Blame It on the Boogie explained

Blame It on the Boogie
Cover:Blame It on the Boogie by The Jacksons A-side US vinyl.png
Caption:A-side label of the US vinyl release
Type:single
Artist:the Jacksons
Album:Destiny
B-Side:Do What You Wanna
Released:September 8, 1978 (UK)[1]
Genre:Disco[2]
Length:
  • 3:36
  • 7:00 (12-inch version)
Label:Epic, CBS
Producer:The Jacksons
Prev Title:Goin' Places
Prev Year:1977
Next Title:Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)
Next Year:1979

"Blame It on the Boogie" is a song released in 1978 by English singer-songwriter Mick Jackson.[3] It has been covered by the Jacksons, Clock and Luis Miguel.

Background

The song was co-authored by Mick Jackson[4] (credited as Michael George Jackson-Clarke) as well as Mick's brother David Jackson and Elmar Krohn.[5] [6]

Although Mick Jackson recorded the song in 1977, "Blame It on the Boogie" was written in hopes of being sold to Stevie Wonder.

The two versions of the song were widely released by the artists' respective labels—Atlantic and CBS—within one day of each other. Mick Jackson's track was showcased in 1978 at Midem where, according to Mick Jackson, "The Jacksons' manager [Peter Kerstin] heard the track being played...and took a tape recording of it...back to the States [where] the Jacksons quickly recorded a version so it would be out before mine."[7] The Mick Jackson recording was released by Atlantic Records in the US in August 1978 when it reached #61, and #15 in the UK.

According to Michael Jackson of the Jacksons, Bobby Colomby, who was producing the Jacksons' Destiny album, brought the group "Blame It on the Boogie". "It was an uptempo, finger-poppin'-time type song that was a good vehicle for the band approach we wanted to cultivate. I had fun slurring the chorus: [the lyric] 'Blame It on the Boogie' could be sung in one breath without putting my lips together."[8]

Record World praised Michael Jackson's "silky vocals and energetic youthful delivery."[9]

Personnel

Additional musicians

Chart records

Despite the Mick Jackson original reaching a No. 61 peak on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1978, Epic Records that month released the Jacksons' version of "Blame It on the Boogie" as the advance single from the Destiny album. Although "Blame It on the Boogie" returned the Jacksons to the Hot 100 after five flop singles, it was not the single to effect a major comeback for the Jacksons, peaking at #54; it would be the follow-up, "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", which would briefly restore the Jacksons' Top Ten fortunes.[10] However, "Blame It on the Boogie" did reach No. 3 R&B and would be coupled with "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" on an extended club play single which would reach No. 20 on the dance charts in 1979.[11]

In the UK, both the Mick Jackson version and the Jacksons' were released within a few days of each other in September 1978. The UK music press, struck by the rival versions being by similarly named artists, declared a "Battle of the Boogie" which Mick Jackson recalls as "great publicity...There was an equal balance of interest from the media about both releases – A good example is that my version came out first on Top of the Pops... The had the second week...Radio One played The version and Capital Radio only played mine – It was fair."[12]

The Jacksons' version—incorrectly lauded by Melody Maker as their "self-penned song"—was the more successful version reaching Number 8 on the chart dated 4 November 1978; the Mick Jackson version—hailed by NME as "far superior"—had peaked at Number 15 on the chart for 21 October.[13] [14]

Mick Jackson himself in 2003 said of the Jacksons' version of "Blame It on the Boogie": "[the original] version had 100% of our heart and soul in it but the Jacksons' version had the magic extra 2% that made it incredible."[12]

Music video

A promotional music video by the Jacksons was created for "Blame It on the Boogie" in 1978. The video, featuring the group's members dancing on a black background, relied heavily on electronic trail effects, created at Image West, Ltd. using then-cutting edge equipment: the Scanimate analog computer system and a Quantel DFS 3000 digital framestore.[15] [16] The video also appears on the bonus disc of the DVD box set Michael Jackson's Vision.

Michael Jackson's 1993 biography states that the video marked his video debut.[17] The Jacksons' very first promotional music video was "Enjoy Yourself".

