Happy Birthday Off The Wall - Michael's Jackson's fifth studio album

qbee

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Some of my favorite songs come from Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" Album, including the ones featured here "Rock With You", " She's Out Of My Life" and Don't Stop Till You get Enough". You know the force it's got a lot of power. I certainly don't plan to stop and I can never get enough Michael Jackson. Enjoy !
Off The Wall Vinyl Album Cover 1979

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Off the Wall' Michael's fifth studio album was released August 10, 1979 by Epic Records. Five singles were released from the album, three with music videos. Michael wrote three of the songs himself, including the Platinum-certified lead single, "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"


The album was a commercial success and by 1981, Michael&#8217;s Off The Wall album had sold an incredible 5 million copies. Today it is seen as one of Michael Jackson&#8217;s most important records. He had become the first artist in history to generate four number one singles off an album. He had also sold more records than any artist at a time when the record industry was experiencing a major slump in sales.


Several critics observed that the album 'Off the Wall' was crafted from funk, disco, soft rock, jazz and pop ballads and Michael received positive reviews for his vocal performance on the record.


The album also caught the attention of Michael&#8217;s peers and Michael won his first Grammy award as a solo performer for &#8220;Best R & B Performance&#8221; for &#8220;Don&#8217;t Stop Till You Get Enough&#8221;. In the same month, Michael attended the American Music Awards and collected three more awards for the album: &#8220;Favourite Soul Album&#8221;, &#8220;Favourite Male Artist&#8221; and &#8220;Favourite Soul Single&#8221; for &#8220;Don&#8217;t Stop Till You Get Enough&#8221;. Michael also won four Billboard Awards for the album



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The album had started a 9 year partnership with producer Quincy Jones and had displayed Michael&#8217;s amazing song writing and vocal skills. The best was yet to come, as Michael was soon back in the studio, creating the biggest selling album of all time.

On October 16, 2001, a special edition reissue of Off the Wall was released by Sony Records. Reviews by AllMusic and Blender have continued to praise Off the Wall for its appeal in the 21st century.





2001 Featurette of the Off The Wall Special Edition release.
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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.


To date Off The Wall is certified for 8× Multi-Platinum in the US and sold more than 20 million copies


"OFF THE WALL" Track List


1. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
2. Rock With You
3. Workin' Day and Night
4. Get On The Floor
5.Off The Wall
6. Girlfriend
7. She's Out Of My Life
8. I Can't Help It
9. It's The Falling In Love
10. Burn This Disco Out



Singles released with short films

On July 28th 1979, Michael released the first single from the forthcoming album; &#8220;Don&#8217;t Stop Till You Get Enough&#8221;. The song was solely written by Michael and featured a spoken intro, a surprising falsetto voice and amazing percussion by Michael and his brother Randy. The song was released with a bright music video that featured Michael dancing in triplicate in the song&#8217;s bridge. It was his first &#8220;short film&#8221; and it was directed by Nick Saxon. The song went to number 1 in the US and Australia and was a top 10 hit in 6 countries
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In November 1979, the second single form the album, &#8220;Rock With You&#8221; was released. The music video, directed by Bruce Gowers, featured Michael in an all-sequinned suit and boots. The song quickly became a number one hit on the US charts. Apart from &#8220;Rock With You&#8221; becoming one of 1980&#8217;s first number one hits, the Off The Wall album sales shot up and quickly became the third best selling album of 1980.

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The fourth single released from Off The Wall landed Michael in the record books. &#8220;She&#8217;s Out of My Life&#8221; was an emotional ballad, accompanied by a simple music video, again directed by Bruce Gowers. The song itself required several takes as Michael would break down with emotion at the end of the song. The emotion was eventually left in and the song reached number 10 on the US chart and became a top 20 hit in four countries.

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Live Performances


Amazing Performance of Rock With You - Live at Wembley 1988

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A beautiful performance "She's Out Of My Life" Live at Wembley 1988

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In 1996, Michael Jackson performed an Off The Wall Medley on his History Tour.
Lip sync or not I don't care, this was HOTT!! Listen to the crowd scream.

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Off The Wall Era Pictures

Michael Jackson photo shoot for Off The Wall Album Cover







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"You know that love Survive so we can Rock Forever"

~ Michael Jackson


 
you missed working day and night for live performances dear :) off the wall is a monumental piece of music history, a defining symbol into the creative wisdom that is michael jackson. his first major solo record, away from his brother's with the jackson 5. each song has a different meaning, that makes it mesmerically perfect, i'll always love this album. it'll be fresh for hundreds-thousands of years to come :heart:



L.O.V.E
 
Happy Birthday OTW! Thanks for nicely organising a lot of material from then, to celebrate I think I'll be re-watching all of them. :)

Oh and on that topic, I think my favourite song from OTW was "Rock With You" but "She's Out of My Life" brought a strong emotional feeling to me. I still cry when I watch the music video. :cry: "Girlfriend" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" are also some of my favs (but I love them all!) :D
 
I love this album. Still highly influential. Just take a look around on the charts today. Justin Timberlake, Pharell Williams, Daft Punk, Bruno Mars etc. - 34 years on you can still see the influence of this album everywhere! People still try to emulate its sound, the feeling it conveys. Though it's part disco but it wasn't the typical, cliché disco album. It was much more sophisticated and original than that. It was a class of its own.

My favorite songs are Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Get On The Floor, Workin' Day and Night, She's Out of My Life, Off The Wall. Amazing, amazing album!
 
I LOOOOOOOOVE this era. I love this album! Michael's creative juices were totally flowing!
It was the beginning of the MaJic. I still jam to it.
Thirty-four years later this record still lives up to it's title.
Congrats and happy birthday OTW!! :D
 
Lol! Who's that?

LOL I was just about to say that, that ain't MJ ! :p

Any one have any idea where to find these photos in high-res ?
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Seriously, I've wanted to know for years but never found any big ones.

Happy Birthday Off the Wall :D
 
Lol! Who's that?

That That is Josh Freeman. He also posed for the Thriller Cover For a Music Issue of ESPN Magazine, photographer Mattias Clamer created portraits of 14 famous athletes in the style of iconic album cover photos. Clamer paid a huge amount of attention to detail, which resulted in many of the photos looking nearly identical to the covers they were meant to recreate.
http://petapixel.com/2013/02/11/famous-album-cover-photos-recreated-with-famous-athletes/
 
Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough, She's Out Of My Life, Off The Wall and Girlfriend are my faves! :D

Happy Birthday Off The Wall, Michael's first step to make history!

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I realized what seduction was for the first time when I closed my eyes and listened to "Rock with You"-back in '79. I still listen to "Off the Wall" a few times a week and watch the "Off the Wall" video with the pants and fringe at least once a week. I love and adore this album.
 
Oh you mean the live performance.
Yes, I love to watch him performing that one too. Makes me all happy and excited.
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I've been looking for the complete performance of DSTYGE live....the one where he's
wearing the black suit with the white shirt....he spins then he's on his toes and puts his hand
on his forehead. I'm finding only a snippet right now.
 
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Amaaaaaaaazing album! I love so many songs, if not all of them. My favorites are Rock with you, Get on the Floor, Girlfriend, I can't help it, WDAN :heart: especially the live versions of some :D thanks for putting this up! We'll keep on with the force for as long as we live, Michael! :heart:
 
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