Anyone who puts The Jacksons output 1976-1980 as high as early solo MJ?

JichaelMackson

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Now I personally don't put albums like Destiny as high as Thriller and Off The Wall but I do think they don't get enough credit. Most of the tracks on these albums could have been on any of the early solo albums imo. There is a sense of happiness and energy in those vocals that started (slowly) to diminish from Bad onwards.
I feel lots of new fans don't even have the knowledge that these albums exist judging on the huge difference in numbers of votes this albums have on music sites.
I would put them above History and Invincible for sure.

Do you think if Thriller didn't become as big as it did that Michael would have stayed with The Jacksons? In a way It's a shame.
 
If you look at the Destiny album, it's probably Michael's most personal album prior to History. Songs such as Things I Do For You, Bless His Soul, That's What You Get For Being Polite, Destiny aren't only autobiographical in nature, but are great songs that easily could have been on any MJ solo album. It's a shame that these songs don't get as much recognition as they deserve.
 
Early solo MJ was during J5 days... just saying.

The only Jacksons album I really love is Triumph. It's up there with Off The Wall for me.
The happiness factor of the earlier albums is really what puts me off. Though of course a few songs are great in between.
 
Early solo MJ was during J5 days... just saying.

The only Jacksons album I really love is Triumph. It's up there with Off The Wall for me.
The happiness factor of the earlier albums is really what puts me off. Though of course a few songs are great in between.

Why does the happiness put you off?
I love gloomy depressing music but early MJ does shift my mind to be more positive as I have a very pessimistic even depressing personality.
 
Early solo MJ was during J5 days... just saying.

The only Jacksons album I really love is Triumph. It's up there with Off The Wall for me.
The happiness factor of the earlier albums is really what puts me off. Though of course a few songs are great in between.
Lol thats because it's after otw
 
Not me. I love those early motown solo albums more than i like anything the jackson ever put out. And I know I'm in the minority, but I'm a HUGE J5 era fan, and I think anything he did, solo or with J5, is better than anything the jacksons did
 
I would put them above History and Invincible for sure.

I wouldn't. HIStory is an overlooked masterpiece. Songs like: Earth Song, They Don't Care About Us, Stranger In Moscow or Tabloid Junkie are genius.
Invincible may not be the best album ever but it has got some great tracks on it. (You Rock My World, Whatever Happens, Unbreakable, Butterflies, Speechless...)

Do you think if Thriller didn't become as big as it did that Michael would have stayed with The Jacksons? In a way It's a shame.

Thank god he left the Jacksons. Don't get me wrong...I love Triumph and Destiny but a world without the Bad album/era and the Dangerous album/era and everything that came after is infinitely worse.
 
If you look at the Destiny album, it's probably Michael's most personal album prior to History. Songs such as Things I Do For You, Bless His Soul, That's What You Get For Being Polite, Destiny aren't only autobiographical in nature, but are great songs that easily could have been on any MJ solo album.

I agree, and I easily put Destiny and Triumph as high as OTW, if not even higher (I prefer the rawer sound of the Jacksons albums, OTW sometimes a bit "sugary" to me). My dream debut MJ album would be a composite of these three, as all have some great songs as well as fillers, so combining the greats and leaving out the fillers would result in a masterpiece. :listeningtomusic

Also it's an interesting question how the song selection was made, as we know from the home demos some songs that ended up on MJ's solo albums had been recorded with the brothers originally. So I'm not even sure there was this big dividing line between MJ's solo work and the Jacksons material at that time.

I feel lots of new fans don't even have the knowledge that these albums exist.

We should give time to new fans, they have a lot to discover. :) I even envy them a bit for this, the discovery phase is always a great experience.


I would put them above History

:scream:

I wouldn't. HIStory is an overlooked masterpiece. Songs like: Earth Song, They Don't Care About Us, Stranger In Moscow or Tabloid Junkie are genius.
And Money, Scream, This Time Around, 2 Bad... Plus it stood the test of time and perhaps even more relevant today.

I love gloomy depressing music but early MJ does shift my mind to be more positive as I have a very pessimistic even depressing personality.

I feel your pain about being pessimistic, haha, but it's great you can shift your mood to be more positive. It's really amazing how music can influence us for the better.
 
