All language subtitles for Michael Jacksons Journey From Motown To Off The Wall (2016)

[Audience Cheering]

[Michael Jackson Laughing]

Whoo!

Michael: This Is Really True.
A Lot Of People Say

You Just Made It Up To Have
Something To Say.

-[Interviewer Chuckles]
-But One Day,
Our Television Broke Down,

And We Didn't Have Anything,
Really, To Do, Like,
In The Morning Times.

So What We Started Doing,
We Started Singing,

My Mother, My Brothers,

And We Started Making Harmony.

Next Thing We Know Is We Were
Singing At Talent Shows,

Winning Awards And Trophies.

That's How It Got Started.

[Music Playing]

[All Vocalizing]

♪ You Went To School
To Learn, Girl ♪

♪ Things You Never,
Never Knew Before ♪

♪ Like "I" Before "E"
Except After "C" ♪

♪ And Why 2 Plus 2 Makes 4 ♪

♪ Now, Now, Now
I'm Gonna Teach You ♪

♪ Teach You, Teach You ♪

♪ All About Love Yeah ♪

♪ All About Love Yeah ♪

♪ Sit Yourself Down,
Take A Seat ♪

♪ All You Gotta Do
Is Repeat After Me ♪

All: ♪ A B C ♪

-♪ It's Easy As ♪
-Chorus: ♪ 1 2 3 ♪

-♪ As Simple As ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Do Re Mi ♪

♪ A B C, 1 2 3 ♪

♪ Baby, You And Me Girl ♪

Michael: Stop The Film! Hey!

Stop The Film, Please.

Hey, Stop The Film!
Come On. Thank You.

They Wanna Hear
I Want You Back And Abc
And The Love You Save.

-[Audience Roaring]
-And Dancing Machine
And Sugar Daddy,

I'll Be There,
Got To Be There.

Rockin' Robin.
You Want To Hear Daddy's Home?

Do You Want To Hear
All The Old Stuff?

The Number One Reason
I Don't Want To
Do The Old Stuff,

-Number One, It's Old, Okay?
-Oh...

Number Two,
The Choreography Is Old.

[Audience Chattering]

Jackie's Old.

[Audience Cheering]

-Do You Care About That?
-[Audience Cheering]

Do You Care?

-[Audience Roars]
-I'll Tell You What...

-I'll Do The Old
Stuff For You, Okay?
-[Audience Cheering]

But I'm Doing It For You.
I'm Not Doing It For Them.

I'm Doing It For You.

[Vocalizing]

♪ Just Let Me Tell You Now ♪

♪ When I Had You To Myself ♪

♪ I Didn't Want You Around ♪

♪ Those Pretty Faces
Always Made You Stand Out
In A Crowd ♪

Their First Four Songs
Broke Historical Records.

Because They All
Went To Number One,
The Very First Four Songs

They Ever Recorded,
Which Was I Want You Back...

Suzanne DE Passe:
Abc, The Love You Save...

Berry Gordy: I'll Be There.

What Happened After That Was
We Went From Being
Able To Go Anywhere,

Get A Hamburger,
Go To A Movie, You Know,

Go Shopping, To Being
Able To Go Nowhere.

They Became So
Successful So Quickly

That None Of Us
Were Prepared For It.

Chorus: ♪ I Want You Back ♪

♪ Oh, Oh, Baby

Chorus: ♪ I Want You Back ♪

-[Vocalizing]
-♪ I Want You Back ♪

He Used To Sing Songs
With A Lot Of Feeling,

And He Would Sing Them
With A Lot Of Feeling

And A Lot Of Mood Like
He Had Been There Before.

Like He Had Lived It Before.

Vocally, He Was Just Leaps
And Bounds Ahead

Of What Anybody
Could Teach Him.

He Came Here
Knowing That Stuff.

It Was In His Dna.

I Discovered That
Michael Was Very Talented

When He Was Just
About Two Or Three Years Old.

Michael Had A Lot Of Rhythm,
And He Loved To Dance.

I Think He Was Born Dancing.

Michael Told Me Way Back,

He Said, "Steve,
I'm Not Gonna Be Poor."

Imagine 11 Kids Living In
A Two-Bedroom House
In Gary, Indiana.

And Gary, Indiana
Is No Beverly Hills.

It Was Hard. When You Have
All Those Kids, Like I Had,

And Kids, You Know,
They Like To Eat,
So When They Holler,

They Want Some Food,
You Gotta Put
Something In Their Hand,

And I Kept Food On The Table,
Plenty Of Food, Spike.

Joseph Had Done
A Remarkable Job
Creating The Group.

I Can Remember
How Much It Meant
To All Of Them,

But Particularly
Michael To Make It.

Michael: I Would Say
To This Day, Motown Was
The Greatest School For Me.

Really, It Was The Best.

I Learned How To Cut A Track,
As Well As Producing.

I've Learned So Many
Things About Writing.

Pretty Much Like A College.
They Taught Us
Everything About

Songwriting And
Producing And Everything.

And We Learned So Much
About Lyrical Content,

How To Produce Songs
And Just Being A Great Artist.

They Had The Best Songwriters
And Artists In The World.

Here We Are In Chicago.

You See Here The Members
Of The Temptations.

Down Here On The Bottom,
Is Little Michael
With His Afro,

And I'm Right Next To Him,
That's Me, Y'all.

What Michael Learned Is,
To Be Great,

You Had To Be Persistent,
You Had To Work.

He Got To Watch
People Like Diana Ross,
Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder.

-The Temptations,
And Smokey Robinson.
-Smokey Robinson.

Jackie Jackson:
All Those Wonderful Guys
That We Idolized.

Joe Vogel: These Were Legends
In The Music Industry

That He Was Able
To Observe Up Close

In The Studio,
In Their Element.

-I Get My Degree From
The Motown University,
-[Chuckles]

-And I Just...
-[Both Laughing]

There Was Really An Atmosphere
Of Competition.

Competition Breeds Champions
But You Can't
Let The Competition

Overcome The Love.

And So It Was
All Built On Love,
And Michael Was Full Of Love.

And The Atmosphere
Just Suited Him Very Well.

We Learned So Much
Being With All Those

Great Songwriters
And Producers.

And At That Time
When It's Taking Place
You Don't Realize That.

We Were Kids Ourselves.
I Didn't Know How To Do This.
[Chuckles]

And We Were Learning
As We Went, Together.

♪ Stop! Nanana!
You'd Better Save It! ♪

♪ Stop, Stop, Stop,
You'd Better Save It! ♪

[Vocalizing]

♪ When We Played Tag
In Grade School ♪

♪ You Wanted To Be It ♪

♪ But Chasing Boys
Was Just A Fad ♪

♪ You Crossed
Your Heart You'd Quit ♪

Yes, It's The Same
Nerve The Beatles Touched

Lo These Many Years Ago.

Only This Time, It's A Group
Of Black Teenagers

Fronted By
An 11-Year-Old Soul Brother.

♪ ...May Be Your Own ♪

♪ Darling, Take It Slow ♪

♪ Or Some Day
You'll Be All Alone ♪

De Passe: It Was So Intense
This Fan Worship.
You Have To Understand,

That All The Kids
Who Were Responding
To The Jackson 5

Hadn't Had A Mickey Mouse Club
With Kids Like Them On Camera.

They Represented
The First Youth Group

Of Our Contemporary Times

For All These Kids
To Identify With.

And Initially,
They Were All The Black Kids.

Beginning Is When
I First Saw Him,

And That's
The Reason Why I'm Here,

Is That That's
What Motivated Me

And Wanted Me To
Do Whatever It Is
That I'm Doing Right Now.

He's Everything
That I Aspired To Be.

Those Boys Just Practice
Most Of The Time With Us

While Other Kids
Were Out There

Running In
The Streets And Playing.

They Was In There Trying
To Get A Song Down
Or Something.

He Wanted To Be The Best
At Everything He Ever Did.

They Were Not At All Concerned
About The Working.

We Worked All
Day And All Night.

Gordy: This Kid, At 9,
Meant Serious Business.

I Mean, This Kid Meant
Serious, Serious Business.

[Chuckles]
I Mean, He Was Not Kidding.

Valerie Simpson: He Questioned
Nick And I About Our
Early Motown Songs.

He Always Wanted To Know.
"How'd You Come Up
With This Idea?"

"What Was This?"
"What Made You Say That?"

Songs Like Ain't Nothing
Like The Real Thing.
He Was A Real Student.

I Was Fascinated By The Fact
That He Had This
Kind Of Commitment,

This Kind Of Dedication
And Was Inquisitive About...

And Was Always Watching.
He Would Always Be Watching.

Well, Who Else Do You
Think Makes The Stage
Come To Real Life

-Besides Me And Ed Sullivan?
-[Audience Laughing]

Hold It, Hold It.
Hold It, Hold It. Hold It.

You're Beginning
To Steam Me, Kid.
You Understand That?

Michael: Best Experience
In The World.

I Was Sitting In
The Wings And Learning. Oh!

I Ate That Up.

He Would Sit With Me
At Mixing Sessions
Because I Did A Lot Of Mixing.

He Would Sit There
For Hours And Hours.

I Would Tell Somebody,
One Of My Assistants,

I Said,
"Well, My Back Is Turned,

"But I Know Michael
Is Staring At Me."

The Thing I Loved About Motown
Was That Berry Gordy,

If He Didn't Like A Song,

-He'd Go In The Studio
And Cut One Himself.
-[Chuckles]

And So Berry Gordy,
In My Opinion,

Is Probably The Greatest
Record Man That Ever Was.

Michael: Berry Was Wonderful
With Taking A Song

And Leading It To
The Right Direction,
Giving It The Right Flavors.

To Make It A Hit,
He Knew Just What It Takes,

And Everybody Can't Do That.

[Announcer Reading]

[Announcer Reading]

Ben Is Coming.

[Announcer Reading]

And This Time, He's Not Alone.

Michael: And Then Came Ben,
Which Was A Soundtrack To
A Movie About Rats.

And Wherever We Tour,
The Whole World
Demand To Hear It.

We Can't Get Offstage.
People Will Start
Chanting For Ben.

This Performance Of Ben
At The Academy Awards In 1973

Was The First Time
That Michael Really
Stepped Out On His Own.

The First
Nominated Song Is Ben
From The Picture Ben.

It Will Be Sung By A Young Man
Whose Talent Is Mature

But Whose Age Suggests
That Maybe He Shouldn't
Even Be Up This Late.

♪ Ben, The Two Of Us ♪

♪ Need Look No More ♪

♪ We Both Found ♪

♪ What We Were Looking For ♪

♪ With A Friend
To Call My Own ♪

He Was Part Of
Your Whole Life.

It Was Crazy, Man,
When You Were A Little Kid,

With All
The Jackson 5 Songs...

Then When You're
A Little Older,
Then Through Your Puberty,

Your Adolescence.

♪ Ben, You're Always Running ♪

♪ Here And There ♪

And Then When You Go To
College...
He Was Always Around,

Defining A Part Of Your Life.

There's So Many
Steps In Between

That First Day
And Off The Wall.

For Me, The Most
Heartbreaking

Was When They Left Motown.

♪ Dancing, Dancing, Dancing ♪

♪ She's ♪

♪ Ah Babe ♪

♪ Move It Baby ♪

♪ Automatic Systematic ♪

♪ Full Of Color
Self Contained ♪

♪ Tuned And Gentle
To Your Vibes ♪

They Came In As Bubble Gum.

