Oct 13th in Pop History
On this day, October 13th, in…
• 1979 - Michael Jackson went to # 1 on the US singles chart with Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, his second US solo # 1.
Don't Stop Till You Get Enough is a single written and recorded by Michael Jackson. Released under Epic Records on July 10, 1979, the song is the first track on Jackson's fifth studio album Off the Wall (1979). It was the first solo recording over which Jackson had creative control.
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough was Jackson’s second single to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, following Ben, and his first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Soul Singles chart. It remained at number one for six weeks on the Billboard Soul Singles chart. It is certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA. The song was also a worldwide success, reaching number one in nine other countries. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough was well received by music critics and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most iconic disco songs of all time.
Jackson won his first Grammy Award for this song, taking home the trophy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male. It was nominated that year for Best Disco Recording (the only year that category was offered) but lost to I Will Survive.
Rolling Stone comments, “Throughout Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly. The singer's ultradramatic phrasing, which rakes huge emotional risks and wins every time, wrings the last drop of pathos from Tom Bahler's tear-jerker, She's Out of My Life. Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough (written and coproduced by Jackson) is one of a handful of recent disco releases that works both as a dance track and as an aural extravaganza comparable to Earth, Wind and Fire's Boogie Wonderland. The rest of the dance music touches several grooves, from jazzy South American to mainstream pop funk.”
“A triumph for producer Quincy Jones as well as for Michael Jackson, Off the Wall represents discofied post-Motown glamour at its classiest.” (Source: Rolling Stone, 11/1/79)
And little did anyone know what was yet to be from this Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson collaboration, for this was all still pre-Thriller.
Only a few years away would come Thriller and Bad, two massive albums which would forever cement Jackson’s place in music history, and ultimately lift him up to be crowned the “King of Pop.”
Off the Wall was the beginning of all that.
Check out these two very different songs from this album on Spotify:
Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough
She's Out of My Life
Also, on this day, October 13th, in…
• 1941 - Paul Simon, of Simon and Garfunkel, was born in Newark, New Jersey. In 6 decades of music he has earned 16 Grammy Awards, and has sold more than 100 million records
• 1974 - TV host Ed Sullivan died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Host of the Ed Sullivan Show for 23 years. He introduced The Beatles and other UK acts to America via his show from New York City. Sullivan was 73
Also, on this day in…
• 1984 - Stevie Wonder started a three week run at # 1 on the US singles chart with I Just Called To Say I Love You, his 7th US # 1
• 2016 - Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "For having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Previous winners included John Steinbeck and William Faulkner
