Off the Wall
Encyclopedia : O : OF : OFF : Off the Wall
| Off the Wall | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Album by Michael Jackson | ||
| Released | August 10 1979 | |
| Recorded | December 4, 1978 – July 7, 1979, Los Angeles | |
| Genre | Disco/funk/R&B/soul | |
| Length | 42:16 (Original Version) 60:17 (Special Edition)
| |
| Label | Epic | |
| Producer | Quincy Jones | |
| U.S. Certification | 7 x Platinum | |
| Professional reviews | ||
| Q | 
| [October 2000] |
| Rolling Stone |
| [(RS 303)] |
| Allmusic.com |
| [link] |
| Robert Christgau | Grade: A | [link] |
| Michael Jackson chronology | ||
| The Best of Michael Jackson (1975) | Off the Wall (1979) | One Day in Your Life (1981) |
- For the radio show, see Off the Wall (radio).
Quincy Jones, the musical director for Motown's film adaptation of The Wiz (in which Jackson starred as the Scarecrow), served as the album's producer, with lyrics and music by Jackson, Heatwave's Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney, among others.
More than twenty-five years after its release, Off the Wall remains one of the defining moments in Jackson's music career and began his domination as one of pop music's leading artists. In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Off the Wall the thirty-sixth greatest album of all time. Rolling Stone ranked it #62 in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Jackson's next album, Thriller, was even more successful.
Track listing
- "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (Jackson) - 6:05
- "Rock with You" (Rod Temperton) - 3:40
- "Working Day and Night" (Jackson) - 5:14
- "Get on the Floor" (Jackson, Luis Johnson) - 4:39
- "Off the Wall" (Rod Temperton) - 4:06
- "Girlfriend" (McCartney) - 3:05
- "She's Out Of My Life" (Tom Bahler) - 3:38
- "I Can't Help It" (Susaye Greene-Bowne, Wonder) - 4:39
- "It's the Falling in Love" (David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager) - 3:48
- "Burn This Disco Out" (Rod Temperton) - 5:24
Outtakes
- "Goin' To Rio"
- "Thank You For Life"
- "What A Lonely Way To Go"
- "Sunset Driver" (later appeared on )
Chart trajectory
| Billboard 200 Chart trajectory — Off The Wall | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Chart position | 48 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
| Billboard 200 chart trajectory — Off The Wall | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 |
| Chart position | 10 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 33 | 33 | 37 | 56 | 56 | 61 | 61 | 71 | 83 | 83 |
| Billboard 200 chart trajectory — Off The Wall | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 |
| Chart position | 86 | 86 | 86 | 185(re) | 178 | 170 | 163 | 158 | 154 | 149 | 136 | 136 | 115 | 103 | 99 | 96 | 88 | 85 | 58 | 57 | 57 | 53 | 44 | 47 | 46 | 44 | 55 | 59 | 72 | 79 |
| Billboard 200 chart trajectory — Off The Wall | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | ||||||||
| Chart position | 84 | 83 | 81 | 78 | 80 | 79 | 92 | 93 | 90 | 97 | 110 | 114 | 111 | 114 | 111 | 116 | 121 | 175 | 171 | 167 | 169 | 187 | ||||||||
Special Edition
On October 16th, 2001, Epic re-released the four major Michael Jackson albums in special packages. "Off The Wall - Special Edition" contained some bonus material, including the original demo of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Workin' Day And Night", both recorded at home in 1978, plus interviews with Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton. The set also contains a new booklet featuring previously unseen photos, lyrics and additional info. After the re-release, the catalogue sales picked up around the world. It re-entered modestly in the UK, USA, and some other albums charts, and the Living with Michael Jackson Interview in 2003 gave it another major boost, where it has been in and out of the UK album chart ever since. A HMV sale in July 04 gave the album another huge boost with an impressive chart re-entry at #13 in the UK, the highest for 21 years. UK sales since the re-release will be around 200,000 and it was the 189th best selling album of 2003. USA sales since re-release are around 225,000 peaking at #7 in the Catalogue chart.
Charting singles
Album positions:- 1979 "Off the Wall" — Top Soul Albums No. 1
- 1980 "Off the Wall" — Top Pop Albums No. 3
- 1984 "Off the Wall" — Top 200 Albums No. 44
- 1979 "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough/Rock with You" Club Play Singles No. 2
- 1979 "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" Pop Singles No. 1
- 1979 "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" Soul Singles No. 1
- 1980 "Off the Wall" Pop Singles No. 10
- 1980 "Off the Wall" Soul Singles No. 5
- 1980 "Rock with You" Pop Singles No. 1
- 1980 "Rock with You" Soul Singles No. 1
- 1980 "She's out of My Life" Pop Singles No. 10
- 1980 "She's out of My Life" Soul Singles No. 43
- 1980 "She's out of My Life" Adult Contemporary No. 4
Personnel
- Rick Ash — assistant engineer
- Patti Austin — vocals
- Michael Boddrick — synthesizer
- Larry Carlton — guitar
- Steve Conger — assistant engineer
- Ed Cherney — assistant engineer
- Paulinho Da Costa — percussion
- Frank "Cheech" Damico — assistant engineer
- George Duke — keyboards
- David Foster — synthesizer
- Mitch Gibson — assistant engineer
- Jim Gilstrap — vocals, backing vocals
- Gary Grant — trumpet
- Bernie Grundman — mastering
- Steve Harvey — photography
- Richard Heath — percussion
- Marlo Henderson — guitar
- Jerry Hey — trumpet, arranger, flugelhorn, horn arrangements
- Kim Hutchcroft — flute, horn, sax (baritone), sax (tenor)
- Michael Jackson — main performer
- Randy Jackson — percussion
- Mortonette Jenkins — vocals, backing vocals
- Augie Johnson — vocals, backing vocals
- Louis Johnson — bass, rhythm arrangements
- Quincy Jones — producer, vocal arrangement, rhythm arrangements
- Johnny Mandel — strings
- Paulette McWilliams — vocals, backing vocals
- Greg Phillinganes — synthesizer, piano, keyboards, clavinet, rhythm arrangements
- Steve Porcaro — synthesizer
- Bill Reichenbach Jr. — trombone
- William Reichenbach — trombone
- John "J.R." Robinson — drums
- Michael Salisbury — design
- Seawind Horns — ensemble
- Bruce Swedien — engineer, mixing
- Rod Temperton — vocal arrangement, rhythm arrangements
- Phil Upchurch — guitar
- Gerald Vinci — concert master
- Wah Wah Watson — guitar
- Bobby Watson — bass
- David Williams — guitar
- Larry Williams — wind
- Zedric Williams — vocals, backing vocals
- David Wolinski "Hawk" — piano, keyboards
- Benjamin Wright — arranger, string arrangements
- Erik Zobler — assistant engineer
Music samples
- Problems playing the files? See .
Notes
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