"Blame It on the Boogie" is a song released in 1978 by English singer-songwriter Mick Jackson. It has been covered by numerous other artists, including

The Jacksons The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

. The song was performed on ''

Musikladen ''Der Musikladen'' (german: The Music Shop) was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s ''Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour''. ...

'' (January 1979), ''Aplauso'' (February 1979), ''Sonja's Goed Nieuws Show'' (2 February 1979) and ''ABBA Special: Disco in the Snow Part 1'' (18 February 1979).

Background

The song was co-authored by Mick JacksonThe Other Michael Jackson
Channel 4 documentary about Mick Jackson (credited as Michael George Jackson-Clarke) as well as Mick's

brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

David Jackson and Elmar Krohn. Although Mick Jackson recorded the song in 1977, "Blame It on the Boogie" was written in hopes of being sold to

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

. The two versions of the song were widely released by the artists' respective labels -

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

- within one day of each other. Mick Jackson's track was showcased in 1978 at Midem where, according to Mick Jackson, "The Jacksons' manager eter Kerstinheard the track being played...and took a tape recording of it...back to the States

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a TV ...

the Jacksons quickly recorded a version so it would be out before mine." The Mick Jackson recording was released by Atlantic Records in the US in August 1978 when it reached #61, and #15 in the UK. According to

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 ...

of the Jacksons,

Bobby Colomby Robert Wayne Colomby (born 20 December 1944) is a jazz-rock fusion drummer, record producer and television presenter. He is best known as an original member of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, which he co-founded in 1967. He has also played with ...

, who was producing the Jacksons' ''

Destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

'' album, brought the group "Blame It on the Boogie". "It was an uptempo, finger-poppin'-time type song that was a good vehicle for the band approach we wanted to cultivate. I had fun slurring the chorus: he lyric'Blame It on the Boogie' could be sung in one breath without putting my lips together."

Personnel

– lead vocals, rhythm arrangements *

Jackie Jackson Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951) is an American singer best known as a founding member of the Jackson 5, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson is the second child of the Jackson family, a ...

Marlon Jackson Marlon David Jackson (born March 12, 1957) is an American entertainer, singer and dancer best known as a member of the Jackson 5. He is the sixth child of the Jackson family. Marlon now runs Study Peace Foundation to promote peace and unity wor ...

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bas ...

– background vocals, rhythm arrangements *

Tito Jackson Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson (born October 15, 1953) is an American musician. He is an original member of the Jackson 5 (later known as The Jacksons), who rose to fame in the late 1960s and 1970s with the Motown label, and later had continued ...

– guitar, background vocals, vocal arrangements

Additional musicians

Roland Bautista Roland Bautista (May 30, 1951 – February 29, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Bautista was best known for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire. He also worked with such artists as Ronnie Laws, The Crusaders, George Duke and ...

Michael Sembello Michael Andrew Sembello (born April 17, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and producer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sembello was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his 1983 song " ...

– guitar *

Nathan Watts Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David and ...

, Gary King – bass guitar *

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

– keyboards, rhythm arrangements *

Rick Marotta Richard Thomas Marotta (born January 7, 1948) is an American drummer and percussionist. He has appeared on recordings by leading artists such as Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Hall & Oates, Ste ...

– drums, percussion *

Laudir de Oliveira Laudir Soares de Oliveira (6 January 1940 – 17 September 2017) was a Brazilian musician and producer mostly renowned for his time as percussionist with the band Chicago. Oliveira grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and started working professionally in ...

, Claudio Slon – percussion *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', ''Rock with You'', ...

