Michael Jackson, Off the Wall (1979)

Here he is, Gary, Indiana's own, Michael Jackson. This is a great album. Before Thriller in 1982, there was Off the Wall, which brought us "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," most importantly of all, and while that may have been the big, enduring single, every song on the album is guaranteed to jubilate your speakers.

Not too long back, I had listened to this album, but that was before I was blogging what I was listening to. I had listened to it because I had landed on it randomly in the top 500 albums list, but then I listened to the album again, twice more, once during work, another during a meal, and listening to it again now, I still have to say it's just as satisfying.

Thank God there are some artists for whom virtually all their albums are good. Definitely that's the case for Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, and I would also say that's the case for Michael Jackson.

It's impossible for me not to address the controversy over his personal life, even if only cursorily. While the man still has his defenders and he was never formally convicted of any form of child abuse, the documentary Leaving Neverland (2019) has made a more than compelling case for his alleged crimes. This documentary is difficult to watch, but I think it's worth the watch, especially to hear the testimonies of two survivors.

By the way, sometimes my mind operates under the naïve assumption that once the truth about someone or something has been revealed, that truth is now familiar to everyone. But of course that's not the case. To wit, with Jackson. The allegations of abuse vis-à-vis Jackson are not well-known internationally, I can attest.