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Songs That Aren't By Michael But Sound Like A Michael Song

One of my favourites is

"Love is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" by Donna Summer ofher 1982 album
There are numerous Prince songs that sound like MJ like
I wanna be your lover, Thunder, Raspberry Beret, Automatic, DMSR, Take me with u, U got the look amongst others, he really is MJ with bigger balls and racier lyrics back in the 1980s.
 
Also Uptown Funk the Bruno Mars and Ronson song is a tribute to Prince more than MJ, but both I think. Prince's proteges The Time also had a MJ like sound on their first albums, MJ ballads with more sex like Girl, I don't want to leave u, After Hi School and the song Cool even uses the percussion (Coke bottles) from Don't stop til u get enough. The Time was more dancable funk that Prince did not want to release with his own group. Remember that the Time originally had Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the production duo behind Janet Jackson's Control and RN1814 albums, Prince fired them in March 1983 when they were doing outside production work for the SOS Band (Another MJ soundalike) in Atlanta and got trapped in a freak snowstorm which caused them to miss their parts in a Time show (Also Prince's tour) and Prince played keyboards and Brown Mark of the revolution filled Lewis's bass playing shoes.

Part of the reason I push Prince so hard here (And Michael on the prince.org) is because they have a similar sound in some of their songs and I love this pop/funk/dance sound they do.
 
Bar Kays ~ Dirty Dancer

This song came out in 1984 and the original album it came from was called Dangerous. :)
 
Manhattan Transfer ~ Spice Of Life

This doesn't sound like a Mike song per se. A lot of songs had this sound back then in the late 1970s & early 1980s. Many had the same session musicians and/or producers (like Jay Graydon) and was called Westcoast. In recent years it was given this joke title "yacht rock". The Mike songs with this sound are The Girl Is Mine & Baby Be Mine.
 
There's a lot.

"Girlfriend" by *NSYNC (2001), "Gone" by *NSYNC (2001), "I Don't Know" by Usher (2001), "U Don't Have To Call" by Usher (2001), "Last Night" by Justin Timberlake (2002), "Like I Love You" by Justin Timberlake (2002), "Nothin' Else" by Justin Timberlake (2002), "Rock Your Body" by Justin Timberlake (2002), "Senorita" by Justin Timberlake (2002), "I'm Lovin' It" by Justin Timberlake (2003), "Step In The Name Of Love" by R. Kelly (2003), "Red Light" by Usher (2004), "She Got Me" by JC Chasez (2004), "Summer Love" by Justin Timberlake (2006), "Here I Stand" by Usher (2008), "His Mistakes" by Usher (2008), "Lingerie" by Usher (2010), "You Are My World" by R. Kelly (2012), "Fine China" by Chris Brown (2013), "Let The Groove Get In" by Justin Timberlake (2013), "Take Back The Night" by Justin Timberlake (2013), "Brand New" by Pharrell (2014), "Earned It" by The Weeknd (2014), "She Came To Give It To You" by Usher (2014) and "Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd (2015).
 
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DuranDuran said:
This doesn't sound like a Mike song per se. A lot of songs had this sound back then in the late 1970s & early 1980s. Many had the same session musicians and/or producers (like Jay Graydon) and was called Westcoast. In recent years it was given this joke title "yacht rock". The Mike songs with this sound are The Girl Is Mine & Baby Be Mine.
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Oh, thanks for posting this. I loved it. I used to be so crazy for the Manhattan Transfer. And also this "west coast" sound. Never thought about it coming from the session musicians but could listen to it all day and night.
 
barbee0715 said:
Oh, thanks for posting this. I loved it. I used to be so crazy for the Manhattan Transfer. And also this "west coast" sound. Never thought about it coming from the session musicians but could listen to it all day and night.
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Stevie Wonder is playing harmonica on Spice Of Life.
 
New Kids On The Block ~ Please Don't Go Girl

Not the music, but the lead vocal sounds like Jackson 5 era
 
Re: Bar Kays ~ Dirty Dancer

DuranDuran said:
This song came out in 1984 and the original album it came from was called Dangerous. :)
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Yep the good old Borrow Kays, I don't think they have ever done anything original. Freakshow on the Dancefloor is a blatant Midnight Sta/MJ ripoff and Your Place or Mine is their take on the Prince Minneapolis Sound.
 
