On the Cover of Rolling Stone

Michael Jackson was the youngest person to ever grace the cover of the Rolling Stone when his made his first of many appearances there on April 29, 1971. A Rolling Stone cover story was a big deal for anyone in popular music, a sign that they had achieved not only popularity and superstar status, but also some measure of respectability among hardened grown-up rock music aficionados who scorned bubblegum. Young fans of the Jackson 5 felt proud and maybe even a little vindicated to see our hero on the cover of Rolling Stone.

But among ourselves, it was hard to hide our disappointment. Why was only Michael on the cover? And why were they "his" six gold records? Weren't those Jackson 5 hits? And were the brothers as disappointed as their fans that the Rolling Stone cover didn't include them? Sure, they were all included in the story itself, and there was a grainy black-and-white photograph of each of the brothers inside.

Over the years many outtakes of Michael's Rolling Stone cover photoshoot have come to light, showing him looking happy, looking bored, looking tough, looking tired, playing with a lighter, talking on the telephone, looking up, looking down, and looking sideways.

But there has never, ever before been any clue that the other brothers were at the photoshoot until Opus came out several months ago. It included two pages of contact sheets from this photoshoot, and one of them shows that that Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon were also there. Based on their clothes and the backgrounds, it appears that Jermaine had the only solo shot from this session that was used in the issue, other than Michael's, of course.

Whether the Jackson 5 were as disappointed as their fans when they saw the cover, we'll never know. But given their signficance in music history, it is a shame that the full group, either as the Jackson 5 or as the Jacksons, were never featured on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Another Perspective on the Radio City Music Hall Show

The other day I posted a less-than-enthusiastic review for the J5's 1975 Radio City Music Hall show from the New York Amsterdam News.  In response to that, MJSunshine, over on the MJ Photos Collectors forum pointed me to a review for the same concert from the Feb 17, 1975 Village Voice.  The review was written by a long-time fan, Vince Aletti, and while he, too, was critical of the show, he offered a slightly more sympathetic account, recognizing that the Jackson 5 were reaching a stage in their career where they had to change, and yet, fans still expected the same sort of thrills they got in the early '70s. His pre-concert interview with the J5 is especially interesting -- funny even, as he was so starstruck and at the same time so self-aware of his own biases.

Interestingly, Aletti tells us that the J5 removed the "History of Music" part and the "Killing Me Softly with His Song / By the Time I Get to Phoenix / Danny Boy" medley from the show after the first night, due to the negative reaction to the Vegas act from the New York crowd.  Looks like they were as self-aware as Aletti was.

Who Were the Ripples & Waves Plus Michael?

For years it was rumored that this Steeltown single credited to The Ripples & Waves Plus Michael was actually the Jackson 5. "Let Me Carry Your Schoolbooks" features the vocals of a young male group with a prepubescent lead singer, and the song itself, like the J5's earlier Steeltown single, "Big Boy," capitalizes on the lead singer's youth by cleverly detailing a childish romance. The song on the flip side, "I Never Had a Girl," has lead vocals of a slightly older singer that many people believed was Jermaine. Not to mention that Steeltown made it pretty clear that one of the group members was named "Michael." It's easy to see how people came to believe this.

And in an age before YouTube and easy access to mp3s, when buying the 45 itself was the only way to hear the song, many collectors shelled out hundreds of dollars for it, since it was known to be one of the rarest Jackson 5 collectibles. I myself could never afford to buy it from a dealer who knew the story. Luckily, I found the copy pictured above in a dusty used record shop in San Antonio, Texas, for $1.00, where I also bought several color vinyl Motown promos for $5.00 a piece.

So prevalent was the rumor that the Ripples & Waves were the Jackson 5 that in 1991 biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli stated in The Magic and the Madness that it was a name the group had used before they called themselves the Jackson Five. He did at least try to get the full story from Steeltown owner Gordon Keith, but Keith wouldn't say one way or the other.

