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Don't Stop Til You Get Enough - Song Discussion

Themidwestcowboy

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I’m piggyback riding off of Analogue’s Another Part of Me Thread. Can we just take a moment to appraise and appreciate Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough? I fracking loove that song! The way intro builds up, the composition, his vocals, the arrangement, his deep vocals, his ad-libs. This song is perfection! So soulful.

I really never payed attention to the lyrics and it’s meaning until lately, and now i realize that this song has a powerful message as well.

Heartbreak Enemy Despise
Eternal (Ah Eternal)
Love Shines In My Eyes (Ooh)
So Let Love Take Us Through The Hours
I Won't Be Complanin' (No No)
'Cause Your Love Is Alright, Alright

Great lyrics!

And look at the charts! Very impressive for being the first single of his first adult solo record, And it won him a grammy for best male R&B Vocal performance! This song is in my top 5 all time favorite songs.



Australia (Kent Music Report) #1
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) #11
Belgium (Ultratop) #1
Canadian RPM Dance Music #1
Canadian RPM Top Singles #3
Denmark (Tracklisten) #1
Germany (Official Charts) #13
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) #2
Netherlands (Single Top 100) #2
Irish Singles Chart #10
New Zealand #1
Norway (VG-lista) #1
South African Chart #1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) #2
Switzerland (Hitparade) #4
UK (Official Charts) #3
US Billboard Hot 100 #1
US Dance Club Play #2
US Hot R&B Singles #1
 
First let me comment on the parent album. Off The Wall - the greatest disco-infused album, it is both the most critically acclaimed (ranked number #68 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time) and commercially successful disco-infused album worldwide with 20 million copies. It's the kind of album in which it's genre means less to it's listeners. It's the kind of album that can be excused for it's genre. People may not like disco but have no problem listening to Off The Wall. It is a timeless classic. It defines disco tropes. It's really a proto-dance music album before dance music existed.

As for the first track, lead single and his first adult solo recording that shot number #1 and won him his first grammy; What can I say, this recording really illustrates all his key (signature strengths) elements of arrangement/production that made MJ's songs distinct from most other pop/R&B/funk/uptempo songs:

Memorable intro/outro
complex rhythm/percussion arrangement
Instrumental solo (guitar in this case)
Harmonic layers
Lyrical Dissonance (to some degree)
 
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Funkystrong said:
First let me comment on the parent album. Off The Wall - the greatest disco-infused album, it is both the most critically acclaimed (ranked number #68 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time) and commercially successful disco-infused album worldwide with 20 million copies. It's the kind of album in which it's genre means less to it's listeners. It's the kind of album that can be excused for it's genre. People may not like disco but have no problem listening to Off The Wall. It is a timeless classic. It defines disco tropes. It's really a proto-dance music album before dance music existed.

As for the first track, lead single and his first adult solo recording that shot number #1 and won him his first grammy; What can I say, this recording really illustrates all his key (signature strengths) elements of arrangement/production that made MJ's songs distinct from most other pop/R&B/funk/uptempo songs:

Memorable intro/outro
complex rhythm/percussion arrangement
Instrumental solo (guitar in this case)
Harmonic layers
Lyrical Dissonance (to some degree)
Click to expand...

Exactly! You hit the nail on the head. I'pt's amazing to see how much this song (and album), has influenced a lot of artists and producers. I can hear some elements of it in timbalands compositions and in pharrell's, Bruno Mars and Justin timberlake's music. The rhythm percussion arrangement is so great!

I always wondered what type of music video treatment DSTYGE would have had had it been released on the next album.
 
Great song, one of my faves on the album. The intro is the best intro ever IMO. :D
 
respect77 said:
Great song, one of my faves on the album. The intro is the best intro ever IMO. :D
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Indeed! I thought it was a pretty bold move by MJ at the time to start of his album with his own written song and have it as a first single, but its a banger there was no other choice :p

I wonder though, with the OTW 35 release on the horizon, do you think the song can re-enter the US billboard charts? I have seen it's resurgence on the charts 2006, 2008 and 2009. Though most of it was outside of the states.

How popular is the song on spotify?
 
