If MJ went back to Motown?

SkyWalk

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What if MJ went back to Motown as an adult and made a new album? Could he pull it off? Could he write new Motown songs?
Did Motown ever ask Michael back?

Who would like the idea of Michael back at Motown with a new album and perhaps re-record some of his classics!!!?
 
Nooooo that would've been a bad idea as Motown never really give him the right to write his own material & plus they teneded to control the J5 in other ways beside the music and I don't think Michael liked that.
 
I don't think Motown would give Michael any real benefits he wouldn't have with any other notable record label, so I think him going back would have been pointless. As for the idea of Michael rerecording his old Motown songs, I wouldn't have minded as long as it didn't affect his actual studio albums. Michael should have been evolving his sound, not chasing his past, so I wouldn't have wanted any rerecorded Motown songs to have ended up on a new album by Michael.
 
Other than the 1960s Funk Brothers and HDH era, which is what most people consider the Motown Sound, there really isn't such thing as a Motown song. They're just songs on Motown and its subsidiary labels. People don't call Thriller "Epic Songs". :D Anyway, Mike most likely wouldn't have had the same success on Motown during the 1980s, as they didn't have the same reach and power as CBS Records. The only really popular act they had during that time was Lionel Richie and maybe Stevie Wonder up to the middle of the decade. There was Rick James, DeBarge, Dazz Band, & Teena Marie on the R&B side, but they didn't have much crossover and Teena sued to get off the label because they wouldn't release some of her music, nor let her out of her contract. She even had a law named after her because of this. Berry Gordy sold Motown in the late 1980s.
 
Also Motown didn't do that much with most of Jermaine's records and he was a son-in-law. He was working as an A&R person for them. Being an in-law did not really help Marvin Gaye either. Smokey Robinson was vice president for awhile and for the most part, his albums did not get big numbers. So they probably wouldn't have done anything with Mike either and he wouldn't have had the access to Quincy Jones' session guys.
 
Glad he left Motown, they didn't let grow as an artist. You could see his maturity and growing as soon as Epic let him release compositions of his and the more he was in charge creating his art, the more humongous and unbeatable the monster became. It'd have been a huge mistake if Michael went back to Motown.
 
Other than the 1960s Funk Brothers and HDH era, which is what most people consider the Motown Sound, there really isn't such thing as a Motown song. They're just songs on Motown and its subsidiary labels. People don't call Thriller "Epic Songs". :D Anyway, Mike most likely wouldn't have had the same success on Motown during the 1980s, as they didn't have the same reach and power as CBS Records. The only really popular act they had during that time was Lionel Richie and maybe Stevie Wonder up to the middle of the decade. There was Rick James, DeBarge, Dazz Band, & Teena Marie on the R&B side, but they didn't have much crossover and Teena sued to get off the label because they wouldn't release some of her music, nor let her out of her contract. She even had a law named after her because of this. Berry Gordy sold Motown in the late 1980s.
Didn't Diana, the 4 Tops, and the Temptations all go back to Motown after the nostalgia of Motown 25? I know none of them stayed long.
Michael tried to buy the Motown publishing from Berry, but Berry was playing hardball with him about it, since he had made such a rotten deal with the recording side. I think that was a big mistake on Berry's part-

I'm glad Michael stayed with Epic, (especially because of working with Q) but I think I would have liked it if he had re-recorded some of his Jackson 5 classics-especially some of the ones that are really adult songs-like "I Want You Back" and "Who's Lovin' You?"-I really loved when they ended each episode of their Variety show with one of those classics-especially with his new "adult" voice.
 
Motown was a great, maybe the best launching pad for Michael but the company was never ready to take Michael to the stratosphere that he went to... From a business aspect Epic was a great move for him.. Yeah Motown had hits later but we all know by the time Michael would have gone back to Motown it was after Motowns "heyday"
 
Didn't Diana, the 4 Tops, and the Temptations all go back to Motown after the nostalgia of Motown 25? I know none of them stayed long.
The Temptations was still on Motown when Motown 25 was filmed. They did briefly leave in the late 1970s and released 2 albums on Atlantic, but Dennis Edwards didn't go with them, he was replaced. Dennis rejoined them in 1980 when the group returned to Motown. The Temps didn't leave Motown until around 2004 or 2005 and has only released 2 or 3 albums after. I think Diana returned in the 1990s. I don't know about the Four Tops.
 
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Motown would take a very differente attitude with MJ, he probably could write his own songs in motown

Personally i dont like the idea, but i still want to hear de Ill be there and never can say goodbye ADULT VERSION!
 
I don't think anyone is arguing with the fact that Motown still makes great music and did through the later years.. I think when people say it would not have been good for Michael to have gone back for Michael is due to the lack of attention Motown music got. All through the later 80's-90's Motown kept getting sold ( 1988,1991,1994,1999) Of course selling something generally has to do when the company struggles to find financial success (or the SAME type of finical success) Not only that, there is always a transitionary time when a company is bough that they need to figure how to 'grove' the business side of things.

Those times were the later years of BAD, DANGEROUS, and HISTORY.. you can't expect to be promoted as the BEST and have the financial backing MJ would demand, and creative ownership of things while all that is going on. (And we know how much of MJ's success had to do with his creative ownership and the finances that support it)..

Plus, why work for a record company that has a Parent company of Universal Music Group while you could work for EPIC records and have duel ownership of Sony/ATV..

While Universal Music Group has great financial success through the later-80's,90s,00's Motown was not it's "cash cow", EPIC was doing very very well around that time..
 
