder, I'm dreaming of the street".^[26]

By the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; Allmusic described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist".^[11] Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbered tenor is extraordinary beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly".^[12] With the release of Thriller, Jackson could sing low—down to a basso low C—but he preferred to sing higher because pop tenors have more range to create style.^[30] Rolling Stone were of the opinion that Jackson was now singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".^[5] "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", credited to James Ingram and Quincy Jones, and "Lady in My Life" by Rod Temperton, both gave the album a stronger R&B direction; the latter song was described as "the closest Jackson has come to crooning a sexy, soulful ballad after his Motown years" by Taraborrelli.^[26] The singer had already adopted a "vocal hiccup" which he continued to implement in Thriller. The purpose of the hiccup—somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping—is to help promote a certain emotion; be it excitement, sadness or fear.^[31]

Release and reception

Thriller was released on November 30, 1982, and sold one million copies worldwide per week at its peak.^[30] Seven singles were released from the album, including "The Girl Is Mine"—which was seen as a poor choice for the lead release and led some to believe that the album would be a disappointment, and to suggestions that Jackson was bowing to a white audience.^[26] "The Girl Is Mine" was followed by the hit single "Billie Jean", which made Thriller a chart-topper.^[32]^[33] Success continued with the single "Beat It", which featured guitarists Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather.^[34] The title track "Thriller" was released as a single and also became a hit internationally.^[26]

Thriller was mostly well received by critics. A four-star Rolling Stone review by Christopher Connelly described it as "a zesty LP" with a "harrowing, dark message". Despite the positive response, the title track came under strong criticism. Rolling Stone expressed a negative sentiment, criticizing its "degenerat[ion] into silly camp". The magazine expressed confusion at the use of Vincent Price over Count Floyd for the track's concluding rap.^[5] The New York Times gave a positive review of the album, and dedicated a large amount of its coverage to the song "Human Nature". They described it as the most "striking" song on the record, and wrote, "this is a haunting, brooding ballad by Steve Porcaro and John Bettis with an irresistible chorus and it should be an enormous hit". Concluding their review The New York Times added; "there are other hits here, too, lots of them. Best of all, with a pervasive confidence infusing the album as a whole, Thriller suggests that Mr. Jackson's evolution as an artist is far from finished".^[8]

Robert Christgau published a positive (A−) graded overview of the album a few days before its release. He acknowledged that there were "fillers" on the record but still labeled it "almost classic". He expressed the opinion that "Beat It" was the album's best track, calling it "the triumph and the thriller", but criticized "The Girl Is Mine" as "Michael's worst idea since 'Ben'". He was of the opinion that the collaboration did not work well, but still praised it for "getting interracial love on the radio".^[2] A year after the album's release, Time summed up the three main singles from the album, saying, "The pulse of America and much of the rest of the world moves irregularly, beating in time to the tough strut of "Billie Jean", the asphalt aria of "Beat It", the supremely cool chills of "Thriller".^[30] Conversely, in a Melody Maker review, Paolo Hewitt stated "[t]his is not a good LP"; in his opinion there were only "two songs worthy of mention". "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was praised as an "exciting", "uptempo electro-funk song", as was "Billie Jean". Hewitt's stance was that as a whole, the album could only be described as "bland", particularly the closing tracks. He summed up: "Jackson seems to have lost his talent for turning gross into gold".^[3]

The album won Jackson a record-breaking seven Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year. The eighth Grammy went to Bruce Swedien.^[35]^[36] That same year, Jackson won eight American Music Awards, the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music Awards.^[37] Thriller was recognized as the world's best-selling album on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records.^[38] It is one of only three albums to remain in the top ten of the Billboard 200 for a full year, and spent 37 weeks at number one out of the 80 consecutive weeks it was in the top ten. The album was also the first of three to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top ten singles, and was the only album to be the best-seller of two years (1983–1984) in the US.^[39]^[40]

On March 6, 2009 Thriller was certified 28x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of at least 28 million copies in the US giving it Double Diamond Award status there.^[41]^[42] The album topped the charts in many countries, sold 3.7 million copies in the UK,^[42]^[43] 2.5 million in Japan^[44] and went 14x Platinum in Australia.^[45] Still popular today, Thriller sells an estimated 130,000 copies in the US per year; it reached number two in the US Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the UK in March 2007.^[37] The album is cited as having sold between 47 and 109 million copies worldwide; the Guinness Book of World Records lists Thriller as having sold 65 million copies as of 2007.^[46]^[47]^[48]^[49]^[50]

Influence and legacy

Music industry

Blender described Jackson as the "late twentieth century pre-eminent pop icon", while The New York Times gave the opinion that he was a "musical phenomenon", and that "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".^[28]^[51] Jackson changed the way the industry functioned: both as an artistic persona, and as a financial, profitable entity. His attorney John Branca observed that Jackson achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to that point: approximately $2 for each album sold. As a result, Jackson earned record-breaking profits from compact disc sales, and from the sale of copies of the documentary, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, produced by Jackson and John Landis. Funded by MTV, the film sold over 350,000 copies in its first few months. In a market then driven by singles, Thriller raised the significance of albums, yet its multiple hit singles changed perceived notions as to the number of successful singles that could be taken from an individual album.^[52] The era saw the arrival of novelties like the Michael Jackson doll, that appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12.^[30] Thriller retains a position in American culture; biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli explains, "At some point, Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple".^[53]

At the time of the album's release, a press statement from Gil Friesen, the then President of A&M Records, read that, "The whole industry has a stake in this success".^[30] Time magazine speculated that "the fallout from Thriller has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion".^[30] Time summed up Thriller's impact as a "restoration of confidence" for an industry bordering on "the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop".

Music videos and racial equality

After the success of Thriller, many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airing because he was black.^[28] In an effort to attain air time for Jackson, CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff pressured MTV and declared, "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don't want to play music by a black guy".^[28] His position persuaded MTV to begin airing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", which led to a long partnership and later helped other black music artists to gain mainstream recognition.^[54] The popularity of his videos, such as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean", helped to place the young channel "on the map", and MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B.^[54]^[55]

Jackson in the revolutionary Thriller video

Jackson transformed the medium of music video into an art form and promotional tool through the use of complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and cameo appearances by well known personalities.^[25] When the 14-minute-long Thriller video aired, MTV ran it twice an hour to meet demand.^[56] The short film marked an increase in scale for music videos and has been routinely named the best music video ever.^[52] The popularity of the video sent the album back to number one in the album chart, but Jackson's label did not support the release of the third music video from the album. They were already pleased with its success, so Jackson convinced MTV to fund the project.^[21]^[56] Author, music critic and journalist Nelson George wrote in 2004, "It's difficult to hear the songs from Thriller and disengage them from the videos. For most of us the images define the songs. In fact it could be argued that Michael is the first artist of the MTV age to have an entire album so intimately connected in the public imagination with its imagery".^[24] Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has been frequently imitated.^[19] The choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Bollywood to prisons in the Philippines.^[57]^[58]

For a black artist in the 1980s to that point, Jackson's success was unprecedented. According to The Washington Post, Thriller paved the way for other African-American artists such as Prince.^[59] "The Girl Is Mine" was credited for getting interracial love on the radio.^[60] Time noted, "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever".^[30]

Contemporary appeal

A Michael Jackson celebrity impersonator for the 25th anniversary of the album Thriller at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival with performers from Step It Up and Dance.

