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"Disc" Magazine Interview

Date range assessed by the fact that Michael and his brothers “had been off the road for some weeks and would be, he explained, until after Christmas”; the last concert performance of 1973 was October 21, 1973 at San Antonio, Texas.

"Disc" Magazine (December 15, 1973)

Have you been to Los Angeles? Say, have you got our latest record over there yet? Did Tamla Motown send you a copy? Which one of my records do you like best? Hey, do you like "Let's Get It On" or "Angie" by The Rolling Stones?

Hang on Michael Jackson! Slow down a moment! It's three o'clock in the morning my time. The brain isn't functioning so fast. It's only around six-thirty your end of this telephone line. Give a bloke a chance. Who is supposed to be asking the questions anyway?

One thing in the world that doesn't seem to change is the lead singer with The Jackson 5. Whatever the conditions--whether face to face or separated by thousands of miles, Michael Jackson takes the biscuit for constantly turning the tables on the interviewer.

So it goes. You ask one question and you can be sure of a couple back. Told him "Got To Be There" was my favorite and luckily turned out to be one of his too.

It's not that Michael Jackson isn't ready and willing to answer questions about himself and the group's activities, just that he appears to have the kind of searching mind that constantly wants to know more and more about everything and everybody.

Had to tell him it had been a horribly odd day over here in Britain. That Britain loves The Jackson 5. And agree on the merits of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Eddie Kendricks.

Michael was obviously in a buoyant mood when our transatlantic call took place. The group had been off the road for some weeks and would be, he explained, until after Christmas when they have a number of television specials lined up. More full-scale tours are also being planned; one of Britain is being negotiated at this moment.

Michael himself has spent most of the day--from nine until about three--at the small private school which he attends ("Only 70 pupils", he stresses) situated near his family home. It has been a hot day in Los Angeles and with evening drawing on Michael said he intended taking a stroll down to the gates of his home and signing autographs and chatting to fans who are always hanging around.

Also during the day, he'd taken time out indulging in two of his favorite hobbies; "rock" collecting and abstract art painting. Anyway, that "rock" collecting has nothing to do with records--precious stones are what Michael is getting together.

The hobby began, he said, while the group were touring Australia. "I bought a lot of rocks while we were over there", he explained. "Although I can get them over here, too, from the rock stores. I've got quite a lot of different kinds--opals and jade."

And on the music side, the lay-off from roadwork has meant that the brothers could devote more time to expanding their individual writing talents.

"We have this studio at the house where we can go and, you know, we're all doing a lot of writing there." Then he added: "We've written a lot of songs and they're all good, really great.

"There's one of them called 'She Found a Way' and another called 'Crack a Smile'--Jermaine and I wrote it. We're gonna make Glen Campbell do it. I mean it's not a Country-n'-Western song or anything, it's more  like the Carpenters."

Whilst taking things relatively easy for a while, the Jackson brothers are also watching progress on their latest album "Get It Together" and the title track single.

Michael agreed that the album is somewhat of a departure for the group. It follows the funky pattern now absolutely established by their elder stable-mates. Instrumentation is fantastic, although Michael admitted that neither he nor his brothers could take credit.

Besides the group's new album, two solo LPs are also in the pipeline--one from Jackie and another from Michael. "There'll probably be quite a few slow songs on my album", he continued, "I really like a lot of the slower ones. They're usually my favorites on the records I do. Do you like the slow ones best?"

"There's two slow songs on the new Jacksons album as well, although most of them are fast and for dancing to. It's a very psychedelic record with all the tracks running into each other, you know?

"It's very big over here at the moment and we're hoping it's going to be a big, big record over there too. We all really want to come over to Britain again soon. I wish I was in Britain right now because I love the place so much.

"We want to get over again and they're trying to set it up now. We get lots and lots of mail from England and we love people to write us because we send them our autographs and answer their questions. Anything they want to know.

"At one time we had this number which our fans could dial and we could speak to them, but so many were ringing that they jammed the lines all over the country. So we had to stop that--but they can still write.

"Say, did you say it was cold over there in Britain now?", Michael interjected out of the blue, "'cause I said I'd like to be over there. But I think I'll wait 'til it gets a bit warmer. It's hot over here.

"Wouldn't you rather be somewhere where it's warm?", he asked, giggling into the phone. Some joke, Michael. Some joke.