Charts

Mick Jackson version

Weekly charts

Chart (1978)Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles[18] 95
UK[19] 15
US Billboard Hot 100[20] 61
US Cash Box Top 10064

The Jacksons version

Weekly charts

Chart (1978–1980)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)4
Ireland (IRMA)[21] 15
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[22] 2
US Billboard Hot 100[23] 54
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play20
US Billboard Hot R&B Singles3
US Cash Box Top 100[24] 63

Year-end charts

Chart (1979)Position
Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)[26] 81
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[27] 80
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[28] 56
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[29] 7

Certifications

The Jacksons version

Big Fun version

Blame It on the Boogie
Type:single
Artist:Big Fun
Album:A Pocketful of Dreams
Released:1989
Recorded:1989
Genre:Dance-pop, Hi-NRG
Length:3:36
Label:Jive
Producer:Stock Aitken Waterman
Prev Title:I Feel the Earth Move
Prev Year:1989
Next Title:Can't Shake the Feeling
Next Year:1989

In 1989, Stock Aitken Waterman produced a cover version of "Blame It on the Boogie" for British boy band Big Fun. Their version was released as a single the same year, and was later included in their 1990 album A Pocketful of Dreams. It peaked at number four in the UK, number five in Spain and number seven in Ireland, becoming Big Fun's most successful single on the chart.

Critical reception

In a review published in Smash Hits, Dannii Minogue stated that "it's good, but it couldn't beat the Jacksons' version. A hit? Definitely, especially in the UK. But it really doesn't sound like they [Big Fun] can sing!"[31] In 2014, Matt Dunn of WhatCulture ranked the song at number 13 in his "15 unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman singles" list, adding that this cover "was the embodiment of [SAW] 1989 sound: approaching 120bpm, stuttered vocoder effects, some keys to capitalise on the emerging piano house craze, the driving 4/4 beat and that sampled drum loop". Regarding the music video, he stated: "With three pretty boys wearing bright primary colours and matching bumbags, some funky choreography, clever visuals and all that dodgy falsetto, it was hard not to like (or at least laugh at)".[32]

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Blame It on the Boogie" (by Big Fun)!Chart (1989–1990)!Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA)7
Spain (AFYVE)[33] --access-date=26 January 2011--> 5
UK Dance (Music Week)[34] 8

Year-end charts

Charts (1989)! style="text-align:center;"
Position
Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)[35] 96
UK Singles (OCC)[36] 51