Today, the album is still viewed in a positive light by critics some two decades later. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album the maximum five stars, and wrote that the record had something to interest everyone. He believed it showcased harder funk and hard rock while remaining "undeniably fun". He went on to compliment "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and said, "The record's two best songs: 'Billie Jean, ...and the delirious 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'', the freshest funk on the album [but] the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded." Erlewine gave the opinion that it was an improvement on the artist's previous album, although Allmusic was critical of the title track, describing it as "ridiculous" and as having the effect of "arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its momentum".^[1] Slant Magazine gave the album five stars and, like the Allmusic review and the original Rolling Stone review, paid compliment to the lyrics of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".^[6]

The author Nelson George wrote that Jackson "has educated R. Kelly, Usher, Justin Timberlake and countless others with Thriller as a textbook".^[61] As a sign of the album's longevity, in 2003 Thriller was ranked at number 20 on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.^[62]^[63] In 2008, 25 years after its release, the record was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and, a few weeks later, was among 25 recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry as "culturally significant".^[64]^[65] In 2009, music critics for MTV Base and VH1 both listed Thriller as the best album released since 1981.^[66] Thriller, along with other critic favorites were then polled by the public. 40,000 people found Thriller to be the Best Album of all time by MTV Generation, gaining a third of all votes.^[67]^[66]

Reissues and catalog sales

Thriller was reissued in 2001 in an expanded set titled Thriller: Special Edition. The original tracks were remastered, and the album included a new booklet and bonus material, including the songs "Someone In the Dark", "Carousel", and Jackson's original "Billie Jean" demo, as well as audio interviews with Jones and Temperton discussing the recording of the album.^[19]^[68] Jackson also worked with sound engineer and mixer Mick Guzauski ^[69]^[70] to create 5.1-channel surround sound remixes of Thriller as well as all his other albums for release on the then new Super Audio CD format yet despite numerous retries the artist never approved any of the mixes. ^[71] Consequently, Thriller was issued on SACD with the stereo mix only.

In February 2008, Epic Records released Thriller 25; Jackson served as executive producer.^[42] Thriller 25 appeared on CD and vinyl with seven bonus tracks, a new song called "For All Time", Vincent Price's voice-over, and five re-mixes featuring American artists Fergie, will.i.am, Kanye West, and Akon.^[42]^[72]^[73] It also included a DVD featuring three music videos, the Motown 25 "Billie Jean" performance, and a booklet with a message from Jackson.^[42] The ballad "For All Time" supposedly dates from 1982, but is often credited as being from Dangerous sessions.^[74] Two singles were released from the reissue: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008".

Thriller 25 was a commercial success and did particularly well as a reissue. It peaked at number one in eight countries and Europe. It peaked at number two in the US, number three in the UK and reached the top 10 in over 30 national charts. It was certified Gold in 11 countries including the UK, received a 2x Gold certification in France and received platinum certification in Poland.^[75]^[76]^[77] In the United States, Thriller 25 was the second best-selling album of its release week, selling one hundred and sixty six thousand copies, just fourteen thousand short of reaching the number one position. It was ineligible for the Billboard 200 chart as a re-release but entered the Pop Catalog Charts at number one (where it stayed for ten non-consecutive weeks),^[78] with the best sales on that chart since December, 1996.^[79]^[80]^[81] With the arrival of Halloween that November, Thriller 25 spent an eleventh non-consecutive week atop the US catalog chart. This brought US sales of the album to 688,000 copies, making it the best selling catalog album of 2008.^[82] This was Jackson's best launch since Invincible in 2001, selling three million copies worldwide in 12 weeks.^[83]

After Jackson's death in June 2009, Thriller set additional records. It sold more than 100,000 copies, placing it at number two on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. Songs from Thriller also helped Jackson become the first act to sell more than one million song downloads in a week.^[84]

[edit] Track listing

All songs written and composed by Michael Jackson, except where noted.

#	Title	Length
1.	"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"	6:02
2.	"Baby Be Mine" (Rod Temperton)	4:20
3.	"The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney)	3:42
4.	"Thriller" (Temperton)	5:57
5.	"Beat It"	4:19
6.	"Billie Jean"	4:54
7.	"Human Nature" (John Bettis, Steve Porcaro)	4:05
8.	"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" (James Ingram, Quincy Jones)	3:58
9.	"The Lady in My Life" (Temperton)	4:59

2001 Special Edition
#	Title	Length
10.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #1"	2:18
11.	"Someone in the Dark (previously unreleased)" (Bergman/Bergman/Temperton)	4:48
12.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #2"	2:04
13.	"Billie Jean (Demo) (previously unavailable)" (Jackson)	2:20
14.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #3"	3:10
15.	"Interview with Rod Temperton #1"	4:02
16.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #4"	1:32
17.	"Voice-Over Session from "Thriller" (previously unreleased)" (Temperton)	2:52
18.	"Interview with Rod Temperton #2"	1:56
19.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #5"	2:01
20.	"Carousel (previously unreleased)" (Sembello/D. Freeman)	1:49
21.	"Interview with Quincy Jones #6"	1:17

[edit] Personnel

Brian Barns – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Michael Boddicker – keyboards, synthesizers
N'dugu Chancler – drums
Paulinho da Costa – percussion
David Foster – keyboards, synthesizers
Gary Grant – trumpet and flügelhorn
Eddie Van Halen – guitar
Jerry Hey – trumpet and flügelhorn
Michael Jackson – co-producer, lead and backup vocals, drums
Paul Jackson – guitar
Louis Johnson – bass guitar
Quincy Jones – producer
Steve Lukather – guitar, bass guitar
Anthony Marinelli – synthesizer programming
Paul McCartney – vocals on "The Girl Is Mine"
David Paich – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Dean Parks – guitar
Greg Phillinganes – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Jeff Porcaro – drums, horn and string arrangements
Steve Porcaro – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Vincent Price - voice-over
Bill Reichenbach – trombone
Bruce Swedien – recording engineer, mixer
Rod Temperton – keyboards, synthesizers
David Williams – guitar
Larry Williams – saxophone and flute
Bill Wolfer – keyboards, synthesizers

The Jackson 5

2009-07-07T12:33:00.001-07:00

The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5: Members of the original Jackson 5: Top row from left to right: Marlon, Jackie Bottom row from left to right: Tito, Michael, Jermaine
Background information
Also known as	Jackson 5ive, The Jackson Brothers, The Jacksons
Origin	Gary, Indiana, USA
Genre(s)	Motown, R&B, soul, pop, disco
Years active	1966–1990-2009
Label(s)	Steeltown, Motown, Philadelphia International, Epic
Former members
Jackie Jackson Tito Jackson Jermaine Jackson Marlon Jackson Michael Jackson Randy Jackson

The Jackson 5 (also spelled The Jackson Five or The Jackson 5ive, and later known as The Jacksons) were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana. Founding group members Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael formed the group after performing in an early incarnation called The Jackson Brothers, which originally consisted of a trio of the three older brothers. Active from 1966 to 1990, the Jacksons played from a repertoire of R&B, soul, pop and later disco. During their six-year Motown tenure, The Jackson 5 were one of the biggest pop-music phenomena of the 1970s^[1], and the band served as the launching pad for the solo careers of their lead singers Jermaine and Michael, the latter brother later transforming his early Motown solo fame into greater success as an adult artist.

The Jackson 5 were the first act in recording history to have their first four major label singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") reach the top of the American charts.^[2] Several later singles, among them "Mama's Pearl", "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Dancing Machine", were Top 5 pop hits and number-one hits on the R&B singles chart. Most of the early hits were written and produced by a specialized songwriting team known as "The Corporation"; later Jackson 5 hits were crafted chiefly by Hal Davis, while early Jacksons hits were compiled by the team of Gamble and Huff before The Jacksons began writing and producing themselves in the late-1970s.

Significantly, they were the first black teen idols to appeal equally to white audiences thanks partially to the successful promotional relations skills of Motown CEO Berry Gordy. Upon their departure from Motown for CBS in 1976, The Jacksons were forced to change their name and replace Jermaine (who remained at Motown) with younger brother Randy. After two years under the Philadelphia International Records label, they signed with Epic Records and asserted control of their songwriting, production, and image, and their success continued into the 1980s with hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" and "State of Shock". Their 1989 album 2300 Jackson Street was recorded without Michael and Marlon. Michael and Marlon did appear, however, on the title track. The disappointing sales of the album led to the group being dropped by their record label at the end of the year. The group has never formally broken up, but has been dormant since then, although all five brothers performed together at two Michael Jackson tribute concerts in September 2001.

Career

Early years

Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, the Jackson brothers were guided early in their careers by their father Joseph Jackson, a steel mill crane operator and former musician, and their mother Katherine Jackson, who watched over the boys during the early years. The boys recalled playing around with their father's guitar while he was away working on Gary's steel mills. One night, Joe caught Tito playing his guitar after he broke a string. Initially upset with his sons playing behind his back, he saw their potential and in 1964. Jackie, Tito and Jermaine formed The Jackson Brothers, including hometown friends Reynaud Jones and Milford Hite on guitar and drums respectively. By the end of the following year, the group's younger brothers Marlon and Michael joined the instrumental band playing tambourine and congas.

Showing extraordinary talent at a tender age, young Michael began demonstrating his dance moves and singing ability around mid-1966, before his eighth birthday, Michael was allowed to perform his song-and-dance routine at a talent contest held at Jackie's Roosevelt High School in Gary, helping his brothers win the competition. It was at that point that Tito's junior high school orchestra teacher Shirley Cartman began mentoring the group and suggested a name change referring to the boys as The Jackson Five. She also suggested replacing Jones and Hite with talented musicians Johnny Jackson--no relation--on drums and Ronnie Rancifer on keyboards. Tito moved up to lead guitar while Jermaine played bass guitar after several years as a rhythm guitarist.

After the contest win, the group began playing professional gigs in Indiana, Chicago and across the U.S. Many of these performances were in a string of black clubs and venues collectively known as the "chitlin' circuit". The group also found themselves performing for adult strip teasers at strip joints to earn money. Cartman got The Jackson Five a record deal with Gordon Keith's local Steeltown label, and the group began making their first recordings in October 1967. Their first single, "Big Boy", was released in January 1968 and became a regional hit. This was followed by a second and final single—"We Don't Have To Be Over 21 (to Fall in Love)".^[3]

The Jackson Five had a number of admirers in their early days, including Sam & Dave, who helped the group secure a spot in the famous Amateur Night competition at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The group won the August 13, 1967, competition during the Amateur Night showdown at the Apollo, impressing Motown Records artist Gladys Knight. Knight recommended the group to Motown chief Berry Gordy, but Gordy, who already had teenager Stevie Wonder on his roster, was hesitant to take on another child act because of the child labor laws and other problems involved.

The Jackson Five's sound was influenced by many of the biggest stars of the 1960s, including the self-contained funk bands Sly & the Family Stone and The Isley Brothers, Motown group The Temptations, soul legend Marvin Gaye, rock 'n' roll kid group The Teenagers and soul shouters like Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Joe Tex and James Brown.^[4] At the time of their early success, R&B stars, especially coming from Motown Records, were among the most popular musicians; Motown had launched the careers of dozens of the decade's biggest stars, most notably The Supremes, The Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and the Temptations

Joining Motown

By 1968, The Jackson 5 were a headlining act for the All Star Floor Show at Chicago's The Guys' and Gals' Cocktail Lounge and Restaurant. From August 12–27, 1968, The Jackson 5 opened for Motown acts [Gladys Knight & The Pips and Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers] at Chicago's Regal Theater. The brothers caught Knight's attention, whereby she tried to get Motown brass to come to Chicago to see the boys. Taylor was also very impressed with the boys, and he decided to make the commitment to bring them to Detroit and Motown. Joseph and The Jackson Five stayed on the floor of Bobby Taylor's Detroit apartment the night of July 22, while Taylor and Motown executive Suzanne de Passe arranged for The Jackson Five to audition for the label.

On July 23, The Jackson Five had their Motown audition, for which they performed James Brown’s then current hit "I Got the Feelin'". Berry Gordy was not in attendance, but the audition was videotaped and sent to him in Los Angeles. Gordy's initial reluctance to sign the group disappeared when he finally saw the boys perform. Gordy decided to sign The Jackson Five to Motown, and hosted a party at his Detroit mansion on November 25, 1968 to introduce them to the Motown staff and stars.

Motown began negotiations to buy out The Jackson Five's Steeltown contract, completing the deal in March 1969. By the summer, Bobby Taylor began producing the group's first recordings at Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. recording studio in Detroit. The early Taylor-produced Jackson Five records were all covers of both contemporary hits and Motown-standards, including Sly & the Family Stone's "Stand!" and their famous rendition of The Miracles' "Who's Lovin' You", written by Smokey Robinson.

Gordy moved The Jackson Five and Joseph to California, and he and Suzanne de Passe began the process of grooming them as the label's next big act, while the rest of the family remained in Gary. While looking for a house in California, Joseph, Jermaine, Tito, and Jackie lived with Berry Gordy, Marlon and Michael lived with Diana Ross in her California home. Before releasing their first single, Motown renamed them slightly from "The Jackson Five" to "The Jackson 5".

The Jackson 5 in concert.