I wish he did an alternate version where he wasn't doing a falsetto the whole song. I love the song don't get me wrong, but I was never a fan of his falsetto, it sounded weak compared to his normal voice.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
How popular is the song on spotify?
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I just made a post about Michael's Spotify performance here: http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/threads/134848-The-Michael-Jackson-Chart-Watch/page8

DSTYGE is at #14. It's the most popular song from Off The Wall.

I think for any old song to become a chart hit again you either need some movie or meme that is making it popular (like when Billie Jean charted last year due to that kid's dancing going viral) or you need to make it into a "duet" with some current artist. I am not sure I'd want the latter.
 
Great song and I listen it very often. I really like how it ends. It doesn't just fade out like normally.
 
It's one of the best outros I've ever heard. I'm always amazed by it. I say to my boys, "Listen to how this ends. It's incredible." Love the intro and ad libs, too.
 
respect77 said:
I just made a post about Michael's Spotify performance here: http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/threads/134848-The-Michael-Jackson-Chart-Watch/page8

DSTYGE is at #14. It's the most popular song from Off The Wall.

I think for any old song to become a chart hit again you either need some movie or meme that is making it popular (like when Billie Jean charted last year due to that kid's dancing going viral) or you need to make it into a "duet" with some current artist. I am not sure I'd want the latter.
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Maybe Spike's doc-if done properly without a billion commercials-will make it hit the charts again!!!!
 
I agree totally and yet no one has mentioned the video, with Michael in his outfit perfecting some of his early dance steps smiling all the way. But I will reiterate everything you have all said. There could not be a better single choice on any album. It was the song that set up Adult Michael Jackson as a bankable entity and a performer who did not need his brothers to make a splash. The song is seamless and I can remember it as a 3 year old (Not well as it was Rock with you, that got me into MJ).

Besides the great boogoe beat, Jackson's seamless shift from the falsetto the deep voice is amazing and the melody, beat and creamy vocals just bring it all together. It is much better than the less successful, but still important breakthrough of a similar artist in that year. In a way the song "I wanna be your lover" by 21 year old Prince is a carbon copy of DSTYGE in some ways with more instruments. Even rolling stone said Prince sounded like Michael Jackson with bigger balls. The melody and falsetto is truly Jacksonian, but less good. The song still was #11 on the charts and #1 Black, and sold a million copies, but MJ's hit sold 3 million copies.

Thats enough Prince, sorry, but I feel if Don't stop hadn't hit in Aug 1979, Lover would not have hit in October 1979. Then again Prince had nbot had years of childhood success. Still "Off the wall" was a revolutionary album and possibly the greatest solo debut by anyone. MJ felt slighted it only won one grammy for a "Black" category and it was this reason he wanted Thriller to be the huge crossover smash it was. Still the quality of OTW sold itself with 10 million albums and 4 Top 10 hits. I love all of it even "It's the falling in love" and "Girlfriend". One of the best tracks is Workin Day and Night and of course Burnthis disco out. That is what he did with it.

Off the Wall is my 2nd favourite album after only Dangerous, but given when it was released and the stage at his career, it seems greater. Keep the love for it flowin, because power is the force of love, that makes it happen.
 
respect77 said:
Great song, one of my faves on the album. The intro is the best intro ever IMO. :D
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Good God yes. Once the music kicks in, it's a solid 15 seconds of the utmost bliss. I remember when I was young (I was a very casual MJ fan at that time, only had HIStory), I made a cartoon and in it, a man tries to win back the love of his life by singing and dancing to this song in a manner similar to the music video. Unfortunately, it didn't really work for him but it was pretty funny :p
 
dewey said:
It's one of the best outros I've ever heard. I'm always amazed by it. I say to my boys, "Listen to how this ends. It's incredible." Love the intro and ad libs, too.
Click to expand...

Galactus123 said:
Great song and I listen it very often. I really like how it ends. It doesn't just fade out like normally.
Click to expand...

As MJ was once quoted as saying himself about it: "Guitars chopping like kalimbas, the African thumb piano".

barbee0715 said:
Maybe Spike's doc-if done properly without a billion commercials-will make it hit the charts again!!!!
Click to expand...

