THE JACKSONS - Tracks Poll. Deadline Now End Of Friday 17th Feb!

http://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gifhttp://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gifhttp://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gifhttp://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gifhttp://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gifhttp://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gif

Okay so Michael Jackson was probably the first pop star I truly loved. Definitely one of the first I ever bought anything by - I think I somehow bought a 12" of the Grease soundtrack from a car boot sale when I was 8 or 9, but don't know whether that was before or after buying the Bad CD and the Off The Wall tape in quick succession. I was a member of the fan club. Had shittily produced videos from cheap companies showing fuzzy interviews. The whole thing. Maybe loving him from such an early age has had a big effect on it, but when the child abuse allegations started I just couldn't quite believe them; their seemed to be such a huge void between the absolute joy and humanity in the records and the voice, and the accusations leveled against him. I'm not saying the guy wasn't completely fucked up from a young age and probably borderline insane, and even if that doesn't quite excuse his totally weird sleepovers (and i'm not using that a euphemism, i guess he probably just did have very ill advised sleepovers), I guess even if it was all true I would I feel more sorry for him than angry. There's just too much musical connection between him and me. 'Growing up' a bit and becoming a rockist indie fool for many years meant I ignored most of his music for a long time, but returning recently to it via Off The Wall which totally pulled me back in again. There is so much amazingness. And watching the unexpectedly good This Is It rehearsal film showed there was still a lot of potential for more magic there in the last years.

Lets not forget the tons of shit though. Long, boring, overly sentimental shit filling up otherwise great or good albums. But even in the later albums some brilliant pop music, and even amongst the schmaltz some worth or great performance. And too many moments of absolute genius. Which is what we'll try to pick out.

There are other Jacksons too apparently. They did music. We can talk about them too. Vote for them even.

-----

No need for nominations, just pick your favourite tracks performed or written by ANY of the Jackson family. Janet, Jermaine, 3T, anything you like.

Choose your top twenty tracks and they'll score as follows:
1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12.

Please send your ballot to: runoutgroove (AT) hotmail.com (except obviously without the spaces and using the @ symbol) by midnight gmt Friday 10th Feb (that gives us two weeks).

In the meantime, use this thread for bigging up tracks you want people to vote for and asking any questions...

http://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gifhttp://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gifhttp://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gifhttp://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/w26394147.gif

The Jacksons - "Can You Feel It"

I'll start with...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5DGW3oLCgc

Jermaine Jackson - "Let's Get Serious"

One of Stevie Wonder's best donations.

http://www.mj-upbeat.com/images/155_000.gif

Also this is so underrated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY7Qc_VMKmk

Just Michael and Janet alone will be hard to fit into 20 spots...much less J5, Jermaine, etc...much wailing and gnashing of teeth to come.

I would have preferred limiting the poll to the boys; Janet's catalog is vast enough to deserve its own thread.

I can't even say how impossible this one's going to be.

I mean, if I have to leave of "Centipede," I'm going to kill myself.

"Centipede" is def on my ballot.

Can probably only justify giving Jermaine one slot, too, but which between "Ecuru," "Dynamite" and "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming"?

this is too overwhelming to think about

Let's Get Serious will be my Jermaine vote if there's only room for one.

Want to rule out songs not actually written by Jacksons to help whittle it down, but that's going to leave off way too many great ones.

Let's get this in early:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0QKyhgSqBw

so i'm voting for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hxFBwb7J_o

xp

real talk though, i genuinely like this latoya song off the same album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUINdqXtsX4

never seen the video before, omg.

Two suggestions from the Stairway to Stardom dancers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWZHxSubB0Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0En-uqhdJhs

Oh forgot to say its mandatory to watch this video, which handily ties together the Prince tracks poll i did last to this one, and also commemorates the James Brown tracks poll NEVER FORGET.

Watch it to the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHaFj7gOWh4

Put your weight into that lamppost, Prince.

janet is totally going to get overlooked in this, but this SHOULD win:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzkrWjUjDdQ

janet is totally going to get overlooked in this

Probably anywhere but ILM is my guess.

(depending on who chooses to vote, that is)

Pretty sure "If" will be #1 on my ballot.

Janet won't get overlooked. If anything the 1977-84 Jacksons era will get overlooked.

"Scream" will definitely be on mine, probably up high as well (two birds, one stone, great track).

Janet won't get overlooked. If anything the 1977-84 Jacksons era will get overlooked.