Motown's marketing team prepared press kits and other promotional material to begin The Jackson 5's entrance into the mainstream music industry. Motown publicity significantly altered the group's history, publicizing the ages of most of its band mates as younger than they were - Michael's age changed from eleven to eight to make him appear cuter and identifying unrelated band musicians Johnny Jackson and Ronnie Rancifer as cousins of The Jacksons. In a major marketing coup, Gordy and Motown decided to attach the group to an established star to increase public curiosity. Thus, it was decided that Motown star Diana Ross would "discover" the group as was explained in all early press kits.^[5] According to their official Motown biography, referenced in several early interviews and liner notes, Diana Ross (and, in some versions of the story, Berry Gordy alongside her) was introduced to The Jackson 5 by Gary, Indiana's mayor, Richard G. Hatcher, at a benefit concert that The Jackson 5 were described as having played for the mayor in 1969. Impressed, Ross (and Gordy) had the act signed.

Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5

The Jackson 5 practiced and rehearsed continuously during the late summer and early fall of 1969. Diana Ross formally introduced The Jackson 5 to the public on August 11, 1968, at a Beverly Hills, California club called "The Daisy." Towards the end of August, The Jackson 5 made their first television appearance, singing The Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing" at the Miss Black America Pageant in Madison Square Garden, New York City.

The Jackson 5's first single, "I Want You Back", was written and produced by four Motown songwriters and producers — Berry Gordy, Alphonzo Mizell, Deke Richards, and Freddie Perren — who were collectively billed as "The Corporation". "I Want You Back" was released as a single for The Jackson 5, as Motown decided to officially bill the group, on October 7. The group performed "I Want You Back", Sly & the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song", The Delfonics' "Can You Remember", and James Brown's "There Was a Time" as part of their appearance on The Hollywood Palace as special guests of Diana Ross & the Supremes. "I Want You Back" was the only single from The Jackson 5's first album, Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, which was released in December 1969. The song reached number one in January, 1970.

Popularization and franchise expansion

Most of the early Jackson 5 singles were written and produced by The Corporation, who crafted for The Jackson 5 a sound that mixed the traditional "Motown Sound" with teenage-honed lyrics that they termed "bubblegum soul". The Jackson 5 became an instant sensation, with "I Want You Back" and its 1970 follow-ups "ABC", "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There" all going to #1 on both the Billboard Pop Singles chart and the Billboard Soul Singles (R&B) chart. Other early Top 5 hits included "Mama's Pearl" and "Never Can Say Goodbye."

Now successful, Joseph was finally able to arrange to move Katherine and the rest of the family out to California in 1970. First moving into a two-story residence at 1616 Queens Road in Los Angeles, the Jackson family moved to a gated mansion they called "Hayvenhurst", which was purchased by Joseph in March 1971.

"Jacksonmania" swept the nation, and within a year of their debut The Jackson 5 were among the biggest names in popular music. The group essentially replaced The Supremes as Motown's main marketing focus, and, capitalizing upon the youth-oriented appeal of the Jackson brothers, Motown licensed dozens of Jackson 5-related juvenile products, including the now famous J5 Heart logo which appears on Johnny Jacksons drum kit and many of The Jackson 5's album covers, stickers, sewable patches, posters, and coloring books. A new teen magazine aimed at African-American youth, Right On!, began publication in 1971, and focused heavily on The Jackson 5; at least one Jackson adorned the cover of every issue published between January 1972 and April 1974. Animation producers Rankin/Bass produced The Jackson 5ive, a Saturday morning cartoon that debuted on September 11, 1971 and ran for two seasons on ABC. The Jackson 5 starred in two of their own television specials, Goin' Back to Indiana (aired September 16, 1971) and The Jackson 5 Show (aired November 5, 1972).

A scene from Rankin-Bass's The Jackson 5ive Saturday morning cartoon.

In 1971, Motown began a spin-off solo career for Michael, whose first single, "Got to Be There," was a Top 5 hit. Michael also sang the title track for the 1972 motion picture Ben. His other successful solo singles included "Rockin' Robin" and "I Wanna Be Where You Are" (both 1972). Jermaine started a solo career of his own in 1972, and had a Top Ten hit with his Shep and the Limelites cover "Daddy's Home". Jackie also recorded a solo album, but his releases failed to chart. Despite fan rumors that all three Jacksons might leave the group as they released solo work, the solo careers of Michael, Jermaine, and Jackie co-existed alongside that of the group as a whole, allowing Motown to expand the success and sales of Jackson 5-related releases.

Decline

After 1972, The Jackson 5's releases were less successful, but they still did very well. Later Top 20 hits, mostly written and produced by Hal Davis, included "Lookin' Through the Windows" (1972) and the disco-styled "Dancing Machine" (1974), which popularized the "Robot" dance routine. Jackson 5 albums declined somewhat in critical acclaim and financial success during the latter part of their Motown tenure, although LPs such as Lookin' Through the Windows (1972) and G.I.T.: Get It Together (1973) frequently included successful album tracks, including their version of "Hum Along and Dance", a popular number in their live act.

Critics, The Jackson 5, and Joseph Jackson agreed that the main reason for the group's declining success was Motown's refusal to update their image. Although they played their own instruments on stage and had begun writing and producing songs in their own home recording studio, The Jacksons later said that Motown wouldn't allow them to record their own compositions nor play instruments in their studio recordings. The group's studio recordings were first handled by Motown's famed in-house studio band The Funk Brothers during their brief recording tenure at Hitsville and later instrumentation was played by many of the members of The Wrecking Crew, which formed Motown's Hitsville West studio band. Feeling that The Jackson 5 could be more of a success without Motown, which was by this time declining in success and popularity, Joseph began shopping for a new record deal for his sons.

The move to CBS Records

The cover to the 1978 album Destiny.

In 1975, Joseph negotiated a new recording contract with CBS Records, who offered a royalty rate of 20% per record, compared to Motown's standard 2.8%; and would allow the Jackson brothers to write and produce their own records and play their own instruments. After unsuccessfully attempting to talk the group into staying on the label, Motown sued for breach of contract. Although Motown eventually let the group go, The Jackson 5 were forced to change their name to The Jacksons, because Motown retained the "Jackson 5" trademark during the settlement of the lawsuit. The Jacksons also replaced Jermaine with the youngest Jackson brother, fourteen year old Randy, since Jermaine chose to stay with Motown and his father-in-law Berry Gordy (In 1973, Jermaine married Gordy's daughter Hazel). Randy had been an unofficial member of The Jackson 5 since 1972, playing congas onstage as part of their live act.

After losing The Jacksons, Motown would not have another success of their caliber for the duration of Berry Gordy's ownership of the label. Gordy often said of The Jackson 5 that they were, coming after the label's most famous acts, "the last big stars to come rolling off the [Motown] assembly line."^[6]

In summer 1976, CBS television signed the Jackson family (including Michael, Marlon, Tito, Jackie, Randy, Rebbie, LaToya, and Janet) to appear in their own variety show, The Jacksons, to compete with ABC's Donny & Marie. The Jacksons debuted on June 16, 1976, and ran on CBS until its cancellation the following March. The show was the first variety show hosted by an African American family.

