Girlfriend
by Michael Jackson
1979 Off The Wall
It’s Michael Jackson’s birthday today, so I decided to post the first video of his I remember seeing. It was on a program that Nickelodeon used to air that showed videos, and I couldn’t have been more than five or six. I had no clue what the lyrics were about at that age, but the imagery stuck with me.
This is one of my favorite Michael Jackson videos. Directed by John Singleton, it features Magic Johnson, Eddie Murphy, and Iman. I don’t know which is crazier, that it’s already been three years since Jackson died, or that this song is over 20 years old. (Music starts at 3:30 mark if you want to skip the intro.)
The Wikipedia article on this song mentions that it was recorded in September of 1981, even though it wouldn’t be released until 1983. That means it was before Michael Jackson started recording sessions for Thriller, and in the article they say that this was MJ’s first time recording a track without Quincey Jones, and that that experience gave him a large amount of confidence going forward, that he could be on viewed equal terms with someone like Paul McCartney.
Growing up, this video almost never showed on MTV in it’s original 6:44 version, usually only on special Michael Jackson occasions. Back then, really only he and Madonna could get away with making a big deal out of their videos— maybe Prince too— and as a result, it made them more of an event when they aired. Just another way that he helped revolutionize the music industry in the 80s.
I think this is my favorite Michael Jackson song. I wonder, if Bad came out today, if I’d even know it existed, considering it was like the fifth single off the album, and artists usually don’t release that many anymore before they’re in the studio pumping out a new album. Also, I imagine it would probably feature Pitbull…
It’s interesting to look at this video 24 years later, and see how much the world has changed, but also how much it really hasn’t.