The truth finally came out in 2003, several years after Brunswick issued a cd of the Jackson 5's Steeltown-era recordings called Pre-History: The Lost Steeltown Recordings, after Gordon Keith filed suit against the company for including the two cuts by the Ripples & Waves Plus Michael on the cd. Although he was still vague in his deposition, he did at least say on the record that the Ripples & Waves were a different group all together, and that the Michael referenced on the 45's label was another young singer from Gary named Michael Rogers. It's too bad that it took a lawsuit -- and the chance at a cash settlement -- to get the real truth out.

But, as it turns out, the real truth was already out there, in the form of an early 1970s clipping from the Gary Post-Tribune. Here are the real Ripples & Waves, along with their manager, Gordon Keith.

[Source: Indiana 45s]

The caption under the photo mentions their new song "Let Me Carry Your School Books." What it doesn't mention is a lead singer named Michael. In fact, it looks to me like the little guy in the middle, Ronald Bills, described as their "lead tenor," was this group's Michael, unless his vocals weren't strong enough when it came time to record and they had to bring in another kid to sing the lead.

No matter what you think of Gordon Keith and his claim that he "developed" the Jackson 5, we at least have to give him credit for coming up with the boy band concept long before Maurice Starr developed New Edition and created New Kids on the Block.

Backstage at the Forum 1972

I love these photos of Michael entertaining his little brother Randy while waiting to go onstage at the L.A. Forum in 1972. They may have been amazingly talented and accomplished performers but backstage, they were just kids.

Mama, I Got a Brand New Thing

I'm introducing a new feature on the blog about mail-order memorabilia. When you sent away for some sort of J5 product through the mail, you never knew exactly what you were going to get. Sometimes it was more than you had ever hoped for, but more often, it was disappointing. Things just looked better in TcB! ads and on the famous Motown product sleeve inside LPs. So let's do a little truth-in-advertising investigation by comparing the ad to the actual product, and rating them on a scale of 1-5 Jacksons. First up is J5 stationery, as seen in an ad that appeared in TcB! magazine in 1971. It was also available for mail-order from the famous Motown product sleeve.

What You Ordered...



What You Got...



I don't know about your pen pals but it would have taken more than this to drive my pen pals wild. Although it did have a real photograph of the Jackson 5, the design of the product seemed uninspired at best. It was much smaller than I expected it would be -- the ad makes it look like the sheets of paper would be 8 1/2 x 11" and, in reality, they only measured 4 1/2 x 7" -- that doesn't leave much space for writing.

The ad also describes it as being "in color!" so I was expecting it to be, you know, in color. I suppose it's at least a color. But pink? It did come with real envelopes, as advertised, that were surprisingly good quality and came with a J5 heart seal. Not bad for $1. I'm just glad I didn't spring an extra 25 cents for rush handling.

Overall Fan Satisfaction
(Jackson 2)

A Rare Lukewarm Review

Sometimes bad reviews are more interesting than raves, and that's certainly the case with this review of the Jackson 5's 1975 show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Marie Moore from Harlem's Amsterdam News obviously did not see the great show she was expecting from the Jackson 5, and neither did the teen fans in the audience, according to her report. I find her descriptions of the audience reactions to the J5's performance to be even more interesting than what she writes about the act itself. Coming as it did in February 1975, poor responses like this may have helped to seal the Jacksons' decision to leave Motown for greener pastures.

So unusual were bad reviews and a less-than-enthusiastic audience response for the Jackson 5 that the brothers themselves were asked to comment on the situation in a follow-up story in the Amsterdam News. Remembering their Apollo days, Michael commented that New York audiences were tougher than others. "If they don't like you, they'll let you know."

Tito was more philosophical: "Some of the songs were too heavy for the young people in the audience. We feel it is a great show and it has played well in theaters in the round but there are a lot of grown ups there."

