Off The Wall – Michael Jackson – Released August 10th 1979, Epic / CBS
Off The Wall is the fifth studio album by child star turned pop superstar Michael Jackson and the first album of his post-Motown era. It’s also the first of three albums produced by the great Quincy Jones. That special partnership resulted in a musical hat trick of three phenomenally successful albums; Off The Wall (1979), Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).
Thriller is generally heralded as the best of the three, and, at the time of writing, remains the biggest selling album of all time. Off The Wall, however, has a much more consistent style and tone throughout compared to subsequent releases.
And, although those later releases contain top tier classics like Thriller, Smooth Criminal and, my personal all-time favourite, Billie Jean, Off The Wall has highest concentration of dancefloor bangers.
This was Michael’s first true dance record, a disco album that even people who say they hate disco can’t help dancing to. And so, as the record turns 45 this week, does it still sound funky?
Motown Michael – Up Against The Wall
As the youngest yet most prominent member of the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson was already a global superstar well before his teens.
Following a series of successful albums on Motown, the Jackson 5 rapidly became one of the label’s flagship acts, alongside stars like Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.
Immersed in music from a young age and surrounded by some of the most talented and successful recording artists of all time, young Michael became a musical sponge, learning everything he could about song writing, composition and production.
Michael Jackson’s desire to enjoy more creative autonomy, however, was at odds with the rigid assembly line mentality of Berry Gordy and others at Hitsville USA.
The Jackson 5 would eventually leave Motown for Epic while changing their name to The Jacksons. Epic afforded The Jacksons more creative freedom though Michael was still compelled to break free and express himself as a solo artist.
And, although he had released solo albums in the past, he wasn’t able to make the types of albums he wanted until he made the move to Epic.
As a result, Off The Wall is also widely considered to be Michael Jackson’s true debut album. The watershed moment where he finally emerged from the shadow of the Jackson 5 and buried the “baby Michael” persona forever.
From the very first few seconds of the album it was already evident that this was a more mature artist, already fully formed, self-assured and ready to take on the world.
In Quincy, Michael Jackson found a kindred spirit. A versatile polymath with expansive musical knowledge and technical expertise, Quincy Jones wasn’t just one of the greatest musical minds of the 20th century, his sharp instincts, intuition and insights allowed him to fully comprehend what Michael was trying to achieve and help him realise those goals with efficiency and finesse.
Despite arriving right at the tail end of the disco era, and the 1970s as a whole, Off The Wall still manages to capture the best aspects of that time, while simultaneously avoiding all the cliches.
And although it’s clearly a product of its time, Off The Wall’s captivating energy makes it an essential album with no shortage of sizzling hot dancefloor bangers.
Rounding those off we also have some perfectly crafted pop and one of the most iconic ballads ever recorded.
The result is a well-rounded album from one of the world’s greatest ever performers, all stamped with that famously idiosyncratic vocal style that made him the King of Pop.
The Writing’s On The Wall
Prior to 1979, Michael Jackson’s best-known song was ABC, recorded when he was just 11 years old. Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough pulverises that legacy into alphabet soup.
As album intros go, this is one of the all-time greatest.
It starts off by lulling you into a false sense of security with Michael’s nonsensical mumbling, “y’know I was wondering y’know if…” – huh?
But we’re not paying him attention yet, our focus is on the bassline, the build-up, the tension building for a few bars and then that fully-orchestrated, full-front frontal funk assault exploding all at once with a single “oou!”
Turn this up loud and try not to move to it – it’s impossible. If you don’t feel the urge to dance to this one then contact a neurologist as soon as possible, because there’s something clearly wrong with your brain.
Rock With You is a smooth and funky slow burner capturing all that’s best about the disco era, all the while glittering with the overwhelming confidence of an ascending superstar.
Michael’s vocal performance is once again flawless while those little whistle-like synth flourishes lend the track an extra layer of effervesce.
Working Day And Night is easily one of the funkiest tracks MJ has ever recorded. It’s also proof, if ever any was needed, as to why he belongs up there on the funky pantheon next to James Brown.
Everything about this track is perfection; the percussion, the horns, the guitar licks on the bridge, the lyrics and, of course, Michael himself – a well-oiled funk machine with every component functioning at maximum efficiency.
With its rhythmic tightness and rich string arrangements, Get On The Floor has echoes of Jackson’s Motown days but with a bottom-heavy funky twist.
Once again Michael’s performance is transcendent, but let’s not forget the other star of the show here, Louis Johnson, whose strident funky slap bass gives this track its power.
And, as a further testament to what a prime slice of pure lean funk this is, the instrumental bridge section was sampled not once but twice by Detroit techno legend Jeff Mills.
And so we get to the title track, Off The Wall, our fourth disco banger in a row. Seriously, what a run of tracks, every single one of them pure dancefloor gold.
Off The Wall was the first album I ever played when I got my first Walkman and I have vivid memories of listening to it, sometimes late at night in the dark when I should be sleeping.
Which is why I always loved the intro to this track, it was equal parts creepy and comical, that otherworldly sense that it projected, the retro Trekie-style vocals, the distant laughing, building up suspense and tension… and once again, when the bassline hits the effect is magical.
It’s another clear product of Michael’s migration from the Motor City to the mirroball madness of New York City. But given how obsessive he was about dancing, he went there to study more than to party. Having already received his masters from Motown, Michael knuckled and boogied down in equal measure so as to receive his Phd in funkology from the ivy league dancefloor of Studio 54.
This one, in particular, has a decidedly disco feel with a groove which deliberately echoes many of the big hits of the time. And if you’re thinking, first and foremost, about Heatwave’s disco anthem Boogie Nights when you hear this there’s a good reason for it.
