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Michael Jackson · S3 E1
Los Angeles
Shedding Gary, shedding Motown, building something new
A screening room in Los Angeles, 1977. Michael Jackson rewinds a Fred Astaire sequence frame by frame, studying how a human body can make gravity look optional.
Show You the Way to Go, The Jacksons (1977). Their first number one in the United Kingdom, produced by Gamble and Huff. The sound is smoother and more grown-up than anything from the Motown years.
Show You the Way to Go, The Jacksons (1977)
Produced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff in Philadelphia. The arrangement is built around a lush string bed, a rolling bass line, and a horn section that breathes instead of punches. Michael's vocal sits lower in the mix: more relaxed, more mature than anything from the Motown years. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, the brothers' first chart-topper in Britain.
The Variety Show
CBS gives The Jacksons their own television show in 1976: twelve episodes of music, comedy sketches, and guest stars. It is one of the first variety shows hosted by a Black family on American network television. Michael chafes at the format, wanting to be taken seriously as a musician, not a comedian.
CBS Television City, Los Angeles
The studio complex at 7800 Beverly Boulevard where The Jacksons filmed their CBS variety show. Michael's first experience working in television without Motown controlling the production.
TAP TO REVEAL: A future superstar made her television debut on The Jacksons variety show
Goin' Places, The Jacksons
The title track from the Jacksons' second Epic album (1977). The single stalled on the charts and the album underperformed. But listen to the ambition in the arrangement: layered brass, a disco-influenced groove, vocals reaching for something the production can't quite deliver. Without this song failing, the brothers might never have demanded to produce "Destiny" themselves.
The Jacksons' "Show You the Way to Go" (1977) achieved a historic first for the brothers. What was it?
Michael has the ambition, the work ethic, and a new city to prove himself in. Next: a phone call from Quincy Jones, a studio booked in Los Angeles, and the sessions that change everything.
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