Tag Archives: Michael Jackson

Remember That Song: 3/15/23

Can you name the artist and song:

There is a time when a man needs somebody to talk to
Someone to talk to, somebody who’ll always be there


R-479121-1250376022Last Song: “Beat It” by Michael Jackson from Thriller (1983)

Great job sweetpurplejune, Craig (@cdennis0130), CatMom (@BeKindAlwaysPN), and Erwin (@erwin_green)!!!

You better run, you better do what you can
Don’t wanna see no blood, don’t be a macho man

Song of the Day: “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” by Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett

downloadOn this day (September 19) in 1987, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You by Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett Became the #1 Song in America. This was the first single released from Michael’s seventh album, Bad. This song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, R&B Singles and Adult Contemporary charts, making it the first in a string of 5 number-one singles from Bad. It was Jackson’s second number-one song on the Adult Contemporary chart after “The Girl Is Mine” with Paul McCartney.
Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand were asked to sing this with Jackson, but they refused. So Siedah Garrett, who also co-wrote “Man In The Mirror,” another track from Bad, was asked to sing on this track.

Garrett recalled in an interview with SongTalk magazine in the late 1980s how she came to duet with Jackson on this song. “It came as a total surprise. Quincy called me after I had worked with him doing the background vocals for ‘Man In The Mirror’ to come back to the studio to do more work, but when I got there, I was surprised to discover that there was nobody else in the studio but Quincy, Michael and me. And the song they were working on wasn’t ‘Man In The Mirror.’ It was a song that Quincy had given me a tape to learn. But I had no idea – I do lots of vocals on demos for Quincy, so this was nothing unusual.

So Quincy said, ‘You got the tape, right? Did you learn the song?’ I said, ‘Sure, I know the song.’ He said, ‘Well, go in there and sing it.’
I go into the booth: there’s two music stands. Michael Jackson is standing at one of them in front of a microphone and there’s another microphone for me. This is the first time I realized what was happening. On the sheet music it said, ‘Michael, Siedah, Michael, Siedah, etc.’ I said, ‘Wow! I get it.'”
Jackson and Garrett didn’t take the recording entirely seriously. Siedah recalled to SongTalk magazine: “Michael is funny. He has a real keen sense of humor. Which surprised me, because you hear all these stories about how strange he is. I guess he felt relaxed with me because I wasn’t in awe of him when we met. I was kind of, ‘Yo, Michael, what’s up?’ I think he found that refreshing.”

She added: “If I was talking to Quincy and we were serious for some reason, Michael would toss cashews and peanuts at us. I would be talking to Quincy and these peanuts would fly by. [Laughs]

You know, the duet is a very serious love song. And when I was doing my verse, Michael was making these faces at me so that I would mess up. Quincy would say, ‘Siedah – come on! You’re holding up the whole album!’ And I would get in trouble!”

Despite the success, the duet had a relatively short chart run and fell out of the top 40 just five weeks after topping the chart, spending a total of 11 weeks in the top 40, out of a total of 14 weeks on the Hot 100. This was largely due to the quick release of the album title track as the second single (it debuted on the Hot 100 at #40 in the same week that “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” hit number one).

Although Michael Jackson was the king of music videos, there was no music video released for this song. So, it is amazing that it still hit #1.

Here is a short clip of the recording of the song:

Song of the Day: “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson

Michael_Jackson_-_ThrillerToday’s Song of the Day is “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson. On this day in 1983, with this song, Michael Jackson became the first Black artist to get heavy rotation on MTV. After launching on August 1, 1981, MTV was reluctant to play music videos by Black artists. MTV denied accusations of racism as they insisted that their format was rock music. MTV was programmed by guys with radio backgrounds who tried to program it like a radio station with a rock format, something that proved impossible because they didn’t have enough videos by rock artists. What they did have were lots of European acts, who had been making videos for years, and were overwhelmingly white. Record companies wouldn’t budget for videos by their black artists since they didn’t think MTV would play them, so the network could make the argument that they simply didn’t have any good videos by black artists that were worthy. That argument went out the window when Jackson made the “Billie Jean” video, which was startlingly innovative.

“Billie Jean” was the second single (after “The Girl is Mine“) from Jackson’s legendary Thriller album. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, topped the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart within three weeks, and became Jackson’s fastest-rising number one single as a solo artist.

Jackson’s performance of “Billie Jean” on the TV special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever won acclaim and was nominated for an Emmy Award. It introduced a number of Jackson’s signatures, including his version of the moonwalk, black sequined jacket, and high-water pants.

“Billie Jean” has been recognized with numerous awards and honors. At the 1984 Grammy Awards the song earned Jackson two of a record eight awards; Best R&B Song and Best R&B Male Vocal Performance. It won the Billboard Music Award for favorite dance / disco 12″ LP, and the magazine’s 1980’s poll named “Billie Jean” as the “Black Single of the Decade”. The American Music Awards recognized the track as the Favorite Pop/Rock Single, while Cash Box honored the song with the awards for Top Pop Single and Top Black Single.

Remember That Song – 12/10/21

Can you name the artist and song:

Cuddle up baby
Cuddle up tight
Cuddle up baby
Keep it all out of sight


Last Song: “The Way You Make Me Feel” by Michael Jackson from Bad (1987)

Great job sweetpurplejune, Peter (@JamsieBlonde007), Adora (@Adora2000), and Erwin (@erwin_green)!!!

Hey pretty baby with the high heels on
You give me fever
Like I’ve never, ever known


If you’d like to get the song from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below:

Return to the ’80s Trivia – 5/11/21

rtt80s trivia

Question: After 23 years as host, who left The Newlywed Game in 1988 for a bigger paycheck as host of the Celebrity Secrets game show?


Last Question: What was the only single from Michael Jackson’s album Off the Wall to hit #1 in the ’80s?

Answer: “Rock With You”
[“Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” reached #1 in October 1979]

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Return to the ’80s Trivia – 5/10/21

rtt80s trivia

Question: What was the only single from Michael Jackson’s album Off the Wall to hit #1 in the ’80s?


Last Question: In the movie, The Shining, Jack Torrance’s novel consisted of what repeated sentence?

Answer: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

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Remember That Song – 4/19/21

Can you name the artist and song:

You’re talking to a tourist
Whose every move’s among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine


Last Song: “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson from Thriller (1983)

Great job Erwin (@erwin_green) and Craig(@cdennis0130)!!!

For forty days and forty nights
The law was on her side
But who can stand when she’s in demand


If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, click on the album cover below:

Return to the ’80s Trivia – 4/8/21

rtt80s trivia

Question: Which detective was helped by his niece Penny, her talking computer, and a dog called Brain?


Last Question: What Francis Ford Coppola 3D science fiction film was shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through 1998?

Answer: Captain EO

Remember That Song – 9/10/20

Can you name the artist and song:

Can’t you see it in my eyes
This might be our last goodbye


Last Song: “State of Shock” by The Jacksons featuring Mick Jagger from the album Victory (1984)

Great job Adora (@Adora2000)!!!

I like your style, it makes me wild
You take it to me good, you like it, know, you should
You get me on my knees, well, please, baby, please

If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, click on the album cover below:

Remember That Song – 1/24/20

Can you name the artist and song:

Words are few
I have spoken
I could waste a thousand years


Last Song: “Rock With You” by Michael Jackson from the album Off The Wall (1980)

Great job Adora (@Adora2000) and Lynne (@LynneAshton2)!!!

Out on the floor
There ain’t nobody there but us
Girl when you dance
There’s a magic that must be love

If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below: