This song was released in 1979, the fifth single from his Off The Wall album. The song is considered to be the first song to showcase Jackson’s talent as a solo artist, both as a singer and songwriter. The album saw the coming together of MJ with legendary producer–musician Quincy Jones, which proved to be one of the most successful partnerships in musical history: the duo went on to record Thriller (#1 selling album of all time) and Bad. You can apprehend Jones’s footprint: from the introductory staccato bass, to the intermittent trumpet bursts (Jones’s first gig was as trumpeter and musical director of the Dizzy Gillespie Band in 1956), to the string forays.
For all that it was Michael’s song: beginning with his initial bars of talking/singing, which is broken up by one of his signature screams that continue right on through the song. Magic stuff! Which brings up the question of Michael’s voice: at 21 y.o., was his high voice pure falsetto or had it not yet broken? Purely academic since we can’t ask him about it now. I’m glad to say that this was a real love song. And notice his face: it’s nearly normal. And it would be remiss of me not to mention his elastic dancing—what a groover he was!
And the response of the public? It peaked at #1 on Billboard and #3 in the UK. But check this out: this song has 41 million hits on YouTube—see if you can beat that! So Jacko lives on. The critics were equally affirmative: it won a Grammy for the 21-year-old for Best R&B Vocal Performance Male in 1980 (he went on to win another 13 Grammies). On the B-side of my 45 are ‘Rock with you’ and ‘She’s out of my life’—bonus!
I rue the day when I refused to part with $50 to see MJ in Adelaide. He’s up there with Elvis and Frank Sinatra as the greatest performers of our day.
Ralph's World of Music 