Jackie talked about the group's future: "We want to get into other things. We want to go back and do more recording. And as long as the record's a million seller, it's okay." They may have already been thinking about a million seller on another label. In a little over three months, they would sign with CBS and leave Motown.

And if the review piqued your interest about the back-up act, Blue Magic, you can check out their performance on Soul Train. Looks like the lead singer Ted Mills picked up a few moves from watching Michael.

Motown Legends Honor Michael

Here's a lovely video posted on YouTube of the Four Tops, the Temptations, the Miracles, Mary Wilson, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas performing "I'll Be There" in honor of Michael in a recent concert in Perth, Australia. It's an amateur video shot from the floor so the sound quality isn't great, but it's still nice to see. And listen all the way to the end -- there's a special verse written just for the occasion.

Hollywood Palace

One week after "I Want You Back" was released, the Jackson 5 made their first national television appearance on a live broadcast of Hollywood Palace on October 18, 1969. Diana Ross was serving as the guest host of a special show devoted to Motown acts. Motown had already been circulating the story that Diana had discovered the Jackson 5, so the show provided the perfect opportunity for her to introduce her young protegees. A full-page trade ad in Variety announced the upcoming show.



The notion that Diana had a hand in grooming the young group for stardom was driven home by publicity photos showing her helping Michael with his stage make up...


...and in making certain the microphone was at just the right height for the lead singer.


Besides Diana Ross and the Supremes, other guests on the show included Gladys Knight and the Pips and Stevie Wonder. In fact, the line up was so remarkable, Motown put out a soundtrack album for it.

In their heavily scripted banter, Michael and Diana made several references to Michael's similarity to Sammy Davis Jr., and Sammy himself made a surprise cameo appearance to carry the the running gag one step further by pretending to be worried that Michael was going to take his place.



For their performance, the Jackson 5 did some fancy footwork to the first few measures of the Sly & the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song" (a cover song that was never released in its entirety, assuming the J5 did a studio recording of it, as they did with several songs by the Family Stone), and then sang a beautiful slow tempo song from their first LP, "Can You Remember," a Delfonics cover. [I'm sorry both of these videos are slightly out of sync.]

After a smattering of polite applause, Michael is barely audible when he introduces their next song: "Now we'd like to do our very first release on Motown. It's on sale everywhere!" The group begins their first live performance of "I Want You Back," and about a minute into the song, you can see Michael begin to relax. Suddenly it appears that he is really enjoying being on stage and in front of a national audience. Watching it, we get a strong sense that we are witnessing a star being born.

The Jackson 5 Meet Malcolm X?

While browsing through back issues of Harlem's Black newspaper, the Amsterdam News, I came across a display ad for a performance of the the Brewery Puppet Troupe at the Space for Transnational Arts on November 29-30, 1974. How I would have loved to have seen this original show, The Jackson 5 Meet Malcolm X -- with puppets!

Blogger Bungle

Sorry, folks, we've been fighting with Blogger all day, and it seems to be back up, but some of the posts and responses have gotten lost in the process. If you see one of your comments missing, feel free to post again. I doubt they'll ever return.

Sorry for the annoyance.

Michael Monday: Meeting Fans

I'm always on the look out for amateur photographs snapped by fans because they sometimes provide great candid shots of the Jackson 5. Here are two photos from different sources that were obviously snapped on the same day in the spring of 1971.

The first I bought years ago on eBay, and it shows Michael posing with a shy young fan.


The second one, found online by Raisa, shows him with a young fan who's a bit more forward. Just as the photo was snapped, she turned to plant a big wet kiss on Michael's cheek. I love her sideways glance at the camera, and the little girl to Michael's right looks like she thinks she will get her turn next.



You may wonder why these young fans are even in Michael's hotel room to start with. I actually have more questions about this adult fan, who had her photo taken with Michael in his hotel room, even though he was already in his pajamas. It looks like she stormed in and wouldn't leave till they all looked through her J5 scrapbooks.

