Blame It on the Boogie

"Blame It on the Boogie"
Single by The Jacksons
from the album Destiny
B-side "Do What You Wanna"
Released August 23, 1978 (1978-08-23)
Format 7" single, 12" vinyl single
Recorded August 1977
in Los Angeles, California
Genre Disco, funk
Length 3:36
Label Epic, CBS
8-50656
Writer(s) Mick Jackson, Dave Jackson and Elmar Krohn
Producer(s) The Jacksons
The Jacksons singles chronology
"Find Me a Girl"
(1978)		 "Blame It on the Boogie"
(1978)		 "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
(1978)

"Blame It on the Boogie" is a disco song, originally released in 1978 by English singer-songwriter Mick Jackson,[1] then The Jacksons, and later covered by numerous artists.[2]

Background

The song was co-authored by Mick Jackson[3] (credited as Michael George Jackson-Clarke) as well as Mick's brother, David Jackson and Elmar Krohn.[4][5]

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

The Mick Jackson 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."[6] In fact, the Mick Jackson recording was released by Atlantic Records in the US in August 1978.

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."[7]

Chart records

Despite the Mick Jackson original reaching a #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.[8] However, "Blame It on the Boogie" did reach #3 R&B and would be coupled with "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" on an extended club play single which would reach #20 on the dance charts in 1979.[9]

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 Jackson's [sic] had the second week...Radio One played The Jackson's [sic] version and Capital Radio only played mine - It was fair."[2]

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.[10][11]

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."[2]

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.[12][13] 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.[14] The Jacksons' very first promotional music video was "Enjoy Yourself"

Chart performance

Mick Jackson version

Chart (1978) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Top Singles[15] 95
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[16] 61

The Jacksons version

Chart (1978-1979) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[17] 3
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[18] 7
Ireland (IRMA)[19] 15
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[20] 7
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[21] 6
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[22] 2
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[23] 2
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[24] 8
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[25] 54
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[25] 20
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles[25] 3
Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[26] 44
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[21] 72
UK (Official Charts Company)[24] 55

Year-end charts

Chart (1978) Rank
UK [27] 55
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [28] 296
Chart (1979) Rank
New Zealand [29] 7

Big Fun version

Chart (1989-1990) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[30] 37
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[31] 14
France (SNEP)[32] 17
Germany (Official German Charts)[33] 15
Ireland (IRMA)[19] 7
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[34] 28
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[35] 31
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[36] 32
Spanish Singles Chart[37] 5
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[38] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (1989) Rank
UK [39] 46

Other versions

"Blame It on the Boogie"
Single by Big Fun
from the album A Pocketful of Dreams
Released 1989
Recorded 1989
Genre Dance-pop, Hi-NRG
Length 3:36
Label Jive
Writer(s) Mick Jackson, Dave Jackson and Elmar Krohn
Producer(s) Stock Aitken Waterman
Big Fun singles chronology
"I Feel the Earth Move"
(1989)		 "Blame It on the Boogie"
(1989)		 "Can't Shake the Feeling"
(1989)

Tina Charles has stated that she recorded "Blame It on the Boogie" prior to the Jacksons; her version was not released as "Sony [felt] it was not a strong enough song."[40]

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.[42] The documentary was co-written and presented by Mick's son Sam Peter Jackson and led to Mick Jackson's 1978 album Weekend[43] (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.[44]

References

  1. ↑ "Mick Jackson Official Website". Mickjacksonmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  2. 1 2 3 "Michael 'Mick' Jackson". disco-disco.com.
  3. ↑ The Other Michael Jackson Channel 4 documentary about Mick Jackson
  4. ↑ ""Blame it on the Boogie" - Record sleeve". Atlantic Records.
  5. ↑ "Introduction". Mick Jackson Music.
  6. ↑ "Michael 'Mick' Jackson". disco-disco.com.
  7. ↑ Jackson, Michael (2009). Moonwalk (Revised ed.). New York NY: Harmony Books. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-307-71698-9.
  8. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 287.
  9. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 132.
  10. ↑ "Blame it on the Boogie". ChartStats.com.
  11. ↑ ""Blame it on the Boogie" by The Jacksons". SongFacts.
  12. ↑ "Image West Scanimate Demo 15B". Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  13. ↑ "Dave Sieg's comments". Retrieved 2010-04-01. 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.
  14. ↑ Campbell, Lisa D. (1993). Michael Jackson: the king of pop. Boston MA: Branden Publishing. p. 364. ISBN 0-8283-1957-X.
  15. ↑ "Blame it on the boogie in Canadian Top Singles Chart". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  16. ↑ "Mick Jackson awards on Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  17. ↑ Chris Cadman, Craig Halstead (2002). Authors Online Ltd, ed. Michael Jackson the Early Years. p. 115. ISBN 978-0755200641.
  18. ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Jacksons – Blame It On The Boogie" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  19. 1 2 "Blame it on the boogie in Irish Chart". IRMA. Retrieved 8 July 2013. Only results when searching "Blame it on the boogie"
  20. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – The Jacksons search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
  21. 1 2 "Dutchcharts.nl – The Jacksons – Blame It On The Boogie" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  22. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – The Jacksons – Blame It On The Boogie". Top 40 Singles.
  23. ↑ Danyel Smith, ed. (1979). Billboard 23 june 1979. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  24. 1 2 "Jackson 5: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company.
  25. 1 2 3 "Destiny awards on Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  26. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – The Jacksons – Blame It On The Boogie". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  27. ↑ http://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1978.shtml
  28. ↑ http://www.bullfrogspond.com/whitburn/1978wye.htm
  29. ↑ http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/?chart=3868
  30. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Big Fun – Blame It On The Boogie". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  31. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Big Fun – Blame It On The Boogie" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  32. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Big Fun – Blame It On The Boogie" (in French). Les classement single.
  33. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Big Fun – Blame It On The Boogie". GfK Entertainment.
  34. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Big Fun search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
  35. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Big Fun – Blame It On The Boogie" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  36. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Big Fun – Blame It On The Boogie". Top 40 Singles.
  37. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  38. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1989-09-09" UK Singles Chart.
  39. ↑ http://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1989.shtml
  40. ↑ Tina Charles Info & Photos DiscoMusic.com
  41. ↑ "El Hit Parade De Vilo". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish).
  42. ↑ "Channel 4 documentary site". Channel4.com. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  43. ↑ "iTunes link for Mick's album "Weekend"". itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  44. ↑ Mick Jackson & Sam Peter Jackson - Blame it on the Boogie Interview. Vimeo.

External links

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