"A Place with No Name" is a song by American singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

released on the second posthumous Jackson album, '' Xscape'' (2014). A 24-second snippet of the full song was released posthumously by website

TMZ.com TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...

on July 16, 2009, three weeks after Jackson's death. The full version leaked online on December 3, 2013. The track is based on "

A Horse with No Name "A Horse with No Name" is a song by the folk rock band America, written by Dewey Bunnell. It was the band's first and most successful single, released in late 1971 in Europe and early 1972 in the United States, that topped the charts in Canada, ...

", the hit 1972 song by rock band

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. At the time of the leak, America stated that they were "honored" that Michael Jackson chose to sample their work. It has been claimed that there are "dozens and dozens" of unreleased Jackson songs that could be issued for several years to come. The song was contemporized by Norwegian producers

StarGate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...

for ''Xscape'', along with the original version. "A Place with No Name" was released to American

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

radio on August 12, 2014.

Background

On June 25, 2009, musician Michael Jackson

died Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

following what was initially reported as a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

. However, later on it was determined that Jackson died of a

drug overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

propofol Propofol, marketed as Diprivan, among other names, is a short-acting medication that results in a decreased level of consciousness and a lack of memory for events. Its uses include the starting and maintenance of general anesthesia, sedation f ...

and

lorazepam Lorazepam, sold under the brand name Ativan among others, is a benzodiazepine medication. It is used to treat anxiety disorders, trouble sleeping, severe agitation, active seizures including status epilepticus, alcohol withdrawal, and c ...

and his death was ruled a

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

. On July 16, 2009, celebrity news website

—the first media outlet to report the death—released a 24-second snippet of an unreleased Jackson song, "A Place with No Name". The track is based on

's 1972 number-one single "

". Jackson had legal permission to use the song. The ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-De ...

'' stated that the two songs were "just about identical". It is not known when the track was recorded, although Jackson and America shared a manager—believed to be Jim Morey—in the late 1980s and late 1990s. According to producer Dr. Freeze, the version of "A Place with No Name" that leaked is the final version Michael heard and approved in 2008, which is credited as the original version in the deluxe edition of '' Xscape''. it was the last CD single released by Jackson. Prior to the leak of the original version in December 2013, a cover of Jackson's work was posted at YouTube in January 2011, recorded by a mysterious person with a pseudonym "Spino".

Music videos

On August 13, 2014, "A Place With No Name" marks the first time a music video has ever debuted exclusively on Twitter. Along with its tweet premiere, "A Place With No Name" was also shown on the Sony video screen in Times Square on Wednesday night at 10 p.m. It was uploaded to Michael Jackson's

VEVO Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

page the following day. In line with the desert theme featured in the lyrics of America's "A Horse with No Name", the video stars dancers Alvester Martin, who worked with Jackson for ten years, and Danielle Acoff in new dance sequences in a desert. Also featured are rare clips from Jackson's "

In the Closet "In the Closet" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on April 9, 1992, as the third single from his eighth album, ''Dangerous'' (1991). The song was written and produced by Jackson and Teddy Riley. It became ...

" video shoot. The music video was directed by

Samuel Bayer Samuel David Bayer (born February 17, 1962) is an American Visual arts, visual artist, cinematographer, and commercial, music video and film director. Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York. He graduated from New York City's School of Visual Arts ...

. A second music video was released on Michael Jackson's

page on August 28, 2014, with choreographed dances performed by the dancers from Cirque du Soleil's " Michael Jackson: One" world tour. It was filmed at different places in Los Angeles, but most of the video was shot inside the "Michael Jackson: ONE" Boutique inside Mandalay Bay.

Critical reception

Joe Levy from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' called the song the "centerpiece" of the album. Meggie Morris from ''

Renowned for Sound ''Renowned for Sound'' is an Australian online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a pri ...

'' called the track "unknown and at the same time familiar, producing a sound that is retro and classic, rather than dated." However,

Nekesa Mumbi Moody Nekesa Mumbi Moody is an American journalist and editor. She is currently the editorial director of ''The Hollywood Reporter''. Biography Moody is a native of New York. She received her B.A. from Barnard College of Columbia University in 1992 ...

from

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

said "A Place With No Name" "has the same beat and sound as 'Leave Me Alone' from the 'Bad' era and is lyrically weak: we can tell why Jackson left it on the cutting room floor."

Response from America

Dewey Bunnell and

Gerry Beckley Gerald Linford Beckley (born September 12, 1952), better known as Gerry Beckley, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, and a founding member of the band America. Early life Beckley was born to an American father and an English moth ...

—two members of the three part band—conveyed their gratitude toward Jackson for choosing their song as a musical template for "A Place with No Name". In their statement to MTV, the musicians also expressed regret that Jackson's fans did not get to hear the finished version of the track while Jackson was alive:

We're honored that Michael Jackson chose to record it and we're impressed with the quality of the track. We're also hoping it will be released soon so that music listeners around the world can hear the whole song and once again experience the incomparable brilliance of Michael Jackson ..Michael Jackson really did it justice and we truly hope his fans—and our fans—get to hear it in its entirety. It's really poignant.

Bunnell further commented that he was "very proud of the fact that

ackson Tulia Ackson (born 23 November 1976) is the Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania, in office since 2022. She was appointed as a Member of Parliament by President John Magufuli. Early life Ackson was born on 23 November 1976 in Bul ...

recorded it. It's a good version and an interesting derivative of the original that I wrote." Bunnel said that he and Beckley were "in the dark" regarding the future of Jackson's unreleased material.

Track listing

Notes * signifies a vocal producer * signifies a co-producer * signifies an additional producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Place with No Name 1998 songs 2014 songs 2014 singles Michael Jackson songs Songs written by Michael Jackson Songs written by Dewey Bunnell Song recordings produced by Michael Jackson Song recordings produced by Stargate (record producers) Music videos directed by Samuel Bayer Songs released posthumously Songs written by Dr. Freeze Song recordings produced by Dr. Freeze