At first, part of CBS's Philadelphia International Records division, and later moving over to Epic Records, The Jacksons continued releasing popular singles such as "Enjoy Yourself" (1976), produced by Philadelphia International's Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff. After two LPs produced by Gamble and Huff, The Jacksons wanted artistic control, and produced their next LP, 1978's Destiny, on their own. The album included The Jacksons' biggest post-Motown single, "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", which charted at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number three on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. "Shake Your Body", written by Michael and Randy, sold over two million copies, attaining double-platinum status. Destiny also went platinum, and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 album chart and number three on the R&B album charts. In 1979, The Jacksons received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1978, Michael starred alongside Diana Ross in the Motown/Universal Pictures motion picture The Wiz, an adaptation of the Broadway musical based upon L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Quincy Jones was the producer of the film's songs, and he and Michael began work on Michael’s first Epic solo album, Off the Wall, the next year. Off the Wall, released in 1979, sold 20 million copies worldwide and featured four Top 10 hit singles and two number-one singles, causing some speculation about whether Michael would leave The Jacksons though Michael told several reporters at the time that such speculation was untrue.

The 1980s

In 1980 the group released the Triumph album, which featured the hits "Lovely One" and "Can You Feel It". The following year's The Jacksons Live! used recordings from the group's Triumph Tour, which in 1988 was described by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the best 25 tours from 1967 to 1987. The group's success was outperformed, however, by Michael's 1982 LP Thriller. Thriller went on to become the 2nd most successful album ever in the United States (second only to the Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)), and to date stands as the world's best-selling album of all time.

The cover to the 1984 album Victory.

The Motown 25 television special, broadcast on NBC on May 16, 1983, featured a reunion performance between Jermaine and the other brothers. Outside of one 1979 appearance on the TV show Midnight Special this was the original Jackson 5's first performance in nearly seven years. The Motown 25 Jackson 5 reunion was overshadowed, however, by Michael's landmark performance of "Billie Jean" on the same program, which introduced his trademark "moonwalk" dance.

The Jacksons released the album Victory in 1984, featuring the hit single "State of Shock" with guest star Mick Jagger, and supported the album with the massively successful Victory World Tour. The Victory album and tour marked the official return of Jermaine to the group's lineup, making them a sextet.

Shortly after the Victory Tour, Michael left The Jacksons, as his solo career had led to the success of Thriller and its singles. His name recognition as a solo act had also grown, despite touring as part of a group. Marlon followed Michael out of the group a year later during a group meeting. The other brothers eventually drifted apart to take on solo projects (although most of them appeared with Michael on the U.S. For Africa single "We Are the World" in 1985). The Jacksons reunited for one last album, 2300 Jackson Street in 1989. While every Jackson sibling except for LaToya appeared on the title track, a #9 R&B hit single, most of the album featured Jermaine, Jackie, Tito, and Randy as the line up. Michael Jackson's fame as a solo act as well as the growing fame of the group's youngest sister, Janet Jackson, had overshadowed the group entirely. A CD compilation of hits from the CBS/Epic years, The Essential Jacksons, was released in 2004, as was a separate compilation assembled by Universal/Hip-O, The Jacksons Story.

Post-history and followers

Tito Jackson, like his father before him, organized his three sons into a musical group called 3T, who had a #2 UK hit, titled "Why?", as well as a big US hit with "Anything," both in 1996 ("Why?" featured a guest appearance from Michael Jackson). Soon afterwards, Tito began a low-key career as a blues musician. Randy Jackson was involved for some time with a group known as Randy and the Gypsies, who enjoyed minor success. In 2004, Randy was also the webmaster for Michael's last official website, MJJ Source, which was closed in 2005.

The Jackson 5's influence on later performers has been profound, inspiring a number of performers from diverse fields, including pop emo band Dashboard Confessional,^[4] R&B groups New Edition^[7] and B5,^[8] and boy band Hanson.^[9] One of the most archetypal Jackson 5 followers were Five Star, a British black family act from the mid-80s comprising of siblings Stedman, Doris, Lorraine, Deniece and Delroy Pearson. The group were also managed by their father, Buster Pearson and began recording when youngest member Delroy was twelve years old. The group was often compared to The Jackson 5 by the press.

The Jackson 5 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. In addition, two of their songs ("ABC" and "I Want You Back") are among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 1999, "I Want You Back" was also inducted in Grammy Hall of Fame.^[10]

In 1992, Suzanne de Passe and Jermaine Jackson worked with Motown to produce The Jacksons: An American Dream, a five-hour television miniseries broadcast based on the history of The Jacksons in two parts on ABC. The first installment of the miniseries covered the decades from Katherine and Joseph Jackson's first meeting in the late-1940s up until the first Jackson 5 releases on Motown in 1969, while the second part covered the years from 1970 to 1984, and the effects of The Jackson 5's phenomenal success on the family. The miniseries was the highest rated show of the week, won an Emmy Award and was nominated for three more, and won two Young Artist Awards.

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles. He is survived by his mother, Katherine Jackson; his father, Joseph Jackson; his four older brothers; two older sisters (Rebbie and LaToya); younger siblings Randy and Janet; and three children of his own.

Personnel

Main article: The Jackson 5 chronology

Jackie Jackson (1966-1989) - vocals
Tito Jackson (1966-1989) - lead guitar, vocals
Jermaine Jackson (1966-1975, 1984-1989) - bass guitar, vocals
Marlon Jackson (1966-1984) - vocals
Michael Jackson (1966-1984) - lead vocals
Randy Jackson (1975-1989) - percussion, keyboard, vocals (joined under the band name "The Jacksons")

Jackson family

2009-07-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Jackson family is an American family of musicians who originated in Gary, Indiana and later relocated to Encino, California. Performing as members of The Jackson 5 and as solo artists, the children of Joseph Walter and Katherine Esther Jackson influenced and shaped the sound of popular music. As a group, the eldest sons Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael, set the family on a path of musical success that spread among siblings Rebbie, La Toya, Randy, and Janet. The acclaim of The Jackson 5 led the group to become known as the "First Family of Soul"; the continued success of Michael and Janet's careers as solo artists led the Jacksons to become known as the "Royal Family of Pop". Although the only child not to become famous is Joh'Vonnie Jackson the fourth and youngest sister. [1][2]
Members of the Jackson family have been the subject of heavily publicized controversies and legal imbroglios, most notably allegations of child abuse against Michael in 1993, his criminal trial in 2005, and Janet's controversial Super Bowl halftime performance in 2004. Some Jackson siblings have, at various times, publicly criticized one another and alleged abuse at the hands of their father.[3][4] In spite of these circumstances and other troubles, the Jacksons have continued to be praised for shaping the world of entertainment with some of the siblings' own children taking the spotlight in various careers. In recent years, certain members of the family have been honored for their work: in 1997 The Jackson 5 were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Michael would follow the group to the hall in 2001. In 2002, Joseph was acknowledged as "the best musical manager of all time" by the Hall in Cleveland. The Jacksons, Michael and Janet all received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980, 1984 and 1990 respectively.
Michael died on June 25, 2009, just weeks before he was to begin a series of 50 comeback concerts.