Off The Wall was written by Heatwave’s own Rod Temperton, who also wrote Boogie Nights, as well as songs for artists like Donna Summer and George Benson.
Off The Wall is one of three songs by Temperton on the album, the others being Rock With You and Burn This Disco Out.
Temperton would later return to provide three more tracks for Michael, The Lady In My Life, Baby Be Mine and Thriller.
That’s right, three songs each, including the title tracks, from two of Michael Jackson’s most successful albums, not bad for a fella from Grimsby.
Also worth noting that the synths on this track were provided by funk legend George Duke, whose own classic album Master of the Game also came out on Epic that same year.
In terms of production, arrangement, musicianship and performance, everything is firing on full cylinders at all times.
Girlfriend is something of a throwback, a comparatively simplistic teeny-bopper pop song which exactly the kind of thing younger Michael became so famous for.
The song itself was written by Paul McCartney who would later collaborate again with Michael Jackson on the single Say Say Say and later, on The Girl Is Mine from the Thriller album.
I’ve always been far more in the Lennon camp than McCartney, so I’m not such a fan of this one. That said, Quincy ensures that musically, at least, there’s a lot more going on here than your basic ABCs.
She’s Out Of My Life is perhaps Michael’s most famous ballad, made all the more iconic by a vocal performance that was delivered with such focussed intensity he literally began crying in the studio booth.
Alas, that intensity was ruined forever by Eddie Murphy’s impression from the 1983 comedy show Delirious and so every time I hear this song now, I can’t help but get a fit of the giggles. (“Tito get me some tissues.”)
I Can’t Help It brings back the smooth funk vibes with a decidedly dreamlike quality.
You can also really feel the distinct influence here from his fellow Motown alum, Stevie Wonder, who wrote the song. Not sure if it was done specifically for this album or not but the fusion of styles, Stevie’s jazzy chords and Michael’s vocal delivery is just sublime.
The result was a hugely influential piece of music that’s been sampled countless times, especially by hiphop artists, most notably De La Soul on the track Breakadawn.
It’s The Falling In Love is one of those tracks we tend to forget about. Well, I did anyway.
It’s a decent effort, I’ll concede, but it lacks the intensity of those side one disco belters. That said, Louis Johnson’s bass guitar really pops here, lending some much-needed vigour to the proceedings.
Burn This Disco Out finishes the album as it begins, strutting about on the platform-heeled excesses of a 1970s disco dancefloor. It’s not your standard disco track, though. Sure it’s in 4/4 time, but the back-footed beat puts this one squarely in funk territory.
Wall To Wall Bangers
Michael Jackson was proper showbiz, arguably one of the last great entertainers from an era when being a good dancer was just as important as being a singer.
His dance moves were legendary, those flips, kicks, spins and, of course, the moonwalk.
And, as kids, we strived to copy them as best we could, even to our own detriment.
Hence the reason I still have a slight dent in my skull from trying to emulate that moment from the Smooth Criminal video where he leans forward at a seemingly impossible angle.
Looking at it now, as someone who technically qualifies as an adult, the wire work is ridiculously obvious. But it never would have occurred to us back then that Michael Jackson would have needed to use special effects trickery. After all, why would he? Because Michael Jackson was magic.
When he changed into a werewolf in the Thriller video we believed it.
Off The Wall was a milestone album in many ways. It was the album that forever redefined Michael Jackson as a solo star, a clear line of demarcation between the child star of previous decades and the undisputed King of Pop of the 1980s and early 90s.
It’s also Michael Jackson’s most dance-orientated record, arriving after peak disco,
just as the genre was already morphing into something else.
1979, after all, was the summer of “disco sucks”, with the infamous disco demolition in Chicago happening just a month prior to the album’s release.
Not that it made any difference.
Off The Wall went multi-platinum globally proving, once and for all, that Michael Jackson was a formidable force within the music business.
It’s fair to say that not everyone at Epic was fully on board with the idea before the album’s release, but quickly changed their positions shortly after.
As the 80s began, the term “disco” became unpopular and dance music began to change rapidly. Gone were the over-indulgent orchestrations, replaced by more minimalist machine-driven sequences which would eventually give way to house music. As always, Michael took notes and course corrected accordingly.
His 1982 follow-up album, Thriller, forever enshrined Michael Jackson in the pantheon of pop music by becoming the greatest selling album of all time.
In doing so, Michael Jackson smashed the invisible barrier which had existed for decades between so-called “black music” and “white music”. Like it or not, the industry had to learn to contend with the reality that music is music, regardless of colour. A notion which we mostly take for granted today.
Thriller may contain some of the best tracks Michael Jackson ever recorded, but as an album overall, it’s inconsistent. Even as a kid who practically moonwalked his way to school every morning, I still fast forwarded past a lot of the tracks. (Cuz who wants to hear him “argue” with Paul McCartney when you can just skip ahead to the holy trinity of Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean?)
Off The Wall, on the other hand, is far more consistent throughout, sure there’s a couple of the poppier songs I’m not so fond of but that royal flush of funk that opens the album causes me to forget about them entirely.
And as I get older (I’m just as old as this album, actually) I’ve come to conclude that, while not as successful as Thriller, Off The Wall is Michael Jackson’s finest album.
So if you’re unfamiliar with it you really need to rectify that. Or, if you’re unfamiliar with Michael’s music in general, I can think of no better entry point than this one.
Four bars into Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough and you’ll already be hooked, halfway through the album you’ll be a fan and by the time you’ve heard this album through, you’ll finally understand why Michael Jackson was one of the greatest superstars of all time.