MOTOWN 25

On March 25, 1983, Jackson performed “Billie Jean” to critical and popular acclaim. Staged at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever was a celebration of Motown Records’ twenty-fifth anniversary. Organized by Suzanne De Passe, the event was to feature all the previous Motown acts. The Motown stars were to reunite for one evening, paying tribute to Berry Gordy and acknowledging his effect on their lives. Jackson initially refused the invitation, stating that he did not want to perform live, or perform with his brothers again. Jackson reconsidered after a personal visit from Gordy, whom the singer had a great respect for. Jackson would perform on the condition that he have a solo spot. Gordy agreed and it was decided that the singer would perform “Billie Jean”.^[25]

Following performances by Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Mary Wells, the Jacksons took to the stage for the first Jackson brothers performance in eight years. The Jacksons sang a medley of their old hits, finishing with “I’ll Be There” and left Michael alone on stage. After addressing the audience, Jackson went into his routine. Wearing black pants, leather penny loafers and a single white rhinestone glove, Jackson snapped a fedora to his head and struck a pose—his right hand on his hat and his left leg bent. Throwing the hat aside, Jackson lip synced to “Billie Jean”.^[25] Then, during a musical interlude, the singer executed a move which many claim to have sealed his status as a pop icon.^[26][27] Gliding backwards, Jackson performed the moonwalk, before spinning on his heels and landing en pointe.^[25] It was the first time Jackson had performed the moonwalk in public, having practiced it in his kitchen prior to the show.^[28]

The program was watched by 50 million people and earned Jackson an Emmy nomination.^[29][30] With the performance Jackson reached a new audience and increased the sales of Thriller, which eventually became the biggest selling album in the world.^[28] The day after the show aired, Jackson was called by his childhood idol Fred Astaire who commended the singer. Another childhood idol, Sammy Davis Jr., later received Jackson’s black sequined jacket, having admired it during the performance.^[28]

Jackson stated that he was disappointed in his performance; he’d wanted to remain on his toes longer than he had.^[25] Jackson subsequently said that “Billie Jean” was one of his favorite songs to perform live, but only when he didn’t have to do it that way. “The audience wants a certain thing – I have to do the moonwalk in that spot”, he later said. “I’d like to do a different version.”^[17]

