Looking back on Off the Wall

Off the Wall, released in August of 1979, is the fifth solo album recorded by Michael Jackson and the first album that really launched his career as a solo artist. Best known for the tracks "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", "Rock With You", "Workin' Day and Night" and "Off the Wall", Off the Wall remains one of the best albums ever recorded and arguably Michael Jackson's best solo album.

What makes Off the Wall so good is its blend of pop, r&b, and soul. The catchy grooves of "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" and "Workin' Day and Night", both written by Jackson, are remarkable in their simplicity. "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" is built on two major chords (B and A) while "Workin' Day and Night" is built on three major chords (G, D, and A). While there are some variations throughout both tracks, the main hook/groove of both songs stem from those simple chord progressions. As a listener, you immediately find yourself pulled in by the hooks that those chord progressions create, wanting to dance and groove to the music.

As for the title track "Off the Wall", what makes this song so great is the catchy baseline, beautiful harmonies, and horn riffs. It opens up with an almost mysterious quality before turning into a catchy and carefree tune that encourages us to enjoy ourselves and live our lives off the wall. In this song, you really hear the Heatwave influence, the band that its songwriter Rod Temperton performed with. The baseline in particular has a very Heatwave feel to it, similar to "Boogie Nights", one of their biggest hits.

In addition to writing "Off the Wall", Temperton wrote two additional tracks for the album "Burn This Disco Out" and "Rock With You". "Rock With You" was the biggest hit of the three and remains one of Michael Jackson's biggest hits to this day.

What made "Rock With You" such a huge hit is its beautiful melody, harmonies, and instrumentation. The melody contains a lot of catchy hooks that make it one of the greatest pop songs ever. The way in which Michael sings it, just the phrasing and everything, is incredible. Vocally, he demonstrated great feel and soulfulness when singing this song. The harmonies added a layer of richness to the melodies and made it a much more sophisticated song. As for the instrumentation, what makes "Rock With You" unique is the flute solos that permeate throughout the song. You rarely hear the flute used in pop music, but its presence really took "Rock With You" to another level.

As for "Burn This Disco Out", I feel this is a track that doesn't get enough love. It has great horn riffs and a melody that really fits Michael's singing style, featuring lots of staccatos and short notes, something that Rod Temperton says he tried to incorporate in all the songs he wrote for Michael. It's a very catchy and upbeat song with a very funky feel to it. Every time I listen to this track, I'm puzzled by how it wasn't a bigger hit. I guess the fact that a track this good can get buried on an album just goes to show good Off the Wall really is.

In addition to "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" and "Workin' Day and Night", Jackson also co-wrote the song "Get On The Floor", which is another hidden gem on this album. It has a little bit of a haunting feel to it, but still very catchy. Probably the coolest part of this song is the chant that ends it, in which Jackson repeats "Get Up Won't You G'on Down Shake Your Body Won't You Go'n Get Down." It's one of the few times if not the only time in which Jackson uses a chant like this in one of his songs, which is pretty cool.

The other songs that are on this album include "Girlfriend", a duet that Jackson performs with Paul McCartney, "She's Out of My Life", a slow ballad about blowing a chance with a girl, "I Can't Help It", a track written by Stevie Wonder, and "It's the Falling In Love", a song that features R&B singer Patti Austin.

Probably the biggest hit out of all these is "She's Out of My Life." Jackson's vocals on the track are amazing and he sings with a lot of emotion. He literally cries at the end of the track due to the sadness he feels from the song, which just shows how much he connects with his music. My favorite track out of that bunch has to be "I Can't Help It." As a Stevie Wonder fan, I really enjoy this song because of its sophistication and richness. It's definitely the most sophisticated track on the album, which should come as no surprise considering it was Stevie Wonder who wrote it.

When looking back on Off the Wall, what stands out the most is just the energy and positivity that comes from it. There's so many good cuts to choose from. My favorite track on the album has to be "Burn This Disco Out". Perhaps in part because it gets overlooked, but also because I really like horn riffs. It has an almost Earth, Wind, & Fire quality to it as a result and I really like that kind of sound. Next up, I'll look back on Thriller, the biggest selling album of all-time and Michael Jackson's biggest commercial success. I hope you'll enjoy that post as much as this one.

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Welcome to MJ Grooves!

Welcome to the official blog of MJ Grooves! I am a lifelong fan of Michael Jackson who has studied his music over the course of my life. My main focus as a writer is in the sports world, but I'm also very passionate about music.

Before getting a Philosophy degree from UC Berkeley, I got an Associate Degree in Music from Foothill College. I grew up playing the piano and have spent some time studying classical, jazz, rock, R&B, and pop. I spent some time learning Beethoven Sonatas, Bach Inventions, and even a little Tchaikovsky.

However, even amid my days studying classical, my favorite thing to do on the piano has always been to write music and come up with arrangements of my favorite pop tunes from the likes of Prince, Elton John, Billy Joel, and especially Michael Jackson. While I've had fun learning songs from all artists, the artist who I've spent the most time studying and playing on the piano has been Michael Jackson.

I've made it a rule that I NEVER look up the chords for a Michael Jackson song that I want to learn. I don't know why, but it's a rule that I've always had. Every other artist I've been willing to look up chords and learn that way, but with Michael Jackson I always learn the songs by ear and hear them out myself. I think it helps me feel all the more connected with him and the music that he created.

My absolute favorite song to play on the piano is "The Way You Make Me Feel", which is off the album "Bad". As soon as I learned the baseline, which is an arpeggiation of an E7 chord, I was hooked and have loved playing it ever since. Other songs I love to play are "Stranger In Moscow", "Billie Jean", "Thriller", "P.Y.T.","Another Part of Me", and "Streetwalker", which is an outtake from the Bad album.  There's others that I love to play as well, but those are the ones I like to break out with most regularity.

What I like most about Michael Jackson is his incredibly versatility. He could do it all. He could sing, he could dance, he could tell a story through film, etc. He wrote incredible songs and did so in a wide variety of genres. He was the ultimate pop artist and I don't think we'll ever see another talent of his magnitude again. In the opening of his autobiography "Moonwalker" it fittingly says that Michael Jackson isn't an artist that comes around once in a lifetime. He comes around once. There will never be another Michael Jackson.

With that in mind, I wanted to set up this blog to connect with other Michael Jackson fans who have the same passion for his music as me. On this blog, I intend to write about a wide variety of topics at both a macro and micro scale, whether it's breaking down a whole album or breaking down a single track. I want to cover his music in a way that helps his fans feel all the more connected to it because I've spent my entire life studying it and learning the ins and outs of his musical catalog.

Before closing, I wish to stress that I have little interest in writing about his personal life and the troubles he had away from music. I've always believed Michael Jackson was innocent of the charges made against him and as such I don't care to address them on this blog any further. Michael Jackson needs to be remembered for the joy he gave others, the art he created, and his unparalleled musical genius. He was a gift to humanity and needs to be remembered as such. I look forward to writing on this blog and sharing my thoughts on Michael Jackson's music with those who are lifelong fans like me as well as a younger generation that is just starting to find out what a creative force he was.

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