Not by me.

If anything, the 1991-1995 MJ era will get overlooked.

I've already reserved 4 or 5 slots for Destiny and Triumph alone.

However, "State of Shock" still defines "pneumatic."

Never Can Say Goodbye should be on all y'alls ballots

I hadn't planned on voting in this, but I might put together a short ballot.

Voting only Janet songs.

have to resist that temptation

I suppose it's eligible, but I just want to double check re: Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". Votes for it will be counted, yes?

and votes will be counted against you

Oh shit this is gonna kick so much ass.

:(

xp

"Somebody's Watching Me" joins "If You Leave" in the Eighties Classics I Loathe category.

re: "Somebody's Watching Me"
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RbyavnOjCtI/SWevEHpvvXI/AAAAAAAAA_c/XXM00z5y7cE/s400/kang+and+kodos+hitchhiking.jpg
GO AHEAD! THROW YOUR VOTE AWAY!

I don't loathe that song but in relation to all Jacksons music, it wouldn't place in my top 100 let alone 20.

whereas "Morphine" and "Stranger in Moscow" might.

Stranger in Moscow, possibly..

j/k, Johnny btw

Nah, it's okay. I may not even have room for it, but was just checking in case.

always liked this a lot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeOZMvyJuxE

also gotta post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8if4LV_SzE

always liked this a lot

MJ's demos are a wonder to behold. They also beg the question, what the fuck was there even left for Quincy Jones to do?

Would it be wrong if I want to put "Centipede" as my #1? I know that talent-wise Rebbie Jackson doesn't have much compared to Michael (who I think wrote "Centipede"?) or Janet, but man oh man is that brilliant tune, with totally left-of-the-field lyrics and beats for a pop single.

MJ wrote and produced "Centipede," and, yes, it's mental.

Even the video is totally OTT in an awesome way:

http://youtu.be/a8SdzwoIcwo

Cobra shooting lightning from its eyes, wtf?

Considering that MJ probably had pretty weird conception of sexuality, I wonder if he actually thought that people would find the metaphors in the lyrics hot? Also, wouldn't it have been pretty weird to hear your big sister sing about "the centipede"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKC7Oz6ZrRU&feature=related

Waching early Simpsons animation can be such a shock now.

don't forget Someone To Call My Lover & What's It Gonna Be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9cQOcAC_K8

I'll probably end up with 10-15 songs once I eliminate stuff I'm sick of--this will be on there somewhere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPz1YIcwQCs&feature=related

^ brilliant though that is, Michael didn't sing it.

Honestly? I didn't know that--always thought it was him.

Kipp Lennon. Another cherished illusion shattered.

Yep, Michael did the speaking parts in that episode, but a soundalike was brought in for the singing:

According to Jean, Jackson would not commit to the episode until after a read-through of the script was done.[8] The read was held at Jackson's manager Sandy Gallin's house, and Dan Castellaneta (who provides the voice for Homer) was 30 minutes late. Jean recalls that "no one said a word, we just sat there waiting".[9] Following the read, Jackson stipulated his conditions: he would record his speaking parts but not receive credit, and his singing voice would be performed by a sound-alike.[8][10] Leon Kompowsky's singing parts were performed by Kipp Lennon,[6] because Jackson wanted to play a joke on his brothers and fool them into thinking the impersonator was him.[10] Lennon recorded his lines at the same time as Jackson, who found the impersonations humorous.[6] Jackson showed up for the recording session alone and did not use the special trailer that was set up for him.[6] According to Jean, Jackson did record versions of the singing parts, and while there have been rumors that those parts were the ones used in the final episode, The Simpsons music editor Chris Ledesma has stated the Lennon versions were used.[7]

("Jean" = Simpsons writer Al Jean)

MJ did write "happy b-day lisa" though, so it still qualifies for poll purposes...

Leon Kompowsky's singing parts were performed by Kipp Lennon,[6] because Jackson wanted to play a joke on his brothers and fool them into thinking the impersonator was him.[10]

I always thought the use of impersonator was because MJ's contract with Epic/Columbia barred him from recording a song to another company, whereas just doing a speaking role wouldn't have been regulated by the contract. The idea that it was done to fool his brothers sounds pretty weird.