African Queen

Billy Ocean recorded 3 versions of this song, the most known one was Caribbean Queen. This one is African Queen:
 
Re: New Kids On The Block ~ Please Don't Go Girl

DuranDuran said:
Not the music, but the lead vocal sounds like Jackson 5 era
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Oh, ho-so if we're going to go THERE, then I'm throwing out the ultimate song that isn't by Michael and the Jackson 5, but sounds EXACTLY like a song by Michael and the Jackson 5.

Definitely a rip-off, but a little bit of bubblegum soul and a great call and response between 2 brothers turned this sweet little novelty act of kids into mega global superstars overnight. :) "One Bad Apple" by the Osmonds.

 
One Bad Apple

barbee0715 said:
Definitely a rip-off, but a little bit of bubblegum soul and a great call and response between 2 brothers turned this sweet little novelty act of kids into mega global superstars overnight. :) "One Bad Apple" by the Osmonds.
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It's interesting that One Bad Apple was actually written for the J5 and Ben was written for Donny Osmond.
 
And apparently there was not a rivalry between the J5 and Osmonds, they were riends and checked out each others shows. Donny Osmond said in an interview that when him and Michael met, rather than fight, they went off and played with toys together while the adults talked.

Some people tried to make a big deal out the Black and White thing, but in reality most fans of the Osmonds like the Jacksons too and vice versa, but I agree the sound of those early singles was Jackson based. But the concept of singing families was nothing new in the 1970s, like the Partridges, Di Franco and the Sylvers.
The last group had some great songs like Hotline and Boogie Fever and featured Foster and Edmund who were easily the Michael and Randy in the family. The Sylvers were an interesting mix too, being from Tennessee and having a white father and black mother. Following on of course we have one of my favourites, the De Barges, Time will Reveal and Rhythm of the night had a very pleasing Jackson sound to them.
 
^^A few of the Sylvers had something to do with Janet Jackson's debut album and Jermaine discovered Switch/DeBarge. Jermaine wrote and sang on some of Switch's songs. There was also another family group called The Stairsteps and also the Pointer Sisters. I think one of the Sylvers did one of the voices on the Jackson 5 cartoon.
 
mjprince1976 said:
And apparently there was not a rivalry between the J5 and Osmonds, they were riends and checked out each others shows. Donny Osmond said in an interview that when him and Michael met, rather than fight, they went off and played with toys together while the adults talked.

Some people tried to make a big deal out the Black and White thing, but in reality most fans of the Osmonds like the Jacksons too and vice versa, but I agree the sound of those early singles was Jackson based. But the concept of singing families was nothing new in the 1970s, like the Partridges, Di Franco and the Sylvers.
The last group had some great songs like Hotline and Boogie Fever and featured Foster and Edmund who were easily the Michael and Randy in the family. The Sylvers were an interesting mix too, being from Tennessee and having a white father and black mother. Following on of course we have one of my favourites, the De Barges, Time will Reveal and Rhythm of the night had a very pleasing Jackson sound to them.
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The Jackson Five were one of the first teen groups to do R'n'B-based music, MJ wrote about this in his autobiography.
 
Psychoniff said:
The Jackson Five were one of the first teen groups to do R'n'B-based music, MJ wrote about this in his autobiography.
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That is true. The Jackson Five were extraordinary and really the first of all of these-the second coming of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, if you will. And all the other groups followed suit.


I've been catching up on Donny Osmond a lot lately-I thought he was adorable throughout the Donny and Marie show and of course, I followed his career with the Broadway flop, Joseph, and his big comeback hit as the "Unknown Artist." But I didn't realize he gave as many interviews as he did in the 80's and have watched them through YouTube-
he was really struggling and pretty bitter (and it's kind of a shock to see that come out) trying to salvage his career. I wasn't paying that much attention back then so I didn't realize that Marie's career was taking off when his was falling flat. Also, some of the stuff he says about his father-he doesn't come out as specifically as the Jacksons have-but I have a feeling that his father could put Joe Jackson to shame in the discipline department.
 
That is true. The Jackson Five were extraordinary and really the first of all of these-the second coming of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, if you will. And all the other groups followed suit.
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That pretty much explains why the Jackson Five were induced into Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame and the Osmonds weren't, they were in the words of Questlove, "revolutionary". Berry Gordy said that he applied the Frankie Lymon style to "I Want You Back", and it paid off.
 
And yet too, most Motown acts started with the members in their early to mid teens. The Supremes started as the Primettes in 1959 when Diane Ross was 14½ and Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson a year older, they signed to Motown in 1961 , they tried to a year earlier when Berry Gordy told them to go back to school and come back when they had grown up a bit.

