Note: If viewing Michael Jackson Ultimate Archive on archive.org (Wayback Machine), please view the latest snapshot of this page for the most up-to-date information and media.

"Right On!" Magazine Interview

Date of publication confirmed in Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro” (“November 1972”)

“Right On!” magazine (November 1972), From Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro” (article summary/quotes)

“Jackson Five: It Was a Great Summer Tour” article:

Another full packed issue of Right On magazine had Jermaine on the cover and the usual Jackson 5 articles and news. The Jackson 5 had kicked off their summer tour receiving the key to New York City from Deputy Mayor Edward Hamilton.

Michael spoke about having Randy on stage with them for the tour:

“Randy is driving them wild. He’s really, really good! We’re so proud of him. Wow! This was his first real tour with us and he’s been waiting so long to get up there with us that when he finally did – POW!”

A funny moment at the shows was when they came to play ‘Never Can Say Goodbye.’ On past tours this normally led to the guys getting ready to leave the stage, but this time they were due to end with a different number. Jermaine said:

“They thought we were about to split so they mobbed the stage and then we’d have to leave. This happened to us at almost every concert stop.”

“Keeping Up with Michael Jackson” article:

This Right On article covers a variety of topics from ‘Michael’s changes’, to ‘new songs take longer to record’ to ‘I learned to dance watching.’

Michael admitted there had been some changes since they had left Gary. The obvious being they now lived in a much larger house and rehearsed a lot more.Remembering Gary, Michael said:

“In Gary we always had to walk a couple of miles to a basketball court when we wanted to play. Now all we have to do is walk outside.”

On new songs taking longer…

“The brothers normally travelled by bus or in Jackie’s car to the studio. When they get there it can take anything from 25 minutes to two hours to record a song, this all depended on whether it was a song they already knew or if it was a new one to learn.”

Michael recorded the lead first for his brothers later to lay their vocals on. Ironically at the time Michael said:

“I’m not really hot to do solo work. I’d much rather keep singing with my brothers. I don’t want to do any solo concerts.”

Michael was keen to act one day, which was now becoming a common answer during many of his interviews. In the meantime Michael stated that he was writing regularly and hoped to release something of his own.

“So far we haven’t recorded anything I’ve written, but I’m saving them. I think someday we’ll be recording a lot of songs, too. Jermaine’s been writing songs, too. It’s a really groovy thing to get into”

Michael explained that a lot of the groups dancing came from studying other people. The family used to watch TV a lot and try and incorporate a lot of what they learned into their own choreography.