Other notable versions

Documentary

In 2010, filmmaker Patrick Nation made a Channel 4 documentary about Mick Jackson and the story of the song, entitled The Other Michael Jackson: Battle of the Boogie.[40] The documentary was co-written and presented by Mick's son Sam Peter Jackson and led to Mick Jackson's 1978 album Weekend[41] (which features the original version of "Blame It on the Boogie") being re-released (for download on the iTunes Store) for the first time in 30 years by Demon Music. To promote the documentary, Mick gave a rare television interview to BBC Breakfast.[42]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BPI certifications for The Jacksons.
  2. Web site: Nick . Levine . Michael Jackson's Top 20 Singles: Part One . . 7 July 2009 . 15 May 2016 .
  3. Web site: Mick Jackson Official Website . Mickjacksonmusic.com . 13 June 2010 . 27 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110727161805/http://www.mickjacksonmusic.com/ . dead .
  4. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-other-michael-jackson The Other Michael Jackson
  5. Web site: "Blame it on the Boogie" – Record sleeve . Atlantic Records.
  6. Web site: Introduction . Mick Jackson Music . 7 September 2007 . 27 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110727161805/http://www.mickjacksonmusic.com/ . dead .
  7. Web site: Michael 'Mick' Jackson. disco-disco.com.
  8. Book: Jackson, Michael . 2009 . Moonwalk. Revised . Harmony Books . New York NY . 154 . 978-0-307-71698-9.
  9. Record World. September 2, 1978. 2023-02-13. Hits of the Week. 3.
  10. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 287.
  11. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Hot Dance/Disco: 1974–2003. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 132.
  12. Web site: Michael 'Mick' Jackson . disco-disco.com.
  13. Web site: Blame it on the Boogie . Official Charts Company.
  14. Web site: "Blame it on the Boogie" by The Jacksons. SongFacts.
  15. Web site: Image West Scanimate Demo 15B. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/wTO3CKM2Yy0 . 21 December 2021 . live. YouTube. 1 April 2010.
  16. Web site: Dave Sieg's comments. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/y4Z8xYna8bI . 21 December 2021 . live. YouTube. While I worked at Image West, we did a number of effects using a Quantel 3000 framestore to create "trails", including this Michael Jackson video, "Blame it on the Boogie". This is from my archives of work from that era.. 1 April 2010.
  17. Book: Campbell, Lisa D. . 1993 . Michael Jackson: the king of pop . Branden Publishing . Boston MA . 364 . 0-8283-1957-X.
  18. Web site: Blame it on the boogie in Canadian Top Singles Chart . . 8 July 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171024210313/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4657b&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=u9874ano8k0c5b6bkp4r8qrbp3 . 24 October 2017 . dead . dmy-all .
  19. Web site: Official Charts Company . Officialcharts.com . 30 September 1978 . 10 January 2020.
  20. Web site: Mick Jackson awards on Allmusic . Allmusic . 8 July 2013.
  21. Web site: Blame it on the boogie in Irish Chart . IRMA . 8 July 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100105231849/http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement . 5 January 2010 . Only results when searching "Blame it on the boogie"
  22. Billboard 23 june 1979 . Billboard. Danyel Smith . Nielsen Business Media, Inc. . 1979 . 0006-2510 . 8 July 2013.
  23. Web site: Destiny awards on Allmusic . Allmusic . 8 July 2013.
  24. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 12/09/78. Tropicalglen.com. 13 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20150517023225/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19781209.html. 17 May 2015. dead.
  25. Book: Peter . Scaping . BPI Year Book 1979 . Top 200 Singles in 1978 . The British Phonographic Industry Ltd . London, England . 186–89 . 4th . 1979 . 0-906154-02-2.
  26. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 1979. Ultratop. 21 November 2021.
  27. Web site: Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1979. Dutch Top 40. 21 November 2021.
  28. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Single 1979. dutchcharts.nl. 21 November 2021.
  29. Web site: Top Selling Singles of 1979 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart . Nztop40.co.nz . 31 December 1979 . 13 October 2016.
  30. Kent Music Report. National Top 100 Singles for 1980. 341. 5 January 1981. 20 August 2022. Imgur.
  31. Singles reviewed by Dannii Minogue . . 5 . 22 . 15 November 1989 . Minogue . Dannii . Dannii Minogue . 34 . 0260-3004 . World Radio History . 14 November 2023.
  32. Web site: 15 unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman singles . Matt . Dunn . . 16 January 2014 . 23 January 2024.
  33. Book: Salaverri, Fernando. Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. 1st . September 2005. Fundación Autor-SGAE. Spain. 84-8048-639-2. <
  34. Top Dance Singles . . 19 August 1989 . 28 . World Radio History . 30 August 2023.
  35. Eurochart Hot 100 1989. Music & Media. 6. 23 December 1989. 17 January 2020. 6. 51. 29800226. American Radio History.
  36. Year End Singles . . 27 January 1990 . 44 . 0144-5804 . World Radio History . 25 October 2023.
  37. http://www.discomusic.com/people-more/12743_0_11_0_C/ Tina Charles Info & Photos
  38. Web site: LifeBoxset . Redacción . La historia de "Será que no me amas" y por qué Luis Miguel versionó a Michael Jackson en 1990 . LifeBoxset . es-MX . 19 April 2021.
  39. News: El Hit Parade De Vilo. El Siglo de Torreón. es.
  40. Web site: Channel 4 documentary site . Channel4.com . 13 June 2010.
  41. Web site: iTunes link for Mick's album "Weekend" . itunes.apple.com . 13 June 2010.
  42. Mick Jackson & Sam Peter Jackson – Blame it on the Boogie Interview. Vimeo.