The article for Do the Bartman has this bit:

The album The Simpsons Sing the Blues was released in September 1990. The first single from it was the pop rap song "Do the Bartman", performed by Bart Simpson's voice actor Nancy Cartwright and released on November 20, 1990.[1] Rumors began spreading in the summer of 1990 that Michael Jackson would write a song for Bart on the album. This song was reported early on to be "Do the Bartman", but executive producer James L. Brooks issued a press release in September 1990 apologizing for the misunderstanding and stating that song was actually written by one of Jackson's friends, Bryan Loren.[2]

However, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening revealed during an appearance at the 1998 World Animation Celebration convention in Pasadena, California that "Do the Bartman" was actually co-written and co-produced by Jackson,[1][3] but he could not receive credit for it because he was under contract to another record label.[4]

I'd assume those same contractual reasons would have stopped Jackson from recording "Happy Birthday, Lisa" and, having learned from the "Bartman" brouhaha, he decided to get an impersonator to sing the song.

would def buy an album of mj demos like beat it above

bump

I always thought the use of impersonator was because MJ's contract with Epic/Columbia barred him from recording a song to another company, whereas just doing a speaking role wouldn't have been regulated by the contract. The idea that it was done to fool his brothers sounds pretty weird.

On a DVD commentary (for another episode, not Stark Raving Dad), Al Jean says that indeed Jackson was not allowed to sing on the episode for contractual reasons.

People, you are not putting "Lisa, It's Your Birthday" on your ballot.

that sounds like a challenge

sooo nice...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qni_J9ryeDw

the still frame of that lyrics video being

i-yi i-yi i-yi i-yi
i-yi i-yi i-yi
i-yi yi yi

i-yi i-yi i-yi i-yi
i-yi i-yi i-yi
i-yi yi yi

is seriously cracking me up

Okay less than a week left to vote, not many ballots in so far - thought this one would inspire more chat!

I think "Miss You Much" is my favorite Janet single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVF0zcqr9Dg

Miss You Much is aaaaaaace.

I actually really like Janet's first two albums - they certainly don't compare to anything from Control onwards, but still really fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaLvZyHDuYA

definitely going towards the top of my ballot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCEZEOYdfwo

state of shock owns btw

easily the best "rock song" michael jackson ever wrote/co-wrote

I voted

this will be in my top 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTxvWW667Mg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxfVFAUShkw

Always been a fan of this one.

I just sent my ballot. I added this song since it's talks about how screwed up Janet's relationship with "Father." Nothing like daddy issues on top of a new jack swing beat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRBkf-TwMLU

is this eligible?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quBKXOkchX8

still only a small amount of ballots in - deadline is friday!

I want to do this but theres no way I can get in by friday. If I get backed into a corner tho I may just submit Velvet Rope front to back.

An 'I Voted' Bump.

Ooh, gonna have to submit for this one. If I'm being honest with myself it's going to be dominated by MJ/J5 stuff. There'll be a few Janet tracks, tho, and I gotta rep for "Anytime, Any Place" - the original version, not R. Kelly's remix.

I would think the people who love r&b/pop on this board would be all over this ballot considering that the Jacksons basically set up the template for every solo male/female artist and boy band out now.

Yeah, and it's pretty easy to vote too. I don't own any albums by any Jackson (except for one Janet remix album) but I have/have heard so many of the singles they've released that coming up with a top 20 was no problem (and I still had to leave out 20 other tunes I love).

Gonna give this one another week to give the slackers a bit more time to send in a ballot.

Thanks. Will try and sort my ballot out over the weekend. May even do some repping itt.

glad i rushed one through last night now.

At the moment it's not got as many ballots as the Manic Street Preachers one, which is pretty weird.

Poll fatigue?

Oops, had forgotten the deadline was today - will do my ballot now while I'm on lunch...

I mean I could take another week but I'll just end up umming ahd ahhing.

and

ballot sent!

Off The Wall, Rhythm Nation and Dangerous got the most love

will vote next week as I'll be on mid-term break, been too busy to get to it before now. thanks for the extension!

Things that will appear high on my ballot:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vm4Yo-7aMv4"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
(amazing vocal on this)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7xRcmIDj2cc"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
(beats central)

Gah, forgot it's BBcode. Will this work?

http://youtu.be/vm4Yo-7aMv4

http://youtu.be/7xRcmIDj2cc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=7xRcmIDj2cc

Forget it.

Can You Feel It = best song and best video.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcmijb_the-jacksons-can-you-feel-it-video_music

oh man, was thinking on saturday how bummed i was that i never found the time to send in a ballot, happy to hear about the extension (maybe you should get the thread title/OP updated w/ new deadline so people know?)