First generation
Joseph Walter Jackson was born on July 26, 1929 in Fountain Hill, Arkansas. Joseph's family were descended of both African slaves and Choctaw Indians. When Joe was twelve, his parents split up and Joe and his father, Samuel Jackson, moved to Oakland. After graduating from high school, Joe left California, where he had a short career as a boxer, and moved to East Chicago, Indiana to take care of his mother. It was there that he met Katherine Scruse (born May 4, 1930), an Alabama native who was raised in East Chicago from age four. Katherine's family came from Alabama and are descended of African slaves of the Cherokee Indians. The couple married on November 5, 1949 and moved into a two-room house of 2300 Jackson St. (near Roosevelt Park) in Gary, Indiana, which they bought for $800. During his early years in Gary, Joe formed a rhythm and blues band called The Falcons. His performance career lasted a brief two years. Joe then took up work as a crane operator for the U.S. Steel Company, before eventually managing his sons' careers.

Second generation
Together Joseph and Katherine had ten children. Son Brandon died at birth. The other nine grew up to become professional musicians:
Maureen Reilette "Rebbie" Jackson (born May 29, 1950)
Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951)
Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson (born October 15, 1953)
Jermaine LaJaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954)
La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956)
Marlon David Jackson (born March 12, 1957)
Brandon Jackson (born March 12, 1957 - died at birth)
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)
Steven Randall "Randy" Jackson (born October 29, 1961)
Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966)
Joseph has an illegitimate daughter with a woman named Cheryl Terrell:[5]
Joh'Vonnie Jackson (born August 30, 1974), a flight attendant.[5]

Third generation
Rebbie Jackson and Nathaniel Brown have three children:
Stacee Brown (b. 1971) - Stacee is a singer-songwriter who often records with her younger sister; her son London Blue was born in 2005.
Yashi Brown (b. 1977) - Yashi is a singer-songwriter who often records with her older sister.
Austin "Auggie" Brown (b. 1985) - Auggie is a singer-songwriter and musician.
Jackie Jackson and Enid Spann had two children
Sigmund Esco "Siggy" Jackson, Jr. (b. 1977) - "Siggy", or DealZ, is a rapper and avid motorcyclist.
Brandi Jackson (b. 1982) - An adopted child, Brandi is also a singer.
Tito Jackson and Delores "Dee Dee" Martez had three children
Tariano Adaryll Jackson, Jr. (b. 1973) - member of the successful pop group 3T
Taryll "Taryll" Adren Jackson (b. 1975) - member of the successful pop group 3T
Tito Joe "TJ" Jackson (b. 1978) - member of the successful pop group 3T; the first of the members to become a father, his son Royalty was born in 2000.
Jermaine Jackson and Hazel Gordy had three children:
Jermaine Lu Juane Jackson, Jr. (b. 1977)
Autumn Joy Jackson (b. 1978)
Jaimy Jackson (b. 1987)
Jermaine Jackson and Margaret Maldonado never legally married but had two children:
Jeremy Jackson (b. 1986)
Jourdynn Jackson (b. 1989)
Jermaine Jackson and Alejandra Oaziaza had two children:
Jaffar Jackson (b. 1996)
Jermajesty Jackson (b. 2000)
Jermaine Jackson and Halima Rashid (4th wife) have no children
LaToya Jackson and Jack Gordon had no children.
Marlon Jackson and Carol Parker have three children:
Valencia Jackson (b. 1977) - has a son, Noah, born in 2006
Brittany Jackson (b. 1978)
Marlon David Jackson, Jr. (b. 1985) - Marlon, Jr. currently is a member of a hip-hop duo.
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley had no children.
Michael Jackson and Deborah Jeanne Rowe had two children:
Michael Joseph "Prince" Jackson (b. 1997)
Paris Michael Katherine Jackson (b. 1998)
Michael Jackson and an unidentified woman (reportedly a surrogate) had one child:
Prince Michael Jackson II (aka "Blanket") (b. 2002)
Randy Jackson and Eliza Shaffel had one child:
Steveanna Jackson (b. 1990)
Randy Jackson and Alejandra Oaziaza had three children:
Genevieve Jackson (b. 1989)
Donte Jackson (b. 1991)
Steven Randall Jackson, Jr. (b. 1991)
Janet Jackson and James DeBarge had no children.
Janet Jackson and Rene Elizondo, Jr. had no children.
Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri have no children.

Michael jackson lyrics you are not alone

2008-09-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

Michael jackson- dirty diana lyrics

2008-09-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

Michael jackson man in the mirror lyrics

2008-09-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

I'm Gonna Make A Change
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right...

As I, Turn Up The Collar On
My Favorite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere To Go
That's Why I Want You To Know

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na, Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of
A Selfish Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No Home
Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me
Pretending That They're Not Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
(Ooh!)v I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make That...
(Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make That...)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror-Oh Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your Heart)
You Can't Close Your...Your Mind!
(Then You Close Your...Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know...That Man
No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na, Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na, Na Nah
(Ooooh...)
Oh No, No No....
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change ...)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change, Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself...Brother...
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get That Man, That Man...
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come On! Come On!
You Got To...
Stand Up! Stand Up! Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change...
Come On! (Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know...
(Change...)
Make That Change

Black Or White

2008-09-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

I took my baby
On a saturday bang
Boy is that girl with you
Yes we're one and the same
Now I believe in miracles
And a miracle
Has happened tonight

But, if
You're thinkin'
About my baby
It don't matter if you're Black or white

They print my message
In the saturday sun
I had to tell them
I ain't second to none

And I told about equality
An it's true
Either you're wrong
Or you're right

But, if
You're thinkin'
About my baby
It don't matter if you're
Black or white

I am tired of this devil
I am tired of this stuff
I am tired of this business
Sew when the
Going gets rough
I ain't scared of
Your brother
I ain't scared of no sheets
I ain't scared of nobody
Girl when the
Goin' gets mean

(L.T.B)
Protection
For gangs, clubs,
And nations
Causing grief in
Human relations
It's a turf war
On a global scale
I'd rather hear both sides
Of the tale
See, it's not about races
Just places
Faces
Where your blood
Comes from
Is where your space is
I've seen the bright
Get duller
I'm not going to spend
My life being a color

Don't tell me you agree
With me
When I saw you
Kicking dirt in my eye

But, if
You're thinkin'
About my baby
It don't matter if you're
Black or white

I said if
You're thinkin' of
Being my baby
It don't matter if you're
Black or white

I said if
You're thinkin' of
Being my brother
It don't matter if you're
Black or white

Ooh, ooh
Yea, yea, yea now
Ooh, ooh
Yea, yea, yea now

It's black, it's white
It's tough for you to get by
It's black , it's white, whoo

It's black, it's white
It's tough for you to get by
It's black , it's white, whoo

See Free Music Video in Youtube

Michael Jackson : Black Or White :Full Version Bass Amplify

Michael Jackson - Heal The World

2008-09-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

spoken:
Think about the generations and to say we want to make it a better
world for our children and our children's children. So that they know
it's a better world for them; and think if they can make it a better
place.