No One Ever Graduates
From Being A Cute Kid Group
To Being Taken Seriously.

There's No Child Singer
That You Can Point To

Besides Michael
Jackson That Went

From Being Really Big
To The Biggest Pop Star Ever.

Thank God For Dancing Machine.

What They Were
Observing At The Time,
At Motown,

What The Jacksons
Were Observing

Were A Lot Of Artists
Having Creative Freedom.

♪ She's A Dance, Dance, Dance,
Dance, Dancing Machine ♪

♪ Watch Her Get Down,
Watch Her Get Down ♪

♪ Dancing Machine ♪

We Wanted To Write,
We Wanted To Produce Ourselves

And Our Contract At Motown
Didn't Let Us Do That.

And Plus, Our Contract
Was Expiring At The Time

And It Was Time To
Make A New Change.

Two Guys Named Ron Alexenburg
And Steve Popovich...

They Were With Epic,
One Was Head Of Promotion

And One Was Head Of A&R.

And They Came To Me And Said,

"We're Gonna Sign The Jacksons
As A Group."

Ron Alexenburg: It All
Started At The Warwick Hotel

And There's Nothing
But Kids Around
The Whole Hotel.

I Went To The Doorman
And Asked,
"What's Going On Here?"

And He Said,
"The Jackson 5 Are Here."

That Gave Me The Opportunity
To Go Just The Way
I Am Into The Lobby.

I Picked Up The House Phone
And I Called,

I Said,
"Michael Jackson, Please."

And They Rang Right
Through To Room 805,

And He Came
Downstairs With His Dad.

And I Looked At
Him And I Said,
"What Do You Wanna Do?"

And He Said,
"Someday, I'd Like
To Do My Own Music."

I Said, "Really?
What About Now?"

The Group Wanted
To Leave Motown. Joseph...

My Name Is Joe Jackson.

Steve Popovich: ...Thought
That He Wanted To Bring Them

And Take Them To
A Whole Other Level

That Motown Just Couldn't Do.

I Was Told Not To Sign 'Em.

And I Was Told That
They Were A Cartoon Act.

And I Went To
Walter Yetnikoff, Who Was
My Boss And I Said, "Hold On.

"The Jacksons
Belong On This Label.

"We Call Ourselves
The Family Of Music.

"This Is The Family.
I Want To Sign Them."

I Said, "Well, I Don't Know
How Many Records
They've Sold."

So I Went To Hear At
The Westbury Music Fair.

Michael Was 15
Years Old At The Time.

He's Singing
A Song To A Dead Rat,

Which You Remember,
Named Ben, Okay?

I Come Back And I
Said To These Guys,
"Are You Crazy?

[Coughs] "Sign Him And Give
Him Three And A Half
Million Dollars?"

I Said, "Walter, Please.

"You're New In Your Job
And You're Really Not
Qualified To Judge This."

I Was In The Job,
Like, Three Weeks
When That Happened.

He Was Like, "Okay,
I'll Go Along With You Guys.

"You Seem To Know
What You're Doing."

I Said, "You Know,
You're Probably Right."

That Was My Brilliant Move
In Signing The Jacksons.

♪ Like Ben ♪

Chorus: ♪ Like Ben ♪

-♪ Like Ben ♪
-[Audience Applauding]

Michael: The Most Tense
Time Of Life For Me

Was The Changing From Motown

To Cbs. I Was In
A Whole Another World,
I Was... Gosh.

It Was... I Didn't
Know What Was Happening.

Understanding The Challenge
Of A Child Prodigy

Having To Make
A Transition From Now Being
A Serious, Serious Artist.

How Much Courage It Takes
To Actually Step
Outside Of That,

And To Come With A New Sound.

That Can Be Pretty Damn Scary.

Kind Of A Critical Decision

That The Jackson 5 With Their
Father, Joe Jackson,

Made To Leave Motown,

And It Resulted In A Lawsuit

Out Of Which
Came A Name Change
To The Jacksons.

I Was Told I Couldn't Use
The Name Jackson 5,

And I Said, "It's Okay,
We'll Call Them The Jacksons."

Joe Jackson:
'Cause Berry Gordy Would
Not Let That Name Go.

We Were All Sad
That He Was Gone
And Jermaine Stayed.

Jermaine Jackson Was Married
To The Daughter
Of Berry Gordy.

So, Probably Not
A Good Idea For Him

To Leave Motown With
The Rest Of His Family.

We Respect Jermaine's Decision

Because That Was
A Very Difficult Decision
For Him To Make.

And I Respect Him For That
Because He Did
What He Wants To Do.

I Want People To Do
What They Want To Do.

Don't Do What I
Want You To Do,

Do What You Feel
That's Best For You.

Michael: There's So Much
Going On, So Much Tension.

I Wasn't Sure What
Was Gonna Happen.

I Asked Michael,

"What's Gonna Happen
When People Ask You,

"'Why Are You
Leaving Motown?'"

He Said, "Because
Everything Is Possible
With You At Epic Records.

"And There's
Nothing More To Be Said."

And With Columbia Records,
We Wanna Sell
Twice As Many Records.

We Want To Do The Things
That We've Dreamed Of.

That Was Not A Popular Signing
In The Business.

Nor Was It In The Building.

Ron's Lost His Mind.

You Know,
The Jacksons Have Had It.
They're Done.

The Problem At That Time,
Is They Had Had
A Cartoon Series

And The Credibility
Was Questionable.

Chorus: ♪ Ohhh 2,4,6,8,
Who Do You Appreciated ♪

Michael:
♪ Please Be My Pride And Joy ♪

Chorus: ♪ 2,4,6,8,
Who Do You Appreciate ♪

Michael:
♪ I Wanna Be Your Lover Boy ♪

♪ I May Be A Little Fella ♪

♪ But My Hearts
As Big As Texas ♪

♪ I Have All The Love
A Man Can Give ♪

♪ And Maybe
A Little Bit Extra ♪

I'm Gonna Give Them
As Much Credibility
As I Possibly Can.

We Got On The Train,
Went To Philadelphia,

Gamble And Huff Opened Their
Drawer Full Of Hits.

When You Think Of Disco
And When You Think
Of Quality Disco,

You Came To Philadelphia.

Two Of The People
That Michael Jackson
Learned From, Immensely,

Were Kenny
Gamble And Leon Huff,

Who Were The Creators
And Entrepreneurs
Behind Philly International

The Proprietors
Of The Disco Sound.

They Had Always
Wanted To Write
And Produce...

-Hmm.
-...Their Own Records.

You Know What I Mean,
And Be A Part Of The Process.

And That's Pretty Much
What Philly International Was.

-It Was A Place Where We Had
A Lot Of Creative Freedom.
-Mmm-Hmm.

They Wrote Tons Of Hits.
Tons, Tons Of Hits.

Kenny Gamble: We Had Harold
Melvin & The Blue Notes.

-We Had The O'jays.
-Interviewer: Go Through
The Roster.

We Had Patti Labelle.

Interviewer: Archie Bell
& The Drells.

-Gamble: Phyllis Hyman.
-Interviewer: Billy Paul.

-Lou Rawls.
We Had Teddy Pendergrass.
-Leon Huff: Three Degrees.

Gamble: Three Degrees.

We Had To Style These Songs
To Fit These Guys' Voices.

-Interviewer: And That's What
Great Producers Do, Right?
-Sure.

We're Right Almost
In The Middle Of

A Recording Session
With The Jacksons.

And Guess Who Is Producing
Their Brand New Album.

-Gamble And Huff.
-That's Right.

Now, Why Would You Guys Come
All The Way In From California

To Cut Some Sides In An Album
In Philadelphia?

Because Gamble & Huff's
Organization Is Here

And They're Two Of
The Best Producers
In The World.

Working With Gamble And Huff
They Do It In
A Little Quicker Pace.

It Takes Three Weeks
To Make A Record.

I Didn't Know You Could Make
A Record In Three Weeks,
A Whole Album.

They Were The Jimmy Jam
And Terry Lewis Of The '70s.

And Michael Always Says
That He Learned A Lot

About The Songwriting Process
From Kenny Gamble
And Leon Huff.

How To Structure A Song.
How To Create
Great Arrangements.

The Jacksons
Came To Philadelphia
For Two Years

To Record Two Records,
The Jacksons And Goin' Places.

We Try To Write Songs
That People Do All The Time,

Or People Say
Things All The Time.

♪ Enjoy Yourself,
Enjoy Yourself
Enjoy Yourself With Me ♪

People Say That All The Time,
You Know, "Enjoy Yourself."

♪ You Got To Enjoy Yourself ♪

♪ Enjoy Yourself ♪

♪ Enjoy Yourself ♪

♪ Get Down, Get Down ♪

♪ Get On Down ♪

♪ Enjoy Yourself ♪

♪ Enjoy Yourself ♪

♪ Get Down, Get Down ♪

-♪ Get On Down ♪
-♪ Enjoy Yourself ♪

-♪ Enjoy Yourself ♪
-♪ Get Down, Get Down ♪

-♪ Just Get On Down ♪
-♪ Enjoy Yourself ♪

-♪ Enjoy Yourself ♪
-♪ Get Down, Get Down ♪

♪ Just Get On Down ♪

-♪ Come On ♪
-♪ Come On ♪

-♪ Come On ♪
-♪ Come On ♪

-♪ Come On ♪
-♪ Come On ♪

♪ Come On ♪

♪ You Can Do It,
You Can Do It ♪

♪ You Can Do It,
You Can Do It ♪

♪ Oh! ♪

He Was Driven By The Music,
He Loved The Music And...

Eager To Learn.

One Of The Most
Important Things

To Being Successful
Is Listening.

It's Listening And Watching
And Being A Good Person
To Work With.

Easy To Work With.

Every Song Is A Negotiation.

Every Production
Is A Negotiation

If You Are Co-Doing It
With Someone.

Michael: The Producer Wanted
Me To Pronounce Words
A Certain Way.

There Was A Song
And There's A Line In It
Where He Sings...

♪ I'm A Man That's
For All Seasons ♪

♪ And What The City Offers Me
Ain't Naturally ♪

"Ain't Naturally,"
He Sings That And I Go,
"That's Bad English."

[Chuckles] So, I Say,
"Hang On, Mike,"
And I Come Out.

And I Said, "So, It's Like,
'Isn't Naturally.' Naturally?
Or 'Isn't Natural.'"

Michael: I Told Him,
You Pronounce
The Word So Precisely,

It Takes Away From
The Feeling Of The Song

And We Got Into
A Little Thing With That.
[Chuckles]

There's A Lot Of Give And Take
And Sometimes You
Don't Wanna Give.

Or Sometimes You
Give But You Feel Like,

"I Should Have Left
It The Way It Was."

Something Said, In My Brain,
"Shut The Fuck Up.

"Stop Being
The Grammar Police.

"This Guy Is A Genius.
Just Get Out Of His Way."

Michael: I Was Right,
And I Won. [Laughs]

But It Was
A Good Learning Point.

You Want To 100%
Express Your Idea.

It's Just 100%
Expression Of Me.

We Have Two Albums...

I Mean, Two Singles
On The Album

Coming Out In
December On Epic.

First Time We've Written
Some Songs On The Album.

