Michael Jackson at the Motown 25th Anniversary Special

PS if you wanna watch, skip to the 1:50 mark. That is where it all starts.

An insidious paedophile and his paedophile hiding defender family. Repulsive.

Yes, it was a fantastic show!

Yes, I remember this was a very big deal!

Not everything needs to be about the accusations r2. We can still acknowledge the music and performances without bringing up the chaos of his personal life

This performance was actually the debut of his moonwalk. It became a phenomenon

I remember watching it, I think everyone did. He looked good then, never should have fucked with his face.

He already fucked with his face r7. He should have just stopped there.

He was a charismatic performer. He was also a disgusting pedo

Didn't MJ debut the moonwalk on this special? Fantastic show.

Every kid in my school and in my neighborhood spent the next year trying to Moonwalk. And his jackets from “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” were all over the mall too.

The glove too. That damn glove.

Trying to moonwalk went into the 90s. I remember even in the 90s trying to moonwalk was popular.

Sorry not “Billie Jean”-“Beat It”

He looked beautiful. He should have stopped messing around with his looks because he looked so good in this video. In fact, Except for Tito all the brothers were hot. Germaine, Jackie, Marlon Michael and Randy. I have seen two live concerts in my youth that can never be topped. Michael and his brothers and Prince. Both amazing and unforgettable.

Hate the artist, love the art. I loved his art!

[quote] Except for Tito all the brothers were hot.

I think Tito was good-looking. Jackie was probably the the manly & sexy & attractive, IMO.

Shequinsh! Razzhle dazzhle! Nusshing short of shenshational!

I'm comfortable with letting his music be buried. It ain't that great.

He liked to rape little boys...his music should go wherever Gary Glitter's went

Allegedly

R5 - overwhelming evidence showed he raped a whole lot of little boys and destroyed their lives and the rest of the entire Jackson family knew and covered it up so they could milk as much money from him as possible.

That matters.

He’s dead. Move on r20.

Tell that to all his rape and sexual assault victims whose lives Jackson destroyed R21.

Go on - tell them to "move on"...

I'm fascinated with success stories, and Michael's was incredible. He separated from the group and started recording some good music. Hooked-up with good producers. Got some surgery, straightened his hair. Developed an air of mystery...

When that special was televised, I think many people only remembered him as a kiddie novelty act- and were stunned.

A certain megalomaniacal diva who shall remain nameless, who did everything she could to make sure she was the star of the show, was none too thrilled with Wacko Jacko stealing ALL her thunder that night.

It's weird seeing him on stage with his brothers here because Michael is so much smaller than they are. He looks so different from them, yet his brothers look like each other. Michael's skin is smoother than theirs, he's much thinner, a little shorter, and just overall more delicate and lighter and younger looking. His brothers look larger and bulky, masculine, compared to him. Michael is graceful, delicate. Why did he turn out so differently than his brothers?

At the time, Michael was the 'good' boy and Prince the 'bad' boy. Parents loved Michael for his innocence and hated Prince because of his sexual music. What a fucking joke.

R23 when that special aired he already had #1 hits as a solo artist….

Parents also loved Michael because they watched him grow up. He was in the spotlight being a workhorse since he was a small child. I remember reading how so many people who were adults when Jackson 5 were around loved seeing all the success Michael had because it felt like they watched him grow up etc. (they sorta did). People who were kids at the same time as him felt like he was their friend etc. because they grew up with him.

Prince didn’t have that. Prince’s success wasn’t nearly as dominant as MJs either

I thought the "robot" (seen whenever he and his brothers performed "Dancing Machine" ) was cooler than the moonwalk.

MJ perforning "Billie Jean" was also big fuck-you to Berry Gordy.

Meh, I’d rather see the shoving match between Diana and Mary.

Billie Jean wasn’t even a Motown song!

R31 we know. He took time from the Jackson 5 time to do one of his solo hits. They weren’t gonna say no. He exploded by that time, and this performance only took his fame to the highest levels and cemented him as a pop icon and not just a regular pop star. The debut of the moonwalk, the outfit, the glove, the pelvis thrusts etc. all went super viral globally before viral was a thing. Everyone was talking about it or trying to emulate it in some way.

RIP Michael.

You just know Diana was somewhere backstage throwing a fit when MJ performed Billie Jean and everyone was obsessed with it. Everyone there knew she was NOT TO BE UPSTAGED.

This aired in '83. At the time, Prince was just a minor blip on the radar. He'd had great success with the "1999" album, and there was definitely a buzz around him (there'd actually been for several years) but it wasn't until the following year and "Purple Rain" that he would come close to MJ-level superstardom, and their "rivalry" would become a thing.

R34 the same year I took over the charts and became MJs female counterpart, not rival.

Michael looks beautiful here.

Fuck MJ, that concert was all about Miss Ross. And she excelled.

"A certain megalomaniacal diva who shall remain nameless, who did everything she could to make sure she was the star of the show, was none too thrilled with Wacko Jacko stealing ALL her thunder that night."

Yea, that Mary Wilson was a real trip, wasn't she? Bless her rotten heart.

Mary's unexpected spoken tribute to Flo threw everyone for a loop ---- Gordy and Miss Ross were NOT pleased. But Smokey Robinson was happy Mary said what she did (she got huge applause) and was gleeful at Gordy & Miss Ross' discomfort,.

R37 sure Diana

Miss Ross was a monster that night.

Was Michael a virgin twink during this time?

OK, OK, I'll name the out-of-control egomaniacal diva of Motown 25...

It was Barbara Mitchell of Hi Inergy!

Bitch thought she was the new Miss Ross!

I don't remember this TV special. Was I in it? Or was anyone I know on it with me...?

