Off the Wall

• 1. Introduction

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  Off the Wall, the fifth studio album by Michael Jackson, grew in part from a melody he hummed in his kitchen. That tune became "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", but the album around it had a larger ambition. Jackson wanted a record that was truly his own, with the freedom that earlier records had denied him. This documentary follows how a singer raised inside a famous family act won that freedom. It asks who helped him use it, and why a record so widely loved left him disappointed with its awards.

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• 2. Leaving Motown

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  Between 1972 and 1975, Michael Jackson released four solo studio albums with Motown. They were Got to Be There, Ben, Music & Me, and Forever, Michael. Each came out as part of the Jackson 5 franchise. Hits included "Got to Be There", "Ben" and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin". Sales for the Jackson 5 began to fall in 1973. The brothers also chafed at Motown's refusal to give them any creative control or input. Even so, the group kept landing hits, among them the top five disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 "I Am Love".

  In 1975, the Jackson 5, minus Jermaine Jackson, left Motown. That June they signed with CBS Records, first joining the Philadelphia International Records division and then Epic Records. Legal proceedings forced a new name, and the group became the Jacksons. They kept touring internationally and released five more studio albums between 1976 and 1984. Those were a self-titled eleventh album, Goin' Places, Destiny, Triumph and Victory. A live concert album followed in 1981.

  Inside the Jacksons, Michael wrote or co-wrote "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel" and "Can You Feel It". He was lead singer and chief songwriter at once. A film project in 1978 would bring him together with the producer of his next solo album.

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• 3. The Scarecrow Partnership

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  In 1978, Jackson starred as the Scarecrow in the film musical The Wiz. Quincy Jones arranged the musical scores, and the two men formed a partnership during production. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's solo album, which became Off the Wall. Jackson threw himself into the part. He watched videotapes of gazelles, cheetahs and panthers to learn graceful movement. Jones remembered working with him as one of his favorite experiences on the film, and he compared Jackson's acting style to that of Sammy Davis Jr.

  Critics panned The Wiz when it opened in October 1978. Jackson's performance was one of the only positively reviewed parts of the picture. Reviewers said he had "genuine acting talent" and "provided the only genuinely memorable moments." Jackson himself said, "I don't think it could have been any better, I really don't". In 1980 he called the experience "my greatest experience so far...I'll never forget that".

  The film left behind a producer and a singer who trusted each other. What remained unsettled was what their record should sound like.

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• 4. Inside the Sessions

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  When the project began, Jackson was not sure what he wanted as the final result. He was sure he did not want another record that sounded like the Jacksons. His father, Joseph, approved the album on one condition, which was that it must not interfere with group business. His brothers wanted to work with him, but Jackson chose to make the album independently of his family. Even so, his brother Randy played percussion on "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".

  Recording ran from the 4th of December 1978 to the 3rd of June 1979, and every session took place in Los Angeles County. Rhythm tracks and vocals were recorded at Allen Zentz Recording. The horn section worked at Westlake Audio, and the strings were recorded at Cherokee Studios in West Hollywood. Grammy-winning engineer Bruce Swedien mixed the album at Westlake Audio. The original tapes then went to the A&M Recording Studio, also in Los Angeles, for mastering. Swedien would later mix Thriller, in 1982.

  Jones produced, and Jackson received a co-production credit on the songs he wrote. Jones recalled that Jackson at first seemed very introverted, shy and non-assertive. The songwriters also included Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.

  Tom Bahler had written "She's Out of My Life" for Jones three years earlier. Jackson heard it and loved it, and Jones let him use it. Jones also called in Rod Temperton, the keyboardist of Heatwave, to write three songs. The plan was for Jackson and Jones to choose one. Jackson liked all three and kept them all. He stayed up all night learning the lyrics instead of reading from a sheet, then finished the vocals for the trio in two sessions.

  Temperton had spent time researching the background of Jackson's style before he wrote. He mixed traditional harmony sections with shorter-note melodies that suited Jackson's aggressive delivery. Jackson and Jones listened to hundreds of songs before settling on a batch to record. Looking back, Jones believed they took a lot of risks, both in the production and in the final choice of tracks.

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• 5. Sound and Voice

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  On Off the Wall, the tempo runs from 66 beats per minute on "She's Out of My Life" to 128 on "Workin' Day and Night". Between those poles sits an unusual mixture. AllMusic critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Stephen Holden heard R&B, funk, disco-pop, soul, soft rock and Broadway ballads. "Workin' Day and Night" is the funk tune, "Get on the Floor" the disco song, and "I Can't Help It" a jazz piece. "Rock with You" is a romantic, mid-tempo number.

  Writer Nelson George compared "She's Out of My Life" to "My Way", the song that served as a signature for Frank Sinatra. He said the vulnerability, verging on fragility, that would become part of Michael's persona found perhaps its richest expression in this wistful ballad.

  Quincy Jones, in his autobiography, placed Jackson beside the jazz singers he had known. He wrote that Jackson "has some of the same qualities as the great jazz singers I'd worked with: Ella, Sinatra, Sassy, Aretha, Ray Charles, Dinah." He added that each of them had "that purity, that strong signature sound and that open wound that pushed them to greatness."