They had no hits for 3 years and by the time they hit with Where did our love go, Diana Ross had just turned 20, but they would definitely be seen as a teen act had they hit earlier. Most of the Marvelettes were 18 or 19 when they hit with Please Mr Postman, Stevie Wonder was 12 when he signed with Motown and 13 when Fingertips part #1 was #1. By the time he recorded Uptight in 1965, he was still only 14, but the song had a really adult sound to it.

All the other acts with the exception of a few Jazzier ones were boys and girls of 18 - 21 when they had hits, and many other labels had singers in R and B music signed when really young (Gladys Knight was 14 when she signed her contract, and 17 when she hit with letter full of tears), Aretha Franklin recorded for Columbia when she was still 16 or 17. Most doo wop groups started off with teenagers and Richie Valens was still 17 when he died, having ahd a career for a year previously.

What I was saying was that yes MJ and Marlon may have been young when they started,but the other brothers were at least the same age as many other R & B stars when they first recorded. In those day, most left school early or balanced school around music. Some of the early Motown tours had teachers on the bus with the singers as many did not have GED's and Berry Gordy wanted them to sound sophisticated and educated.
 
barbee0715 said:
I've been catching up on Donny Osmond a lot lately-I thought he was adorable throughout the Donny and Marie show and of course, I followed his career with the Broadway flop, Joseph, and his big comeback hit as the "Unknown Artist." But I didn't realize he gave as many interviews as he did in the 80's and have watched them through YouTube- he was really struggling and pretty bitter (and it's kind of a shock to see that come out) trying to salvage his career.

I wasn't paying that much attention back then so I didn't realize that Marie's career was taking off when his was falling flat. Also, some of the stuff he says about his father-he doesn't come out as specifically as the Jacksons have-but I have a feeling that his father could put Joe Jackson to shame in the discipline department.
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I don't really know anything about the Osmonds parents other than they're Mormons. I did read an interview once where Donny mentions Papa Joe when he used to visit Hayvenhurst. Basically said Joe wasn't very friendly. Speaking of Joe, on a recent Unsung episode about the Force MDs, it was mentioned that the group was supposed to meet Mike in the mid-1980s, but Joe shut it down because he didn't know who they were, didn't think they were important enough to meet his son. The group's manager was happy that the group got #1 over Mike's I Just Can't Stop Loving You on the R&B chart. He said "I bet Joe knew who they were then". :rofl: As far as discipline goes, the Wilson brothers (from The Beach Boys) father might be ahead of the others.
 
mjprince1976;4108592 said:
And yet too, most Motown acts started with the members in their early to mid teens. The Supremes started as the Primettes in 1959 when Diane Ross was 14½ and Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson a year older, they signed to Motown in 1961 , they tried to a year earlier when Berry Gordy told them to go back to school and come back when they had grown up a bit.

They had no hits for 3 years and by the time they hit with Where did our love go, Diana Ross had just turned 20, but they would definitely be seen as a teen act had they hit earlier. Most of the Marvelettes were 18 or 19 when they hit with Please Mr Postman, Stevie Wonder was 12 when he signed with Motown and 13 when Fingertips part #1 was #1. By the time he recorded Uptight in 1965, he was still only 14, but the song had a really adult sound to it.

All the other acts with the exception of a few Jazzier ones were boys and girls of 18 - 21 when they had hits, and many other labels had singers in R and B music signed when really young (Gladys Knight was 14 when she signed her contract, and 17 when she hit with letter full of tears), Aretha Franklin recorded for Columbia when she was still 16 or 17. Most doo wop groups started off with teenagers and Richie Valens was still 17 when he died, having ahd a career for a year previously.

What I was saying was that yes MJ and Marlon may have been young when they started,but the other brothers were at least the same age as many other R & B stars when they first recorded. In those day, most left school early or balanced school around music. Some of the early Motown tours had teachers on the bus with the singers as many did not have GED's and Berry Gordy wanted them to sound sophisticated and educated.
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Those other groups were doing mostly vocal harmonies and doo wop, NOT are so much straight Rhythm'n'Blues like the Jackson Five.
 
Pretty much everything Justin Timberlake does. Usher has got a lot of song that sound MJ-esque.
When I first heard Marilyn Monroe by Pharrell Williams, I thought it sounded soooo Michael. And I'm certain MJ would have made a much better video

 
The O'Jay's "Used To Be My Girl" sounds like a track The Jacksons would've done on Goin' Places.
 
I always have a strong MJ vibe with this, the video reminds me of 'Black or White' and the music would suit MJ very well too. In fact it was written as a possible duet with him:

 
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