In a Top 100 list, compiled by VH1 and Entertainment Weekly in 2000, Jackson’s performance was ranked as the sixth greatest rock ‘n’ roll TV moment.^[31] Five years later, Entertainment Weekly named Jackson’s Motown 25 performance as one the most important pop culture moments in history. “It was a moment that crossed over in a way that no live musical performance ever had. There was a messianic quality to it”, Entertainment Weekly editor Steve Daly commented.^[32]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} “How Billie Jean changed the world“. The Guardian. (July 12, 2007). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/jul/12/popandrock. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Campbell, p. 58
3. ^ ^{a b c} Jackson, pp. 192–194
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Wadhams, pp. 418–422
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Taraborrelli, pp. 223–224
6. ^ Murphy, Sport (January 27, 2008). “Man in the moonwalk“. New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/seven/01272008/entertainment/music/man_in_the_moonwalk_427676.htm?page=0. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} “The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born: Number 1″. Blender. (October, 2005).
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Halstead, pp. 36–37
9. ^ Taraborrelli, p. 222
10. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Halstead, pp. 37–38
11. ^ ^{a b} George, p. 39
12. ^ ^{a b} “Austrian Singles Chart Archives“. austriancharts.at. http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Michael+Jackson&titel=Billie+Jean&cat=s. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
13. ^ “Rolling Stone’s Thriller review“. Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson/albums/album/303823/review/6067536/thriller. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
14. ^ “Thriller – The Diamond“. Stylus Magazine. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/diamond/michael-jackson-thriller.htm. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
15. ^ “Allmusic’s Thriller 25 review“. Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:w9fwxzejldke~T1. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
16. ^ George, p. 23
17. ^ ^{a b c} Halstead, pp. 38–40
18. ^ George, pp. 39–43
19. ^ “RIAA database“. Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH. Retrieved on February 24, 2009.
20. ^ Grein, Paul (March 18, 2009). “Week Ending March 15, 2009: The Idol With The Most“. Yahoo! Music. http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/29509/week-ending-march-15-2009-the-idol-with-the-most/. Retrieved on March 26, 2009.
21. ^ Weitner, Sean. “Michael Jackson: A Life in Film“. Flak magazine. http://www.flakmag.com/music/mj/videos.html. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
22. ^ Cocks, Jay (December 26, 1983). “Sing a Song of Seeing“. Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926425-3,00.html. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
23. ^ Smith, David (January 30, 2005). “Cash tops Thriller with best video ever“. The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jan/30/arts.artsnews. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
24. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Halstead, pp. 39–41
25. ^ ^{a b c d} Taraborrelli, pp. 234–240
26. ^ Leopold, Todd (June 6, 2005). “Michael Jackson: A life in the spotlight“. CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/30/jackson.life/. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
27. ^ Cannon, Bob. “A Giant Step for Jackson“. Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,301524,00.html. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
28. ^ ^{a b c} Campbell, pp. 65–68
29. ^ “A Glance at the Career of Michael Jackson“. Fox News Channel. (June 14, 2005). http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159509,00.html. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
30. ^ Harris, Chris (January 14, 2008). “Michael Jackson, Akon Are ‘Startin’ Somethin’ On Thriller 25 Track“. MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1579562/20080114/jackson_michael.jhtml?loc=interstitialskip. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
31. ^ “Top Rock TV Moment A Really Big Show“. CBS News. (July 24, 2000). http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/07/24/entertainment/main217999.shtml. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
32. ^ “The 25 Most Important Pop Culture Moments“. CNN. (September 1, 2005). http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/01/cnn25.top25.entertainment/index.html. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
33. ^ ^{a b} Taraborrelli, pp. 279–289
34. ^ Halstead, p. 205
35. ^ “Ailing“. Time. (February 6, 1984). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954175,00.html. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
36. ^ “Singer Has Operation To Repair Burn Scar“. The New York Times. (April 19, 1984). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E1DC1538F93AA25757C0A962948260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FPeople%2FJ%2FJackson%2C%20Michael. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
37. ^ Zoglin, Richard (February 13, 1984). “Too Much Risk on the Set?“. Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926474-1,00.html. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
38. ^ “The 26th Annual Grammy Awards“. Time. (March 19, 1984). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921610,00.html. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
39. ^ Lamb, Bill. “About.com’s Thriller 25 review“. New York City: About.com (The New York Times Company). http://top40.about.com/od/albums/fr/mjacksonthril25.htm. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
40. ^ “Billie Jean voted top dance song“. BBC. (July 15, 2008). http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ifs_news/hi/newsid_7507000/7507218.stm. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
41. ^ “Yesterday is top pop song“. BBC. (November 17, 2000). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/1027940.stm. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
42. ^ ^{a b} Thriller 25: The Book, p. 26
43. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11028260/the_rs_500_greatest_songs_of_all_time
44. ^ http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs-gj/

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Tags: Michael Jackson Music Videos

Related posts

• 1973 – Carol Burnett Show (1)
• 1974 – WITH A CHILD’S HEART (3)
• 1993 Clinton Inauguration (0)
• ANOTHER PART OF ME (1)
• BAD (0)

2 Responses to “MOTOWN 25”

1. mjtheone says:

   March 18, 2010 at 11:03 am

   this is one of michael’s best performances ever1He truly is the king of pop and noone can ever take that title away from him. EVER!!!!!
2. luke cavalier says:

   August 11, 2010 at 6:47 pm

   i am just like you i can dance just like michael jackson and i am your number 1# fan but im not crazy for you im nice im calm and i like your video a lot and i got to tell you something: just by watching you i can dance like you im the next mchael jackson i have long hair to just like you. thanks thats it.