A little something different for today. I thought it would be fun to take a look at the entire studio album discography for the Jackson family.
When I initially started compiling this post I had a whole bunch of live and compilation albums included. However, because of how irrelevant the compilations felt, and more importantly, how large the post was getting, I decided to cut it back considerably to just the studio recordings.
As individuals, they've created some of the most memorable music of all time. As a family, their combined careers span (close to) a whopping fifty years of being in the limelight. But where did it all begin? When did it peak? When did it crash? Who got left behind? Well, let's take a look.
The Jackson 5's recording career began in Gary, Indiana, when they were signed to Steeltown Records. Under this label, they released two double sided singles. However, for the longest time, those records seemed forgotten. Lost, if you will, over time. As such, many seem to think their father Joseph, simply walked into Motown Records, signed them up. Still, one can't help but think of how different things would be had Steeltown retained Michael, Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon as their headlining act.
Fast forward to 1968, when the group is signed to Motown Records, and begin recording their first studio album under the label. Diana Ross Presents Jackson 5 was released in 1969, and featured the first of many to come number one hits, I Want You Back.
The title of the album is a little odd, but makes sense. In short, it was all about name recognition. In 1969, nobody knew who these young boys were. However, with an established Motown star, such as the likes of Diana Ross, presenting them, there had to be some merit to them. Basically, it was a smart marketing decision, and one that paid off. While Diana Ross wasn't actually the person to discover the group, that was Bobby Taylor (and to an extent, Gladys Knight), she was the person who introduced them to the public in an August 1969 press conference.
The Jackson 5 would go on to release three albums in 1970. Their follow up to their debut was ABC. Though it featured six singles, its most notable tracks remain, The Love You Save, La-La (Means I Love You), and of course, the title track itself, ABC. The record also featured the ballad, Who's Lovin' You and the only Jermaine Jackson led song under the group's name, I Found That Girl.
This was followed up with the appropriately titled, Third Album. It features the brothers fourth consecutive number one hit, I'll Be There, as well as, their top five hit, Mama's Pearl. Though it didn't chart at the time, the album is also not worthy for featuring the Jackson 5 anthem, Goin' Back To Indiana.
Though it's touted as their fourth studio album, personally, I don't feel Christmas records count. To me, that's a genre of their own, equivalent to that of a soundtrack.
Jackson 5 Christmas Album not only features eleven holiday hits to get you in the mood for the season, but also the most stand out photo of Marlon. I can only equate his ecstatic smile to that of the scene from Coming To America where Akeem shouts, "I'm very happy to be here!" If there were any of the brothers who didn't contribute, and rode the coattails of success, it was Marlon.
Contributing to the children's lack of a childhood, from continuous album after album, was 1971's Maybe Tomorrow. Now that I type that, it kind of could represent the answer they got when they asked if they could go outside and play with other kids.
Though Maybe Tomorrow had four singles, and was not as financially successful as prior albums, it does contain some of the most often sampled tracks from their library. Among them is, Never Can Say Goodbye.
Lookin' Through The Windows marked a change for young Michael Jackson. Specifically, his voice. Though he could still hit several high notes, his once soprano voice was turning more tenor. The album spawned to hit singles, the title track, Lookin' Through The Window and Little Pretty One.
Not surprising, Michael and Jermaine would be the first of the brothers to strike out on solo ventures. Michael released two albums in 1972, Got To Be There and Ben. Both featured some of his greatest hits of his young life.
Among the titled track, Got To Be There included the singles, Ain't No Sunshine, I Wanna Be Where You Are, Rockin' Robin, Love Is Here And Now You're Gone and You've Got A Friend. Meanwhile, Ben's high notes were People Make The World Go Round, We've Got A Good Thing Going, My Girl, Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day, and naturally, the title track.
Jermaine's solo outing, while popular, failed to peak higher than both
of his younger brother's albums combined, a trend which would last his
entire career. Despite this, there's good material to be found, which
includes, I'm In A Different World, Homeward Bound, Take Me In Your Arms
(Rock Me A Little While), I Only Have Eyes For You, Ain't That Peculiar
and Daddy's Home.