– horn arrangements

Chart records

Despite the Mick Jackson original reaching a No. 61 peak on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in September 1978, Epic Records that month released the Jacksons' version of "Blame It on the Boogie" as the advance single from the ''Destiny'' album. Although "Blame It on the Boogie" returned the Jacksons to the Hot 100 after five flop singles, it was not the single to effect a major comeback for the Jacksons, peaking at #54; it would be the follow-up, "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", which would briefly restore the Jacksons' Top Ten fortunes. However, "Blame It on the Boogie" did reach No. 3 R&B and would be coupled with "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" on an extended club play single which would reach No. 20 on the dance charts in 1979. In the UK, both the Mick Jackson version and the Jacksons' were released within a few days of each other in September 1978. The UK music press, struck by the rival versions being by similarly named artists, declared a "Battle of the Boogie" which Mick Jackson recalls as "great publicity...There was an equal balance of interest from the media about both releases – A good example is that my version came out first on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''... The had the second week... Radio One played The version and

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. I ...

only played mine – It was fair." The Jacksons' version—incorrectly lauded by ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' as their "self-penned song"—was the more successful version reaching Number 8 on the chart dated 4 November 1978; the Mick Jackson version—hailed by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' as "far superior"—had peaked at Number 15 on the chart for 21 October. Mick Jackson himself in 2003 said of the Jacksons' version of "Blame It on the Boogie": "

he original He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

version had 100% of our heart and soul in it but the Jacksons' version had the magic extra 2% that made it incredible."

Music video

A promotional music video by the Jacksons was created for "Blame It on the Boogie" in 1978. The video, featuring the group's members dancing on a black background, relied heavily on electronic trail effects, created at Image West, Ltd. using then-cutting edge equipment: the

Scanimate {{about, the computer animation system, the animation effect, Barrier grid animation and stereography Scanimate is an analog computer animation (video synthesizer) system developed from the late 1960s to the 1980s by Computer Image Corporation of D ...

analog computer system and a

Quantel Quantel was a company based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1973 that designed and manufactured digital production equipment for the broadcast television, video production and motion picture industries. They were headquartered in Newbury, ...

DFS 3000 digital framestore. The video also appears on the bonus disc of the DVD box set ''

Michael Jackson's Vision ''Michael Jackson's Vision'' is a deluxe DVD video album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 22, 2010 by Epic Records, Legacy Recordings, and Jackson's own label, MJJ Productions. It includes three DVDs, feat ...

''. Michael Jackson's 1993 biography states that the video marked his video debut. The Jacksons' very first promotional music video was " Enjoy Yourself".

Charts

Mick Jackson version

Weekly charts

The Jacksons version

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Big Fun version

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

The Jacksons version

Other versions

Tina Charles has stated that she recorded "Blame It on the Boogie" prior to the Jacksons; her version was not released as "

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

elt ELT may refer to: Education * English language teaching * Expanded learning time, an American education strategy * Kolb's experiential learning theory Mathematics and science * Ending lamination theorem * Extremely large telescope, a type ...

it was not a strong enough song." *1980: Marie Rottrová one of the top singers in former Czechoslovakia recorded a Czech version of this song called in her cover version "Muž č. 1" /Man no. 1/ *1983: Ashaye covered the song as part of his single "Michael Jackson Melody". *1989:

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...

had Big Fun remake "Blame It on the Boogie" with a resultant best ever Pop chart peak of Number 4 in the UK. *1990:

Luis Miguel Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Puerto Rican-born Mexican singer, often referred to as ''El Sol de México'' (The Sun of Mexico), which is the nickname his mother gave him as a child—"mi sol". Luis Miguel has sung in mu ...

covered the song in Spanish as "Será Que No Me Amas" on the album '' 20 Años''. The lyrics were adapted in Spanish by

Juan Carlos Calderón Juan Carlos Calderón López de Arróyabe (7 July 1938 – 25 November 2012) was a Spanish singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Santander, he was the author of "Eres tú", which, performed by Mocedades, came second in the Eurovision Song Con ...

. The song was released as the third single from the album and it received radio airplay in Mexico. A live version of the song was featured on ''

El Concierto ''El Concierto'' ( en, italic=yes, The Concert) is the second live album by Mexican recording artist Luis Miguel, released on 17 October 1995 by Warner Music Latina, WEA Latina. It was recorded from his performances at the National Auditorium in ...

