Michael Jackson – “Rock With You”

TOP 40 DEBUT: November 24, 1979

PEAK POSITION: #1 (January 19, 1980)

[Disclaimer: Michael Jackson created some of the most amazing music of the 20th century. Starting in the 1990s, he also allegedly committed a string of sexual assaults involving children. To avoid the latter completely overshadowing the former, I will not be discussing Jackson’s personal life beyond the time period of this single, but I completely understand those who’d prefer to skip this entry entirely. The forum is always open for civil discussions on “art versus artist” and other debates about Jackson’s complicated legacy.]

For one all-too-brief moment in time, Michael Jackson led a normal life. The year was 1977, and Jackson had relocated to New York City with his sister, La Toya, in preparation for his acting debut in Motown’s big-budget fiasco The Wiz. Away from his family, his brothers, and his domineering father for the first time, 18-year-old Michael threw himself into work—and play. Most days were spent on set, but nights often found him at Studio 54, just as the celebrity-infested nightclub was hitting its decadent, disco-drenched peak. As seen in Spike Lee’s excellent 2016 documentary, Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown To Off The Wall, pictures from this era are both deeply weird (Jackson sharing a booth with Woody Allen?) and shockingly unremarkable. The former child star smiling in these photos looks calm and relaxed, totally unencumbered by the crushing fame that would eventually swallow his life whole. With his beautifully natural Afro and a light dusting of teenage acne, he’s no different from a million other African-American teenagers in the late ‘70s.

And he wore that anonymity like armor. Surrounded by mega-watt celebrities, Jackson could slip into the background for the first—and only—time in his adult life, observing the dance floor from the secluded safety of the deejay booth and soaking in the rhythms that would soon define his landmark solo effort, Off The Wall. Two years later, the runaway success of that album would make such private moments impossible. And that’s the exquisite irony of “Rock With You.” Every second of its official 3:38 running time explodes with unabashed joy, deepened only by the knowledge that Michael Jackson would never sound so free on record ever again.

Before Off The Wall upended the narrative, teen sensations rarely made a smooth transition to adulthood; in 1977, one could be forgiven for viewing Jackson’s career trajectory through a similar lens. Since hitting #1 with “Ben” (a 5) in 1972, Michael had only reached the Top 40 once more as a solo act. (“Just A Little Bit Of You” peaked at #23, and it’s a 7.) He’d left Motown with his brothers in 1975, a move seen by many industry vets as career suicide. And while the group’s Epic debut The Jacksons had sold well, 1977’s Goin’ Places bricked, and bricked hard. (The only Jacksons album to sell worse is 2300 Jackson Street, AKA “The One Without MJ.”) In pre-production for The Wiz, director Sidney Lumet called Michael “a Vegas act” and pushed to cast Jimmie “J.J.” Walker in the Scarecrow role instead. But Rob Cohen, head of Motown Productions, believed in Jackson enough to arrange a face-to-face meeting. Lumet came around. And so did his musical director, Quincy Jones.

Would Michael Jackson have still become a superstar without Jones by his side? Possibly, especially considering Epic Records’ original producer choices for Off The Wall included both Philly-soul legends Gamble & Huff and Earth, Wind & Fire mastermind Maurice White. (We already got a taste of the former collaboration via The Jacksons’ #6 hit “Enjoy Yourself,” but MJ dropped into a “Boogie Wonderland” phantasmagoria remains a tantalizing “what if” possibility.) Still, it’s difficult to imagine another collaborator achieving what Quincy pulled off during those 1979 sessions that became Off The Wall. Just as Jackson balances on the cusp between his teenage past and a growing adult sensuality, so too does the music strike a perfect blend of current trends and timeless craft. Forty years on, Off The Wall remains that rare beast, both an accurate time capsule of a decade’s end and the least-dated disco record ever.

All the great relationships feel predestined, one party entering the other’s orbit at the absolute perfect time: Scorsese and De Niro. Brady and Belichick. Michael and Q. Jackson, a Motown-groomed superstar since age 11, had never been allowed full creative freedom on record before. Jones, a well-respected jazz composer and arranger for everyone from Ray Charles to Frank Sinatra, had never attempted to make a commercial pop album. Both men were enthralled by a sense of possibility, of stepping outside their respective comfort zones. And you can hear that mutual self-discovery all over “Rock With You,” Jackson pushing and playing with his vocal register in newfound ways as Jones applies three decades of studio experience to build a luxurious, towering arrangement that segues from dance floor to penthouse without breaking a sweat.