Despite their solo successes, this didn't stop the brothers from performing together for numerous Jackson 5 albums between 1973 and 1975, all while continuing to release their own individual records.
1973 kicked off with the group's seventh studio album, Skywriter. Voices continued to change and tensions began to rise. For the boys, Michael's tenor voice was more predominant, and Jermaine's voice was getting deeper. However, the larger problem was that the group were becoming more and more frustrated with the music they were being asked to sing. Though many of them were writing their own material, they were prevented from recording any of it. The album only produced two singles, Skywriter and Touch, the latter of which created a great deal of controversy for young Michael.
Get It Together, or GIT, as the cover reads, produced the smash hit, Dancing Machine, which soared up to the number two spot on the charts. It remains the biggest hit of the Jackson 5's latter years. The record is most notable for its shift from pop to disco, spawning the additional singles, Reflections and Hum Along And Dance.
With his voice continuing to change, Michael recorded a difficult album for himself, Music and Me. Inspired by other Motown artists, such as, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, the young singer wanted to include his own compositions on the album. However, as mentioned above, he was not allowed to.
The record featured what I would consider Michael's anthem, Music and Me, as well as, numerous other singles. These included, With A Child's Heart, All The Things You Are, Happy (Love Theme From Lady Sings The Blues), Too Young, Doggin' Around and Morning Glow.
Meanwhile, brother Jermaine's album, Come Into My Life, was met with lackluster reception. Though it peaked at number thirty, it failed to produce any singles.
1973 saw oldest brother, Jackie Jackson joining the solo train. His self titled debut would be his one of his two albums ever released, and his only one for the Motown label. While it featured the single, Didn't I Blow (Your Mind This Time), overall, the album saw very little success.
Dancing Machine proved to be so popular that it resulted in its own album title, returning as a song on the album too. Though it was never a hit, the record deserves a very satisfactory nod for the song, It All Beings And Ends With Love. This song featured each of the individual brothers singing their own parts, respectively these are in the order of, Tito, Jackie, Michael, Marlon and Jermaine, who closes out the song.
For Michael, Marlon, Jackie and Tito, 1975 marked their final year with Motown Records. Brother Jermaine, who was married to the daughter of founder Barry Gordy at the time, opted to stay with the label. This last album was, Moving Violations, yet another disco based recording. It featured only two singles, the dance charting, Forever Came Today, and ballad, All I Do Is Think Of You. Upon its completion, the brother left the label, siting the inability to contribute their own music and receive ample royalties as the reason.
Prior to its release, Michael released his final studio album with Motown. Forever, Michael, was initially recorded around the same period as Music And Me, but was temporarily withdrawn upon the success of the song, Dancing Machine. The album helped to return the singer back to the top forty with singles, We're Almost There, One Day In Your Life and Just A Little Bit Of You.
1976 kicked off the Epic Records years for The Jacksons, sans Jermaine. Stepping in for his absence was youngest brother, Randy. However, whether it was by coincidence or a cunning marketing strategy, for each Jacksons album released, a Jermaine solo album followed suit over the following three years.
The Jacksons would be the first album to feature Michael's own compositions, which were, Blues Away and Style Of Life. Despite these being his songs, it would actually be Enjoy Yourself and Show You The Way To Go, which would become the leading singles.
My Name Is Jermaine...in case you forgot, was Jermaine's first album for Motown upon the departure of his brothers. The single, Let's Be Young Tonight, reached number nineteen on the charts.
Despite this, the album performed rather poorly in the US, not even cracking the top 100, a disappointment in light of his brother's album reaching number thirty-six. Personally, I think this is what led to a lot of contention between him and Michael.
As The Jacksons, Goin' Places is actually their worst charting album of all time. Though it's not to be shunned reaching number sixty-three on the charts, it is when you're used to selling top ten records and singles. This record failed to do both. Though there's good material to be found, such as The Jacksons penned Different Kind Of Lady (which reached number eleven), it remains one of their lowest selling albums.
Jermaine outdid himself this year as well with Feel The Fire, an album which performed worse on the charts than his prior record. Overall, 1977 was not kind to the Jackson boys. Feel The Fire is noteworthy in Jermaine's solo career as the first to feature his own material, and being partially produced by him.
