Ever since I got into “alternative music” (right after college, a LONG time ago!-ed. note, it really WAS a long time ago-), I was fascinated by, well, noise. I think it started off with James White & The Blacks, Suicide, and other NYC “noise bands” who blended “skronk” in with their songs to create a unique hybrid that sure as heck wasn’t going to get played on any commercial radio station. From there, I veered off into SPK, and I found heaven. Their first album (out of print now, I believe) used tapes of mental patients rambling, played over what sounded like people banging on giant metal springs. I loved it! Their sound started to soften with “Auto De Fe”, and they soon morphed into a dance band (?) that got signed to Elektra.
I continued to pursue the sound of noise, getting into Merzbow, Muslim Gauze & others. I recently got a CD by Whitehouse, a noise outfit from the U.K. that tours rather irregularly. What is it about these bands that I like? Mostly, it’s that they stretch the boundries of what we call “music” to the breaking point. If there are no musical instruments being played (except maybe drums), is it music? Should it be sold in a “music store” (whatever THAT is in 2009…)? My love of music that’s NOT mainstream opened my mind to lots of great music, and the noise genre is among my favorites. I’m not always in the mood to listen to my Sonic Youth/Merzbow CD, but when I am, nothing else will do……
We’ve taken a short break from giving you some of the best & cheesiest from the 80s, but now we’re back, and cheesier than ever, thanks to the kids of Joe & Katherine.
Those of you who were around in the Eighties are well aware that Michael and Janet weren’t the only Jackson family members that made music that decade. Matter of fact, every Jackson sibling with the exception of Tito recorded a solo album in the Eighties, and while most of them weren’t exactly what you would call successful, they’ve created plenty of unforgettable (and by unforgettable I mean painful to watch) Eighties moments.
Let’s start with Jermaine. Michael’s most vocal critic, Jermaine was actually the second most successful Jackson until “Control” lifted Janet into the stratosphere. He stayed at Motown when the family group left in the mid-Seventies, and had a handful of hits before switching over to Arista Records in 1983 (Clive Davis apparently wanted some of that Jackson magic for himself). His first album for the label was a self-titled affair, which went Platinum on the strength of songs like “Do What You Do”, “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin’” (a duet on which Michael blows his big brother out of the water), and “Dynamite”, which boasts one of the decade’s campiest videos-obviously a “Beat It”/”Thriller” ripoff, but then imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? In later years, Jermaine would get notoriety for everything from doing duets with Pia Zadora (!) to being the first artist signed to LaFace Records to marrying the ex-wife of his brother Randy (!!!).
Janet wasn’t the first Jackson sister to hit the charts. LaToya beat Janet by about two years by scoring minor hits with “If You Feel the Funk” and “Night Time Lover” (which Michael wrote and produced). Although she wouldn’t become really well-known until she showed her funbags to the world in a Playboy pictorial, ‘Toya recorded 4 or 5 albums over the course of the decade, including her 1988 album, which featured the Full Force-produced single “You’re Gonna Get Rocked”. Look at ‘Toya trying to be the bad-ass!! Nude Playboy pictorials? Full Force production? Who knew LaToya and Samantha Fox had so much in common?
LaToya’s big sister Rebbie (who was actually the oldest of the Jackson siblings) was the last to get into music-making, not recording an album until Michael-mania was in full swing. Initially, she was the most successful of the sisters, scoring a Top 40 hit in 1984 with “Centipede”, which, if you can’t tell from the screeching falsetto in the chorus, was written and produced by Michael. Can anyone tell me what the hell this song is about? (as I’m watching this video, I’m listening to the lyrics and OK, I kinda get it now…)
Eventually, the brothers (besides Jermaine) decided to get into the solo action themselves. Jermaine left The Jackson 5 in 1976, but the second brother to leave the group wasn’t Michael, but his older (by one year) brother Marlon. The (naturally) light-skinded Jackson brother scored a #2 R&B hit back in ’87 with “Don’t Go”. Marlon dances his natural ass off in this video. This song should have been a bigger hit, but there have been rumors floating around forever that Mike blackballed his brothers, preventing them from having any success that could potentially outshine his own. Insecurity, my friends. It’s a bad thing. Check out the Janet-esque backflip Marlon does in the video.
Finally, Michael’s younger brother Randy (often described as the most musically talented of the brothers) formed a group called The Gypsys at the tail end of the Eighties and released one self-titled album (that I am the proud owner of…took me forever to find it too). Randy’s sound was a bit more on the funk/new jack swing side of things, and he had a couple of minor hits with “Perpetrators” and “Love You Honey”. Here’s the video for the latter. Dig the 1989-era fashions! Yes, young uns, we used to dress like that. I know I did.
None of the “other” siblings has made much noise since the early Nineties, and although Tito’s kids have recorded several album as 3T (group member Taj Jackson has become a successful songwriter, working with the Stargate/Ne-Yo camp), it looks like we’re safe from an invasion of the 2nd generation Jacksons. After seeing these videos, are you sad about that or a little grateful?
It’s hard to believe that the year is half over already, isn’t it? Well, labels are starting to tentatively map out their 4th quarters, and a couple of big names have already signed on to release new music in the last few months of the year.
News reports are saying that Whitney Houston’s long-awaited, much discussed comeback album will finally come out on September 1st. This will be Whitney’s first album of new material since 2002’s “Just Whitney”. A song with Akon entitled “Like I Never Left” popped up on the interwebs last fall, but there’s no telling whether that song (which was actually pretty good) will make it onto the album. I don’t think Whitney’s totally squandered her goodwill. I think that with the right material and a sound that’s contemporary while still age-appropriate and classy, she can return to her former glory.
Also coming out in September, allegedly, will be Jay-Z’s “Blueprint 3”. Originally scheduled to come out at the end of 2008, B3 will be Jay’s first album in two years, following the platinum-selling “American Gangster”. It will also be Jay’s first album since leaving Def Jam, his home for the last 12 years. Now, here’s an interesting factoid. “Blueprint 3” is tentatively scheduled to come out on September 11th, which will mark eight years to the day since the first “Blueprint” was released. Does Jay still have enough juice to pull out a Friday release date? If these dates remain the same (which we both know they probably won’t), I guess we’ll see. Of course, considering the dearth of good music so far in 2009, the promise of new music from two dependable artists (not to mention Sade’s rumored November return) is music to my ears.