There's a place in your heart
And I know that it is love
And this place could be much
Brighter than tomorrow.
And if you really try
You'll find there's no need to cry
In this place you'll feel
There's no hurt or sorrow.
There are ways to get there
If you care enough for the living
Make a little space, make a better place.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

If you want to know why
There's a love that cannot lie
Love is strong
It only cares for joyful giving.
If we try we shall see
In this bliss we cannot feel
Fear or dread
We stop existing and start living
Then it feels that always
Love's enough for us growing
Make a better world, make a better world.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race.
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

Bridge:
And the dream we would conceived in
Will reveal a joyful face
And the world we once believed in
Will shine again in grace
Then why do we keep strangling life
Wound this earth, crucify it's soul
Though it's plain to see, this world is heavenly
Be God's glow.

We could fly so high
Let our spirits never die
In my heart I feel
You are all my brothers
Create a world with no fear
Together we'll cry happy tears
See the nations turn
Their swords into plowshares
We could really get there
If you cared enough for the living
Make a little space to make a better place.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

Refrain (2x)

There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me.
There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me.

You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children

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Off the Wall (album)

2008-09-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Off the Wall

Studio album by Michael Jackson

Released

August 10, 1979

Recorded

December 4, 1978 – June 3, 1979
Allen Zentz Recording
Westlake Audio
Cherokee Studios
(Los Angeles, California)

Genre

disco, funk, soul, soft rock, jazz, pop

Length

42:16 (Original LP)
60:17 (Special edition)

Label

Epic
EK-35745

Producer

Michael Jackson
Quincy Jones

Professional reviews

Allmusic link
Blender link
Melody Maker (favorable) ^[1]
Robert Christgau (A-) link
Rolling Stone (favorable) link

Michael Jackson chronology

The Best of Michael Jackson
(1975)

Off the Wall
(1979)

One Day in Your Life
(1981)

Alternate cover

2001 special edition reissue

Singles from Off the Wall

"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
Released: July 28, 1979
"Rock with You"
Released: November 3, 1979
"Off the Wall"
Released: February 2, 1980
"She's out of My Life"
Released: April 19, 1980
"Girlfriend"
Released: July 1980

Off the Wall is the fifth studio album by pop musician Michael Jackson, released August 10, 1979 on Epic Records. The album follows Jackson's critically well received theatrical performance in The Wiz. While working on the film project, Jackson and Quincy Jones became friends. Jones agreed to work with Jackson on his next studio album Off the Wall. Recording sessions took place between December 1978 and June 1979 at Allen Zentz Recording, Westlake Recording Studios, and Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, California. Jackson collaborated with a number of other writers and performers such as Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Rod Temperton. Jackson wrote several of the song's himself, including the lead single, "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough".

The record was a departure from Jackson's previous work for Motown, several critics observed that Off the Wall was crafted from funk, disco-pop, soul, soft rock, jazz and pop ballads. Jackson received positive reviews for his vocal performance on the record. The record gained positive reviews and won the singer his first Grammy Awards since the early 1970s. With Off the Wall, Jackson became the first artist to have four singles peak inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The album was a commercial success, to date it is certified for 7× Multi-Platinum in the US and has sold 15 million copies worldwide.

Background

Starting in 1972, Michael Jackson released a total of four solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben. These were released as part of The Jackson 5 franchise, and produced successful singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben" and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin". The Jackson 5's sales, however, began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input.^[2] Although the group scored several top 40 hits, including the top five disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", The Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.^[2] The Jackson 5 signed a new contract with CBS Records in June 1975, first joining the Philadelphia International Records division and then Epic Records.^[2] As a result of legal proceedings, the group was renamed The Jacksons.^[3] After the name change, the band continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984. From 1976 to 1984, Jackson was the lead songwriter of the group, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel" and "Can You Feel It".^[4]

In 1978, Jackson starred as Scarecrow in the film musical The Wiz.^[5] The musical scores were arranged by Quincy Jones, who formed a partnership with Jackson during the film's production and agreed to produce the singer's solo album Off the Wall.^[6] Jackson was dedicated to the role, and watched videotapes of gazelles, cheetahs and panthers in order to learn graceful movements for his part.^[7] Jones recalled working with Jackson as one of his favorite experiences from The Wiz, and spoke of Jackson's dedication to his role, comparing his acting style to Sammy Davis, Jr.^[7] Critics panned The Wiz upon its October 1978 release.^[8]^[9] Jackson's performance as the Scarecrow was one of the only positively reviewed elements of the film, with critics noting that Jackson possessed "genuine acting talent" and "provided the only genuinely memorable moments."^[10]^[11] Of the results of the film, Jackson stated: "I don't think it could have been any better, I really don't".^[12] In 1980, Jackson stated that his time working on The Wiz was "my greatest experience so far...I'll never forget that".^[11]

Production

When Jackson began the Off the Wall project he was not sure what he wanted as the final result. However he did not want another record that sounded like The Jackson's. He wanted more creative freedom, something he had not been allowed on prior albums.^[14] Jones and Jackson jointly produced Off the Wall, whose songwriters included Jackson, Heatwave's Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.^[15] All sessions took place at Los Angeles County-based recording studios. Rhythm tracks and vocals were recorded at Allen Zentz Recording, the horn section's contributions took place at Westlake Audio, and string instrumentation was recorded at Cherokee Studios in West Hollywood. Following the initial sessions, audio mixing was handled by Grammy-winning engineer Bruce Swedien at Westlake Audio, after which the original tapes went to the A&M Recording Studio, also located in L.A., for mastering.^[16] Swedien would later mix the recording sessions for Jackson's next album and his most well-known work, 1982's Thriller.^[16] Jones recalled that, at first, he found Jackson to be very introverted, shy and non-assertive.^[17]

"She's out of My Life" was written by Jones three years prior, Jackson heard and enjoyed it, Jones allowed him to use it on the record.^[15] Jones called in Rod Temperton to write three songs. The intention was for Jackson and Jones to select one of his song's, but Jackson, liking them all, included all of them in the final cut.^[15] Jackson stayed up all night to learn the lyrics to these song's instead of singing from a sheet. He finished the vocals to these three Temperton song's in two recording sections.^[15] Temperton took a different approach to his song writing after spending some time researching the background to Jackson's music style. Temperton mixed his traditional harmony segments with the idea of adding shorter note melodies to suit Jackson's aggressive style.^[15] Jackson wrote "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" after humming a melody in his kitchen.^[18] After listening to hundreds of song's, Jackson and Jones decided upon a batch to record.^[18] In hindsight, Jones believed they took a lot of risks in the production of Off the Wall and the final choice of album tracks.^[15]

Music and vocals

Music critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Stephen Holden observed that Off the Wall was crafted from funk, disco-pop, soul, soft rock, jazz and pop ballads.^[20]^[21] Prominent examples include the ballad "She's out of My Life", and the two disco tunes "Workin' Day and Night" and "Get on the Floor".^[20] "I Can't Help It" is a jazz piece.^[19] "She's out of My Life" and "It's the Falling in Love" are melodic pop ballads.^[18] The end of the former song showed an "emotional" Jackson crying as the track concluded.^[19] Of the song R&B writer Nelson George proclaimed, "[It] became a Jackson signature similar to the way "My Life" served Frank Sinatra. The vulnerability, verging on fragility that would become embedded in Michael's persona found, perhaps, it's richest expression in this wistful ballad".^[6] "Rock With You" is a romantic, mid-tempo song.^[18]

