Jermaine Jackson turns 70 today + my 19 favorite Jacksons songs
Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5 passed away a couple of months ago at age 70, and today another Jackson—Jermaine—celebrates his 70th birthday, hopefully with many more ahead.
This reminded me that I used to spin his 1984 solo release Dynamite, which benefited greatly from his brother Michael’s godly popularity at that time. But listening today to “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin’ (Too Good to Be True)” and the title track, I’m newly realizing that, rather than being submitted to the cutout bin of history, they’re not bad at all and have catchy Thriller-like hooks.
They also aren’t far from the original vibe of the Jackson 5, which had conquered the world a full 15 years earlier. It’s no wonder second singer and bassist Jermaine was still making music that holds up today—perhaps even a little too cutting edge at the time to be fully enjoyed—since his former band almost single handedly brought the Motown Sound “up to date for the 70s, spawning a host of imitators,” and created “an animal that had never previously existed: the black teen idol,” according to James Porter in a 2001 anthology I’m reading called Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth: The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop, from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears.
The Jackson 5 got so big that another group of brothers, the Osmonds, started creating solid bubblegum that had enough gusto to be played on black radio. A series of other young performers was heavily influenced by the bubblegum pop of the Jackson 5, and the book notes that “the initial rush of the J5 came to a halt sometime around 1975. The Jacksons themselves continued to refine their sound through the years, which is why you know Michael Jackson today and Chee Chee and Peppy have been lost in time.” Bubblegum bands influenced by the Jacksons, however, did capture a lot of my imagination as a kid. I absolutely loved and bought all the albums of Musical Youth and New Edition (c’mon, you know you can’t deny “Pass the Dutchie” and “Candy Girl”)—still albums I occasionally spin today.
I view there to be three distinct eras of this great musical family:
the powerhouse Motown hit era of the Jackson 5
the far more low-key post-Motown disco soul era of the Jacksons (which, incidentally, Jermaine Jackson had stepped fully away from to release a whopping 14 solo recordings, and don’t forget that 1982 appearance as himself in an episode of The Facts of Life. All that said, he did rejoin his brothers for albums Victory and 2300 Jackson Street), and then
the solo career of Michael Jackson, which is far greater than just what’s on Off the Wall and Thriller.
I’ll save those other eras for some other time. For now, in honor of Jermaine (who, I repeat, wasn’t involved until the last two albums), here are my favorite 19 songs of the Jacksons. I think it would make a pretty great playlist or greatest-hits collection:
Can You Feel It (Triumph, 1980)
Blame It on the Boogie (Destiny, 1978)
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) (Destiny, 1978)
Torture (Victory, 1984)
State of Shock w/ Mick Jagger (Victory, 1984)
One More Chance (Victory, 1984)
Walk Right Now (Triumph, 1980)
Push Me Away (Destiny, 1978)
Give It Up (Triumph, 1980)
Wait (Victory, 1984)
Good Times (The Jacksons, 1976)
Body (Victory, 1984)
Enjoy Yourself (The Jacksons, 1976)
Be Not Always (Victory, 1984)
Time Waits for No One (Triumph, 1980)
That’s What You Get (For Being Polite) (Destiny, 1978)
2300 Jackson Street (2300 Jackson Street, 1989)
Music’s Takin’ Over (Goin’ Places, 1977)
Bless His Soul (Destiny, 1978)
My main gripe with this era is that many of the songs are too long and they are often a little bit of the same. Almost all of the albums start fairly strong, hinting at signs of what was to come for Michael, but tend to tail off, so the band, even though it released albums at a fairly regular clip, was far from prolific through this 1970s period. That said, I did enjoy revisiting these recordings before I go back to spinning my immaculate double vinyl of The Jackson 5ive Anthology on Motown.