It Was A Different Style,
But Still It Was A Hit Record

So When We Start
Putting That Together

With What We Heard
Amongst The Brothers,

It Created Our
Own Style Of Music.

Michael: It's Time To Write.

Something Let You
Know That It's Time

For You To Go Out
And Do It Yourself.

So We Decided To Write
And Produce Our Own Songs.

And We Finally Did.

And We Went Through So Much

With People Not
Believing In Your Work

Or Saying, "Are You Sure?
You Sure?"

And We Said,
"Yeah, We Know We Can.
We Know What We Can Do."

We Went In And We
Wrote The Destiny Album.

I Felt It Was Something
That Came Within, From Us.

And This Is The Jacksons.

This Is Us Today.

On The Destiny Album,
Which Is The Album
That Comes Out In 1978,

A Year Prior To Off The Wall,

He's Starting To Make
Those Moves, He Wrote

Shake Your Body
(Down To The Ground).

Interviewer: Where Were You
When You First Heard
About That Record?

-How Did It Happen?
-Michael: He Was At Home

-And Randy Was Playing
This Groove On The Piano.
-Interviewer: Mmm-Hmm.

[Michael Humming]

I Said, "What Is That?"
He Said, "This Is Nothing."

I Said, "Don't Say That.
It Is Something."

-And I Just Started
Singing To His Playing.
-Interviewer: Mmm-Hmm.

And It Came About.

I Called Some Of
My Friends Out Here

That I Had A Lot Of Respect
For That Knew How To Arrange.

I Thought The Key To
Really Making An Album,
Of A Vocal Band Like This,

Is Obviously Great Musicians,
Great Arrangements.

Bobby Colomby Convinced Me
That I Should Get
More Into Arranging.

He Said, "And Here's Who
You're Gonna Do It With."

And Next Thing You Know,
I'm In A Room
With The Jacksons.

Then We Brought Greg In
To Come And Help
Us With The Record

On Destiny Album Again.

-Yeah. Amazing.
-Then...

Everybody Was Using
Greg Phillinganes.

It Was...

When I First Heard The Demo
For Shake Your Body,
It Was...

Obviously, The Melody
Was There.

Which Was Very Strong.

And They Had
The Basic Piano Part.

That You Hear...
[Humming]

All That Rhythm Was There.

♪ You Walk Around This Town ♪

♪ With Your Head All Up
In The Sky ♪

♪ And I Do Know
That I Want Ya ♪

But There Wasn't As Much
Going On Rhythmically.

Greg Came Up With This...

[Mimicking Instruments]

[Mimicking Instruments]

That's The Rhythm Of
Shake Your Body
(Down To The Ground)

Which The Average
Song Was More Like...
[Mimicking Instruments]

It Fit Perfectly.

At First, When He
Came Up With That Beat,

I Said, "What Is
This Guy Doing?"

I Said That To Myself.
I Didn't Say Anything.

But I Waited
Until He Played It.

And When He Played It,
When We Heard
It In The Record,

I Said, "Oh, My God!
This Is The Bomb."
[Laughing]

'Cause I Had Never Heard
A Beat Like That Before.

-It Was Incredible.
Great Beat.
-Mmm-Hmm.

I Said, "If The Jacksons
Ever Need A Drummer,

"Let Them Know Your
Friend Is In Town."

The Guy's Name
Is James Mcfield,
Keyboard Player,

Who Got Me The Audition.

And Tito Said,
He Had His Arm On His Guitar
And He Said,

"Let's Play Shake
Your Body Down."

Like This Kinda Look He Said,
"You Know That One?"

So I Start Playing The Beat.

[Drums Beating]

And They're
Looking At Each Other,

The Jackson
Brothers Are Whispering
In Each Other's Ears.

And He's Looking,
And I'm Like Saying,
"Oh, No. I'm Blowing It."

Because That
Beat Is Very Tricky.

You Have To Know
When And How To Cross

Your Arms To Make
The Times Happen,

The Intricate Hi-Hat Happen,

And Keep The Beat Going
Without Losing
Any Of The Elements.

And Then Randy Said,
"Nobody Can Play That Beat.

"That Was
A Three-Part Overdub."

And I Said, "Really?
I Thought The Guy
Played It At One Time."

And He Was Shocked And Amazed
I Could Play It.

And He Said,
"You're Our Drummer."

Marlon Jackson: We Had Tom
Tom 84 Doing The Horn
Arrangements,

Who Is A Horn
Arranger Out Of Chicago,

Who Did All The Earth,
Wind & Fire's.

And Then We Got
Earth, Wind & Fire
Horn Players To Come In

And Play...

[Mimicking Instruments]

Horn Players Love That Lick.

It's As Dissonant
And Tension-Provoking Verse...

Musically... I'm Like,
"What's Going On?

"Where Is The Bridge?
Where's The Solo?
When Do We..."

I'm Just Used To Other Form.

Epic's Really Not
Interested In Them At All.

At This Point, It Was Like,
"God, We Gotta Put This Out."

I Get A Call From Paris Eley.

He's Head Of Promotion
For The R&B Department.

And He Says, "Hey, Man.

-"Shake Your Body's A Hit."
-[Audience Cheering]

I Wanna Show You
First Of All The Album
And Then Show You The Inside.

If I May,
And From Left To Right,
They Are Randy And Tito

And Jackie And
Marlon And Michael

-And They Are The Jacksons.
-[Audience Cheering]

♪ I Don't Know What's Going
Happen To You, Baby ♪

-[Woman Screaming]
-♪ But I Do Know
That I Love Ya ♪

♪ You Walk Around This Town ♪

♪ With Your Head
All Up In The Sky ♪

♪ And I Do Know
That I Want Ya ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Let's Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Let's Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Let's Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Let's Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

That Enabled People

-To See Michael Jackson
Finally As An Adult.
-[Audience Screaming]

Because It Was Musical,
It Was A Long Way From Abc

And I Want You Back.

[Audience Cheering]

♪ You Tease Me
With Your Lovin' ♪

-♪ To Play Hard To Get ♪
-[Woman Cheering]

♪ Cause You Do Know
That I Want Ya ♪

[Woman Screaming]

-♪ You Walk Around This Town ♪
-[Women Screaming]

♪ With Your Head
All Up In The Sky ♪

♪ And You Do Know
That I Want Ya ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Dance, Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Let's Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Let's Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Let's Shout ♪

♪ Shake It All ♪

-[Audience Cheering]
-Oh!

♪ Down, Down, Down, Down ♪

♪ Shake It All ♪

There's A Moment In The Demo
Of Shake Your Body
(Down To The Ground)

Which Clearly Let Me Know
That They Had Their Eyes
On The Bigger Prize.

It's 1978 And
The Biggest Selling Album

Of All Time Is
Saturday Night Fever.

And There's A Moment
That You Can Hear Jackie
In The Background Say,

Pssh! "I Can't Wait Till
The Bee Gees Hear This Shit."

Jackie: I Want The Bee Gees
To Hear This Shit.

Oh!

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Dance, Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-Everybody!
-Chorus: ♪ Dance, Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-♪ Let's Dance, Let's Shout ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Dance, Shout ♪

♪ Shake You Body
Down To The Ground ♪

-Everybody!
-Chorus: ♪ Dance, Shout ♪

We Wrote,
"Produced By The Jacksons."

"All Songs Written
By The Jacksons."

Well, Mick Jackson,
A White Kid That
Lived In England,

Wrote Blame It On The Boogie.

I Didn't Lie.
His Name Is Jackson.

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Sunshine ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Moonlight ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Good Times ♪

♪ Blame It On The Boogie ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Sunshine ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Moonlight ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Good Times ♪

♪ Blame It On The Boogie
Oh ♪

♪ I Just Can't, I Just Can't ♪

♪ I Just Can't
Control My Feet ♪

-♪ I Just Can't,
I Just Can't ♪
-♪ Yeah ♪

-♪ I Just Can't
Control My Feet ♪
-♪ Woo ♪

♪ I Just Can't, I Just Can't ♪

♪ I Just Can't
Control My Feet ♪

♪ I Just Can't, I Just Can't ♪

♪ I Just Can't
Control My Feet ♪

♪ Sunshine ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Moonlight ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Good Times ♪

♪ Blame It On The Boogie ♪

Oh!

♪ Sunshine ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Moonlight ♪

♪ Don't Blame It
On The Good Times ♪

♪ Blame It On The Boogie Oh ♪

♪ I Just Can't, I Just Can't ♪

♪ I Just Can't
Control My Feet ♪

♪ I Just Can't, I Just Can't ♪

-♪ I Just Can't
Control My Feet ♪
-Oh!

So, Michael Starts Singing It.

He Throws The Headphones Down
And Bolts Out Of The Studio.

I Turn To The Engineer.
"Did He Get Feedback?"

He Goes, "No, Nothing."

I Go Out To The Hall,
He's Dancing.

[Chuckles]
It Was Unbelievable,
He's Spinning Around.

He Goes, "I'm Sorry, Sir.
I Can't Stand Still
And Sing That Section.

"I Gotta Get This Out."

He'd Watched James Brown,
The Nicholas Brothers
And Sammy Davis.

He'd See Somebody
Dance One Time,

Like Fred Astaire,
Some Of The Other Stars,

And He Can Do
Exactly What They...

Easy To Catch On.

Jackie Wilson,
Which I Used To Watch

-On The Wings Every
Day At The Stage,
-Interviewer: Mmm-Hmm.

We Would Play At
The Regal Theater.
Six Shows A Day.

We Would Come On Amateur Hour.

Interviewer: Oh, My Gosh.

I Would Just Watch Him

And Sammy Davis Jr.'S
Another One Of My Favorites.

-Interviewer: You Can't Go
Wrong Watching Sammy Davis Jr.
-Michael: Oh, Yeah.

To Watch Him,
[Swallows]

And Suddenly See
Little Flashes...

Flatteringly I Say
This About Myself.

Little Flashes Of
Me There And Go, Wow...

But He's Extended It.

He's Changed It,
He's Colored It

Till It Becomes His Own.

He Introduced Me
To Fred Astaire
And All These Movies.

I Had No Idea Who The Hell
These People Were

-Prior To That.
-Interviewer: Mmm-Hmm.

And He Just Opened Up My Eyes
To A Whole Another
World Of Inspiration.

I Just Wanna Let You Know
I Have All Your Films On Tape

And I Watch Them All The Time.
And I Wanna Ask
You One Question.

How Do You Do That Thing
When You Walk
On The Ceiling

-[Fred Astaire Laughing]
-And You Dance...

Michael: Really, I Wanna
Know How Did That Work?

Astaire: The Whole Room
And The Camera Turned.

Michael: So They
Both Turned, Right?

-Astaire: Yes.
-[Tapping]

Michael's Dance
Is Based On Energy

And He Moves Like
An Electric Eel.

I Think The Adjective
"Electric" Is Good For Him.

He's Charged With Energy,
But He Has
The Good Inner Sense,

Or Wherever It Comes From,
His Brain Or Wherever,

To Just Take It Down
And Then Up Again, Quickly,

Which Good Dancers
Naturally Have.

I Came Out After The War,
After I Was In The Navy,

And I Wanted To
Dance The Common Man.
I Didn't Want To Dance

In White Tie Or A Tuxedo
And Dressed Up.

I Wanted To
Roll Up My Sleeves,
And Wear Jeans And T-Shirts.