I agree, and I easily put Destiny and Triumph as high as OTW, if not even higher (I prefer the rawer sound of the Jacksons albums, OTW sometimes a bit "sugary" to me). My dream debut MJ album would be a composite of these three, as all have some great songs as well as fillers, so combining the greats and leaving out the fillers would result in a masterpiece. :listeningtomusic

Also it's an interesting question how the song selection was made, as we know from the home demos some songs that ended up on MJ's solo albums had been recorded with the brothers originally. So I'm not even sure there was this big dividing line between MJ's solo work and the Jacksons material at that time.

The first half of OTW is funktastic, the second half turns sugary. I have the exact same problem with Dangerous, love the hard New Jack Swing of the first half. That's my problem with all MJ's albums, he always wanted varied albums, I prefer a constant mood or atmosphere. I think Thriller in that regard is his most solid record in terms of songs picked.
 
Also I think the Jacksons or Jackson 5 are basically a live act. I can watch performances every day but I rarely listen to the album records. I don't care much for songs like "all night dancing" or "keep on dancing" or "get it together" on album but live they are energetic and spectacular.
 
A lot of the newer fans don't like Michael Motown J5 period. they like everything after that. though they need to listen to them or at least know the history.
 
A lot of the newer fans don't like Michael Motown J5 period. they lie everything after that. though they need to listen to them or at least know the history.

I couldn't agree more! This part of his career is as important as everything else. But a lot of fans (both new and old), simply choose to ignore this era which is a damn shame
 
I couldn't agree more! This part of his career is as important as everything else. But a lot of fans (both new and old), simply choose to ignore this era which is a damn shame

I don't get it either. i don't know. different taste maybe? not their thing?
 
The first half of OTW is funktastic, the second half turns sugary.

I agree. I could never really think of OTW as an "album" because half of it is a random set of songs for me (fun and enjoyable, but not outstanding songs). Destiny or Triumph are more consistent in this regard. Plus I think even some of the funkiest songs could have been rawer, especially Get On The Floor (which is a fave of mine but still). Sound wise Don't Stop and Workin' Day and Night are the best IMO.

I have the exact same problem with Dangerous, love the hard New Jack Swing of the first half.

I strongly disagree, haha. I guess you mean the slow songs on the B side, but I think they fit into the flow of the album perfectly (not to mention WII and GITM are among the best). Actually for me Dangerous is the most consistent album, every song follows the prevous one effortlessly, thematically and music wise as well.

That's my problem with all MJ's albums, he always wanted varied albums, I prefer a constant mood or atmosphere. I think Thriller in that regard is his most solid record in terms of songs picked.

I half-agree. :D Thriller's set list is indeed the most perfect (if we excuse the inclusion of TGIM :p), but i'ts wisely picked in a way to be consistent but very varied at the same time. It's no surprise it's the most popular album, it's well deserved (even though it's far from being my favourites).

Also I think the Jacksons or Jackson 5 are basically a live act. I can watch performances every day but I rarely listen to the album records. I don't care much for songs like "all night dancing" or "keep on dancing" or "get it together" on album but live they are energetic and spectacular.

Very good observation! I love the J5, but their albums come with a lot of fillers and treating the group as only a "boyband" really limited their potentials. As a result my faves often happen to be their amazing remakes of the great Motown classics rather then their original songs.

As a live act though! :punk: They rocked! Very energetic performances at the same level as the rock shows of the time. If I had a time machine one goal certainly would be to attend a J5 show. :D
 
I don't get it either. i don't know. different taste maybe? not their thing?
Perhaps because the J5 albums are uneven, and the Best Ofs aren't necessarily much better either, as the hits weren't always the best songs, so people would have to go through a lot of material to find the real gems?

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the J5, but even from the start I did my own best ofs (in casette days :D) and I listened to those compilations instead of the original albums. But I agree that those fans who ignore the J5 are missing out.

Releasing J5 live performances could certainly raise interest towards them, but I don't know how many concert were recorded. :(
 
Mike's vocal delivery when he sings ''Every little thing you find here, is simply for the thrill you're after'' on Torture give me chills. One of his best vocal deliveries ever
 
Mike's vocal delivery when he sings ''Every little thing you find here, is simply for the thrill you're after'' on Torture give me chills. One of his best vocal deliveries ever

Seriously. I think Torture is one the Jacksons most underrated songs.
 