Also Motown didn't do that much with most of Jermaine's records and he was a son-in-law. He was working as an A&R person for them. Being an in-law did not really help Marvin Gaye either. Smokey Robinson was vice president for awhile and for the most part, his albums did not get big numbers. So they probably wouldn't have done anything with Mike either and he wouldn't have had the access to Quincy Jones' session guys.


Marvin Gaye was berry Gordy's son- in-law?.... :blink:
 
I agree with you all, yes Motown made them stars, but they didlimit them a lot and many of the songs they recorded were merely fillers and songs that had been done to death by other artists (Forever came today -although their version is great, with Marlon doing the vocals!!). Also as they really lost their prominence in the later 70s. By 1978 all they really had was Stevie Wonder, who was smoking, The Commodores were breaking through, Rick James and everyone else was in erratic form (Marvin Gaye etc).

Michael and his brothers with the support and urging of Joseph, knew they needed to move to a different label, where they could write their own songs and record more upbeat music, as Motown was stuck in this 1967 showtune type mold with Norman Whitfield gone and many aging acts like the Miracles, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations and Four Tops on the books (In the period where their best days were behind them, but before the big 80s revivals). Basically they got off a sinking ship.

That's not to say the music they did on Dancing Machine and Moving Violation wasn't good it was, They still had hits with Dancing machine, I am Love Part 1 and 2 and Forever came today, but they felt they were stuck in in that mold, and they were no longer a bunch of little kids, by 1975 even Michael had hit puberty and Randy was no young Michael. Jermaine was the thorny issue being Hazel's husband. Plus that split was acrimonious, Berry Gordy took and kept the Jackson 5 name and that pissed Joseph and the guys off no end as that was their name they used back in Gary. Hence why at Epic, they became the Jacksons.

Plus too to make it bitchier, Motown kept issuing compilation albums of old Jackson 5 music under the Jackson 5 name, usually at times when Jackson product and solo Jackson music came out on Epic and other labels. Sometimes this music was a hit with songs like "One day in Your life" and "Farewell my summer love" great songs, but MJ was not profiting of it. The quality varied ranging from demos in the 1968/69 period to better items. All of this backstabbing would grate on Michael after a while as in the 80s and most of the 90s, he was very shrewd and knew how to manage al his money and affairs and obviously did not like Motown undercutting him, when a song by 13 year old Michael competed with the current album.

But I don't think Michael would ever had gone back afterwards, I mean Berry Gordy had to beg Michael to do the Motown 25 show and even then it was on the condition he perform Billie Jean on it as well, and thank God he did!!!
 
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I'm sorry if this is off topic a bit, but I could not find a thread, other than this one,
to make my post and I didnt want to start a new thread.

If MJ went back to MOTOWN, it would look like this.
There are plans underway for an expansion of the famed MOTOWN Museum....aka HITSVILLE USA.
I would sure like to visit it now to experience the original place where The J5 recorded before it's expansions take place
Pretty cool, huh?:)

And look! You can see the picture of the brothers in the near background.
:clapping:

http://https://www.motownmuseum.org/motown-museum-announces-museum-expansion/


Render2-1024x576.jpg


Here's a picture of the way it looks right now.
collection_hitsville_2.jpg



r
 
I don't think Motown would give Michael any real benefits he wouldn't have with any other notable record label, so I think him going back would have been pointless. As for the idea of Michael rerecording his old Motown songs, I wouldn't have minded as long as it didn't affect his actual studio albums. Michael should have been evolving his sound, not chasing his past, so I wouldn't have wanted any rerecorded Motown songs to have ended up on a new album by Michael.
R u serious? An adult version of who's loving you by the man himself? Shamone!...?????
 
If Michael went back to Motown, we'd have a gazillion more Greatest Hits compilations (and I reckon we already have enough Adult MJ Greatest Hits packages as it is).

Seriously I just had a look and there are about 11 Jackson 5 studio albums... but there are 13 additional compilations that are greatest hits or focus on previously released material. On top of this, there is 4 Solo MJ albums for Motown... an extra 8 or so are compilations of his solo material. There's just waaaaaay too many out there and I wouldn't be surprised if we got another one by the close of the decade.

As for recording previous material, I wouldn't mind if he re-recorded the odd J5 song or two and duetted with his younger self. Rather prefer him focusing on new material, but it'd make for some pretty cool bonus material!! Always wanted to see him do that.
 
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Sounds pointless to me. I am glad he evolved artiscically and did not get stuck somewhere in the past. He would be a nostalgia act by now if he had done that.
 
I am wondering if Motown still exists as a label. It has been bought and sold heaps. I heard Andre Harrell ran it into the ground
around 2000 and the only real hitmakers left were Boyz II Men who had long since fallen off.
 
Motown was the best place for Michael to develop as an artist, but the truth is Michael was a PR and marketing monster the 80's and beyond.. If he went back Motown simply would have held him back.. Not musically but they did not market artists (aside a select handful) in the later years.. And lets face it, the Motown artists from the late 90's into the 00's for the most part never cracked it huge. Maybe if Motown did a deal with someone else aside from universal Music Group they could have made more of an impact. This is no knock on the quality of music, just how much attention many of the artist under the UniversalMotown most of them are either 'old news' and the ones that are big generally come from a sub Label under the umbrella that Mike would never sign with like 'Young Money' which is a branch off of Universal while in turns connects to universalMotown..


I'd say a singular project would have been cool, maybe an album of re worked songs that he did when young and/or duets with the young MJ like "I'll be there"... That would be a nice project to have..
 
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