The Nearest Thing I Could Get
To Dancing Shoes Were Loafers,

And The White Socks
And The Rolled-Up Jeans.

And He's Dancing
From The Streets,
Like I Was. I Believe That.

I Was A Teenager,
And I Was Getting Older.
I Started To Really Understand

The Power Of Dance.

The Way He Could Spin,
Stop On A Dime
And Point With Such Intensity,

That's The Power
I'm Talking About.

When I Perfect
A Certain Amount Of Moves,

There Is Beauty In Simplicity,
In Really Stripping
Things Down

And I Learned That From Him.

He Impacted Everything
For Me, Absolutely.

He Impacted My
Game On The Court,

He Impacted Me Now,
To This Day,
And How I Learn.

Watching Him Was Like
Something I'd
Never Seen Before.

It Was Something
That Was Magical,
That Was Creative,

That Seemed Like
Something That I Could Mimic.

That's How I Found
My Love For Dance

Before I Found
Classical Ballet.

I Used To Ask Him, I Said,
"Man, How Much
Do You Practice?"

He Said,
"You Know, I Would Dance
Until I Can't Dance No More."

I Said, "What Do You Mean?"

He Said,
"I Dance Till My Legs...
I Physically Could Not Move."

There's A Lot Of People
Who Just Don't Have
That Same Type Of Drive.

You See It In
An Artist Like Beyonce,
That Kind Of Drive.

A Lot Of Times,
When It Comes
To Black Artists,

This Happens With Basquiat,
It Happened With Miles Davis,

With Michael Jackson,

People Talk About
Their Natural Gifts,

As If There's Not
Strategy And Skill And Craft,

As If Miles Davis
Didn't Go To Juilliard,

Or Basquiat Didn't Know
Who Monet And Renoir Were,

Or Michael Jackson
Hadn't Been Doing This
His Entire Life.

Some Of My Favorite Writers
Are Johnny Mercer,

Irving Berlin,
George Gershwin,
Duke Ellington, Count Basie.

No, No, No, You Gotta
Put The Work In, Man.

You Gotta Put The Time In.

And Really, Man,
It's Love That
You Put In There.

You Know, 'Cause People
That Do This Kind Of Stuff,

Man, We Love What We Do.

This Is Dated
November 6, 1979.

He Was On The Road
With His Brothers
On The "Destiny" Tour.

[Reading]
"Mj Will Be My New Name.
No More Michael Jackson.

"I Want A Whole New Character,
A Whole New Look,

"I Should Be
A Totally Different Person.

"People Should Never
Think Of Me As The Kid
Who Sang Abc, I Want You Back.

"I Should Be A New,
Incredible Actor,

"Singer, Dancer That
Will Shock The World.

"I Will Do No Interviews.
I Will Be Magic.

"I Will Be A Perfectionist,
A Researcher,
A Trainer, A Masterer.

"I Will Be Better
Than Every Great
Actor Roped In One.

"I Must Have The Most
Incredible Training System,

"To Dig And Dig
And Dig Until I Find.

"I Will Study And Look Back

"On The Whole
World Of Entertainment,
And Perfect It,

"Take It Steps Further
From Where
The Greatest Left Off."

Interviewer: You Guys Are
Really Riding A Big High Now

As Far As Producing
Records And So On.

You Think This Is The Peak
Of Your Career Now,

Or Have You Gone
Down A Little Bit,

Or Are You Expecting
Bigger And Better Things?

Interviewer: What Are You
Looking Forward To
In The Future, Michael?

Recording Other Artists
And Going Into Acting.

We Get A Lot Of Scripts In,

But We Haven't
Found The Exact Script
That We Want To Use.

-Interviewer: Mmm-Hmm.
-So, We're Picking
And Deciding.

Think You May Be
A Big Movie Star One Day, Huh?

Yeah, I'd Like
To Give It A Try.

Yeah, It's A Good
Business To Be In.

You've Got
The Looks, You Know.

-Fortunately, I Didn't...
-[Scattered Laughter
From Audience]

-What?
-[Audience Laughing]

Man: With The Advent
Of Motion Pictures,
Came An Abundance Of Oz Films.

A 1925 Version
Starred Oliver Hardy
As The Tin Man.

And Who'll Ever
Forget The 1939

Mgm Musical Version
Starring Judy Garland.

In 1974, The Wiz Opened
On Broadway,
Winning Seven Tony Awards.

I Was A Senior In High School,

And There Was This Girl
Named Barbara Hampton,
Who I Liked,

And I Wanted To Impress Her.

I Was Working At
Baskin-Robbins.

I Just Saved My Money,
I Finally Got Enough
Courage To Ask Her,

"Would You Like To Go
See The Wiz With Me?

"I Got Two Great Seats.
They're Center Aisle."

She Said,
"No, I Don't Think So."

[Laughing]

Scalped Them For
Double The Price.

I Took Michael
The First Time To See The Wiz,
He Went Back 30 More Times.

The Wiz, When It Came
Out In 1978,

Was Lumet's Movie Adaptation
Of That Great,
Long-Running Play

That Was On Broadway
With Stephanie Mills.

♪ So It's Real ♪

♪ Real, Real, Real... ♪

There Was A Great Debate,
At Least In My Neighborhood,

That, Diana Ross Was Dope,

But The Only Reason
Why They Cast Her
Is 'Cause She's Diana Ross.

Stephanie Mills
Would Have Been
A Better Fit For The Film,

But For Whatever Reason,
She Didn't Get The Job.

We're Not Gonna Do It
With An Unknown,
Young Actress.

We Have To Have The Star Power
To Make It "Cross Over."

It Also Was...

The Most Expensive
Movie Ever Made

With An All
African-American Cast.

Interviewer: So, Because
Of Car Wash And Sparkle,

-You Know,
This Happens In Hollywood,
-Joel Schumacher: Mmm-Hmm.

Were You Designated
As The Go-To Guy
For Black Material?

-I Was The Black Writer.
-Interviewer:
The Black Writer, Huh?

And Sidney Was
Probably The Number One
American Director Right Then,

'Cause He Had Done
Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon,

Network,
Murder On The Orient Express,

I Think, All In A Row.

-He Was King.
-Interviewer: Right.

And Definitely,
King Of New York.

Michael Was Desperate
To Play The Scarecrow.

He Always Wanted To
Have A Film Career.

There Was Some Rumor
That He Was Supposed To Star

In The Frankie Lymon Story.
That Never Happened.

The Wiz Was
Supposed To Be A Huge Film.

Diana Ross, His Longtime Pal,
Was Starring In It.

He's No Longer At Motown,
And Michael
Called Berry Gordy.

We Were Doing The Wiz.

Rob Cohen Was Handling It.

He Was Working
For Me At The Time
With Motown Productions.

It Would Have Been
Very Easy For Him To Say,

"Well, You Know, Michael,
You're Gone Now,

"And I Think We'll
Find Somebody Else."

Sidney Was Adamant
That He Didn't Want Michael.

He Felt Michael Was Over,

And Had Been A Cute,
Little Kid, Musical Star,
But Hadn't Grown Into It.

And I Just Said,
"You're Making A Mistake,
And I Want You To Meet Him."

Of Course, Lumet Fell
In Love With Michael.

Sidney Lumet: Michael May Be
The Purest Talent
I've Ever Seen.

He's Incapable
Of A False Moment.

He's So True That
Anything Around Him
Has To Become True.

If You Don't Work
Honestly Around Him,

You're Gonna Look
As If You're Faking It.

Well, Yeah, He's
All Those Things,

Plus, This Kid Can Dance
And Sing Like Nobody Else.

It Was So Obvious,
The Genius Of This Boy,
I Mean, It Was So Effortless.

When I Was Real Small,
When I Saw
The Original Wizard Of Oz,

The Judy Garland Version,

I Always Fell In
Love With The Scarecrow,
I Think Most Kids Do,

Because You Feel Sorry
For Him, And Everything,

And His Character.

And I Always Watched Him.

Matter Of Fact,
I Had The Step Down They Did,

When I Was Around Six,
I Would Do It All
Around The House.

"Follow
The Yellow Brick Road."

-Ta-Da.
-[Laughing]

Whoo!

-Come On, Dorothy! Come On!
-[Laughing]

Whoo!
[Giggling]

Whoo!

♪ Come On And ♪

♪ Ease On Down
Ease On Down The Road ♪

♪ Come On, Ease On Down
Ease On Down The Road ♪

♪ Don't You Carry Nothing ♪

♪ That Might Be A Load ♪

♪ Come On, Ease On Down
Ease On Down, Down The Road ♪

Matter Of Fact,
That Hill That We Do

Ease On Down
The Road Was Going Uphill.

And, Diana And Me,
We Were So Out Of Breath,

-We Had To Do It
A Couple Of Times, Really.
-[Chuckles]

I Mean,
It Was Going Straight Up.

♪ On The Road
That You Choose ♪

♪ Don't You Give Up Walkin' ♪

-♪ 'Cause You Gave Up Shoes ♪
-♪ Oh ♪

♪ Ease On Down ♪

Quincy Jones: He'd Come In
For A Five-Hour
Makeup Call In The Morning,

Get The Makeup Out Of The Way,

Right On The Case, He Knew
Everybody's Lines,
Everybody's Songs

He Knew Everybody's Position,
And He Stood There,
Almost At Attention.

I Saw This Uncanny
Type Of Discipline
In Such A Young Person.

Quincy, Of Course,
Was The Musical Director.

He Was Doing
The Score For The Wiz.

You See Him
For A Minute, Right?

You See Him For
A Minute Conducting
The Band In The Movie.

And I Was A Quincy Fan.

You Know, Smackwater Jack,
Walking In Space,
Body Heat, All That Stuff.

The Wiz Seemed Like
A Great Combination

Of All These Things
That He Could Do.

Lumet Was Very Happy
To Have Quincy. We All Were.

That Just, Kind Of, Guaranteed

The Musical Portion
Would Hit A Strong,
Popular Chord.

He Didn't Actually
Have A Feature Number

In The Film When
They Hired Him.

They Didn't Know
About The Dancing,
A Lot Of Things...

Eventually,
Everybody Came To Understand
What He Was All About.

♪ You Can't Win ♪

♪ You Can't Break Even ♪

♪ And You Can't
Get Out Of The Game ♪

♪ People Keep Sayin' ♪

♪ Things Are Gonna Change ♪

♪ But They Look Just Like
They're Staying The Same ♪

Jones: But I Don't Think
They Showed
Enough Of His Dancing.

The Real Night That
Off The Wall Was Born,

We Were Doing
The Pre-Records For The Movie.

Quincy Had, Like,
Tunnel-Vision On Diana Ross.

Finally, About 2:00 A.M.,
[Chuckles]

Q Had What He
Wanted From Diana,

And He Goes, "Okay, Michael,
You Come In On Bar 6."

-And Michael's Part,
Like, Had...
-Michael: Ha!

-A Thousand Watts.
-Michael: Ha! Uh!

He's Doing Everything
That Became
The Signature Michael Jackson.

-[Grunting]
-[Interviewer Laughs]

Michael: Come On, Dorothy!
Come On!

And, It Was Like A Lioness
Who Just Suddenly
Sees A Baby Goat.

[Laughs]

It Was Just...

The More I Knew Him,

And The More I
Became Fascinated

With The Idea Of, Maybe,
Working With Him.

