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"Rock and Roll Songs" Magazine Interview

Date range of publication confirmed in Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

"Rock and Soul Songs" magazine (January 1974) (archived)

When I spoke to the Jackson Five recently, I was really interested to know what they thought of their albums, especially the solo LPs released by Michael and Jermaine, “Music and Me” and “Come into My Life". I could hear very many differences in style, choice of material, vocal delivery, instrumental background, and so forth--but I wanted to get down what the boys themselves thought was happening on these albums.

“I wouldn't be doing songs like 'All The Things You Are' and 'Too Young' if I thought that I couldn't do them differently than they'd been done before", Michael told me earnestly. “I always try and do things funky--like 'Rockin Robin'--that was somebody else's song and I did it and it was a big hit; I always try and do things differently--especially if it was somebody else's song first!”

I wondered if some of the newer songs that Michael was singing, some of the more "pop" oriented ones, the older standards, were hard for him to do; every so often there would be just the slightest sound of strain in his voice... and I asked him about that. "I wouldn't do them it they were hard to do!", Michael exclaimed, laughing. He added, “I don't think that my career is heading at all in any different direction than the group being together. It’s just that my music is a little bit more dancey--Jermaine's is more relaxing."

...[Jermaine]: “Well mine is for the young ladies – it’s slower and sexier. Michael likes a lot of that wild stuff – you know jumping around, acting crazy.”