"Torture" is the second single released off the album ''
Victory
The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal Duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitu ...
'' by the band
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 ...
. Written by
Jackie Jackson and fellow
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
veteran
Kathy Wakefield
Kathleen Wakefield (also Kathy Wakefield) is an American songwriter, singer and fiction author known for co-writing The Supremes' hit single " Nathan Jones" that was released by Motown and used as a soundtrack for the film ''Rain Man'' and for c ...
, the song is about someone ending a relationship and the torture that the member of the relationship, who is still in love with the other person, can feel. Jackie was originally going to sing the song with his brother,
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
, but Jackie's role instead went to
Jermaine Jackson, whose availability for the album was in question until the last minute. The rest of the Jacksons sang the chorus along with Michael, Jermaine and Jackie.
The song received mixed reactions from critics. The video was probably best known for Michael not being available, and the use of a wax dummy in his place throughout the video.
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...
replaced
Perri Lister as the video's choreographer, in which various scenes of torture are displayed with the Jacksons being on the receiving end of most of it. The shoot was an expensive and arduous affair that neither Michael nor Jermaine took part in, and it ultimately bankrupted the
production company. The song peaked at #17 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, making it the second best selling single on the album, behind "
State of Shock". It also peaked at #26 on the UK charts. This was their last single to reach the US Top 40.
Writing and recording
"Torture" was written by
Jackie Jackson.
Motown writer Kathy Wakefield also helped in the writing. Originally Jackie was going to record the vocals along with Michael.
However,
Jermaine Jackson sang vocals in Jackie's place, because he did not know if he'd be fully involved with the ''Victory'' album until the last minute.
[ On the recording, Michael and Jermaine sing a duet, with the rest of the group providing backing vocals.][ "Torture" was Jermaine's only main contribution to the ''Victory'' album. The ]B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
of the single was an instrumental version of the song.
One misconception is that the lyrics are about sadomasochism
Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...
and physical torture, claims that Susan Baker of the Parents Music Resource Center had at one time made.[ The lyrics to the song are about a relationship that is about to end, and how the feelings of love become "torture" when a break-up is nearing.][ One of the members of the relationship is still in love with the other and feels that the break-up is "torture".]
Music video
In the video various acts of torture are displayed, and various members of the band are usually on the receiving end. At some points the video looks like a horror movie. At a later point a group of skeletons—that are supposed to represent the Jacksons—are shown dancing. Neither Michael nor Jermaine appears in the video:[ Michael was busy with other obligations, and Jermaine refused to be in the video.][ The rest of the group decided to shoot the video without them.][
Jeff Stein was the director,][ and Bryce Walmsley the scenic designer. Jackie Jackson also oversaw the production, acting as an advisor. The dancing skeletons were animated at Peter Wallach Enterprises.
Stein recalls the shoot as "an experience that lived up to the song title", and that sentiment is shared by others involved in the production. It finished over schedule and over budget. By the end the Jacksons themselves had stopped showing up. Stein says it was so stressful that one of his crew members lost control of her bodily functions. "The crew motto used to be 'Death or victory'," he says. "I think that was the only time we ever prayed for death."]
After Michael had sketched out his ideas for the shoot at a meeting with the production company and his brothers, Stein and producer John Diaz had a feeling he would skip the actual shoot, so they rented a wax dummy of Michael from Madame Tussaud's
Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...
museum in Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
. " twas put through the wringer," Stein says. "Its head ended up in the salad bowl at lunch one day." The dummy was ultimately used in three separate sequences, including the ending sequence that shows the rest of the group standing in a shot similar to the album cover. The television show '' PM Magazine'' later discovered the dummy had been used through a close analysis of the video.[ "I was so young and naïve, I just figured this is what they normally do in music videos," recalls ]Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...
, who eventually became the choreographer
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
.
She replaced Perri Lister, an alumna of the British dance troupe Hot Gossip
Hot Gossip (1974–86) were a British dance troupe who made television appearances and in 1978 backed Sarah Brightman on her single "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper".
Formation
Arlene Phillips moved to London to learn and teach developin ...
, who had choreographed and/or danced in many early 1980s videos, including playing the bride in " White Wedding" for her boyfriend at the time, Billy Idol. Lister and Stein had worked together before and the Jacksons approved her. A few days afterwards Field told her that Jackie wanted his girlfriend, who he said was a dancer herself, to be in the video. She auditioned and Lister decided she was sufficiently talented to hire, putting her in a group of similarly-built women so her short stature and plumpness would be less noticeable.