Good idea, but I don't recall there being any sort of resurgence in any Bad era songs from Bad25.

mjprince1976 said:
I agree totally and yet no one has mentioned the video, with Michael in his outfit perfecting some of his early dance steps smiling all the way. But I will reiterate everything you have all said. There could not be a better single choice on any album. It was the song that set up Adult Michael Jackson as a bankable entity and a performer who did not need his brothers to make a splash. The song is seamless and I can remember it as a 3 year old (Not well as it was Rock with you, that got me into MJ).

Besides the great boogoe beat, Jackson's seamless shift from the falsetto the deep voice is amazing and the melody, beat and creamy vocals just bring it all together. It is much better than the less successful, but still important breakthrough of a similar artist in that year. In a way the song "I wanna be your lover" by 21 year old Prince is a carbon copy of DSTYGE in some ways with more instruments. Even rolling stone said Prince sounded like Michael Jackson with bigger balls. The melody and falsetto is truly Jacksonian, but less good. The song still was #11 on the charts and #1 Black, and sold a million copies, but MJ's hit sold 3 million copies.

Thats enough Prince, sorry, but I feel if Don't stop hadn't hit in Aug 1979, Lover would not have hit in October 1979. Then again Prince had nbot had years of childhood success. Still "Off the wall" was a revolutionary album and possibly the greatest solo debut by anyone. MJ felt slighted it only won one grammy for a "Black" category and it was this reason he wanted Thriller to be the huge crossover smash it was. Still the quality of OTW sold itself with 10 million albums and 4 Top 10 hits. I love all of it even "It's the falling in love" and "Girlfriend". One of the best tracks is Workin Day and Night and of course Burnthis disco out. That is what he did with it.

Off the Wall is my 2nd favourite album after only Dangerous, but given when it was released and the stage at his career, it seems greater. Keep the love for it flowin, because power is the force of love, that makes it happen.
Click to expand...

Prince never hid his his appreciation for MJ and his music. In fact, how could he not, he was born in the same year (1958) as Mj, so unless he was living under a rock, he practically grew up listen to the Jackson Five/Jacksons. There was no way for him to have escaped the influence of the man and his music.

Even those songs as sappy as some consider them, are more than listenable because MJ slayed those tracks with his killer vocals.
 
Funkystrong said:
As MJ was once quoted as saying himself about it: "Guitars chopping like kalimbas, the African thumb piano".



Good idea, but I don't recall there being any sort of resurgence in any Bad era songs from Bad25.
Click to expand...
Key is "if done properly". Bad 25 wasn't released at the same time as the doc. And the doc was shown on TV on thanksgiving, all cut up with a billion commercials, at the same time most of America was watching the biggest football game of the year.

I love the way Michael describes the song in his book. Crazy about the song and always have been. The video is perfection as well.
 
470man said:
I wish he did an alternate version where he wasn't doing a falsetto the whole song. I love the song don't get me wrong, but I was never a fan of his falsetto, it sounded weak compared to his normal voice.
Click to expand...

Blasphemy!
 
Prince never hid his his appreciation for MJ and his music. In fact, how could he not, he was born in the same year (1958) as Mj, so unless he was living under a rock, he practically grew up listen to the Jackson Five/Jacksons. There was no way for him to have escaped the influence of the man and his music.

Even those songs as sappy as some consider them, are more than listenable because MJ slayed those tracks with his killer vocals. [/QUOTE]


So True, but Prince was just as competitive and in my opinion (As a huge Prince fan) totally rude and disrespectful towards MJ. Prince did copy MJ in some ways but in others I think it was the other way around. Michael's singing and dancing wowed Prince and MJ was jealous that Prince played so many instruments and produced all his own music along with other artists like the Time and Vanity 6.

It was true that even in Prince's first group (Grand Central/Shampayne/Soul Explosion), the covers they did included Jackson 5 songs and Prince often did Michael's vocals with his friends Andre and Morris doing the Jermaine/Jackie and backing vocals. Plus Prince loved the percussion on OTW and copied the coke bottle style percussion from "Don't Stop til you get enough" on the Time Song "Cool" off their 1981 album (The Time were a funk band and were essentially a Prince satellite, under the name Jamie Starr).

