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Post by Vega on Jul 30, 2019 0:13:34 GMT
(posted this on Maxjax first).
Goin' Places always seemed to be a bit of a forgotten album in the Jackson universe, and a cursory scan of Wikipedia reveals that it wasn't terribly successful - the lowest selling J5/Jacksons album next to 2300 Jackson Street. It didn't even crack the top 10 on the R&B charts. Of course, Destiny would prove to be a comeback and HIStory moved forward, etc.
I've always wondered if there was a lot of pressure from Epic for Destiny to be a smash. I seem to remember talk of the label releasing The Jacksons from their contract around this time (though I could be wrong).
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Post by mjjfan810 on Jul 30, 2019 7:33:22 GMT
(posted this on Maxjax first). Goin' Places always seemed to be a bit of a forgotten album in the Jackson universe, and a cursory scan of Wikipedia reveals that it wasn't terribly successful - the lowest selling J5/Jacksons album next to 2300 Jackson Street. It didn't even crack the top 10 on the R&B charts. Of course, Destiny would prove to be a comeback and HIStory moved forward, etc. I've always wondered if there was a lot of pressure from Epic for Destiny to be a smash. I seem to remember talk of the label releasing The Jacksons from their contract around this time (though I could be wrong). I think Shake Your Body was a real turning point for them. A much-needed hit, which transformed them from a bubblegum, nostalgia act to serious adult act, whose music would be played in clubs/discos etc. Without that successful transition with The Jacksons, it is doubtful MJ could've gone on to make OTW. |
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Post by Vega on Jul 30, 2019 16:32:06 GMT
(posted this on Maxjax first). Goin' Places always seemed to be a bit of a forgotten album in the Jackson universe, and a cursory scan of Wikipedia reveals that it wasn't terribly successful - the lowest selling J5/Jacksons album next to 2300 Jackson Street. It didn't even crack the top 10 on the R&B charts. Of course, Destiny would prove to be a comeback and HIStory moved forward, etc. I've always wondered if there was a lot of pressure from Epic for Destiny to be a smash. I seem to remember talk of the label releasing The Jacksons from their contract around this time (though I could be wrong). I think Shake Your Body was a real turning point for them. A much-needed hit, which transformed them from a bubblegum, nostalgia act to serious adult act, whose music would be played in clubs/discos etc. Without that successful transition with The Jacksons, it is doubtful MJ could've gone on to make OTW. Agreed. It's sorta funny though - a lot of people I've talked to over the years always thought of Shake Your Body as a MJ solo song. With Destiny you really see him coming into his own imo, especially considering the first two Jacksons records were more in the genre of Philly Soul. |
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Post by mjjfan810 on Jul 30, 2019 17:29:25 GMT
I think Shake Your Body was a real turning point for them. A much-needed hit, which transformed them from a bubblegum, nostalgia act to serious adult act, whose music would be played in clubs/discos etc. Without that successful transition with The Jacksons, it is doubtful MJ could've gone on to make OTW. Agreed. It's sorta funny though - a lot of people I've talked to over the years always thought of Shake Your Body as a MJ solo song. With Destiny you really see him coming into his own imo, especially considering the first two Jacksons records were more in the genre of Philly Soul. I actually think those first two Jacksons records on Epic are really underrated. Fans only ever seem to discuss Destiny and Triumph whem it comes to albums by The Jacksons. With regards to their commercial clout in the immediate years after leaving Motown, people forget they had a big hit with Show You The Way To Go, so it wasn't like they had no commercial appeal. But Shake Your Body was the perfect song at the perfect time. They needed to make that transition to writing their own material and making credible music that young adults would want to hear in clubs/discos. Shake Your Body did this for them. Unfortunately, OTW was so great that it made people overlook the brilliance of Triumph, which imo, is every bit as good as OTW. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2019 7:11:04 GMT
The main reason I heard was that the Jacksons only wrote a couple of songs on each of the first two albums and this annoyed them somewhat as Epic was not convinced of their songwriting chops. Not surprisngly their cuts were the best. The Jacksons was a solid album with great songs like Enjoy Yourself, Blues Away, Dreamer and Show you the way to go. Whereas Goin Places is awful, the title cut is incredibly cheesy and does them no favours.
Maybe the reason Destiny Hit as well as it just being a great album, was that most of the cuts were written by Michael and Randy with some input from Jackie?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2019 8:40:25 GMT
Also you have to realise, that Epic did not pick up the Jackson 5 at the peak of their popularity, by 1975 they were virtually a sideshow and apart from the fluke of Dancing Machine, a song that was really a novelty dance hit and cashing in on the emerging disco craze. The fact remained was that they were a washed up disco/bubblegum kiddie group and Motown was stifling them and not giving them good material (Lots of kiddie rubbish like Zip a dee doo dah and Moving Violation). The Jacksons were young men now and wanted more adult songs.
Epic took them on for their potential and the first album did okay, but they expected more with the follow ups and lets face Goin Places is disappointing and probably their weakest album besides perhaps 2300 Jackson street (Which at least has Nothing that compares 2 u, a song I really like - I even have a 12 inch of it!).
It would take Destiny and the funky cuts on it that would start to change fortunes, but both Motown and Epic realised the real star of the act was Michael and hence why his solo material took off, sadly the brothers were a dead weight.
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