With complete artistic control over their music, The Jacksons set out to record Destiny. Its success brought with it sales of over two million copies during its initial release, as well as, establishing the re-establishing the group as a top selling act. This success was led by the smash hits, Blame It On The Boogie and Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground). Though it wasn't a single, Things I Do For You, remains one of my personal favorites from the album.
Unfortunately for Jermaine, he was left behind in a big way with his album Frontiers, which didn't even chart, despite its Stevie Wonder led single, Isn't She Lovely. And the rift continues to grow between he and his brothers.
Not only was it his first album with Epic Records, but Off The Wall was also the first of three collaborations with Producer Quincy Jones. It would also be Michael's greatest individual outing since establishing himself as a solo artist.
Do I really need to talk about Off The Wall? It's one of those albums, that if you don't know about it, you've clearly been living under a rock. Even if you've never heard it, you've heard of it. Since its release, the album has gone 8X platinum, selling over twenty million copies around the world.
Off The Wall established Michael Jackson as a legitimate solo artist, and was the foundation for things to come. Though things were about to get even better, at the time of its release, it was considered one of the greatest albums of all time. Oh, if people only had a crystal ball to show them 1982...
Despite the success of Off The Wall, Michael returned to the Jacksons lineup, releasing Triumph. Meanwhile, brother Jermaine released his most popular album of all time, Let's Get Serious.
You can say that sales of Triumph were definitely aided by his prior solo release. However, I would contend that on its own merit, the album is solid. It featured some of the groups most noteworthy songs as The Jacksons. I'm talking about, Can You Feel It, Lovely One, This Place Hotel and Walk Right Now.
Brother Jermaine finally received the success he was reaching for with, Let's Get Serious. It reached number six in the US, and included one of his most popular songs of all time, that being the title track of the record. It's achieve close to, if not slightly over a million copies in sales to date. It's worth noting that the reason Jermaine's albums don't really see all that much movement in sales these days is a result of many of them being out of print, or never even released on CD. Hint, hint, Jermaine...Who is in no way reading this post at all.
Jermaine followed this up with a second album that year, his second self titled, "Jermaine". La Toya would also become the first of the Jackson sisters to step into the light with her first solo outing, also a self titled release.
Though he was able to remain in the top one hundred, Jermaine's 1980 album was far overshadowed by his prior release, managing to produce only one single, You Like Me Don't You. I guess they don't like you enough to give you a free pass.
La Toya's self titled debut went relatively ignored. However, I would be remise to not mention her duet with brother, Michael. Though it's odd the two would sing a song called, Night Time Lover, it's a pretty decent track. Though her albums remained out of print for quite some time, Cherry Pop has since obtained the rights, and are releasing several of her older albums for the first time on CD.
Both Jermaine and La Toya followed suit in 1981 with follow up albums, his eighth, her second.
Once again, Jermaine's sales began to decline. Despite this, songs such as, I'm Just Too Shy, Paradise In Your Eyes and
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours, were solid leading singles for his album, I Like Your Style.
Additionally, and despite two singles of her own, La Toya's follow up album also declined ins sales.
In 1982, the music industry was broken when Michael released the biggest selling album of all time. To this day, Thriller retains in the number one spot. It was such a powerful album that I feel sorry for anyone who would have released an album in the shadows of it...
...Oh, hi, Jermaine. Let Me Tickle Your Fance saw a boost in sales from his prior album. However, the question can be asked, is this in the wake of Michael's success, or the title track, which featured Devo.
Michael's youngest sibling would be the next casualty of 1982.
Thriller's success also cast a bit of a shadow over the sister Janet, who released her first solo album that same year. Oddly enough, chart wise, her album did only slightly worse than established brother, Jermaine. Single wise, it produced three chart toppers, Say You Do, Young Love and Come Give Your Love To Me.
Despite this, her album has since been panned by many music critics. The most notable being Bill Carpenter of Allmusic, who called it (and her follow up album, Dream Street), "Bland dance-music ready mades." Still, if you ask me, three chart topping singles on a debut album is a pretty good foot in the door. Especially in light of them being the foundation for what her later powerhouse albums would be.
After a massive success at Motown 25, all six brothers united to record and release Victory in 1984. You'll notice there are two versions shown below. The image on the left is the original, showing the dove on Marlon's shoulder. The second is the revised version which removed the bird. There are so many rumors surrounding the removal of the dove, and at this point, who knows what's actually true - If any of them.
The irony surrounding this album was that, for the most part, the brothers really did their own thing, sharing tracks with each other where additional vocals were needed. For the most part, everyone worked individually, coming together only when deemed necessary.
The Victory album would also lead to the fated cross promotion with Pepsi. While we got some classic commercials from this era, Michael ended up with third degree burns during the filming of a commercial, when a pyrotechnic went off, setting his hair on fire in the process.
Shortly after the highly successful Victory tour, Michael and Marlon quit the group. With his career officially over with Motown, Jermaine remained with the group for what would later become their last album.
With a new recording label and the successful Victory album / tour with his brother, Jermaine released his first solo recording with Arista Records. Jermaine Jackson became his third self titled album. However, internationally, the album was released as Dynamite. The album remains his second most successful solo recording.
It's worth noting that if you're looking to get this album, you may want to forego the US released version and instead grab the internationally released Dynamite. The reason being, the international release features the radio edit of his popular duet with Piz Zadora, When The Rain Begins To Fall, a song originally available on her studio album as an extended mix.
Overall, the album is memorable for its hits, Do What You Do and Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming, a duet with brother Michael. Though it's not considered a single, or a hit, Dynamite, the song, was also one of the more popular tracks, thanks to its heavily played music video on MTV.
Though it was less successful than her prior two albums, La Toya also released Heart Don't Lie. The title track remains one of her most popular, and this is due, once again, in part to MTV, who played the accompanying music video in steady rotation that year.
The other sisters weren't to be counted out though. Janet would release her second studio album, and eldest sister, Rebbie, released her first studio album. I've already touched on the opinions of Dream Street above. However, this doesn't negate that the album featured four singles, Don't Stand Another Chance, Two To The Power Of Love, Dream Street and Fast Girls.
Rebbie's album Centipede, was led by the title track, written by her brother Michael, but also featured two additional singles, A Fork In The Road and Prince's I Feel For You. Unfortunately, for the latter, it was instantly forgotten under the weight of Chaka Khan's cover that same year.
While Michael continued to rake in cash from his album Thriller, and most of the brothers took a well needed break from their prior tour, Jermaine returned to the studio to release Precious Moments. Additionally, his sisters would all release solo albums.
Precious Moments would be Jermaine's last album, to date, to crack the top fifty, a challenge unto itself for the artist. It included the singles, Do You Remember Me, which is one of my all time favorites from him, as well as, Lonely Won't Leave Me Alone, I Think It's Love and Words Into Action.
La Toya's 1986 follow up, Imagination marked the debut of her albums failing to chart. While it had its share of singles, He's A Pretender, Imagination and Baby Sister, the album as a whole seems to be dismissed by critics. Oddly enough, these same critics don't even consider the singles to be worthy of mention. Instead, they point to, How Do I Tell Them, as the best offerings on the album. They may be on to something. It's a solid song.
Control would finally garner Janet the breakout she needed as a solo artist, and push her to the front line ahead of her sisters. The album would be the first of many of her number one releases. In fact, volume wise, she's actually had more number one albums than Michael. So who's the real King (or Queen if you will) of Pop?
Reaction failed to chart for sister Rebbie, and in fact she wouldn't
chart with any further albums to date. Despite this, it featured two
singles, the title track and You Send The Rain Away. Tonight I'm Yours, a
duet with Isaac Hayes, while not a chart topper, got steady airplay. Though the originals are difficult to find, Funky Town Grooves obtained the rights to release Rebbie's catalog
in 2012, and since then have released several expanded editions of her
catalog.
Unfortunately for Rebbie and La Toya, the two would start to sink into obscurity - Despite not being their final albums.
Five years later, Michael would finally release a follow up album to Thriller. Though it wasn't able to top its success, Bad remains one of the greatest albums of all time. Personally speaking, it's my all time favorite from him. Flawless in every way.
Michael was riding a wave that the rest of his siblings, with exception of soon to be Janet, couldn't reach. He couldn't even leave his home without attracting attention.
Brother Marlon would also release his first solo album this year. Baby Tonight featured two singles, Don't Go and Baby Tonight. While the album cracked the top 200 of billboard, it simply couldn't compete with the likes of Bad. Unfortunately, many people appear to have missed it, not even knowing it was released.
1988 saw the release of additional solo albums from La Toya and Rebbie.
La Toya's self titled album is actually touted as her best work. Not only was it her first album since terminating her father as her manager, but it steps away from the pop oriented sound of her prior albums and replaces it with a heavier R&B / New Jack Swing tone. Stand out tracks included, You're Gonna Get Rocked, You Blew, Such A Wicked Love, (Tell Me) She Means Nothing To You At All and (Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do. Among these songs was Just Say No, a track produced specifically for use of Nancy Reagan for her anti-drug campaign.
Plaything was the only single to come from Rebbie's R U Tuff Enuff album. The song peaked at number eight, making it her second biggest single, second to Centipede. It would also be the last record from her for ten years.
The Jacksons released their last album as a group in 1989. While the title track featured all the siblings, with exception of La Toya. Labeled a black sheep of the family for her appearance in Playboy
Magazine (and a video) that same year (and again in 1994), she was
not asked to be part of the song. The remainder of the album was a project of Tito, Jermaine, Jackie and Randy. Though the title track was the biggest single, it was accompanied by Nothin' (That Compares 2 U) and If You'd Only Believe.
Jermaine would also release the studio album, Don't Take It Personal that same year. From the record, only the title track would become a single. It also marked the return of the singer to the 100+ numbers for chart topping. Sadly, it was also his last album to date to chart. Not a high note, by any means, to go out on.
Jackie would also take a second attempt at a solo career. However, his efforts did not pan out. The album did not chart on the Billboard 200, nor did it produce any singles. Jackie has since stepped out of the spotlight, returning only briefly in 2017 as part of A Celebration Of 50 Years with brothers Marlon, Tito and Jermaine.
Meanwhile, Janet released her followup to Control and second number one album, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. The singer was officially in higher demand than her brother Jermaine, second only to her brother Michael.
1989 also saw the release of brother Randy venturing into new territory. However, rather than seeking a solo career, he formed the group, Randy and the Gypsys, releasing their first and only studio album. The release went relatively unnoticed by the general public. In short, it flopped.
La Toya would be the only Jackson to release an album in 1990. Though it spawned three singles, Sexual Feeling, You And Me and Bad Girl, it was the album that almost wasn't. Disagreements with her recording company resulted in the singer walking away from the label. Since then, the album has been licensed to numerous labels who have released it throughout the years with varying names and covers. It remains one of her very few albums to remain in print as a result.
Michael kicked off 1991 with his highly anticipated Dangerous album, becoming his third of five consecutive number one releases. It spawned numerous hits, music videos and more money than one could shake a stick at.
Meanwhile Jermaine continued his trend of lackluster solo releases with You Said. However, while it went relatively unnoticed, it did spark a bit of controversy for an original lyrics version of the song, Word To The Badd!!. Listening to it, it's a clear calling out of his brother, Michael, painting a picture of an older sibling who has been hurt by the actions of his younger, more successful one. More so, it calls the King of Pop out for being a lonely child who won't grow up. With the album's release, Jermaine would step out of the recording industry for the next twenty years.
La Toya found a new record label, her fifth since starting her solo career, and released No Relations. It continued the trend of her descent into the realm of sexual exploitation with songs such as, Sexbot and Be My Playboy.
1993 kicked off Janet's topless years, something which would not only continue on her album covers, but the "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Superbowl...Yeah...Malfunction. Clothes tend to come off when you pull them down. Just saying. Regardless, or perhaps bolstered by this, 1993's Janet smashed the number one spot on Billboard, going 6X platinum to date.
Just when you thought La Toya was a lost cause, she did a complete one eighty in 1994, releasing a country album, From Nashville To You. Critics were quick to state that people would be pleasantly surprised with this particular work. It even had a few singles to back it up, Burnin' Love, Crazy and Boots. Despite this, the album didn't chart, and La Toya herself has stated the record was, "Bizarre and doomed from its inception."
Despite being in the midst of heated legal allegations, Michael was not just sitting around. Instead, he was deep in work on his follow up to Dangerous.
Part greatest hits, part all new album, all solid. HIStory, was a massive release for Michael in 1995. Though I'd essentially have to list the entire album out, both discs, to cover the singles from it, the stand out among them may be Scream, a duet with sister Janet. Or perhaps They Don't Really Care About Us, or Come Together, or...See where this is going? There's a reason the album reached number one.
On the surface, La Toya's Stop In The Name Of Love may seem like nothing more than a harmless nod to some of Motown's greatest hits, which I suppose it is. However, the cover is what really causes the eyebrow raise and controversy which followed. Why on Earth would she select a photo from her Playboy shoot, nipple exposed, for the cover? This was later rectified with a less revealing image, I.E. the black bar at the bottom raised higher to cover it. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.
Technically not a studio album, I've opted to include Michael Jackson's remix album, Blood On The Dance Floor in this write up. The reason being that it does include some all new material, among which is Ghosts. Though there was no way the song, or subsequent mini movie could be as popular as Thriller, Ghosts does stand on its own as a creative a solid piece of work.
Amidst an emotional break-down and a slew of depression, Janet began approaching her next studio album, The Velvet Rope. Utilizing introspect as its theme, she carved out an emotional a deep record, touching on the subjects of self-worth, social networking and domestic violence. Additionally, it also touches on sexual matters, such as BDSM orientation and preference. The album served as both a mouthpiece for her, as well as, forced the singer to dig up and confront emotional pain she had buried for years. Therapeutic and financially beneficial!
Sister Rebbie returned for her final outing to date with 1998's Yours Faithfully. However, it could be said that the reason for her return was a result of signing to her brother's label, MJJ (you should be able to figure out who I'm talking about). The album features the track, Fly Away, which was originally recorded by Michael for his album, Bad. Despite the backing from her brother, the album failed to chart or produce any singles.
2001 marked the final album from Michael Jackson, prior to his death in 2009. Though the album reached number one, the amount of controversy, continued legal battles and overall perception from the public seemed to have taken their toll. The singer seemingly retreated from the public eye, focusing his attention instead on his children Michael Jr. and Paris. He would also become a father to a third child, Prince in 2002.
Back from the edge of darkness was a happier Janet, who released her self titled album. Unlike The Velvet Rope, which touched on dark issues, Janet (the album) focused on an upbeat tempo with lyrics focused on passion and romance. Unfortunately, she still appeared to have an aversion to clothing. It's interesting how older sister La Toya was ostracized and labeled an outcast for this, but yet Janet is praised for it.
And the clothes continued to stay off for 2004's Damita Jo, which takes its name from the singer's middle name. Though she performed at the Superbowl that year to promote the album, the "wardrobe malfunction" mentioned above resulted in Janet being blacklisted by several affiliates who banned her music and / or videos from being shown. Despite the negative press, Damita Jo went on to sell enough copies to be certified platinum. However, it would be her first album since Control to not hit number one, instead ranking at number two.
Ironically, Justin Timberlake was unaffected by any of this backlash from the Superbowl incident.
Naturally, the clothing stayed off for 2006's 20Y.O. You would think someone with all that money could afford a shirt.
Even though the album would chart at number two, it was chastised by critics for the production and involvement of Dupri. It appears that the original production crew also took issue with this. The album was apparently all but finished when he was brought in to work on it, and the end result was that he changed everything. It's been stated that the original work and final product are nothing alike.
Janet found a shirt and remained busy into 2008. She released Discipline, her first album in thirteen years with a new recording label. The album did away with the R&B sound of 20Y.O., replacing it with a digitized megapop structure. This change was well received, marking her return to the number one spot. Four singles were released to promote the album, Feeback, Luv, Rock With U (unrelated to Michael's release) and Can't B Good.