It Was A Lot Of Fun
Working With All The Greats,

Sidney Lumet, Quincy Jones,
Everybody.

I May Be One Of The Few People
Who Really Loved The Wiz.

There's Some Great
Representation, On Film,
That We Hadn't Seen Before.

When The Wiz Came Out,
I Was 7 Years Old.

That Was An Event
For Black America.

I Can't Speak For
All Of New York City,

I Can't Speak For
All Of The Country.

But Everybody
In My Neighborhood, In Harlem,

Was Going To See The Wiz
Because Of Mike Jackson.

So, This Is A Big Moment
For Michael Jackson.

He Gets To Fulfill
His Acting Desires,

And He's Finally In
A Big Hollywood Film.

So, He And His Sister,
La Toya, Move To New York.

I Found Them An Apartment
On 400 East 56th
Street Off 4th Avenue.

Jason King: In The Summer
Of '77, A Legendary Summer,

There Were Blackouts,
There Was A Serial Killer,

David Berkowitz,
The Son Of Sam,

Who Was Doing All
These Random Killings,

People Were Terrified.

The First Summer Of Disco,
It Was The Time

In Which All Of These
Nascent Music Forms
Were Coming Up.

Punk, Hip-Hop,
Disco Was Huge,

And There Were All
These Different Elements

That Were Happening
In New York
At The Same Time,

That Were Sort Of
Coming In Contact

With Each Other Or
Clashing With Each Other.

I Have A Feeling That's
Probably Where He First Heard

A Lot Of Early Hip-Hop,

The Beatboxing That
He's Basically Doing

On A Song Like
Working Day And Night.

Even Though He Was
Only 19, He Was Going

To Studio 54 On
A Regular Basis.

Perhaps You've Heard
The Name Studio 54.

It Attracts The Rich
And The Famous,

The Glamorous
And The Powerful.

They Come To This Disco Palace
In New York City

Just About Any
Night Of The Week.

King: He Was Making
All Kinds Of Eccentric
And Unusual Friends

That Now We See The Photos Of
And It Looks Really Strange.

He's Hanging Out
With Liza Minnelli.

Hi, Sweetheart.

Are You Just
Hanging Out In New York?

Yes, Studio 54.
[Chuckles]

-Come Here A Lot?
-Oh, God, Yes.

-Why?
-Because I Like
The Atmosphere Of Studio 54.

I've Been To
A Lot Of Discotheques,
And I Don't Like Them.

Interviewer: What's
The Difference?

Michael: I Don't Know.
The Feeling.

I Mean, The Excitement
Of The Props Coming Down,
And The Balcony,

It's Just Exciting, Honestly.

I'm Certain
That His Experience
In Going To Studio 54,

During The Filming Of The Wiz,

Played A Big Part
In Where He Wanted
This Album Played.

And It Doesn't Mean
That He Wanted To
Make A Disco Record.

He Is A Dancer.
He's A Marvelous Dancer.

He's An Influential,
Innovative Dancer.

-Interviewer: But Why Do You
Dance For Fun?
-[Music Playing]

Because You're
Just Being Free Then.

-Most Of The Time,
It's Set Choreography
-[Bell Ringing]

When We're On Stage,

It's Stuff You Have
To Do Every Night.

When You Dance Here,
You're Just Free,

You Dance With
Whoever You Want To.

You Just Go Wild.

Interviewer:
What About The Craziness?
It Gets Crazy And Wild...

Michael: No, It Doesn't. No.

Not Only Is It Fun To Dance,
It's Fun To Look
At Other People.

You Walk Around,
And You See All
Kinds Of Things.

Like, Darth Vader Was
Here The Other Night.
It Was Incredible.

I'm Sure He Was
Making These Observations

Of What Was
Going On Around Him.

He Was, Kind Of,
Self-Conscious About Himself,

And Kind Of Shy.

So He Wasn't Trying To Be
Around All Of The Wildness,

All Of The Freakness,
You Know What I'm Saying?

He Would Go In The Dj Booth
And Just Watched People,

And Make These Mental Notes,
And I'm Sure,
Musical Notes, Also.

King: And I Think All Of That
Shows Up On Off The Wall,

Because It's
Certainly One Of The Most

Sensual Albums
He Ever Released.

It Contains A Sort Of
Exuberance And Sexuality.

It's Where You Come
When You Want To Escape.

It's Really Escapism.

Michael: When We Left Motown,

A Certain Amount Of Albums
For The Jacksons,

And A Certain Amount
For Me, As A Solo Artist.

He's Coming Out As
An Autonomous Figure,

Separate From His Father,
Separate From His Brothers,

And Really Establishing
Himself As A Solo Act.

[People Talking Indistinctly]

I Mean, There Was
Some Speculation.
Would Quincy Be The Right Guy?

He's A Jazz Guy,
Would He Be...

They Didn't Think
That He Could Make
A Contemporary Hit Record

That Everybody
In The Whole World Would Like.

I Don't Think
That It's Possible

To Sit Down And Try To
Intellectualize And Theorize

About How You
Can Make A Record

That Can Appeal To Many,
Many People.

With The People
In This Room...

It's Very Difficult
To Try To Make A Record

That Everybody In
This Room Would Like.

The Label Had Other Ideas
About Who He Should Go With.

They Wanted Maurice White,
He Was One Of The People,

And They Also Wanted
Gamble And Huff
To Work With Him.

Michael Came Back All
Teary-Eyed One Day And Said,

"The People At Epic
Don't Want To Use You.

"They Said You're Too Jazzy,
You Don't Understand
This Kind Of Music."

But They Don't Know.

These Guys, They Don't Know.

They're A&R Men,
They Don't Know.

Thank God He Went Back,

With Freddy Demann
And Ron Weisner,

And They Fought, And
They Said, "He's Doing It."

Quincy Called Me
One Day And Said,

"We're Going To Do
Michael Jackson's Album,

"His First Solo Album."

And I Thought To Myself,
"Holy Cow, I Better
Get Serious."

'Cause I Don't Get Those Kind
Of Calls Very Often.

When You Discover Off The Wall
For The First Time,

Forget All The Music
For A Second,

Let's Just Talk About
The Sonics, The Sound Of It.

The Sonic Of
That Album Stands Up

Against Any Album
Right Now. Period.

Because It's Raw.

It Was Before Drum Machines,
Before Heavy
Computer Programing.

Making An Album Is
Totally Different Today
Than What It Was.

Because When We Made Those
Albums, Back In The Day,

We Had Live Musicians,
Live Drummer.

That Way, You Get Magic.
You Get A Little Bit Of Magic,

And If Somebody's Playing
Just A Little Bit Under
Or Something Like That,

That's All Part Of
Making A Record Breathe.

That's The Pulse.

-Yeah, It's The Pulse.
-Mmm-Hmm.

But Today,
Everything Is Right On.

-Today...
-'Cause They Quantize
Every Damn Thing.

-Everything Is Right On Today.
-[Laughs]

These Were, Like, Living,
Breathing Recordings

That Were For The Dance Floor.

Machines Are Great,

But Incredible Musicians,
I Feel Like,
Will Beat It Everytime.

I'm Always
Telling Engineers, Like,
"You Better Study And Listen.

"If They Were Able To
Accomplish That Type

"Of Fullness And
That Type Of Sound,

"They Were Able To Do
That Then, You Better

"Be Able To Do
Something Great Now,

-"Or You're Fired."
-[Interviewer Chuckles]

What Quincy Has,
Is An Extraordinary History.

He's Leading
The Band Behind Count Basie.

Jones: Working With
Frank Sinatra...

Harry Weinger:
Sammy Davis Jr....

-Pawnbroker.
-Jones: In The Heat
Of The Night,

Sanford And Son...

He Studied In France
Under A Great Orchestration.

Nadia Boulanger,
Who Taught Ravel.

Michael: He's Unlimited
Musically, He Can...

God, You Want Anything,
He Can Do It.

Jazz, Folk, Pop, Classical,
Soul, Gospel, Anything.

Michael Wrote Three Songs
On The Off The Wall Album,

Don't Stop 'Til
You Get Enough,

Workin' Day And Night,
And Get On The Floor.

He Wanted The Freedom
To Develop As An Artist,

And Writing These Three Songs
Was Very Important To Him.

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With Your Heart,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With Your Heart,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

The Demos Are
Kind Of A Revelation,

In That They Really Illuminate
Michael's Abilities
As A Songwriter,

And Show How Developed
His Songs Were

When He Brought
Them To Quincy Jones.

You Really See Michael's
Rhythmic Sophistication.

[Mimicking Instruments]
[Snapping Fingers]

That's What Did It.

[Mimicking Instruments]

That's The Phrase That Pays.
That's The Hook Right There.

Michael Ain't Got
To Say A Word Yet.

They Could Play That Baseline,

And They Could Run It
Non-Stop, And We're Good.

The Opening Bars Of
That Record Is Just Like,

You Could Be Playing
The Worst Set Of Your Life,

Or You're At A Wedding,
Or You're At A Club,
It Doesn't Matter,

And You Just First...
[Mimicking Instruments]

It's Just Like... Ow!

You, Kind Of, Get This
Little Tick, You Know,
That's Going On,

Anybody You're Around,
You Know,
They're Just Down For It.

-Even The Guy That's Trying
To Be Hard, Like...
-[Interviewer Laughing]

You Know,
You're Just In There.

♪ You Know, I Was ♪

♪ I Was Wondering, You Know ♪

♪ If You Could Keep On ♪

♪ Because The Force ♪

♪ It's Got A Lot Of Power ♪

♪ And It Make Me
Feel Like Ah ♪

♪ It Make Me Feel Like ♪

♪ Oooh! ♪

♪ Lovely, Is The Feelin' Now ♪

♪ Fever, Temperature's
Risin' Now ♪

-♪ Power ♪
-Chorus: ♪ Ah Power ♪

♪ Is The Force The Vow ♪

♪ That Makes It Happen ♪

♪ It Asks No Questions Why ♪

It's The Song I Use
To Reset My Day.

It's The Song That I Use
When I Need To Be Motivated.

It's My Absolute Favorite
Michael Jackson Song.

These Are My Own Songs.

I'm Gonna Communicate
My Own Thoughts,
My Own Emotions, My Own Ideas,

My Own
Rhythmic Sensibility,

Vocal Trademarks,
I Mean You Hear
A Lot Of That In These Songs,

Completely Uninhibited,
You Just Feel His
Energy Coming Through,

Because You Feel That Freedom.

Oh!

Man, That's The First Time
We Heard That Iconic Yell.

That's His "Free At Last!
Free At Last!"

Frankie Crocker:
I Was In Buffalo With You.

Fantastic Show.
You Darn Near
Blinded Me There, Man.

That Thing Is Dynamite
When You Come Up.

They Have To See That
With You Jumping Out Of There.

Michael: On, Don't Stop.

-[Screaming]
-[Audience Cheering]

[Audience Whistling]

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
Had This Opening Groove,
Right,

And The Opening Groove
Kind Of Sets You Off.

If You're A Dancer, You Know,
You'll Let That Sink In.

I Always Use Michael As,
First And Foremost,
A Vocal Inspiration.

And Off The Wall
Was Definitely The One

That Made Me Feel
Like I Could Sing.

I Found My Falsetto
Because Of Off The Wall,

Don't Stop 'Til
You Get Enough.