I voted / Bump

goooood. gooooooooooood. the more I think about it, the more likely i am to put Human Nature as my number one.

One of my favorite Jacksons tracks, seriously:

http://youtu.be/pXzquw4bi5o

Let's try this again:

http://youtu.be/pXzquw4bi5o

One more time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXzquw4bi5o

And MJ's best outtake (beats the entire second half of Off the Wall, excepting maybe "I Can't Help It"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuiTm61C4L8

torture is so incredible

And the song ain't so bad either.

definitely closing things off at the end of this friday, then results after the weekend

16 ballots in at the moment.

16! Poor show, 2 less than the Manics. Hopefully there's a last minute deluge of ballots.

Jamie - worth asking a Moderator here to amend the thread title and first post so that the (new) deadline is prominently displayed.

yep done, sorry should have done that before.

If this doesn't get at least 30 ballots by the end, it's time to fold up shop.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/Images/towerrecordsoutofbusiness.jpg

did you get my ballot, Jamie? I never got a confirmation email, & waiting is torture.

sorry i've been slow processing them and replying to people, yes i got it

god you know making a ballot is hard when you find yourself cutting songs you've loved virtually your entire life

^OTFM

indeed, i wanted to vote for a few more left field choices but just couldn't take out the obvious singles

only 16?? :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxHbIoo3_xU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psZhQ8okI4E

i'm going to try to vote in this

I voted!

feel like my ballot is going to be v boring and obvious because 20 tracks for jackson 5 + janet is impossible, leaving aside mj solo

here is my janet jackson challop: "rhythm nation" and "if" are essentially the same song, except "rhythm nation" is better.

I ignored the Jackson 5 utterly, which made my task a little easier.

but I selected several songs by The Jacksons. Go figure.

no "i want you back" no cred >:[

xxxp If gives you the Gap Band, Rhythm Nation gives you Sly Stone. you win either way.

I ignored the Jackson 5 utterly

what the... but how... but...

I didn't get a confirmation email, should I have done? If not I can just re-send my ballot.

I ignored the Jackson 5 utterly

Yeah, me too. I just generally don't like any tunes with children singing on them, and young MJ is no exception. Voted for several The Jacksons tunes though.

No i'm just slow in replying. don't worry.

I ignored the Jackson 5 utterly

Yeah, me too. I just generally don't like any tunes with children singing on them, and young MJ is no exception

Hah. My ballot restores the balance a bit. Nothing on it post-'79 I think!

Tuomas, not even Dancing Machine?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQY-uzzm7GA

I wasn't going to vote, since I'm not a fan of much solo Jackson stuff, but I can't deal with the thought of ignoring the J5 altogether. Sending a short ballot.

I adore the Jackson 5 but if I have to include them along with The Jacksons, Janet and Michael on my list it would proved too brain-breaking a task.

LOL, I wonder how many ballots are exclusively pre- or post-puberty.

man only 1 Janet song survived in my top 20. I think she's all right, but she's definitely not my thing as much as the Jackson 5 or pre-Dangerous solo MJ.

janet suffered more in my ballot trimming than i expected, felt bad but i also gave her my #1

In my ballot she's the essential distraction b/w Thriller and Bad, and she just soars after 1990.

Speaking of, I hope one of you voted for "Diamonds."

Pretty sure my ballot was half Janet.

Mine too.

And nothing pre-1977 except for "I Wanna Be Where You Are."

A Janet song also had my biggest fall from grace, I guess. If this poll had been done 10 years ago, "Together Again" might have been my number 2 or 3. Now it wasn't even on my shortlist of 40 or so.

haha please tell me Alfred is the only person here with a Bad-heavy ballot

Sorry I didn't vote during the og run, thought this was just the Jacksons. But I voted for 20 Janet songs and boy was that hard. Already I am thinking of things I missed by her. OMG i love her so much (well 80s and 90s janet - maybe i should give the past couple records another try.)

for your consideration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4R4kWPqM00

okay cool we're on 23 ballots now so enough to make it work

I'm gonna hammer out a ballot at work today, so it will probably arrive really close to the deadline.

yeah i feel like 20 is kinda the invisible line it's most important to cross. i definitely breathed easier when the Timbaland poll got over that number.

I think this'll be the least predictable reveal since these artist polls started.

