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Everybody knows Thriller.

I mean, come on. Thriller wasn’t just an album.
It was a cultural event.
Michael Jackson became the biggest entertainer on the planet and changed popular music forever.

But if you ask me for my favorite Michael Jackson album, I’m going backward one album.
Off the Wall.
It’s in my top 10 R&B albums of all times.

This is also personal because Off the Wall was one of the first albums I ever owned.
I played this album to death.
I’m talking put it on, let the whole thing play, flip it over and start again.
And all these years later, I’m still playing it.

I still use different mixes of:
Off the Wall, Rock with You and Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough in my DJ sets.
That’s longevity right there.
When a DJ can reach back almost 50 years and a record can still move a room, somebody did something right. 🎧🪩

Actually, everybody involved did something right.
This album is a masterclass.

What makes Off the Wall even more fascinating is that its story really begins with The Wiz.
Michael met Quincy Jones while playing the Scarecrow alongside Diana Ross in 1978’s The Wiz, where Quincy served as musical supervisor.
That meeting led to Quincy producing Off the Wall and one of music’s greatest partnerships.

Michael was only 20 years old when the album was released. 🤯
He was still a member of The Jacksons too.
Destiny had been released in 1978, and Triumph was still coming in 1980.
So this wasn’t Michael simply walking away from his brothers.

To me, it sounds more like Michael discovering exactly who he could be outside of them.
And child, did he found him? 😂

Michael wrote Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough and Workin’ Day and Night.
Then co wrote Get on the Floor with Brothers Johnson bassist Louis Johnson.

Then Quincy brought in some serious folks.
Rod Temperton wrote Rock with You, Off the Wall and Burn This Disco Out.
Stevie Wonder and Susaye Greene wrote I Can’t Help It.
Paul McCartney wrote Girlfriend.
Tom Bahler wrote She’s Out of My Life.
It’s the Falling in Love came from David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager.

Baby, look at those names!
No wonder this album sounds like somebody sprinkled musical seasoning over the whole damn studio. 😂🔥

And then there’s the track list.
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
Rock with You
Workin’ Day and Night
Get on the Floor
Off the Wall
Girlfriend
She’s Out of My Life
I Can’t Help It
It’s the Falling in Love
Burn This Disco Out

WHERE IS THE BAD SONG?
I’ll wait. 😂

The first half will wear your ass out dancing, and then Michael changes the temperature.
She’s Out of My Life is still one of my favorite slow jams of all time. ❤️
That song stayed on my slow jam mixes and eventually became part of my Quiet Storm world.
When I was doing those late night shows, this was exactly the kind of Michael Jackson record that belonged there.
Just Michael standing there emotionally vulnerable and singing about heartbreak.💔

Then I Can’t Help It comes behind it with that unmistakable Stevie Wonder sophistication.
That’s my mf-ing jam.
Smooth ain’t even the word. 🌙
Sheer perfection.

Commercially, Off the Wall made history.
It became the first album by a solo artist to produce four Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles.
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough and Rock with You went to No. 1.
While Off the Wall and She’s Out of My Life both reached No. 10.

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough also gave Michael his first Grammy as a solo performer, winning Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male.

But none of that is why this remains my favorite Michael Jackson album.
Thriller sounds like Michael conquering the world.
Off the Wall sounds like Michael discovering that he could.

There’s a freedom here that I love.
It’s Funky. It’s Soulful. It’s Disco. It’s R&B. It’s Pop. It’s Quiet Storm.
And somehow Quincy Jones pulls all of those pieces together without the album ever sounding confused.

And Michael sounds HAPPY.
Look at that original cover.
The Afro. The Tuxedo. The Bow-Tie. Those Glowing Socks.
And That Big Ass Smile. 😁

That’s the Michael I remember falling in love with musically.
So give me Thriller, Bad and everything that came afterward.
I’m here for it.
I lived it.

But if you tell me I can only keep one Michael Jackson album?
Give me Off the Wall.

▶️ Start Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.
Don’t touch a damn thing!
Let it ride until Burn This Disco Out.
Then start it again. 🔄

That’s how I’ve been listening to it since I was a kid.
Some things don’t need improving. 💿❤️🎶

DJZ7

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