Line #71 Music/OffTheWall


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michaeljackson_offthewall12_cnjf.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:The front cover for all copies of ''Off the Wall'' manufactured during TheNineties and The2000s.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michaeljackson_offthewall_2mtm.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]
3	[[caption-width-right:350:'''Cause we're the party people night and day\
4	Livin' crazy that's the only way'']]
5
6	->''You know, I was...''\
7	''I was wondering, you know...''\
8	''If we could keep on, because...''\
9	''The force, it's got a lot of power, and...''\
10	''It make me feel like, ah...''\
11	''It-it make me feel like, ah... OOH!''
12	-->--'''"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"''', the opening to a new chapter for The Jackson 5's lead...
13
14	''Off the Wall'' is the fifth studio album recorded by Music/MichaelJackson. It was released through Creator/EpicRecords on August 10, 1979.
15
16	After the first four albums of his solo career, which he released under Creator/{{Motown}}, he and [[Music/TheJacksonFive his brothers]] signed with CBS Records. Initially, they worked under the Philadelphia International Records label, before shifting to the Epic label. It was under Epic that Michael resumed his solo career. Working with Music/QuincyJones, whom he got to know through his work in the 1978 film version of ''Film/TheWiz'', this album would mix in both {{Funk}} and {{Disco}}.
17
18	The result could be best described as a complete revelation.
19
20	It became the best-selling album by a black artist, and it wasn't even close. The album went ''nine-times Platinum'' in the United States, six-times Platinum in the United Kingdom, and has sold 20 million copies worldwide.
21
22	The album was also notable for having four Top Ten singles: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", "Rock With You", "Off The Wall" and "She's Out Of My Life". The first two would be #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
23
24	The collaboration with producer Quincy Jones would become a lasting one, extending to the releases of ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' and ''Music/{{Bad}}'' in TheEighties. It was a set-up for one of the most meteoric rises in American pop music, as the records set by ''Off The Wall'' would fall soon enough.
25
26	The album was released as a special edition by Creator/SonyMusic in 2001, which was re-issued in 2016.
27
28	----
29	!! Tracklist:
30
31	[[AC: Side One]]
32
33	# "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (6:04)
34	# "Rock With You" (3:40)
35	# "Workin' Day And Night" (5:14)
36	# "Get On The Floor" (4:39)
37	# "Off The Wall" (4:05)
38
39	[[AC: Side Two]]
40
41	# "Girlfriend"[[note]]Originally by Music/{{Wings}}.[[/note]] (3:05)
42	# "She's Out Of My Life" (3:37)
43	# "I Can't Help It" (4:29)
44	# "It's The Falling In Love" (3:48)
45	# "Burn This Disco Out" (3:41)
46
47	----
48	!!''You got to feel the heat, and we can trope the boogie:''
49	* AlternateAlbumCover: The cover art is a gatefold-spanning photo of Jackson standing in front of a wall; the original release oriented the photo so that his upper half was on the front. Starting in 1990, reissues would flip this around so that his legs were instead on the front and can be seen in the Trivia section; the original configuration would eventually be reinstated in 2015.
50	* BreakupSong: "She's Out Of My Life".
51	--> ''It's out of my hands''
52	--> ''It's out of my hands''
53	--> ''To think for two years she was here''
54	--> ''And I took her for granted I was so cavalier''
55	--> ''Now the way that it stands''
56	--> ''She's out of my hands''
57	* BrokenRecord:
58	--> ''Keep on, with the force don't stop/ Don't stop 'til you get enough''.
59	* CallBack: In "I Can't Help It" Jackson sings about looking in the mirror, a theme he would revisit in "Man In The Mirror" from ''Music/{{Bad}}''.
60	* ConceptAlbum: Sort of. All the tracks are about dancing and escapism, save for "She's Out Of My Life".
61	* ConceptVideo: This album had early music videos going with them, but not particularly remarkable yet. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" is the most well known, with three Michaels dancing alongside each other in a memorable scene.
62	* CoverVersion: An interesting example where the original song was actually meant ''for'' the artist covering it in the first place. "Girlfriend" was initially written by Music/PaulMcCartney for Jackson, but Paul wound up recording it with his band Music/{{Wings}} on their 1978 album ''London Town'' instead. Quincy Jones, in a 2001 interview, said he heard the song, and suggested that Jackson record it for ''Off The Wall'', unaware that it was originally meant for him.