Many critics point to “Rock With You” as the last disco track to top the charts, but that’s a misnomer. Now Jackson’s previous #1 hit, the Off The Wall lead-off single “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”? That one is unabashedly, positively, one-million percent disco. The swooping strings? The gurgling bass hook? Michael’s untethered falsetto? It’s nothing less than MJ eyeing the Bee Gees across a crowded nightclub and saying, “Game on.” (Obviously, “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” is a hard 10. Possibly an 11.) Jackson’s other self-penned compositions from Off The Wall, “Working Day And Night” and “Get On The Floor,” are unapologetic dance-driven workouts too. But “Rock With You” is, at best, “disco adjacent.” Sure, its arrangement contains plenty of touchstones, from a string part straight out of the Barry White playbook to the moment drummer John Robinson kicks into a disco backbeat just as Michael hits the “We can ride the boogie” lyric. But the song’s effortless groove doesn’t rehash Saturday Night Fever as much as point the way forward: to 1980 and beyond, to a new lush era of pop-centric R&B and, pointedly, to Thriller itself.

The origin of “Rock With You”—Billboard’s #2 “Soul Single” of 1980—came from a most unlikely source: the very white, and very British, Rod Temperton. Temperton moved to Germany in the early 1970s, where he was first exposed to American soul music courtesy of U.S. soldiers stationed at a nearby military base. In 1975, he joined the funk band Heatwave as their keyboardist and primary songwriter, composing the group’s two biggest hits, “Boogie Nights” (#2 in 1976) and “Always And Forever” (#9 in 1977). After quitting Heatwave the following year, Temperton soon caught the attention of Jones, who asked him to submit possible material for Off The Wall. Rod recalled a composition offered to—and rejected by—Karen Carpenter for her first solo album, and decided it might fit well with Michael’s newly adult aesthetic. Jones loved the song, but thought the original title a bit too adult for his wholesome protégé. One name change later, “I Wanna Eat You Up” became “Rock With You.”

Want to learn how to arrange a pop song? Study “Rock With You.” Every single element works in conjunction with every other, no ingredient overpowering anything else. Bobby Watson’s bass playing? Perfectly in the pocket. Robinson’s laidback groove? So precise, yet so human. Greg Phillinganes’ whistling synth line? The first of many, many hooks. The horns on the chorus echoing Michael’s main melody? The extra kick of handclaps (originally added just for the single before becoming canon)? All those layers of MJ harmonies shadowboxing his lead vocal? That late-in-the-game key change?? It all works. Everything works. Frankly, it’s impossible to overstate the highwire act Quincy Jones pulls off here: Tip too far in either direction—a slightly sloppier feel, or a bit too much studio gloss—and the entire thing falls apart. But nail the balance, and you get “Rock With You,” a roller-skating jam so effortless, it doesn’t so much glide as achieve actual weightlessness.

I’ve heard “Rock With You” for nearly my entire life. It’s as much in my DNA as any Michael Jackson song, maybe any song period. But in listening with fresh ears, I kept coming back to one lyric: “Relax your mind/ Lay back and groove with mine.” That’s the power of this single, of this production, of Michael’s entire performance, summarized in a single couplet. Jackson would go on to make classic tracks arguably more influential and important than this, with groundbreaking and culture-changing videos to match. Yet none ever recaptured the simplicity of a radiant twenty-year-old black man dancing by himself on a bare-bones set, oozing charisma out of every pore, and literally glowing before your eyes. Michael Jackson’s goal was to become larger-than-life; he would get there soon enough, and remain that way for the rest of his earthly existence. But this earlier, magical, effervescent version? He would disappear before we even realized what we’d missed.

GRADE: 10/10

I WANT MY MTV: As referenced above, this video—shot for $3000, by the man who also directed “Bohemian Rhapsody”—predates the epic run of Thriller promotional clips that would change MTV and, eventually, alter the entire marketing approach of the record industry. So there’s no effects, no plot, no budget. Just a laser, and Michael Jackson dancing. Somehow, that’s more than enough.

BONUS BITS: “Rock With You” has been covered to death over the years, often by very talented artists who really should’ve known better. So I’ll simply single out one of the more egregious examples, courtesy of Quincy Jones (and a game-but-overmatched Brandy) trying very hard to drive his own legacy into the ground. (With the help of Heavy D, for some reason.)

BONUS BONUS BITS: The initial pressing run for Off The Wall contained a slightly different mix of “Rock With You” that has since disappeared from circulation. Following the success of the 7” version, the single remix became the de facto version on all subsequent pressings and (nearly) all compilations. The differences are mostly subtle, but pay attention for a lack of handclaps in the chorus.

12”ERS: Speaking of rare…. The one official extended mix of “Rock With You” only appeared on a Japanese promo single, and—even after two decades of MJ reissues—is still not available digitally. We’ll be discussing a plethora of classic 12” singles as this column progresses, including many that add previously-unheard elements to well-known songs, but few as (undeservedly) buried as this one. Take a listen to Michael’s ad-libs in the extended outro, then ask yourself what Sony was (and still is) smoking.