Nooh.

haha please tell me Alfred is the only person here with a Bad-heavy ballot

Not a one! I thought my distaste for Bad was well known.

"The Way You Make Me Feel" better be on everyone else's ballots.

'You Rock My World', is what he means

He meant "Morphine."

Leave me alone.

haha please tell me Alfred is the only person here with a Bad-heavy ballot

Not a one! I thought my distaste for Bad was well known.

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, February 17, 2012 10:18 AM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't know what "In my ballot [Janet]'s the essential distraction b/w Thriller and Bad" means, then, I thought you were saying that the bulk of your ballot was Thriller and Bad songs with Janet songs cutting into that

A Janet song also had my biggest fall from grace, I guess. If this poll had been done 10 years ago, "Together Again" might have been my number 2 or 3. Now it wasn't even on my shortlist of 40 or so.

"Together Again" was my #3, I loved it when it came out and still do - such a positive vibe and hip-shaking beat. Why did it fall from your grace?

I wasn't clear: I meant to say that at the time Janet provided welcome distraction while I wanted for a Thriller followup.

oh ok

*waited. I gotta stop eating sunflower seeds.

Why did it fall from your grace?

The production somehow went from sounding cute and stripped down to cheap and tacky. Sentiment is still nice, tho.

maybe i'll do just a janet ballot

it worked for me :D

ps make sure it has 'when i think of you' on it. if it doesnt place then the world is a cruel and horrible place.

that. is. my. jam.

or i might just pick 20 songs at random because this is too hard

okay, voted. jackson 5 really suffered. also it's not so much what i think are the best jacksons songs as these are the ones i listen to most these days.

if you have not submitted your ballot yet consider this ultimate funk jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiMuecKZQQQ

recently realized that my feelings about Michael Jackson closely mirror my feelings about Star Wars

His father is a better character?

lol no - childhood obsession that over time became grotesque to the point of intolerability, venerated idol transformed into omnipresent, loathsome caricature

to the point where I feel like I never want to see/hear anything MJ or Star Wars related for the rest of my life

His name is Michael Jackson and he's a person!

My ballot's cut to 20...just have to order them all now.

Five Michaels, five Janets, and one with them together. The rest are spread among J5/Jacksons/Rebbie/Jermaine.

My ballot was 8.5 Michael, 8 Janet, 2 The Jacksons, 1 Rebbie and 0.5 Jermaine

Should've tried harder to include more J5/Jacksons, but those two solo careers are untouchable.

12 Michael, 6 Janet, 3 J5/Jacksons

Couldn't help going mostly Michael on this one - even within his relatively small catalogue, there are just too many songs I love, and I'm always finding new ways to hear them. I'm sure growing up with this music had more than a little to do with that. And doing my best to ignore most of the later videos/media appearances and the increasing ugly details of his personal life that emerged certainly helped.

My ballot broke down 12.5 Michael, 4 Jacksons/J5, 3.5 Janet. Anybody who hasn't voted yet, plz consider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMkaAx6vJvo

Three Jackson 5, three Michael, three Janet, one Kipp Lennon.

Michael 9
Janet 7
Jackson 5 2
Jacksons 2

My not-so-coherent ballot had:

Jackson 5/Jacksons 10
Michael 4
Janet 3
Jermaine 2
Rebbie 1

Damn, "Rhythm Nation" is the shit. Why the hell did I vote for "Miss You Much" instead?

lol was just coming to say WHY THE FUCK DID I NOT VOTE FOR RHYTHM NATION I LISTENED TO IT 30 TIMES LAST NIGHT

it was on my ballot but i think it should have been higher

SING IT UP

9 Michael
8 Jackson 5
2 Jacksons
1 Janet
1 Mick Jagger

Actually, listening to Janet's "Number Ones" right now and probably would have included more Janet songs had I actually reviewed things more before voting. "What Have You Done for Me Lately" another giant omission from my ballot. I'm guessing a few all-Janet ballots will right the balance, though. Would LOVE to have done a 40 song ballot for this one.

Hah Mick Jagger - "Looka me, looka me...look at me...look...at...me...(squeal)."

My #1, a Janet track, was met with some eyerolls and one "what the hell?" when I went over my ballot with my coworkers. I made sure they knew part of the ordering was strategic, but I had no idea putting ___________ at #1 would be so controversial.

was it 'wardrobe malfunction;?

Looks like my ballot was:

9 Michael
5 Janet
4 The Jacksons
1 Rebbie
1 La Toya