♪ Lovely, Is The Feelin' Now ♪

♪ Fever, Temperature's
Risin' Now ♪

Ooh!

♪ Power ♪

♪ Is The Force The Vow ♪

♪ That Makes It Happen ♪

♪ It Asks No Questions Why ♪

It Had These Bizarre Lyrics.
Well, To Me, Bizarre Lyrics

That Were Quoting Star Wars.

I Didn't Even Know
He Was Saying,

"Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop."

I Thought It Was About Forks.

When I Was A Kid,
I Was Just Like,
"Keep On With The Forks."

I Didn't Know
What The Forks Were.

♪ Ooh ♪

[Audience Cheering]

[Audience Roaring]

[Michael Yelling]

[Audience Cheering]

[Yells]

I Remember The Video, I Mean,
He Just Looked Like
A Million Dollars.

I Think That's Before
They Had A Million
Dollars To Spend, Too.

So, It Was Done For Relatively
A Small Amount Of Money

And Yet He Had To
Single-Handedly Sell It.

♪ There Ain't Nothin'
That You Can Do ♪

♪ Relax Your Mind ♪

♪ Lay Back And
Groove With Mine ♪

♪ You Got To Feel That Heat ♪

♪ And We Can Ride The Boogie ♪

♪ Share That Beat Of Love ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪

♪ All Night ♪

♪ Dance You Into Day ♪

♪ Sunlight ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪

♪ All Night ♪

♪ We're Gonna Rock
The Night Away ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

That Was The Skaters' Anthem.

There Was This Skate Obsession
In The United States
In '79, '80

Where It Was Like,
"I'm Gonna Roller-Skate."

A Good Song To Roller-Skate,
It Should Feel Like
The Floor To Your Skate.

It Should Be The Foundation
For All Of That Flowing.

♪ Just Take It Slow ♪

♪ 'Cause We Got So Far To Go ♪

♪ When You Feel That Heat ♪

♪ And We're Gonna
Ride The Boogie ♪

♪ Share That Beat Of Love ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪

♪ All Night ♪

♪ Dance You Into Day ♪

♪ Sunlight ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪

♪ All Night ♪

♪ We're Gonna Rock
The Night Away ♪

Rock With You Seemed Like
There Was Symbolism
Behind The Video.

They Had, Like,
The Halo Around The Angels.

The Shiny Suit, I Mean,
He Made That Look Cool.

I Can Never Pull
That Off, But...

I Can Listen To Rock With You,

And Know Where I Was
The First Time I Heard It,
At Pegasus.

When That Song Came On,
People Just Stopped
In The Club.

They Just Froze.

You Know, And Then Slowly,
One By One,
They Got On The Dance Floor.

♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪

-♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪
-Chorus: ♪ All Night ♪

♪ Girl, When You Dance ♪

♪ Rock With You
Rock With You ♪

♪ We're Gonna
Rock The Night Away ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪

♪ All Night ♪

♪ Dance You Into Day ♪

♪ Sunlight ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock With You ♪

-♪ All Night ♪
-♪ Yes ♪

-♪ All Night ♪
-♪ Rock The Night Away ♪

♪ Feel The Heat ♪

-♪ Feel The Beat ♪
-♪ All Night ♪

[Yells]

-♪ Rock You Into Day ♪
-♪ Sunlight ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock ♪

♪ All Night ♪

♪ Rock The Night Away ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

-♪ I Wanna Rock You
Rock You, Rock You ♪
-♪ All Night ♪

-♪ I Wanna Rock You
Rock You, Rock You ♪
-♪ Sunlight ♪

-♪ I Wanna Rock You
Rock You, Rock You ♪
-♪ All Night ♪

-♪ Yeah ♪
-♪ All Night ♪

♪ I Wanna Rock You ♪

♪ With You Girl ♪

♪ Rock With Me Till Morning ♪

[Vocalizing]

It's Up-Tempo,
But It's Smooth.

[Snapping Fingers]

That's Fast. That's Fast.

It's Hard To
Make Up-Tempo Music.

When You Can Dance,
Be Emotional At The Same Time.

Simpson: Most People Just
Get Into A Groove,
So You Don't...

Most Of
The Times You Don't Get
That Much Of A Real Song.

So They Don't Stand Up
As Well As A Good
Storytelling Ballad.

Through The Years
You Want Stuff

That's Gonna Have Legs,
That's Gonna Hold On,

And His Up-Tempo
Really Does Hold On

Because He Really Crafted

A Real Song On Top
Of A Great Groove.

I Loop That
Breathing Exercise On
Workin' Day And Night,

I Loop That For
At Least A Minute
Before I Let That Song Go.

I Just Hold People At Bay,

Like, I'm Holding Back,
Like, 12 Pit Bulls.

You Know What's Going... Ah!
Get 'Em!

-[Michael Yells]
-[Upbeat Music Playing]

I'm Embarrassed
To Even Say This,
But I Used To Dance By Myself.

[Lee Daniels Laughing]

To That Song.

[Vocalizing]

[Yells]

♪ Ooh My Honey ♪

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Day And Night ♪

♪ Ooh My Sugar ♪

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Day And Night ♪

♪ Scratch My Shoulder ♪

♪ It's Aching,
Make It Feel Alright ♪

♪ When This Is Over ♪

♪ Lovin' You
Will Be So Right ♪

♪ I Often Wonder ♪

♪ If Lovin' You
Will Be Tonight ♪

♪ Well ♪

♪ But What Is Love Girl ♪

♪ If I'm Always Out Of Sight ♪

[Yells]

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Day And Night ♪

♪ And I'll Be Workin' ♪

♪ From Sun Up To Midnight ♪

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Day And Night ♪

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Workin' Day And Night ♪

You Could Tell Where
He Was Rhythmically

Just By The Ones
He Was Writing.

Really Catchy,
Rhythmic Dance Songs.

♪ Oh-Ah ♪

Michael's Reference
Is Certainly

American R&B
And Soul And Funk.

But I Also Hear
Africa In There.

And You Have To Also Remember
The Jackson 5 Toured
Africa In The '70s.

[Yells]

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Day And Night ♪

Everybody!

♪ From Sun Up To Midnight ♪

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Workin' Day And Night ♪

♪ Oh, No ♪

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Workin' Day And Night ♪

♪ I Am So Tired Tired Now ♪

♪ You Got Me Workin'
Workin' Day And Night ♪

♪ Oh, Ah ♪

It's Crazy, The Line.
[Mimicking Beats]

That Was Just
The High-Water Mark
Of Horn Lines, To Me.

There's All These
Instrumental Stretches
And Breaks In These Songs

That Give The Musicians
Some Shine, Too.

-David Had This ...
David Williams...
-Certain Sound.

-Had This Certain Sound...
-That Bites.

He Picked...
He Hit 'Em So Hard.

Okay, David! You Got It!

Sometimes He'd
Take It Upon Himself

To Bring The Rhythm
That He Wanted
And That Really Influenced Me.

He Always Had An Idea
Of What He Wanted

Every Instrument
To Sound Like.

And That's How He Recorded.

You Came In The Studio And
He Told The Guitar Player...

[Imitates Beat]

-Man: He Would Sing The Part?
-He Would Sing Every Part.

He Didn't Play It,
But He Can Sing It.

And If You Didn't Play It
Like He Sang It,

He Would Sing It Till You
Played It Like He Sang It.

Goddamnit.

[Michael Reading]

Michael: I'm Never Satisfied.

I'll Cut A Track,
And Go Back And Back, And,

"Darn It!
I Should've Done This!
I Should've..."

It's Number One On The Charts,

You're Still Screaming About
What You Should've Done.

It's Evident When You
See Somebody's Work.

You Can See The Details,
And If They Actually,
Truly Love What They Do,

If They Really Do Pay
Attention To The Craft.

Perfection Was
The Name Of The Game.

It Was About
The Content Of What You Do,

The Quality, The Heart,
The Soul, The Love.

I Think This Generation
Has Just Become...

The Perception's
Become Skewed.

The Love For The Craft
Becomes Secondary

To The Love Of
Fame And Notoriety.

My Generation,
The Jordan Generation,

Bird, Magic,
You Know, Michael Jackson,

They Focused On
What They Loved To Do.

One Of The Hidden Gems
Is Get On The Floor,

Which Was Co-Penned
By Louis Johnson
From Brothers Johnson,

And Co-Written With Michael.

I Don't Know If
Everybody Knows This,
But You're Also A Composer.

One Of My Favorites
Was Michael Jackson's
Get On The Floor And Dance.

Originally, That Song Was
Created By The Bass,
I Just Had That Groove.

♪ Ah, On The Floor And Dance ♪

♪ So Get On The Floor ♪

Rosie: There Were Teens
In The Playgrounds.

And You Know, Like,
I'm Dating Myself, Okay.

But, You Know,
You Would Bring
The Little Radio,

Or Sometimes,
If You Were Really Tacky,

You Would Bring The Little
Portable Record Player,

Plop It Down In The Park,
Drop The Needle,

"Heck, Yeah."

If You Were Dancing
To That Song,

More Than Likely You Were
Going Home With Somebody.

Because That's Not A Song
You Dance On Your
Own To, You Know.

You Don't Dance
To Get On The Floor
By Yourself.

♪ Dance Across The Floor ♪

♪ 'Cause There's
A Chance For Chances ♪

♪ And The Chance Is Choosin' ♪

♪ And I Sure Would Like
Just To Groove With You ♪

♪ So, Get On The Floor ♪

♪ And Dance With Me ♪

Off The Wall Is A Dj's Dream.

The A-Side Seems To
Have Been Tailor-Made
For The Dance Floor.

Questlove:
You Basically Have Five Songs,

The First Four
Songs On Side One,

And The First Song On
Side Two, Off The Wall.

My Favorite Record
On Off The Wall...

I Like Off The Wall,
That's One Of My
Favorite Records.

I Took A Chance With
A Composer, I Had Loved
His Work For A Long Time.

And I Could Never Figure Out
How He Could Be From
Grimsby, England,

Living In Worms, Germany,
And Understand
Ain't No Half Steppin'

And, You Know, All Of
Those Different Terms
That He Was Writing.

It Was Just Incredible Talent.

He Ended Up In Germany
And Being Turned
Onto Soul Music

By A Bunch Of
The Black Army People
That Were There.

-Man: Black American Soldiers?
-Black American Soldiers.

And Going, "Wow,
This Is A Lot More Interesting
Than What I'm Doing,

"And Girls Come
To These Shows."

In Early Heatwave,
You Can Hear

Those Influences In Songs
He Wrote For Michael.

I Mean, It's Just
A Natural Progression.

And We Recorded
Burn This Disco Out,

Off The Wall
And Rock With You.

Wow. [Chuckles]

Rod Temperton Did Good.

Off The Wall Is An Example
Of Him Bringing That Slightly
Proggy-Fusion Aspect To It.

It's A Really
Unconventional Start
For A Disco Record,

Especially, Like,
The Title Track Of An Album.

It Starts On The Off-Beat,
It Starts On The Two,

It Has That Weird Vocal Thing
In The Background,
It's Totally Proggy.

That Intro With That
Kind Of Ghoulish Voices,

You Start To Hear That Again,
Of Course, On Thriller,
With Vincent Price.

[Music Playing]

♪ When The World
Is On Your Shoulder ♪

♪ Gotta Straighten Up
Your Act And Boogie Down ♪

♪ If You Can't
Hang With The Feeling ♪

♪ Then There Ain't No Room
For You This Part Of Town ♪

♪ 'Cause We're The Party
People Night And Day ♪

♪ Livin' Crazy
That's The Only Way ♪

♪ So Tonight ♪

♪ Gotta Leave That
9 To 5 Upon The Shelf ♪

♪ And Just Enjoy Yourself ♪

♪ Groove ♪

♪ Let The Madness
In The Music Get To You ♪

♪ Life Ain't So Bad At All ♪

-♪ Live It Off The Wall ♪
-♪ Live Life Off The Wall ♪

♪ Live It Off The Wall ♪

♪ Do What You Want To Do ♪

♪ There Ain't No Rules
It's Up To You ♪

♪ It's Time To Come Alive ♪

♪ And Party On
Right Through The Night ♪

Girlfriend Was A Song
On The London Town Album
By Paul Mccartney.

"Girlfriend, I'm Gonna
Tell Your Boyfriend."
[Laughs] I Love It!

♪ Girlfriend ♪

♪ I'm Gonna Tell
Your Boyfriend ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

I Felt Like Michael
Was Singing To Me
On That One, I Did.

If We Go Out Together,
And A Bunch Of Girls
Start Following Me,

Let's Hear What
You'd Say To Them
To Make Them Go Away.

Get Away From Him.
He's Mine, Not Yours.

[Laughter]

Um...

Same Question, Number Two.

Yo, Listen, Okay?
Michael Jackson Is Mine.

[Laughs]

Some Of The Songs That I Sing,
My Favorite Is Ballads.

I Kinda Listen To The Words,
And It's Really
Relating Something.

Tom Bahler:
I Wrote She's Out Of My Life

As A Result Of
Being Very Much In Love
With A Wonderful Young Woman.

You Ever Get So Upset
That You're Speaking
To Yourself Out Loud?

Well, I Was. I Was In The Car
On The Pasadena Freeway,
And I'm Saying,

"Man, She Was There For You,
She Loved You,
She Wanted To Marry You.

"You're The One Who Said No.
Face It,
She's Out Of Your Life."

Saturday Morning,
The Phone Rings And It's Q,

And He Says,
"Hey, Man, You Been Writing?"

And I Played The Song,
And It's Ringing Out,
And He Said, "Play It Again."

I Played It Again.
Played It Eight
Times In A Row.

And At The End Of It,
He Said, "What're You
Gonna Do With It?"

And I Said,
"Well, I Made A Deal
With Snuffy Yesterday.

"He's Gonna Do
It With Sinatra."

And He Says This Q-Ism,
"Sinatra Will Do It Anyway."

And I Said, "Okay, Q,
Who Do You Wanna Do It With?"

He Said,
"I Haven't Got A Clue."

Then He Said,
"Man, If You'll Trust Me,

"I Promise You

"An Unforgettable
Recording Of This Song."

And We Sat On It
For Almost Two Years, Spike.

To Write A Great Ballad,
First Of All, Lyrically,
The Content Has To Connect.

And, To Me, Part Of
What Makes A Song Connect

Is That It's Personal,
But It's Also Universal.

Michael Jackson, Yes,
He's A Great Entertainer,
He Was A Great Dancer,

But He Was Also
A Great Singer.

Not A Good Singer,
But A Great Singer.

I Liked His Performance
On She's Out Of My Life.

It Was Really Emotional.

The Quality Of Michael's Voice

Was So Incredibly Pure.

♪ She's Out Of My Life ♪

♪ She's Out Of My Life ♪

♪ And I Don't Know
Whether To Laugh Or Cry ♪

♪ I Don't Know
Whether To Live Or Die ♪

♪ And It Cuts Like A Knife ♪

♪ She's Out Of My Life ♪

I Cried Every Time
That He Performed
She's Out Of My Life,

And He Would Cry, Too.
[Chuckles]

Everyone Relates
She's Out Of My Life
To Eddie Murphy, Right?

Anyone Who Was
Growing Up In The '80s,
We Saw Delirious First.

That's Michael's Hook,
His Sensitivity.

That's When Women Be Saying,
"Michael's Just So Sensitive."

And They Eat That Shit Up.
Mike Knows. He Be Using Women.

In Concerts, I Seen Mike Walk
Up To Girls, They'd Be In
The Audience, And Say...

Can I Come Down There?

And Women Go... [Screams]

Then, If You Don't Scream,
Michael Get Real Sensitive
And Cry On Your Ass.

Ever Hear That Record,
She's Out Of My Life?
Michael Goes...

♪ So I've Learned That
Love's Not Possession ♪

♪ And I've Learned
That Love Won't Wait ♪

♪ Now I've Learned That
Love Needs Expression ♪

♪ But I Learned Too Late ♪

♪ And She's Out Of My Life ♪

♪ She's Out Of My Life ♪

♪ Damned Indecision
And Cursed Pride ♪

♪ Kept My Love For Her
Locked Deep Inside ♪

♪ And It Cuts Like A Knife ♪

♪ She's Out Of My... ♪

[Audience Cheering]

[Cheering Continues]

♪ Life ♪

-[Audience Applauding]
-[Imitates Michael Crying]

-Tito, Give Me Some Tissue.
-[Audience Cheering]

And I Had An Opportunity
To Listen To The Stems,

Where He's Trying
Different Takes.

And He Actually Apologizes
For Messing The Song Up.

I'm Sorry, I Messed It Up.

It Was Amazing,
'Cause Every Time
He Sang It, He Cried,

And I Was Trying To
Figure Out What Relationship
He Had, You Know,

That He Could Identify
With That Song.

He Did It Two Or Three Times.

I Said, "That's The Way
It's Supposed To Be,"
And Just Let It Stay In There.

A Lesser Producer Would've
Milked It For All Its Worth,

Would've Milked All That
Drama For All Its Worth.

Trust Me, If Puffy
Would've Produced
She's Out Of My Life,

Puffy Would've
Had The Whole...

He Would've Had Kleenex,
Like, Sponsor The Tour.
[Laughing]

You Had People
Talking About, "Well,
What Was He Crying About?

"Who Was He Talking About?
Is He Talking About
Brooke Shields?

"What Girl Is
He Talking About?

"Is He Still Talking
About Ben, That Rat?"

We'd Seen Him Out Publicly
With Stephanie Mills,

We'd Seen Him Out
With Tatum O'neal,

With Maureen Mccormick
From The Brady Bunch.

Girls Would Get
Together And Like,

"I Wonder Who
He's Talking About."

You Know What I Mean?

And You Would Look At The
Tiger Beat Magazine

To Look For
The Gossip And Everything.

"Who Made Michael Cry?"
That's How We Took It.

Not That I Made Michael Cry,

'Cause I Would
Never Make Michael Cry.

She's Out Of My Life
Is, In My Opinion,

One Of The Two Songs
On Off The Wall

That There's Nothing On
Thriller That Tops It.

Quiet Storm Was
Huge In The 1970s,

Which Was A Kind Of
Radio Format Of Black Music

That Celebrated
Intimacy And Sensuality,

And Ambient Softness
And Quiet, Too.

I Can't Help It Was
Really The Quiet Storm
Demographic, Right.

It Was Really
The Kind Of Late-Night,
Boudoir Romance Thing.

It's The First Time That
You Really Hear Michael,

To Me, Sounding Like An Adult,

And Sounding Outside
Of His R&B Thing, It's Jazzy.

Susaye Greene Had
Started Working On It.

She Was In The Supremes,
But Also Sung With Stevie.

It Could've Fit On
Songs In The Key
Of Life, Really.

That Was Supposed To Be
One Of The Songs On Songs
In The Key Of Life.

-[Gasps]
-Man: Ooh.

See, I Didn't Know That.

He Had The... [Singing]

The Hook.

I Think She Wrote
A Lot Of The Lyric

When We Actually
Were In The Studio
Messing Around With It.

That's Right.

[Humming]

I Can't Help It
Is My Favorite.

Stevie Overdid It
With That Song.

The Nature Of The Chords
Are Very Nocturnal.

You Know, It Doesn't Sound
Like A Sunny Day To Me.

It Sounds Like, You Know,
Beautiful Paradise Evening,
You Know.

Somewhere Untainted
By The Humans, You Know.

Mystical World,

You Know, Unicorns
Walking Past And Shit.

My Sister, Renee, Had Been
Hearing Me Play This Cassette.

She And Michael Were Friends,
And She Took It Over

To Let Michael Hear It,
And I Think It Was Great
That He Did It.

I Mean, Really,
He Did An Incredible Job.

The Melodies Are
Very Seductive.

They Carry Some Of Those
Signature Stevie Lines,

But Also There's
Signature Stevie Chords.

I Really Believed
In The Album.

First Of All,
I Believed In Michael Jackson.

Stevie Wonder,
I Love Stevie Wonder.

Being With Stevie Wonder,
Being In His Sessions,

Just Sitting In And Learning
Just Was Incredible.

You Could Put On
I Can't Help It Right Now

And I'd Still Find Something
That I Haven't Heard

Or It Will Remind Me
Of Something,

Or The Warmth Of The Bass Line
Would Just Kind
Of Wash Over You.

It's Just Like...
You Don't Get
Sick Of That Music.

I Did A Record, Back In 1977.

We Did
It's The Falling In Love,
We Co-Wrote It Together.

-And I Know You Played On It.
-Yeah.

I Think My Record
Served As A Nice Demo.

David: Demo.

Questlove:
Patti Austin Was A Singer
In The Quincy Jones Arsenal.

The Very First Time That
I Heard Patti Austin's Voice

Was It's The Falling In Love.

The Thing That
Really Steeps A Record

In Its Era And That
Could Make It Sound Dated

Is Relying Heavily
On Very Specific
Technology Of The Time.

And In The '80s,
It Was Very Much
About Gated Reverbs,

And In The Late '70s,
You Had These Big,
Massive Disco Claps.

This Album Was, Perhaps,
Maybe One False Step Away

From Being A Very
Dated Disco Record.

It Didn't Have Any Of Those
Tricks Or Gimmicks.

Even Though It Was
Immaculately Arranged,

And All The Percussive Parts,

And All The Way
The Parts Worked Together,

There's Nothing Other
Than A Bunch Of Dudes

Playing The Shit Out
Of A Song In A Room.

That Will Never Date.

In A Lot Of Ways,
Off The Wall Is Probably

The Culmination
Of Classic Disco.

It Came Out In August 1979,

The "Disco Sucks"

Movement Started
Just A Month Before, In July,

When A Shock Dj,
Steve Dahl, In Chicago,

Gathered A Lot
Of People Together

At Comiskey Park In Chicago
To Burn Disco Records

Which Is A Really,
I Think, Implicitly Racist

And Kind Of
Homophobic Movement.

People Wanted To Shift
The Dial Of Popular Music

Back To Where They
Felt Comfortable,

Which Was Not Black,
Not Gay, Not Latino.

Burn This Disco Out Actually
Might've Been An Apt Title

Because It Was Coming
Literally At The End
Of The Disco Era.

Just At The Edge Of
Being A Disco Record,
But Moving The Genre Forward.

Far From One Of
The Disco Factory Music

That Was Just
Churning Out Factory Beats.

You Can Feel That
Kind Of Visceral Energy.