Plus at the end of the day, why is it that so many of us Prince fans are also huge Michael Jackson fans. the mods at Prince.org are forever having to shut down duplicate MJ threads and several Princeorgers have MJ related names or MJ signatures. MJ mania is everywhere. I mainly joined here as I like to talk about Michael Jackson for a change.

The song "Don't stop til you get enough" influenced a whole bunch of people, Donna Summer's "Love is in control" is a clear OTW style rip off with Jacksonian backing vocals and several other Rand B acts also followed up with Jacksonian like stuff including one of my favourites the Barkays (Borrow kays).
 
Hi Respect 77

I read about in several Prince biographies. The feeling was mutual and in reality their relationship was one of quiet respect and mutual rivalry. Prince is a generally heartless person and I along with other Prince fans was disgusted at his general lack of sympathy at the time of his death, although later he said "It is always sad when you lose someone you love" and quoted one of his backing singers having a youthful MJ sound.

MJ was actually in awe of Purple Rain and Prince's achievements with instruments and productions, he also looked to Paisley Park as a model for Nation records (Even though Paisley never had hits, it released a lot of albums ranging from Prince proteges down to acts like Good Question and Dale Bozzio who had nothing to do with Prince himself). At the same time MJ did not like Prince's open use of sexuality and his disrespect of women. It seemed Prince was too worldly for him then. Of course now the squeaky clean JW Prince would really be his cup of tea. MJ may have been angry that it was Prince's ineherent "sinfulness" that made him a star and the ability to manage acts.

Both were influenced heavily by a 1980 movie about a man who managed the career of several of his own invented pop stars based on the manager of Frankie Avalon (The Idolmaker). Prince had heaps of proteges, but Michael had none, only trying to manage 3T who pretty much faded away after the first album and Brownstone were also a Nation act I think.

And also, as great a performers, dancer, singer and songwriter MJ was, he had to hire people to play guitars, drums, bass, keyboards and synths on his music and have Quincy, Rodney or Teddy as producer. Prince did all that stuff himself and taught his bands the parts they played. Michael had to pay for all that. But overall MJ left more magical and higher quality music. No Prince dance track could match a song like Beat It, Billie Jean, DSTYGE, TWYMMF (Many come close, but MJ set the ballpark with his music).
 
mjprince1976 said:
And also, as great a performers, dancer, singer and songwriter MJ was, he had to hire people to play guitars, drums, bass, keyboards and synths on his music and have Quincy, Rodney or Teddy as producer. Prince did all that stuff himself and taught his bands the parts they played. Michael had to pay for all that. But overall MJ left more magical and higher quality music. No Prince dance track could match a song like Beat It, Billie Jean, DSTYGE, TWYMMF (Many come close, but MJ set the ballpark with his music).
Click to expand...

MJ was not an instrumentalist, and he didn't need to be. And MJ did produce songs all by himself. So if he wanted to he could have produced an entire album by himself, but he enjoyed collaborating with outside producers
 
I don't think MJ was "jealous" of Prince, but he did seem to respect Prince a lot.

Michael may not have played tons of instruments, but his beatboxing covered that up very easily. For example, in Tabloid Junkie, he beatboxed the kick, snare, hats and many other instruments. In Who Is It, Billie Jean, Streetwalker and many other songs he even did the base as well as the kicks and snares, synths and chords through beatboxing. Plus, he was the producer/co-producer of almost all of his tracks.

I don't know who copied who and frankly I couldn't care less. But the point is who did it better. However, that is a matter of opinion but Don't Stop Till You Get Enough was more successful than either of the two singles you mentioned And this was before he aimed at being "bigger" and not "better", as many people in Prince.org are claiming what Michael was doing during and after Thriller.
 
respect77 said:
How do you know that MJ was jealous of that?
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Exactly. MJ WAS the instrument. All the sounds of the strings and percussion and rhythm arrangements were the product of his imagination. It was his imagination that birthed arguably the greatest danceable recordings of all time.
 
mjprince1976 said:
Hi Respect 77

I read about in several Prince biographies. The feeling was mutual and in reality their relationship was one of quiet respect and mutual rivalry. Prince is a generally heartless person and I along with other Prince fans was disgusted at his general lack of sympathy at the time of his death, although later he said "It is always sad when you lose someone you love" and quoted one of his backing singers having a youthful MJ sound.

