Talk:The Jackson 5

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This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on March 25, 2006.

Contents

[edit] Editing notes:

  • The members of the group are listed in the order they joined, not in alphabetical order. The syntax flows better that way
  • The Jackson girls are placed in the "See Also" section, since they aren't members of the band.
  • The first four number one singles and "Dancing Machine" are important enough to deserve their own breakout pages. Anyone who wants to take care of that is more than welcome.
  • It was actually "ABC" which overtook "Let It Be" on the Billboard Hot 100, not "I Want You Back"

--b. Touch 13:59, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I removed this:

For the dates of birth see Joseph Jackson.

...because you can find out the dates of birth for each jackson by clicking the interwiki link for their names, as well as clicking the Joseph Jackson article. --b. Touch 15:29, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cousins?

Didn't Michael state in "Moonwalk" that Rancifer and Johnny Jackson weren't their cousins, only Motown claimed that to maintain their image as a family group? Alensha 19:49, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Can you transcribe that passage here for us? Then, we can justifyably edit the article. But...why would Motown have a say in Rancifer and Johnny Jackson? By the time the J5 signed Janisha KNight was His best friend and would never betrade him

[edit] Caption

One cannot go clockwise from center. I have no idea who is who, except for Michael. LWizard @ 19:00, August 30, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Questions

The article says that Michael "replaced" Jermaine as lead vocalist, but later indicates that the group's style was "multi-lead vocals". This seems to beg for clarification -- how many songs were harmonies, how many were one singer or another singer (i.e. were there "Jermaine" songs and "Michael" songs, or was there just a lead vocal part that changed)?

Also, the article states that Michael's moonwalk at the Motown 25 show "overshadowed" the reunion. Watching it, and gauging the audience's attitude, it seems that the intent was a deliberate passing of the baton given that Michael was already showing signs of the megastardom that would soon follow.

There's a pretty vague reference to Berry Gordy and child labor laws, but it's not clear how they would affect the band. It should be clarified here that in those days they were primarily a live act and not doing their own records. --Dhartung | Talk 04:03, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

1. Even though the Jacksons shared leads periodically, Michael was still officially the "lead singer" and the focal point, and is featured more prominently on those recordings than his brothers. Most Jackson 5 songs feature Michael and Jermaine sharing leads, and the earliest Motown J5 songs also include Jackie and Tito for isolated lead passages, although Michael always sings a larger share of the lyrics. Not many of their studio tracks are sung in unison, although they performed plenty that way in concert. There are also a number of solo numbers sung by Michael or Jermaine (and sometimes maybe Jackie); Michael's solo numbers were more prominent. It's the same thing with the group they got the idea from: it's apparrent just from the name that Sly Stone is lead singer and frontman of Sly & the Family Stone.
2. Whether or not the moonwalk intentionally overshadowed the J5 reunion doesn't seem to be relevant. The fact is that the most important event involving a Jackson at that show was Michael's solo performance.
3. I don't quite understand the third question. Is this reguarding Gordy's reluctance to sign the group because of child labor laws? Child labor laws would affect Gordy more than the group: he would have to pay for the groups' tutores, lawyers, sign plenty of permits, etc., and would only have the younger Jacksons available for performing for limited amounts of time. The article already mentions that the group only did scant recording before singing to Motown, and the group wasn't under employ to anyone before they were employed by Gordy (they attened public school, and were simply transported and represented by their father). --FuriousFreddy 12:06, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
Thanks. Regarding 1, that seems like it's worth a discussion in the article. For 2, what I'm getting at is that the wording implies Michael upstaged his brothers deliberately, while my thinking is that the group well recognized that its glory days were over. Just an impression. As for 3, it seems that should be specifically dealt with or cited, if it was an issue that prevented Gordy from signing them. Even a "speculated that" construction would help. --Dhartung | Talk 12:41, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
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