With the arrival of Off the Wall in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist".^[20] At the time, Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbered tenor is extraordinary beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly".^[22] John Randall Taraborrelli expressed the opinion that Jackson sing's with "sexy falsetto" vocals in "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough".^[18]

Criticial reception

Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a positive (A-) grade believing that Off the Wall was "the dance groove of the year" and the album presented Jackson as a grown up.^[23] In a review for Melody Maker Phil McNeill expressed the opinion that in Off the Wall Jackson sounded comfortable, confident and in control. He believed "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" had a "classy" introduction and that it was the best song on the album. He also praised "Rock With You", describing it as "masterful". The reviewer concurred with a college that Jackson was "probably the best singer in the world right now in terms of style and technique".^[1]

In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Single (for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough").^[24] That year, he also won Billboard Music Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough").^[24] Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release.^[25]^[24] In particular, Jackson was angry that he had won only a single Grammy Award at the 1980 Grammys, a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough".^[26] Jackson stated that "It was totally unfair that it didn't get Record of the Year and it can never happen again".^[27]

Release, singles and commercial reception

Writer, journalist and biographer John Randall Taraborrelli stated, "Fans and industry peers alike were left with their months agape when Off the Wall was issued to the public. Fans proclaimed that they hadn't heard him sing with such joy and abandon since the early Jackson 5 days".^[19]

On July 28, 1979, Off the Wall's first single, "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough", was released. It peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number three in the UK.^[28]^[24] On November 3, 1979 the second single from the album, "Rock with You" was released, again it peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100.^[29] In February, the album's title track was released as a single and went to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became a top 10 hit in four countries.^[30] "She's out of My Life", reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April.^[31] Off the Wall was the first album to generate four US top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You".^[24]

Today, Off the Wall is certified 7× Multi-Platinum in the US for shipments of seven million units. The album eventually sold over 15 million copies worldwide.^[32]^[33] The album's success lead to the start of a 9-year partnership between Jackson and Jones, their next collaboration would be Thriller, which is the worlds best selling album.^[34]

Contemporary appeal

“	…the album that established him as an artist of astonishing talent and a bright star in his own right. This was a visionary album, a record that found a way to break disco wide open into a new world where the beat was undeniable.	”
—Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic, ^[20]

On October 16, 2001, a special edition reissue of Off the Wall was released by Sony Records.^[20] The material found strong praise from critics more than 20 years after the original release. Allmusic gave the record a five star review, praising the record's disco-tinged funk and mainstream pop blend, along with Jackson's songwriting and Jones' crafty production.^[20] The publication believed, "[Off the Wall] is an enormously fresh record, one that remains vibrant and giddily exciting years after its release".^[20]

In 2003, the album was ranked number 68 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[36] The National Association of Recording Merchandisers listed it at number 80 of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.^[37] In 2004, Nelson George wrote of Jackson and his music, "the argument for his greatness in the recording studio begins with his arrangements of "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough". The layers of percussion and the stacks of backing vocals, both artfully choreographed to create drama and ecstasy on the dance floor, still rock parties in the 21st century".^[6] In 2008, Off the Wall was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[38]

Sales

Country	Certification	Shipments/Sales
Australia	4× Platinum ^[39]	280,000 ^[39]
Brazil	Gold ^[40]	60,000 ^[40]
Canada	Platinum ^[41]	100,000 ^[41]
France	2× Platinum ^[42]	400,000 ^[42]
UK	6× Platinum ^[43]	2,000,000 ^[43]
USA	7× Multi-Platinum ^[32]	7,000,000 ^[32]
Worldwide	—	15,000,000 ^[33]

Track listing

CD

"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (Michael Jackson) – 6:05
"Rock with You" (Rod Temperton) – 3:40
"Workin' Day and Night" (Jackson) – 5:14
"Get on the Floor" (Jackson, Louis Johnson) – 4:39
"Off the Wall" (Temperton) – 4:06
"Girlfriend" (Paul McCartney) – 3:05
"She's out of My Life" (Tom Bahler) – 3:38
"I Can't Help It" (Susaye Greene, Stevie Wonder) – 4:39
"It's the Falling in Love" (David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager) – 3:48
"Burn This Disco Out" (Temperton) – 3:30

Casette

Side 1

"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (Michael Jackson) – 6:05
"Rock with You" (Rod Temperton) – 3:40
"Workin' Day and Night" (Jackson) – 5:14
"Get on the Floor" (Jackson, Louis Johnson) – 4:39

Side 2

"Off the Wall" (Temperton) – 4:06
"Girlfriend" (Paul McCartney) – 3:05
"She's out of My Life" (Tom Bahler) – 3:38
"I Can't Help It" (Susaye Greene, Stevie Wonder) – 4:39
"It's the Falling in Love" (David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager) – 3:48
"Burn This Disco Out" (Temperton) – 3:30

Personnel

Michael Boddicker – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Larry Carlton – guitar
George Duke – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
David Foster – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Gary Grant – trumpet, flügelhorn
Marlo Henderson – guitar
Jerry Hey – trumpet, flügelhorn
Kim Hutchcroft – saxophone, flute, trumpet, flügelhorn
Michael Jackson – lead vocals, background vocals, producer
Louis Johnson – bass guitar
Quincy Jones – producer
Greg Phillinganes – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Steve Porcaro – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
William Reichenbach – trombone
John Robinson – drums
Bruce Swedien – recording engineer
Phil Upchurch – guitar
Bobby Watson – bass guitar
Wah Wah Watson – guitar
David Williams – guitar
Larry Williams – saxophone, flute

Horn and string arrangements by Jerry Hey and performed by The Seawind Horns, Ben Wright, Johnny Mandel.

Michael Jackson

Dangerous (album)

Project

Commercial reception

Music videos

Special editions

Music awards

Rhythm and blues

Etymology

History

Late 1940s

Early to mid 1950s

Late 1950s

1960s and later

Rock and roll

Origins of the style

Origins of the phrase

Early rock and roll records

Rockabilly

Cover versions

British rock and roll

Cultural impact

Teen culture

Dance styles

Further reading

Pop music

Terminology

Characteristics

Pop songs

Influences and development

King of Pop (album)

Background

Versions

Austria

Australia

Belgium

Brazil

Finland

France

Deluxe box set

Germany & Switzerland

Greece

Hong Kong

Hungary

Italy

Japan

Netherlands

New Zealand

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

South Korea

Spain

Sweden

Turkey

United Kingdom

Deluxe box set

Charts

Certifications

Michael Jackson Sets Billboard Charts Record

Michael Jackson Sets Billboard Charts Record

Michael Jackson Makes History On Euro Charts

MICHAEL JACKSON SONG LYRICS

The moonwalk

History

Variations

Bad (album)

History

Recording

Reception

Marketing

[edit] Track listing

Off the Wall (album)

Background

Production

Music and vocals

Critical reception

Release, singles and commercial reception

Contemporary appeal

Sales