2300 Jackson Street is the sixth and final Jacksons studio album, released on 23 May 1989 by Epic Records. Named for the family’s childhood home in Gary, Indiana, the album features Michael only on the title track. It marked the end of the Jacksons as a recording group.
Era: Jacksons / Epic
Victory is the fifth studio album by The Jacksons, released on 2 July 1984 by Epic Records. Released between Thriller and Bad, it was the last Jacksons album to feature Michael as a full member. The lead single “State of Shock”, a duet between Michael and Mick Jagger, reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The supporting Victory Tour drew 2.2 million people across 55 dates.
Triumph is the fourth studio album by The Jacksons, released on 26 September 1980 by Epic Records. Released between Michael’s Off the Wall and Thriller, it features his unmistakable solo-era vocal style across the title track, “Can You Feel It”, “Lovely One” and “This Place Hotel”. The album was certified 2× Platinum in the U.S. and is widely considered the strongest Jacksons album of the Epic era.
Destiny is the third studio album by The Jacksons, released on 17 December 1978 by Epic Records. After the disappointing Goin’ Places, the brothers fought for and won the right to produce the album themselves. The result included the classics “Blame It on the Boogie” and “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”. The album was certified Platinum in the U.S. and is widely cited as the moment the Jacksons reasserted creative control.
Goin’ Places is the second studio album by The Jacksons, released on 8 October 1977 by Epic Records. Produced by Gamble & Huff at Sigma Sound, it underperformed commercially and prompted the brothers to demand creative control on subsequent records.
The Jacksons is the self-titled debut album by the renamed Jacksons (formerly The Jackson 5), released on 5 November 1976 by Epic Records. It was the first album with youngest brother Randy Jackson replacing Jermaine, who stayed at Motown. Produced by Gamble & Huff in Philadelphia, the album reached #36 on the Billboard 200.
Off the Wall is Michael Jackson’s fifth studio album, released on 10 August 1979 by Epic Records. It marked his first collaboration with producer Quincy Jones, after the two met during the filming of The Wiz the previous year. Recorded between December 1978 and June 1979 at three Hollywood studios, it represented a clear break from Jackson’s Motown years and the Jacksons’ Epic output.
Jackson and Jones assembled an extraordinary cast of session musicians and songwriters. Rod Temperton, then of Heatwave, contributed three tracks including the title song and “Rock with You”. Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney each gave the album a song. Toto members Steve Lukather and David Paich played extensively, while Greg Phillinganes provided keyboards and arrangements that would define the Jackson-Jones sound for the next decade.
Four singles became U.S. top-10 hits: “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (#1), “Rock with You” (#1), “Off the Wall” (#10) and “She’s Out of My Life” (#10). “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” won Jackson the 1980 Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, his first Grammy as an adult solo artist. Jackson, however, was deeply disappointed that the album was overlooked for Album of the Year, and reportedly used that disappointment as fuel for the all-encompassing ambition of Thriller.
Off the Wall has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. It transformed disco into something more sophisticated, blending pop, funk and post-disco soul, and proved that Jackson could carry a major adult solo career on his own. The album is widely cited as one of the greatest of all time and was reissued in 2016 alongside Spike Lee’s documentary film Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall.