Artists have tried to emulate him, recreate him, and have been highly influenced by him. The conclusion still remains however that there is only one Michael Jackson. The larger than life pop star began singing as a child with The Jackson 5 before becoming what the world would later come to know him as: the King of Pop. It’s debated amongst musicians, producers, and fans though as to what his best album of all time is. Some say that it is Thriller with many others saying Off The Wall, but there’s no question that Off the Wall was indeed the start of Jackson’s breakthrough as a legendary solo talent.
Off the Wall was at the time considered a very different direction for Jackson to head in, deviating from his prior released work in style and content.
Off the Wall was at the time considered a very different direction for Jackson to head in, deviating from his prior released work in style and content. Released in 1979, the album is a fusion piece consisting of pop elements, disco, and funk along with the occasional love ballad. Off the Wall was surely the start of something even though the artist had already released four solo albums before this. He ended the 70s whilst simultaneously storming into the 80s with a hard act for any musician of his day to follow. The album burned up multiple charts and saw five of the songs released as singles, some of which would be in the top ten for weeks on after their initial radio play.
Much of what’s said here won’t be news to any pop fan and especially not to any Michael Jackson fan; but the album is an absolute smash. Singles like Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, Rock With You, and the title track Off the Wall are still regarded as some of his greatest songs ever. In every facet of the album, Jackson excels and astonishes as a recording artist. His vocals are smoother than ever, also at a point of maturing at the time of this release. The overlay of Jackson’s harmonies could almost be mistaken for backup singers at times as he had the ability to experiment with numerous pitches, effortlessly going up and down with natural range. Lyrically the album still holds its own in comparison to popular music of the twenty-first century, and the music production is like listening to a familiar friend in that of organic instrumentals, each individual sound complimenting Jackson’s voice and rhythm. Frankly, this album would’ve been hard for anyone to top including Michael Jackson himself.
Off the Wall is just a completely different beast of an album
The King of Pop was releasing music even up to the early 2000s, but Off the Wall is just a completely different beast of an album and one that audiences of his day just never saw coming. It was a revolutionary work and has now more than forty years later earned the classification of ‘classic’. Unfortunately the world will not get Michael back but as his music is available pretty much anywhere, this album and others can be perused in his absence. Even though he has passed, he is survived by his untouchable music.
