Random Midday Hotness: Looking for Blame.

Question(s) for the room: Why did The Jacksons release a music video in the late ’70s? Who would have been playing it? And why was Michael ever unhappy with his face?

Also, by mere happenstance, I recently found myself watching a few minutes of “The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty,” the reality miniseries on A&E.

In one clip, the brothers were all gathered in a recording studio. They had apparently been listening to or making a track for their new album. Jackie – I think – said something to the effect of “it didn’t have that Jackson 5 magic.”

Well, no shit. That fifth Jackson was kinda important.

Joel

Joel Anderson —blackink —  writes about sports, politics, crime, courts, and other issues far beyond his competence at BuzzFeed. He has worked at media outlets in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Atlanta and contributed to a number of publications, including The Root and The American Prospect, among many others.
  • Not sure why they made that video, but I am glad it exists. LOL

    As for question 2, *sigh*. When you have a father of an extraordinarily sensitive young man who is going thru the awkwardness of puberty in front of the world, and said father begins to feast on your soul by constantly telling you how ugly you are and that you are so ugly that you can’t possibly be his son, you are gonna struggle mightily. Even more so when no one has even demonstrated to this young person that he ever had value beyond his prodigious talents.

    If you also add rude fans to the mix that feel that it is their right to inform you how you are now not cute b/c you grew up as children tend to do, that also won’t help bolster your perception of your looks. I think he also tied the fans’ expressed discontent with his looks to the fact that the group weren’t selling as many records as the early days. So then it becomes a sense of complete rejection from the public & a feeling of pressure that you are somehow failing the whole family. In other words, one huge clusterfuck of stuff.

  • Mudiwa

    Honestly, I am constantly struck by how beautiful Off the Wall era Michael was. Like, I would have been all over that.

    As for the show, don’t you love how chiseled Jermaine’s cut is? Dude is like 50 and is still wearing that 80s cut, tryna bring back those glory days/

  • Yeah. It makes me sad to see what a handsome kid he was.

  • Wasn’t there a video for “Can You Feel It?” too?

    These mofos were way ahead of their time, is all.