Meanwhile, Back in Indiana...

The Jackson 5's amazing sell-out concerts in San Francisco and Los Angeles were widely reported throughout the United States. Back home, the Black newspaper, Gary Crusader, picked the story off the news wire and ran it on page eight a week later without a single mention of the group's local connection. They may has well have been five kids from Toledo.

J5 at the Cow Palace in June 1970

The night before the Jackson 5 appeared at the Los Angeles Forum on June 20, 1970, they made their second appearance as Motown headliners at San Francisco's Cow Palace. As with the L.A. concert, they shared a billing with Ike and Tina Turner, and Rare Earth. Here's the original handbill announcing this incredible line up:



[Note: Tina Turner had to bow out at the last minute due to illness, so Jerry Butler stepped in as the opening act. ]

An anonymous amateur photographer standing in the wings snapped these pictures, a great eBay find for me many years ago.


In the photo below, you can see Suzanne Depasse (in bright yellow turtleneck) on the opposite side of the stage.

In the next photo, as the Jackson 5 take a bow, you can see fan club president Steven Manning (in the sunglasses) on the far side of the stage. Beside him are Joe Jackson (with a rare smile), longtime Jackson 5 security guard Bill Bray, and Motown's professional still photographer Weldon McDougal III, sitting in the press box.

After the Jackson 5 leave the stage, Steven Manning tries to help calm the crowd.


A month later, Michael described the pandemonium to a Soul interviewer: "In San Francisco and Los Angeles, it looked like the walls were falling the way hundreds of them came at the stage all together. But we have to practice getting away, too, so we're ready to drop everything and run. Jermaine dropped his guitar and took off at the end of the Forum concert. We can always get a new guitar for him, but he'd be kinda hard to replace."

"Of That Time"

The first book published about the Jackson 5 was this unassuming little paperback original by Ellen Motoviloff, published by Scholastic in 1972. (A note on the copyright page specifies that the book was written in June/July 1971 and "all ages mentioned are of that time.")

The book has the usual breathless reporting of a teen magazine, and there's not much in the text that fans wouldn't already know, except perhaps that Jermaine hates oatmeal. But what makes the book worth seeking out are the photos, some of them taken by the author herself when she visited the J5 at home, and several from their 1970 appearance at the Los Angeles Forum. In fact, the only concert photos are from this performance where there must have been dozens of photos taken.

As you wait for the Jackson 5 Live at the Forum cd to be released, you can feast your eyes on the photos of the concert from the book, seen here in their entirety.

Fame by Association

In 1970, even the Jackson 5's amp was famous.



Source: Los Angeles Sentinel, Oct 27. 1970

J5 Fashion Friday: Multicolored in Black and White

In 1973 a British teen magazine, Fab, included a brief write-up of these "too much" Jackson togs. And it's true -- these costumes were too much, and were so loud that the British copy writer assumed they were "multi-coloured prints." In fact, a color photo reveals that the costumes were completely black and white.

1971 Jackson 5 Fan Club Report: Part 2

Yesterday I posted the copy of the 1971 Jackson 5 Fan Club report that I bought as part of an eBay lot. The stuff in the lot had belonged to Joe Jackson, and most of it turned out to be a lot of uninteresting photos of Joe from the 1990s, as well as photos of singers who had contacted him as a possible manager. There were some miscellaneous documents, a script for an obscure movie that had nothing to do with the Jackson family, some family pictures that were of interest to me, and a dozen or so audiotapes in an obsolete professional format I cannot play. (Someday I'll get around to finding a way to play them. Just in case.)

Among all the miscellaneous trash-bin candidates in the lot I had won was a yellowed copy of the Jackson Five Fan Club Report from 1971. La Toya Jackson's name was written on the front with a purple Flair pen, followed by a colon.