Jackie's girlfriend—who Lister did not know was Abdul—did not show up once rehearsals started, so Lister decided to go on without her. A few days later, however, according to Field, Jackie told him Lister wasn't right for the Jacksons. After a week Jackie and Abdul showed up at rehearsals, and Stein privately told Lister that Jackie had indicated that his girlfriend wanted to choreograph the video. She took her check and left.
Abdul, a Laker Girl at the time, took over as the choreographer from that point. She said some of the members of the band approached her after attending a Laker game and asked if she wanted to choreograph their video. "My only problem was how to tell the Jacksons how to dance," Abdul later recalled. "Imagine me telling them what routines to do. I was young, I was scared. I'm not quite sure how I got through that." The success of the choreography in the video helped lead to Abdul's then new career of choreographer in music videos. It was also due to the success of the video that she was chosen to be the choreographer for the Jacksons' ''Victory'' tour.[
Filming took place at ]Kaufman Astoria Studios
The Kaufman Astoria Studios is a film studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens. The studio was constructed for Famous Players-Lasky in 1920, since it was close to Manhattan's Broadway theater district. The pr ...
in Queens, New York. On the first day Stein told his crew that since the Jacksons were devout Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
, no drugs or alcohol would be tolerated on the set. Shortly thereafter he was looking for two of them he needed for a sequence. Behind a cyclorama he saw them in 30-foot-high () silhouette "shoveling something into their nostrils. I ran the length of two football fields, kicked over the lights and no one ever saw it but me."
Paul Flattery, a producer with the Picture Music International production company, blames the handling of this video by producer Diaz and director Stein for driving the company into bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
. "I'll take the blame for many things, but not that video," Stein responds. "We were constantly waiting around for everybody to be ready. It was endless. I don't even know if there was a budget . . . I do not know what it ended up costing."
Reception
Reception for the song was mixed. ''The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
'' said that the song was "a hard-rock dance tune with blaring synthesizers and buzzing guitars." The reviewer, however, didn't like the song, summing it up with one word: "Yawn."[ '']The Sacramento Bee
''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
'' complimented Jackie Jackson for being the only person "besides Michael" to "rise above the generic," citing "Torture" as one of the two songs by Jackie that were more than exceptional on the album.
William Ruhlmann of Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
considered the song a "Track pick", and mentioned that its popularity probably had to do more with the fact that 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 ...
was involved. "So, here one has the ludicrous situation of an album in which Marlon Jackson has as prominent a role as Michael Jackson. That's how it sounded to listeners in 1984, anyway, and they weren't fooled — " State of Shock", on which Michael shared vocals with Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
, was a gold Top Ten hit, and "Torture", which teamed Michael with Jermaine, made the Top 40, while the album went platinum. But the tracks by other group members went virtually ignored," Ruhlmann said.
In popular culture
The video makes an appearance in the season 2 episode of Beavis and Butt-Head
''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...
titled "At the Sideshow."
Personnel
* Jermaine Jackson – lead and background vocals
* 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 ...
– lead and background vocals
* Jackie Jackson – ad lib vocals, background vocals, arrangements, horn arrangements
* 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, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion
* 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 ...
– background vocals
* Tito Jackson – background vocals, guitar
* John Barnes – Fairlight computerized keyboard
* Michael Boddicker – keyboards, synthesizers, synth horns, synth programming
* David Ervin – additional synth programming
* Jeff Porcaro
Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on ...
– drums
* Jack Wargo – guitar solo
* Jerry Hey – trumpet, horn arrangements
* Bill Bottrell
William A. Bottrell (born October 27, 1952) is an American record producer and songwriter. He has collaborated with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Electric Light Orchestra and Sheryl Crow.
Biography
Between 1967 and 1970, Bottrell attended Cresc ...
– engineer, mixing
* Paul Erickson, Mitch Gibson, Bino Espinoza – assistant engineers
* Nelson Hayes – project coordinator
Charts
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torture (The Jacksons Song)
1984 singles
The Jackson 5 songs
Vocal collaborations
Songs written by Jackie Jackson
Songs written by Kathy Wakefield
1984 songs
Epic Records singles