I Mean, Off The Wall Really Is
Like Lightning In A Bottle.

I Mean, You Really
Capture Michael Jackson
At 20 Years Old

With All Of That Excitement
And Energy And Passion.

That Still Really
Comes Through On That Record.

This Is The Very Last 8-Track
That My Parents Brought Me

Before I Stopped
Buying 8-Tracks.

I Remember
Off The Wall Coming Out
Second Week Of August In 1979.

Departure Album
Is Sort Of An Album

That Is In A Person's
Canon In Their Career,

Of Which They Make
A 180 Turn From What They
Were Known From.

He Was No Longer
The Teenybopper Act,

He Was No Longer
The Socially Shy,

Awkward,
Maladjusted Guy With Acne.

He Was Suddenly
Exuberant, Confident.

You Look At The Album
Cover Of Off The Wall,
It's Like His Prom Picture.

He's In A Suit And Tie In
The Kind Of Frank Sinatra,
Sammy Davis Mold.

Now, He's This
Free-Wheeling Playboy

That You Can Imagine Out
On The Streets Of New York.

Again, Life-Changing.

I Think Sophisticated,
I Think Glamour,

I Think Provocateur,

I Think Everything
That I Wanted To Be.

Yeah, I'm Interested
In Promotion.

I Wanna Do Things That's
Never Been Done Before.

If It Weren't For Promotion,
Who Would Know
About The Jackson 5?

Who Would Know That We Exist?

I Wouldn't Be Able
To Translate My Music
To Different Countries,

Africa, Japan,
New Zealand, Scotland,
All The Way To Australia.

Jones: The Universal Core
In Music, I Think,

Transcends Even What
A Crossover's About.

We View A Crossover
As Being, You Know,
Black And White Markets,

Which We've Been
Faced With For Years,

But I Think
Michael's Thing Went
Even Past That, You Know.

You Get Into Argentina
And Israel And Spain
And Scandinavia And Australia.

I Tell People
Fashion And Music
Is A Universal Language.

Wherever You Go, You're Gonna
Hear The Same Songs
In Certain Countries.

And When People
Come Together For Those Songs,

They're All Happy,
They're All At Peace.

'Cause A Lot Of People
Wouldn't Even Speak English,

When We Traveled The Globe,

But They Know The Song,
They Know The Music

And They Learned
The Lyrics Somehow.

And That's Just So Wonderful

How You Can
Bring People Together
Just Through Your Music.

Michael Jackson
Can Come Out On Stage
And Not Say Anything,

And You Know That He Cared.

Hundred Thousand People In
An Olympic Stadium Feel That
He's Right There For Them.

Everyone Thinks, You Know,
Like They've Had Such A
Personal Connection With Him,

But That's How Great He Was.

He Made You Feel Like That.

Michael Just Inspired Me
To Be A Better Person.

I Actually Do Believe That
The Blessing That The Lord
Gave This Family,

The Musical Blessing,

The True Mission Behind
All Of That, I Believe,

Is To Unify The World Together
Through Your Music As One.

And It's About
Changing The World

For A Better Place For
Our Kids To Grow Up In.

He Had Seen What Had Happened

To Artists Like James Brown,
Little Richard, Jackie Wilson.

Sometimes, The Industry
Wasn't Fair To Black Artists.

I Remember Fighting
In The Meeting,
You Know, Like,

"How Come Michael's
Not On The Cover Of
People Magazine?"

"How Come He's Not
On The Cover Of Us?"

Pop Radio Stations
Didn't Want To Play
Off The Wall In The Beginning.

Publicity Lady Would Tell Me,

"Well, If A Black Person
Is Put On The Cover

"Of These Magazines,
They Won't Sell."

Michael Jackson Is A Viable
Artist All By Himself,

And If They Gave
Him The Opportunity,

He Could Win
The Radio Stations Over.

And He Did.

'Cause He Just
Made Us Feel Like

Where We Are Is
Where We Always Were,
And We Weren't.

There Are Kids That Were Born
When Obama Was In Office.

So, They Don't Understand
A World Where There Was
A White President.

They Don't Even Know
What That Feels Like.

I Didn't Know
What It Felt Like
To Not Have Black Pop Artists

Because He Made
Us Feel And Believe
That That Was Just A Norm.

He Took Black Music To A Place
Where It Became Human Music.

Michael: Music Has No Color,
And It Shouldn't Have Color.

And I Don't Believe In That.

What I Do, I Don't Want It
Labelled Black Or White.

I Want It Labelled As Music.

It Was A Simpler Time,
And Radio Had Everything
To Do With It.

Hey, Let's Go Out
With Some Up-Tempo First,

Get Ourselves Positioned,

Bang, And We'll Come
In With That Ballad,

And, You Know, You Go Gold,
You Go Platinum.

Four Singles In
The Top 10 And Billboard,

Not Counting It
Being Number One
On R&B Radio Stations.

It Had Never Been Done Before.

Some People Looked At It
As A Disco Album,

Which In Retrospect
Is Kind Of Foolish,

Because It's One Of
The Most Creatively
Influential Albums In History.

You Look Back At The Awards
For Off The Wall,
They're R&B Awards.

The Music Industry Was Still
Very Segregated At The Time.

And Michael Was Only Nominated
For R&B Awards And He Won.

He Thought It Wasn't Fair.
He Thought They Snubbed Him,
It Wasn't Fair.

He Came And He Told Me,
"Mother, Next Year,

"They're Gonna Have
To Give It To Me."

-Man: And That Was Thriller?
-That's Right.

Off The Wall Really Kind Of
Set The Blueprint For R&B,

And I Think Most Artists Today
Acknowledge That.

It's Hard To Come Up
With Something Fresh
And New All The Time.

They Go Back And They Say,
"What Was Great?

"What Was Done
That Was Just Great?"

And They Find Themselves
Listening To Off The Wall,

And Then They Take A Little
Piece And They Say,

"See How He Did This?
We Gotta Do That."

"See How He Made That Sound?
We Gotta Do That."

I Do That, So, I Know.

That Album, You Hear It
In Music All The Time.

Pharrell To Justin Timberlake.

My Music Would Not
Be Here If It Weren't
For His Influence,

Off The Wall
And The Next Album
After That As Well.

Like, I Wouldn't Have Music.

I Don't Think There's Any Way
There's Any Other Record That
I Played More Music From,

Like, In The Course
Of 20 Years Of Djing.

Ten To 15,000 Times,
Like, I Have Released
The Vinyl On Those Songs.

Off The Wall Is The Album
I Still Play To This Day.

It's The Album That I Put On
When I Want To Teach My
Daughter How To Dance.

It Was Soul Music's
Epoch Of Magic Realism.

And When I Say Magic Realism,
I Mean It Was Transformative.

It Takes You Someplace Else.

It's So Rich, Musically,
The Arrangements,

The Singing,
The Background Vocals.

Michael Taught
Me Melody Is King.

He Was Like,
"Babies Don't Sing Lyrics,
They Hum Melody."

A-B-C-D-E-F-G.

They May Not Know
All The Letters
In The Alphabet,

But They Know That
Melody To That Song.

That Was The Way I Saw Music.
I Always Saw Music As
These Little Portals.

It Was Like, You Listen
To A Song, Okay,

It's Gonna Take You
Into This Land Every Time.

In Its First Year Alone,
That Album Sold
Over Six Million Copies.

It's Been Overshadowed
Because Of The Thriller Album.

There Would Be No Thriller
Without Off The Wall.
Everybody Knows That.

When He Went In The Studio
To Make Thriller,
He Was Intent,

Actually Intent On Making
The Biggest Album In History.

And The Amazing Thing
Is That He Actually Did.

Whatever Your Top Game Was,
You Going On Top Of That One.

That Was His Gift.

You're Dealing
With A True Artist
Devoted To The Art,

And Everything Else
Is Secondary.

I Think It's Very Easy For
People To Get Sidetracked
And Talk About His Complexion,

They Don't Focus On
What This Man Was,
And How He Was That.

And How You Can
Learn From That.

You Approach Things
The Way He Approached Music

And You Will Be Phenomenal.

Interviewer: And The Idea Of
Being Separated From Your
Brothers, Does That Hurt?

No, It Doesn't.

It...

There's Other Kinds Of Sounds
And Music That I Love To Do.

It Hurts What Is Inside Of Me
And It Can't Get Out,

And It's Hidden
From The World.

When I Do Those Solo Albums,
Then I'm Doing All
Kinds Of Different Music.

It's Wonderful. I Feel Like
I'm Accomplishing What
I'm Supposed To Do.

Interviewer: And You Don't
Feel Guilty Or Worried
About Your Brothers?

No, 'Cause They Understand.

Why Hide It? Share It.

Off The Wall
Will Live Forever.

That Was 1979,
But This Is Just
The Beginning For That Record.

It's Just
The Beginning That...

New People Will Explore
And Discover It Today
And Tomorrow,

And It'd Be
Something New To Them
Today And Tomorrow.

It's Just The Beginning.

He Transcended
Sexual Barriers,
Racial Barriers.

He Brought Everybody
In With Everybody,

Old People, Young People,
Gay, Straight.

I Mean, Wherever You Went,
There Was A Smile.

But The Beauty Of His Artistry
And What He Has Left Us,

With So Much Joy,

And So Much Thankfulness,

For All That He
Had Given To Me...

You Know, Given To Everybody,

But I'm Just Gonna Be
Selfish Here For A Moment,

What He Gave To Me,

And I'm Glad That
I Found That Joy Again.

And I Think That, In That Way,
His Spirit Is Still With Me.

He Surpassed What I
Ever Expected Of Him.

I Expected
A Great Deal Of Him,
And He Surpassed That.

There's An Element Of
God That's In People.

Some People,
God Laid His Hand On Longer,
And Held It There.

Michael:
Secretly And Privately,

I Mean, Really Deep Within,
There's A Destiny For Me.

And Just For Me To
Stay On That Track
And Follow It.

I Really Believe And Feel
I'm Here For A Reason.

And That's My Job, You Know,
To Perform For The People.

And If They Accept It,
Then I'm Rewarded,

They Want To Put Me
Up On That Pedestal,
I Feel Even Better.

Do You Ever Wanna Stop?

No. Don't Stop
Till You Get Enough.

You Haven't Had Enough?

No Way! No Way.

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Lovely, Is The Feeling Now ♪

♪ Fever, Temperature's
Rising Now ♪

-♪ Power ♪
-♪ Ah Power ♪

♪ Is The Force The Vow ♪

♪ That Makes It Happen ♪

♪ It Asks No Questions Why ♪

[Laughter]

[Rapping]

[Audience Cheering]

[Cheering]

[Rapping]

[Audience Cheering]

[Rapping]

[Rapping]

[Audience Cheering]

[Audience Cheering]

[Audience Cheering]

[Audience Cheering]

[Audience Cheering]

Man! Brooklyn.

[Audience Cheering]

This Feels So Good.
Brooklyn!
We Love You, Michael, Yes?

[Audience Cheering]

[Exhales]

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Lovely, Is The Feeling Now ♪

♪ I Won't Be Complainin'
Ooh, Ooh ♪

♪ The Force Is Love Power ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

♪ Keep On With The Force,
Don't Stop ♪

♪ Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough ♪

[Song Ends]

[Audience Cheering]

[Michael Jackson Laughing]

Whoo!