Had the fan club report belonged to her? Had she written her name on it so no one else could claim it? The colon after her name is curious. Had someone started to write her a note, and then had either an interruption or a change of mind? I picture the report lying on the kitchen counter at Hayvenhurst, next to the telephone.

The back of the report was clearly used to take notes during a phone call. Someone -- probably Mrs. Jackson -- had made a phone call to International Canine Services, and had used the fan club report for note taking.


The Jacksons owned German Shepherds that were used as guard dogs to keep adoring fans at bay -- ironically, the same adoring fans who would lap up the details in these sorts of fan club reports. We see how much it would have cost to train their three dogs, Heavy, Black Girl, and Duke, in obedience, and two, Heavy and Black Girl, as attack dogs, and how long said training would take. Those are the kinds of details you wouldn't have found in Tiger Beat magazine, although you would have found many photos of Michael posing with one of his beloved family guard dogs.

Jackson Museum Site

Joe Jackson is in his hometown of Gary, Indiana, to negotiate details for a Jackson Family Museum. Here's the latest local report from Gary:

Jackson museum site, details promised today

1971 Fan Club Report: Part 1

As a kid I wasn't together enough to figure out how to join the official Jackson Five Fan Club presided over by uber-fan, Steven Manning, so I didn't get the annual J5 fan club reports detailing the highlights of their year. So far, I've only ever come across two for sale, one from 1971 and one from 1972. Unfortunately, I was outbid on the latter, but I was able to acquire the 1971 report, written by Steven Manning himself. Manning has remained a true fan and is a close confidant of the Jackson family. You see him here talking to Michael in a photo taken some time in the mid 1970s.

The production itself is nothing to write home about, and there are no photos, but the report itself is interesting. Manning wrote with style and a nod to sociopolitical awareness that was absent in most writing about the Jackson 5. I scanned it into pdf so you can read the entire 1971 Fan Club Report.

Or, almost the entire report. Unfortunately, the last page is missing. Fortunately, I'm enough of a fan that I could supply the missing information myself: look for the remaining group members to develop their own talents. Jermaine is already working on his solo album in 1972, and Jackie, Tito, and Marlon won't be far behind. And, of course, Randy who's been waiting in the wings will soon make them the Jackson 6.

But that wasn't all. There was a surprise waiting for me when I received the report as part of an eBay lot, something that made this particular copy unique. Tune in tomorrow for Part 2.

Mystery Song?

When I was going through back issues of the Chicago Defender yesterday, I came across this curious notice in the July 10, 1968, issue. It announces an upcoming ten-day appearance by the Jackson Five at the Regal Theater beginning July 12, and mentions that they will be playing their hit song, "We'll Always Love You." To my knowledge, this was not a song they released with Steeltown and whether they ever recorded such a song with them is unknown. We do know that the Jacksons' six-month contract with Steeltown had just run out at the end of June 1968, and their manager/father had decided not to renew, much to the chagrin of Steeltown's owner, Gordon Keith, who always felt the Jacksons abandoned him just as their careers were beginning to take off. Could this have been a planned second single from Steeltown that never saw the light of day?

To add to the mystery, the Jackson Five used to sign their 8 x 10 glossy photos with the inscription "We'll always love you, The Jackson Five." But which came first -- the inscription or the song title? And was it ever even a song? Or was it just an error made by a busy caption writer? The chase continues...

1972 Forum Concert Review

As we all eagerly await the release of the new Jackson 5 cd, Live at the Forum later this month, I will be making posts related to the two concerts that will be released. In case this is the first time you're reading about the release, the double cd set will include the audio for two Jackson 5 concerts that were taped at the Los Angeles Forum, one on June 20, 1970 and one on August 26, 1972.

Soul covered the 1972 and published not one but two reviews of it side by side in their October 23, issue. One of the reviews was written by Jackson family friend, David Gest, who grew up with the Jackson kids in Encino. His odd reference to Randy as "Randy Lucifer Jackson" must be a private joke.