Michael Jackson - Off The Wall

March 20, 2011

Blast from the Past

Michael Jackson - Off The Wall

1979 saw the release of one of the greatest pop albums ever – Off The Wall - Michael Jackson's fifth studio album, which was the exit from his previous Motown sound. Collaborating with producer Quincy Jones, Jackson with his unique vocal styles - the vocal hiccup, Shh-ah!, Ooooohhh!, - and music combination of disco, soul, pop, soft rock and funk influences produced a sound very unique and never heard before. In that time, Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder.

Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbered tenor is extraordinary beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly."

Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009) is an American pop icon, entertainer, visionary, philanthropist, who debuted as a member of the Jackson 5, but later went on to become a solo artist, perhaps, the greatest in the world. His extremely successful career and randomly controversial personal life have been part of the global pop culture for almost four decades and still going strong.

After Elvis Presley, Jackson was the biggest US artist and slowly became the most influential pop icon of all time. His music, lyrics, lifestyle, wardrobe and traits had an essential impact on musical and cultural revolutions throughout the world tearing down social barriers and unleashing the beast of freedom from within. He certainly changed much of the ways we think, write, sing, start rocking revolutions and our many expressions of life today.

Upon release, Off The Wall gained very positive recognition and won the singer his first Grammy Award since the early 1970s. Jackson became the first solo artist to have four singles from the same album - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Rock with You, Off the Wall and the ballad She's Out of My Life – which peakedinside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album was a commercial success to date and is certified for 8× Multi-Platinum in the US. It sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Off The Wall is an organic, exciting, endlessly danceable album celebrating life and freedom in its truest form. Here in this album for the first time, Jackson took full creative control of every beat, instrument, every vocal style and the way musicians will think in the future.

Jackson influenced many celebrated artists of today – Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Chris Brown, Black-Eyed Peas, R Kelly, a recent sensation Ne-Yo and many others.

This album had started a nine-year partnership with producer Quincy Jones and had displayed Michael’s amazing songwriting and vocal techniques and the best thing was that Michael was soon back in the studio, creating even bigger selling albums of all time.