'' (1995). *1998: Dance act

Clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

brought "Blame It on the Boogie" back to the UK Top 20 (Number 16). *2001:

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 Pop Idol (series 1), inaugural series of the ITV (TV network), ITV talent contest ''Pop Idol'', making him the f ...

sang "Blame It on the Boogie" for his first audition of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'' on ITV in 2001. *2003: "Blame It on the Boogie" was the lead single off the

tribute album ''Bringin You the Magic'' recorded by Jay Kid a native of Denmark (born Yannick Harrison 8 January 1990) who in September 2003 became the first artist to perform at the Neverland Ranch at Michael Jackson's express invitation. *2004: German eurodance act

Captain Jack Captain Jack may refer to: People * Calico Jack (1683–1720), a pirate in the 18th century * Captain Jack (Hawaiian) (died 1831), Naihekukui, commander of Kamehameha's fleet and father of Kalama * Captain Jack (fl. 1830s on), Kaurna man in c ...

covered the song on their album ''Café Cubar''. *2005: the top ten finalists of the French televised ''

Nouvelle Star ''Nouvelle Star'' (; also known as ''À la Recherche de la Nouvelle Star'' for the first season) is a French television series based on the popular Pop Idol programme produced by FremantleMedia. It was broadcast by M6 in seasons 1–8 before ...

'' cut a remake, which reached Number 15 in France. *2008: The song was performed by

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

on their

Back Home Tour The Back Home Tour is a world tour by Irish boyband, Westlife in support of their 9th studio album, Back Home. The band will be touring the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand. The tour was seen by 385,000 fans. The tour is divided into tw ...

. *2009: The song was performed as a line dance at a camp for children recovering from open heart surgeries by cast members in Episode 21 of Season 15 of '' ER''. *2009: In the wake of the interest in

's recordings initiated after his death on 25 June "Blame It on the Boogie" entered the charts in Australia and the UK. *2009,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

singer

Susan Wong Susan Wong (born 1 January 1970) is a Hong Kong easy listening and smooth jazz singer, known for her alto vocals. Life and career Wong was born in Hong Kong, and immigrated to Sydney, Australia with her family at the age of seven. Musically ...

included a cover of the song on her

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

album ''511''. *2009: The song was performed by

The Saturdays The Saturdays were a British-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and have been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa Wh ...

in one venue of their

The Work Tour The Work Tour was the debut headlining theatre tour by English-Irish girl group The Saturdays. The tour became the group's first headlining tour, but second time touring (after touring with Girls Aloud in 2008 as a support act for their Tangled ...

, due to

death 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 ...

. *2010: The song was performed by children at the Albert Hall in a Michael Jackson medley. *2011: The song was performed by

Jermaine Jackson Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and bassist. He is best known for being a member of the Jackson family. From 1964 to 1975, Jermaine was second vocalist after his brother Michael of The Jackson ...

, brother of

. The music video for the version was completed late 2011 and was released January 2012 on international music video websites. *2012: The song was performed by an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

group called "The Footnotes" in the film ''

Pitch Perfect ''Pitch Perfect'' is a 2012 American musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore and written by Kay Cannon. It features an ensemble cast, including Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Hana Mae Lee, Alexis Knap ...

''.

Documentary

In 2010, filmmaker Patrick Nation made a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

documentary about Mick Jackson and the story of the song, entitled ''The Other Michael Jackson: Battle of the Boogie''. The documentary was co-written and presented by Mick's son

Sam Peter Jackson Sam Peter Jackson (born 17 March 1978) is a writer/director and actor best known for writing the play "Public Property", which ran at the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End in 2009 starring Nigel Harman, Robert Daws and Steven Webb and was nomin ...

and led to Mick Jackson's 1978 album ''Weekend'' (which features the original version of "Blame It on the Boogie") being re-released (for download on the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

) for the first time in 30 years by Demon Music. To promote the documentary, Mick gave a rare television interview to ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television Breakfast television, breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News (TV channel), BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from ...

''.

References

External links

Mick Jackson
– official website
Documentary about The Battle of The Boogie
at

Mick Jackson
discography at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Mick Jackson
discography at Disco-disco * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blame It on the Boogie 1978 singles 1989 singles The Jackson 5 songs Mick Jackson (singer) songs Luis Miguel songs Disco songs Songs written by Mick Jackson (singer) Big Fun (band) songs 1978 songs Songs about dancing Epic Records singles CBS Records singles Columbia Records singles Jive Records singles