Sunday, July 26, 2009

Can You Feel It? - The Jacksons


I am sure many people are tired of reading about Michael Jackson and his recent death. Rather than focus on all the tabloid-chunked news stories about Michael Jackson, such as those with his "supposed" 25-year-old illegitimate son who is a Norwegian rapper,or the supposed "fact" that Jackson was going bald since the 1984 burning accident while filming a Pepsi commercial or 5 Million kept by his financial advisors or even Jackson's much more sordid personal past. I would like to talk about one of my all time favorite songs by the Jacksons or Michael Jackson, the 1980 single Can you Feel it?.

I remember this song, not from 1980 as it was not a very big pop hit. From what I recall reading, the song barely entered the Billboard Hot 100. When Michael Jackson was at the height of his fame (Thriller, circa 1983), video channels of all sorts scrambled to find any Michael Jackson-related material to play. I was in middle school at the time and did not have access to cable and could only watch a local UHF channel that played music video (channel 69 in Atlanta). They played in heavy rotation Can you Feel it?, which was already a few years old by that time.

About 2 years ago, I pulled it up on YouTube. It is a well done video for its time. It probably was filmed in late 1979 judging by the looks of Michael and his brothers.



The video is a bit pretentious in looking back, but I still enjoy the song very much. I even bought a cassette of the Jacksons' album Triumph. I was just a bit too young to go to concerts, but the Jackson Victory tour in 1984 did sweep through Atlanta. I wish now I had begged to go, since there were few tours that Michael Jackson had done in the US. I was a big fan, but did not try to go, bummer. By 1985 or so, I had gone to a few big named concerts, but did not try to see the Jacksons or Culture Club, another band I really had liked at the time. Anyway, this song is a long time personal favorite of mine. Great song I wanted to share in case you were not familiar with it.

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