Michael Jackson

Off the Wall

5
th
studio album
Released on August 10, 1979
Recorded between December 1978 June 1979
Epic Records (1
st
album)
Produced by: MJ and Quincy Jones
Genre: R&B, disco, funk, soul
Followed his critically well-received performance in the musical The Wiz,
produced by Motown Productions and Universal Pictures
While working on The Wiz musical he met Quincy Jones; they became
friends and Jones agreed to work with him on his next studio album (9 year
partnership)
Other collaborations: Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Rod Temperton
Released 5 singles, 3 of them had a music video
Presented MJ as a matured artist
Received positive reviews
Won the first Grammy Award since the early 70s
He became the first solo artist to have 4 singles from the
same album peak inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100
Commercially successful as well (8x Multi-Platinum in the
US, more than 20 million copies sold worldwide)
the dance groove of the year
2001 special edition released by Sony Records (AllMusic
and Bender continued to praise the album)
2003 Rolling Stone magazine: #68 500 Greatest Albums of
All Times
2008 Grammy Hall of Fame



When he began working on this album MJ was not sure of what he
wanted as a final result, just that he wanted it to sound different
from The Jacksons
Wanted more creative freedom (not allowed on previous albums)
Jackson and Jones had to chose from hundreds of tracks
Rod Temperton was asked to write 3 songs, only one of them was
supposed to be included but Jackson liked them all
Temperton mixed his traditional harmony segments with the idea of
adding shorter note melodies to suit Jackson's aggressive style
Album cover: his manager stated: The tuxedo was the overall plan
for the Off the Wall project and package. The tuxedo was our idea,
the socks were Michaels.
The Off the Wall years: 1978 1981
1978: his first motion picture released: The Wiz
Adaption of the book The Wizard of Oz
Played the scarecrow
One of the most expensive films ever made ($24 million, directed by
Sidney Lumet) and took over a year in production. Michaels makeup for
the scarecrow took five hours to apply each day
A box office failure but his performance was critically praised
Sang 6 of the movies soundtrack songs including You Cant Win and Ease
on Down the Road
You Cant Win his first solo single for Epic Records
1980 MJ went back into the studio with his brothers to record the album
Triumph (he contributed to six of the albums nine track)
1981 The Jacksons went on the Triumph Tour
By then Off the Wall sold 5 million copies
Off the Wall Era interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmdIuS6KvT
s
Michael Jackson in The Wiz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d01bRfqOe
I