  Erlewine described the young singer as a "blindingly gifted vocalist". Rolling Stone compared his singing at the time to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. The magazine also praised a "feathery-timbered tenor" that slides into a startling falsetto. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli heard a "sexy falsetto" on "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". He wrote that fans and industry peers were left with their mouths agape. In his account, listeners had not heard Jackson sing with "such joy and abandon since the early Jackson 5 days".

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• 6. Charts and Sales

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  On the cover of Off the Wall, Jackson smiles in a tuxedo and his trademark socks. His manager, John Branca, said the tuxedo was part of the overall plan for the project and its packaging. The socks, he added, were Michael's own idea. The timing was awkward for the music inside. The album arrived shortly after Disco Demolition Night, which fed a growing backlash against disco's hold on the charts.

  Epic released the album on the 10th of August 1979, a month after its first single. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" came out on the 10th of July 1979, Jackson's first solo single outside Motown. It reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on the 10th of October. That was his first solo number one since "Ben", seven years earlier.

  "Rock with You" became his third number-one single and also topped the R&B charts. Starting on the 19th of January 1980, it spent four consecutive weeks at number one. It ranked as the fourth-biggest single of 1980. The title track followed in February and reached number 10 on the Hot 100, plus the top 10 in four countries. In June, "She's Out of My Life" also reached number 10. Five singles came from the album in all. With four US top 10 hits, Off the Wall was the first album by a solo artist to produce that many.

  The album itself peaked at number three on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. It stayed in the top 10 for more than eight months. On the R&B albums chart it held number one for 16 weeks. Three million copies sold in the United States before the end of 1979, while the Jacksons were still on tour. Rolling Stone and The National Leader both reported it as the best-selling album of 1980 in the US.

  By the time Thriller arrived in 1982, Off the Wall had sold seven million copies worldwide. The album launched a nine-year partnership between Jackson and Jones, and Thriller was their next collaboration. In 2025, the Recording Industry Association of America certified Off the Wall diamond for 10 million US sales. Worldwide sales stand above 20 million, and the album has gone platinum in eleven other countries. The awards season, however, would not match the sales.

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• 7. Critics and Grammys

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  Rolling Stone's Stephen Holden wrote that the album "represents discofied post-Motown glamour at its classiest." He compared Jackson to Stevie Wonder, another Motown performer who started young and won acclaim for growing past it. Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times called it "one of the year’s best R&B albums" and singled out Jones's production. Phil McNeill of Melody Maker thought Jackson sounded comfortable, confident and in control. He judged "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" the best song and called "Rock with You" "masterful".

  Several critics focused on the voice. In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau credited Jackson and Jones with "fashioning the dance groove of the year". He heard in the grunts, squeals, hiccups and moans a reminder that Jackson had grown up. David Hepworth wrote in Smash Hits that Jackson "sings like an angel". Writing for Sounds, he called "She’s Out Of My Life" a "hauntingly beautiful ballad". Record Mirror's Paul Sexton praised the slower songs, including "I Can't Help It".

  The Village Voice placed the album among the best of both 1979 and 1980 in its Pazz & Jop polls. At the 1980 Grammy Awards, the record drew just two nominations, which was controversial. Jackson won Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That same year at the American Music Awards he won Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Single. The album won Favorite Soul/R&B Album again the following year, and Jackson took the male artist award once more.

  Jackson was not satisfied. He felt the album should have made a much bigger impact, and a single Grammy disappointed him. Album of the Year had been out of reach, since Off the Wall was not even nominated, which many viewed as a surprise. Jackson said, "It was totally unfair that it didn't get Album of the Year and it can never happen again".

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• 8. Legacy and Influence

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  In 2008, Off the Wall was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Rankings since then have placed it high on many lists. Rolling Stone put it at number 68 on its 500 Greatest Albums list in 2003, and at number 36 in the 2020 revision. Blender ranked it number 13 among the 100 Greatest American Albums. The Guardian placed it at number 56 among the 100 Best Albums Ever. In 2025, Spin named it Jackson's best album.

  Some music journalists see Off the Wall as the peak of the disco era. They group it with Donna Summer's Bad Girls from 1979 and the Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever from 1977. Blender wrote that it was "the first suggestion that disco need not be tacky". Critics still debate whether it or Thriller is Jackson's best. Tom Ewing of The Guardian said Thriller will keep its sales crown, but that "it's Off the Wall that critics routinely hail as Jackson's masterpiece."

  The Weeknd has said Off the Wall made him feel he could sing, calling it "definitely the one that made me feel like I could sing." Chris Brown said his single "Fine China" aimed to bring back the essence of that music. Writing for Pitchfork, Ryan Dombal said the influence of "I Can't Help It" on Pharrell Williams's off-kilter funk "cannot be overstated".

  Sean Combs, accepting the Recording Academy's Salute to Industry Icon award, spoke of Thriller as Jackson's "revenge" for "not being nominated enough for Off the Wall". He dedicated his award to the album. A writer for PR Newswire credited the record with smashing the ceiling on record sales for black artists.

  Sony Records issued a special edition on the 16th of October 2001 to promote Jackson's upcoming album Invincible. On the 26th of February 2016, the album was reissued with its original cover. It came packaged with a new documentary directed by Spike Lee, titled Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall.

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