Amidst the tour to promote the album, Janet requested to dissolve the current agreement with Island Records. The singer had grown increasingly dissatisfied with the label from a lack of promotion after the first single, Feedback, was released, and felt it best to part ways. It was a result of this that she would go on to launch her own record label, Rhythm Nation Records.
In 2009, the world was awestruck at the announcement of the death of Michael Jackson. There are not to many people on this Earth, who when they pass away, the world will literally stop and grieve for. Michael was, and will remain, one of the few.
Epic announced that 2010 would see the first posthumous album from the King of Pop, simply titled, Michael. Though its release was highly anticipated, the album soon came under backlash of allegations that it was not Michael on the majority of the album. Even the family members raised doubts about the legitimacy of the singer being on the tracks. Sorry, but it's a pretty legit argument when even the mother of the man is saying, "That's not my son." In fact, as far as I'm concerned, that's case closed on the matter. If his own mother says it's not him, there's little room to argue.
As is usually the case, there was an inevitable lawsuit which was filed against Sony Records. However, the label eventually won the lawsuit. Despite the opinion on the matter, one thing is certain, Sony has been really careful since then with releasing new material from Michael, and has even stated there will be no more full albums since 2014's Xscape. More on that below.
Technically an EP, La Toya has had one final outing with 2011's Starting Over. The album was only released digitally, and yet still managed to include two singles, Free The World and Just Wanna Dance. It appears that the sibling has finally righted her course in life.
The title track for the album was initially planned to be released as a single in 2006. However, it was instead retooled to a jingle and released as a promotion to Australian beverage maker, Star Ice in 2007. Additionally, songs, I Don't Play That and Home were released prior to the EP as promotions to Armed and Famous, the reality show Jackson appeared on and to benefit the AIDS Project Los Angeles.
La Toya has since stepped out of the limelight that is the recording industry.
To date, Jermaine has released one final album, 2012's I Wish You L.O.V.E. Two singles, Autumn Leaves and All The Things You Are were released to promote the album. However, it failed to chart. There has been no word from him since as to whether or not he will release any further albums.
A final posthumous album from Michael was released in 2014. Unlike the prior album, this release had the benefit of featuring a deluxe edition, which included the original recordings of the tracks on a separate disc. Meanwhile, the official release (or disc one) was carefully remastered and remixed to bring it up to speed with the current industry sounds and styles.
As for the songs themselves, they were recorded over the course of 1983 to 2001. This time around, there are also several notable sources backing the album to confirm its legitimacy. As was mentioned above, since its release, Sony has stated they will not release any further full posthumous albums for Michael.
As of this writing, Janet's 2015 album, Unbreakable has been her last to date. However, she recently announced Black Diamond, an all new record to be released in 2020. Amidst the current pandemic, we'll see if this comes to fruition.
Unbreakable is the first, of presumably many more to come, albums on her newly created Rhythm Nation label. Though it was noted that she will have autonomy under her own label, one can't help but wonder if this means her music will go the route of Prince's. I.E. be sought after only by diehard fans, but still not very good. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Much like many of her prior albums, Unbreakable it peaked in the number one spot, led by a handful of singles, Unbreakable, Burnitup, Dammn Baby and No Sleep. No, that's not a typo on the one title. The album, as a whole, has received considerable praise from critics. What's odd about this acclaim is that none of the comments seem focused on the music. Instead, they talk about how Janet herself is a survivor of her long term career and deserves every bit of respect for her music - You know, the music nobody is mentioning in their review.
After forty-six years, Tito Jackson finally made his debut as a solo artist with his 2016 release, Tito Time. Well, unfortunately, Tito was too late to the party. With the death of Michael, the disbandment of The Jacksons and Jackson 5, the world's eyes aren't on the Jackson family anymore - Despite Janet's best efforts.
I suppose you could rank this under, "better late then never." However, perhaps more appropriately, "why bother at this point" is more accurate.
With studio albums spanning a combined career of almost fifty years, one would think that every member of the Jackson family, their children and their children's children would be set for life. Interestingly enough, that is far from the case - pending a big inheritance from the others. As a final thought to this write up, I decided to add this final image of the Jackson family which denotes their net worth. While none of them are "poor", there are certainly those who are better off than the others.
Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.