MJ was actually in awe of Purple Rain and Prince's achievements with instruments and productions, he also looked to Paisley Park as a model for Nation records (Even though Paisley never had hits, it released a lot of albums ranging from Prince proteges down to acts like Good Question and Dale Bozzio who had nothing to do with Prince himself). At the same time MJ did not like Prince's open use of sexuality and his disrespect of women. It seemed Prince was too worldly for him then. Of course now the squeaky clean JW Prince would really be his cup of tea. MJ may have been angry that it was Prince's ineherent "sinfulness" that made him a star and the ability to manage acts.

Both were influenced heavily by a 1980 movie about a man who managed the career of several of his own invented pop stars based on the manager of Frankie Avalon (The Idolmaker). Prince had heaps of proteges, but Michael had none, only trying to manage 3T who pretty much faded away after the first album and Brownstone were also a Nation act I think.

And also, as great a performers, dancer, singer and songwriter MJ was, he had to hire people to play guitars, drums, bass, keyboards and synths on his music and have Quincy, Rodney or Teddy as producer. Prince did all that stuff himself and taught his bands the parts they played. Michael had to pay for all that. But overall MJ left more magical and higher quality music. No Prince dance track could match a song like Beat It, Billie Jean, DSTYGE, TWYMMF (Many come close, but MJ set the ballpark with his music).
Click to expand...

Oh I see, so because it was written in someone else's biography we should treat it like the gospel? Cause it's not like people fabricate and exaggerate stories when it comes to MJ or anything..
 
mjprince1976 said:
Hi Respect 77

I read about in several Prince biographies. The feeling was mutual and in reality their relationship was one of quiet respect and mutual rivalry.
Click to expand...

I know that they respected each other and I am sure MJ respected Prince's ability to play multiple instruments but to say he was jealous of it sounds like an invention on the part of those Prince biographers. I don't think MJ had the ambition to be a multi-instrumentalist like Prince. If he had I am sure he could have learnt to play several instruments as well, after all he had musical talent and the rest is a matter of practice. He just did not seem to be interested in that. Prince took special pride in being able to do everything on an album, to MJ that was simply not important IMO.

Prince did all that stuff himself and taught his bands the parts they played.
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When Michael wrote songs he actually did the same: he sang and beatboxed and explained to them what he wanted them to play.
And at the end of the day Prince had other musicians on his albums too (even though theoretically he could have played all, or almost all of the instruments himself). And those other musicians contributed to how his albums sounded.
 
Speaking of songwriting, I've always wondered how much input a person has to give until they are credit as a co-composer. For example, when MJ was composing ''Who Is It'' Brad Buxer added chords to it, but he never got a co-composer credit. Same thing with Stranger In Moscow.
 
analogue said:
Speaking of songwriting, I've always wondered how much input a person has to give until they are credit as a co-composer. For example, when MJ was composing ''Who Is It'' Brad Buxer added chords to it, but he never got a co-composer credit. Same thing with Stranger In Moscow.
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You mean to tell me songwriting credit is more than just the lyrics?
 
Michael never admitted jealousy about Prince doing many instruments... My guess would be he was a bit envious of the capability but I don't think he obviously did not care enough to do anything about it. We are talking about Michael Jackson, a man that when he saw something he wanted to learn he got the best in the business and learned it.. I think he prided himself as being an instrument of music and knew that when it comes to physical instruments why fully learn them if he was not going to be the best at it..

Him being a perfectionist I would assume he'd think, "I could learn how to play guitar pretty well, but why play guitar pretty well when I want the BEST on my music..?"

Some people pride themselves over what they can do, but wanting perfection you have to know your weaknesses as much as your strengths.. And we don't know how good MJ was at instrumentals, we know he did a bit of piano and drum.

Many people did not know that Michael actually studied tap dance... But he did! And he's known for dance.. He had many hidden gifts, many we will never know of
 
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