R44 Miss CUNT, how can you forget that you opened the show, singing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, because you demanded you be both the opener and closer to the special? You forgot, bitch? Oh, everyone else did too because the only important thing that came out of that night was MJ. If you need that confirmed, just look at the comments to the video of you opening the show. MJ is mentioned many times even on your video. Lmao. Bitch.

It was the videos that made him. Michael finally realized his dream: to be a dancing, singing film star:

"The "Billie Jean" music video debuted on March 10, 1983, on MTV. It brought MTV—until then a fairly new and unknown music channel—to mainstream attention. It was one of the first videos by a black artist to be aired regularly by the channel, as the network's executives felt black music was not "rock" enough. Directed by Steve Barron, the video shows a photographer who follows Jackson. The paparazzo never catches him, and when photographed Jackson fails to materialize on the developed picture. He dances to Billie Jean's hotel room and as he walks along a sidewalk, each tile lights up at his touch.

The "Beat It" music video had its premiere on MTV during primetime on March 31, 1983. To add authenticity to the production but also to foster peace between them, Jackson had the idea to cast members of rival Los Angeles street gangs the Crips and the Bloods, and included around 80 genuine gang members. Its plot is Jackson bringing two gangsters together through the power of music and dance. It is also notable for its "mass choreography" of synchronized dancers, which was the start of Jackson's trademark music videos.

The "Thriller" music video premiered on MTV on December 2, 1983. In the video, Jackson and his girlfriend (played by Ola Ray) are confronted by zombies while walking home from a movie theater; Jackson becomes a zombie and performs a dance routine with a horde of the undead. It was named the greatest video of all time by MTV in 1999 and by VH1 and Time in 2001. In 2009, it became the first music video to be selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. The Library described it as "the most famous music video of all time".

I feel for his family who really think he didn't do any of that. Janet said his mother.

But he didn't talk to Janet for a year and barely acknowledged her on the Scream set. Girl see reality. Your brother lost his mind.

R46 videos made Madonna. MTV catapulted many stars. But in MJs case he made it as a solo star before MTV even debuted. He had 4 top 10 solo hits before MTVs inception in August of 1982.

“Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”- #1 (1979)

“Rock With You”- #1 (1979)

“Off The Wall”- #10 (1979)

“She’s Out Of My Life”- #10 (1980)

Those are from his debut solo album, “Off The Wall”. “Thriller” was his sophomore album. All 4 songs he released as singles on his debut solo charted and were hits.

So no, MTV wasn’t why he was successful. It is what helped catapult him even further though. His live performances (like the one above) cemented him as an icon.

R48, people always say Off The Wall is MJ's solo debut but he actually he had a few solo albums prior to that. But they didn't do too well, similar to how Janet's first two solo albums bombed before Control. But we all know Off the Wall is the "real" MJ solo debut.

R49 those MJ albums released between 1972-1975 were Motown albums they had him record as part of the “Jackson 5 saga” when he was still a kid/teen. The songs were MJ but they still counted as J5 in the long haul. Songs like “Got To Be There” are just MJ but they’re always on J5 albums.

The reason “Off The Wall” is counted as his real debut solo is because it was his first solo album as an adult with a record label he signed to on his own and music he had a lot of creativity in creating.

The Motown stuff was fluff he did as a kid.

[quote] The Motown stuff was fluff he did as a kid.

As opposed to the later stuff he did, while he was fluffing kids.

Wiki info on his “Off The Wall” album.

“Between 1972 and 1975, Jackson released a total of four solo studio albums with Motown as part of The Jackson 5 franchise: Got to Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Music & Me (1973) and Forever, Michael (1975). Before recording his next album, which came to be Off the Wall, Jackson desired to create a record not sounding like a Jacksons record, but rather showcasing creative freedom and individualism. Off the Wall peaked at number three on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart and number one on the Top Black Albums chart, staying at number one on the latter for 16 weeks, and was an enormous critical success. Five singles were released from the album. Jackson wrote three songs, including the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", his first solo number-one single in the United States since "Ben" seven years prior. The second single, "Rock with You", also topped the chart. With following singles "Off the Wall" and "She's Out of My Life" also reaching the US top 10, Jackson became the first solo artist to have four singles from the same album reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

Off the Wall was a significant departure from Jackson's previous work for Motown and was hailed as a major breakthrough for him. In retrospect, writers have hailed it a landmark release of the disco era and one of the greatest albums of all time. Critics often debate whether it or Thriller is Jackson's best album. Off the Wall has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. On February 2, 2021, it was certified 9× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the US. At the 1980 Grammy Awards, it was nominated for two Grammy Awards, with Jackson winning Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". In 2008, Off the Wall was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.”

I remember a moonwalk, but more importantly, George Michael (my idol!) having a choked-up moment on stage.

He was such a sweet kid.

He said he was sick and offended of people saying disco sucks after Off the Wall so he wanted to make people notice with the Thriller album.

Director Jon Landis (the one responsible for Vic Morrow's decapitation by helicopter (Jennifer Jason Leigh's dad) said Michael had a bunch of crazy ideas and made them make sense for videos.

The Jackson family back in the 70s. Of course gay Michael had the talent but he was gay and an homophobic society took it's toll on him.

“Off The Wall” sold over 20 million copies. No one ever says that album sucks.

He was bigger than Jesus in the 80s and early 90s.

R56 Michael himself said that he was tired of disco sucks and that's why he went so hard on the Thriller album. "I'm going to make them see..." I believe were his words.

Everyone in the 80s knew he was gay right?

What Prince said

This was a lightning rod moment for MJ, I remember watching it live and the moonwalk moment had everyone flipping out.

It all ended so badly

RIP Michael. We miss you.

If there’s a hell, he’s burning and I’m glad

No he's not.

It's interesting that for the greatest male pop star of all time, he only had two good albums.