Psychoniff
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http://www.rollingstone.com/music/l...4/the-jackson-5-i-want-you-back-1969-20150923
1. The Jackson 5, "I Want You Back" (1969)
Sure, the soaring strings on the Jackson 5's first Motown single skip along like carefree first-graders, and the thumping bassline is one of pop's closest appropriations of the heartbeat. But the real hero of "I Want You Back" is Michael Jackson, then still a preteen but blessed with a voice and interpretive skill that could turn a desperate attempt to rekindle romance (originally thought of as a Gladys Knight or Diana Ross vehicle) into something visceral and joyous. Jackson's octave-leaping tour de force established him as a star almost as soon as the song's first 45 was pressed
2. The Jackson 5, "I'll Be There" (1970)
"'I'll Be There' was our real breakthrough song," Michael Jackson, who didn't know what a harpsichord was until he heard the track's demo, wrote in his memoir. "It was the one that said, 'We're here to stay.'" On the ballad, the young singer gives the most astounding performance of his preteens, skating and yelping and handing things off to older brother Jermaine. Recorded in the summer of 1970, "I'll Be There" went to Number One by early fall, becoming not just the Jackson 5's fourth chart-topper of the year but Motown's then all-time best-seller.
7. The Jackson 5, "ABC" (1970)
The Jackson 5 finished recording their debut album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, in August of 1969. Before the month was over they were already back in the studio: Lead single "I Want You Back" seemed like a sure thing and Berry Gordy needed a follow-up ready. Hence "ABC," the sound-alike single that would knock the Beatles' "Let It Be" off the top of the charts less than seven months later. For a preteen Michael Jackson, it was a thrill just to watch songwriting team the Corporation come up with parts of the tune — the old-school "shake it, shake it, baby" bit, for instance — on the spot. "I loved 'ABC' from the first moment I heard it,'" he said. "I had more enthusiasm for that than I did for 'I Want You Back.'"
20. The Jackson 5, "The Love You Save" (1970)
When Berry Gordy signed the Jackson 5 to Motown, his intention was for the group to open with three Number One singles. Following "I Want You Back" and "ABC," "The Love You Save" completed the feat in less than a year — and Gordy's songwriting team, the Corporation, didn't even have to change the formula. Said the Corporation's Deke Richards, "The only difference was we just had to come up with a new punch and groove for the beginning and a new, different structure for the verse." Explained his teammate Fred Perren, "There was a little play between Jermaine and Michael, we always tried to get that in there. We had a little list of things, a checklist."
1. The Jackson 5, "I Want You Back" (1969)
Sure, the soaring strings on the Jackson 5's first Motown single skip along like carefree first-graders, and the thumping bassline is one of pop's closest appropriations of the heartbeat. But the real hero of "I Want You Back" is Michael Jackson, then still a preteen but blessed with a voice and interpretive skill that could turn a desperate attempt to rekindle romance (originally thought of as a Gladys Knight or Diana Ross vehicle) into something visceral and joyous. Jackson's octave-leaping tour de force established him as a star almost as soon as the song's first 45 was pressed
2. The Jackson 5, "I'll Be There" (1970)
"'I'll Be There' was our real breakthrough song," Michael Jackson, who didn't know what a harpsichord was until he heard the track's demo, wrote in his memoir. "It was the one that said, 'We're here to stay.'" On the ballad, the young singer gives the most astounding performance of his preteens, skating and yelping and handing things off to older brother Jermaine. Recorded in the summer of 1970, "I'll Be There" went to Number One by early fall, becoming not just the Jackson 5's fourth chart-topper of the year but Motown's then all-time best-seller.
7. The Jackson 5, "ABC" (1970)
The Jackson 5 finished recording their debut album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, in August of 1969. Before the month was over they were already back in the studio: Lead single "I Want You Back" seemed like a sure thing and Berry Gordy needed a follow-up ready. Hence "ABC," the sound-alike single that would knock the Beatles' "Let It Be" off the top of the charts less than seven months later. For a preteen Michael Jackson, it was a thrill just to watch songwriting team the Corporation come up with parts of the tune — the old-school "shake it, shake it, baby" bit, for instance — on the spot. "I loved 'ABC' from the first moment I heard it,'" he said. "I had more enthusiasm for that than I did for 'I Want You Back.'"
20. The Jackson 5, "The Love You Save" (1970)
When Berry Gordy signed the Jackson 5 to Motown, his intention was for the group to open with three Number One singles. Following "I Want You Back" and "ABC," "The Love You Save" completed the feat in less than a year — and Gordy's songwriting team, the Corporation, didn't even have to change the formula. Said the Corporation's Deke Richards, "The only difference was we just had to come up with a new punch and groove for the beginning and a new, different structure for the verse." Explained his teammate Fred Perren, "There was a little play between Jermaine and Michael, we always tried to get that in there. We had a little list of things, a checklist."
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