Seriously. I think Torture is one the Jacksons most underrated songs.

I think a lot of people put it down because of the freaky music video. People need to ignore the video and just listen to the song itself, cause it's fantastic.
 
I think a lot of people put it down because of the freaky music video. People need to ignore the video and just listen to the song itself, cause it's fantastic.

That is true. I actually watched it the other day on youtube. Man I remember that video used to scare the bejesus of out of me. What was up with that video anyway with all the symbolism and stuff?
 
That is true. I actually watched it the other day on youtube. Man I remember that video used to scare the bejesus of out of me. What was up with that video anyway with all the symbolism and stuff?

What do you mean by symbolism? Don't you tell me you believe in the Illuminati stuff lol

btw I love the Destiny and Triumph albums. They are masterpieces.
 
Why does the happiness put you off?

It's just my taste. The first two Jacksons albums also have rather generic music writing... kind of 'ok' elevator background music. :D
It's not that I hate those albums, they're just not great.


Lol thats because it's after otw

I know.


I think a lot of people put it down because of the freaky music video. People need to ignore the video and just listen to the song itself, cause it's fantastic.

That would be rather faint hearted people then? The video is nice. Classic mid 80s VHS horror type of feel. Just freaky for the fact that they had to use an MJ doll. :D
Great song btw.
 
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Indeed. His first solo album is Got To Be There NOT Off The Wall

Meh it's nitpicking, all of those songs could have been released on Jackson 5 albums; It's just a moneygrab from a hit making machine (Motown). If Ben was released as let's say the 8th single of the Jackson 5 it wouldn't have reached nr 1. By 1972 the Jackson 5 singles sold less, not because of lesser quality but because of the novelty factor that wore off.
 
One Jackson 5 song I always loved that was never a single is "you've changed". As for Motown solo I love "we've got forever".
 
I think a lot of people put it down because of the freaky music video. People need to ignore the video and just listen to the song itself, cause it's fantastic.

The song from the album sounds different to me compared to the video version. The video version sounds more spooky and I like it more than the album version.
 
12"

The song from the album sounds different to me compared to the video version. The video version sounds more spooky and I like it more than the album version.
The version in the video is from the maxi single. It has Jackie's adlibs from the original version. Torture was originally a duet with Jackie & Mike. Jermaine was not involved with the Victory album at first and is why he didn't write anything for it or have a solo lead. Jermaine was doing his own album which came out around the same time as Victory. When he rejoined the group later in the sessions, he replaced Jackie's lead part.
 
Mike's vocal delivery when he sings ''Every little thing you find here, is simply for the thrill you're after'' on Torture give me chills. One of his best vocal deliveries ever

I couldn't agree more. I listen to Torture just for Michael's part that starts from "She was up a stair to nowhere." I am not a fan of Jermaine's part in the song, so I just skip to Michael's part when I play Torture.
 
Perhaps because the J5 albums are uneven, and the Best Ofs aren't necessarily much better either, as the hits weren't always the best songs, so people would have to go through a lot of material to find the real gems?

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the J5, but even from the start I did my own best ofs (in casette days :D) and I listened to those compilations instead of the original albums. But I agree that those fans who ignore the J5 are missing out.

Releasing J5 live performances could certainly raise interest towards them, but I don't know how many concert were recorded. :(

J5 had a lot of good songs to me. though like you said they would probably dig deep to find them. maybe they not willing to do that. funny they do it to Michael why not his early days? maybe they just not in to it though that's history. when Michael was alive. he always did the old Motown songs in concerts etc because he knew where he came from and never forgot it.

I don't know. but it's sad that his Motown old songs are not being recognize today. I wouldn't call them outdated or anything. some of them sounds like they could be made today. or maybe I just have an old soul. hahaha.

last year they did rerelease some of J5 records etc. some people brought them to add to their collection.

so there are people who do listen to J5 songs just not, many? I guess?

I think if they did release some concerts people probably be more interests in them.

Keep in mind they was a boyband. so most of their fans was really teenagers during the time. though that's not saying they had adult fans as well. they had a mixer of both. :)
 
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