63	* DancingIsSeriousBusiness: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" encapsulates the joys of dancing, not to forget "Off The Wall", "Rock With You", "Burn This Disco Out" and "Get On The Floor".
64	* {{Disco}}: The album is disco-flavored as a whole, but the standout is the anthem "Burn This Disco Out".
65	* DysfunctionalFamily: On the 2001 remaster of the album, the original 1978 demo version of "Workin' Day and Night" is included as a bonus track. Jackson's siblings pitched in during the recording, and the demo provides a revealing glimpse into his home life at the time:
66	-->'''Randy Jackson:''' Michael, turn down my '''earphones,''' man! Turn 'em down!
67	-->'''Music/JanetJackson:''' He's trying, Randy.
68	-->'''Randy:''' ''[angry stammering]''
69	-->'''Janet:''' ''[shouting]'' Then ''take them'' '''''off!'''''
70	-->'''Randy:''' '''''Shut up!'''''
71	* EpicRocking: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" just barely cracks the six-minute mark.
72	* EvilLaugh: At the start of "Off The Wall".
73	* FaceOnTheCover: Michael in tuxedo, smiling.
74	** Subverted for about two decades; certainly a unique example in musical trope history. See the [[Trivia/OffTheWall Trivia page]] for details.
75	* {{Funk}}: The album is a cross between disco and funk.
76	* IntercourseWithYou: Subverted with "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough." Jackson's mother objected to the lyric, as she felt it was referring to sex, but Michal calmed her down by saying [[WordSaladLyrics it didn't really mean anything]].
77	* LongestSongGoesFirst: The album kicks off with the six-minute "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", the only EpicRocking track on the album.
78	* LyricalColdOpen: The open for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" acts as this for the entire album--and, symbolically, for this phase of Michael's solo career.
79	* MenDontCry: Subverted with "She's Out Of My Life", where Jackson according to legend couldn't end the take without bursting into tears. After a couple of those Quincy Jones decided to keep the crying on the record.
80	* NewSoundAlbum: Michael's earlier albums were recorded when he was a child and a teenager and therefore the music was more in tone with that age demographic. ''Off The Wall'' put him back on the map as an adult star and had a sound that was closer to the {{Funk}} of Music/TheJacksonFive and the {{Disco}} that was popular at the time. The reinvention sure paid off: ''Off The Wall'' became the best-selling album by a black artist at the time.
81	* ThePowerOfLove: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
82	--> ''Love is force power!''
83	* RecordProducer: Quincy Jones, who would produce Michael's next two albums ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' and ''Music/{{Bad}}''.
84	* {{Salaryman}}: "Workin' Day And Night".
85	--> ''You got me workin', workin' day and night''
86	--> ''You say that workin' is what a man's supposed to do''
87	--> ''But I say it ain't right, if I can't give sweet love to you''
88	* SharpDressedMan: Michael on the album cover.
89	* ShoutOut: "Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man" from ''Music/FearOfABlackPlanet'' in 1990 by Music/PublicEnemy samples "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".
90	* SpokenWordInMusic: The intro to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".
91	--> ''You know, I was''
92	--> ''I was wondering, you know''
93	--> ''If we could keep on, because''
94	--> ''The force, it's got a lot of power, and''
95	--> ''It make me feel like, ah...''
96	--> ''It- it make me feel like, ah... ooh!''
97	* TitleTrack: "Off The Wall"
98	--> ''Live your life off the wall!''
99	* UpdatedRerelease: The album was reissued several times before and after Michael's passing.
100	** The first time in 2001 as a "Special Edition", to promote what would become Jackson's final studio album ''Music/{{Invincible}}''. This edition contains audio interviews with Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton and also the original demo versions of "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Workin' Day and Night".
101	** The second time in 2009 as part of the box set titled ''The Collection'' released just a few weeks after Jackson died.
102	** The third time in 2013 in the iTunes-exclusive collection ''The Indispensable Collection''.
103	** A fourth time in 2016 as part of the promotion of Spike Lee's second MJ documentary ''Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall''.
104
105	----
106	--> ''Keep on, with the force don't stop''
107	--> ''Don't stop 'til you get enough!''
108	--> ''Keep on, with the force don't stop''
109	--> ''Don't stop 'til you get enough!''
110	--> ''Keep on, with the force don't stop''
111	--> ''Don't stop 'til you get enough!''
112	--> ''Keep on, with the force don't stop''
113	--> ''Don't stop 'til you get enough!''

Context Music / OffTheWall