"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 song was performed on Musikladen, Aplauso, Sonja Goed Nieuw's Show and ABBA Special: Disco in the Snow Part 1.
Background
The song was co-authored by Mick Jackson as well as Mick's brother 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. The two versions of the song were widely released by the artists' respective labels - Warner Bros. and CBS - within one day of each other. Mick Jackson's track was showcased in 1978 at Midem where, according to Mick Jackson, "The Jacksons' manager heard the track being played...and took a tape recording of it...back to the States 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 of the Jacksons, Bobby Colomby, who was producing the Jacksons' Destiny 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: 'Blame It on the Boogie' could be sung in one breath without putting my lips together."
Personnel
Michael Jackson – lead vocals, rhythm arrangements
Jackie Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson – background vocals, rhythm arrangements
Tito Jackson – guitar, background vocals, vocal arrangements
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 ", 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 " 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... The had the second week...Radio One played The version and Capital Radio only played mine – It was fair." The Jacksons' version—incorrectly lauded by Melody Maker 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 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": " 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 analog computer system and a Quantel DFS 3000 digital framestore. The video also appears on the bonus disc of the DVD box setMichael Jackson's Vision. Michael Jackson's 1993 biography states that the video marked his video debut. The Jacksons' very first promotional music video was "Enjoy Yourself".
has stated that she recorded "Blame It on the Boogie" prior to the Jacksons; her version was not released as "Sony 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/
1989: Stock Aitken Waterman 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 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. 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.
1998: Dance act Clock brought "Blame It on the Boogie" back to the UK Top 20.
2001: Will Young sang "Blame It on the Boogie" for his first audition of Pop Idol on ITV in 2001.
2003: "Blame It on the Boogie" was the lead single off the Michael Jackson tribute album Bringin You the Magic recorded by Jay Kid a native of Denmark 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 covered the song on their album Café Cubar.
2005: the top ten finalists of the French televised Nouvelle Star cut a remake, which reached Number 15 in France.
2009: In the wake of the interest in Michael Jackson's recordings initiated after his death on 25 June "Blame It on the Boogie" entered the charts in Australia and the UK.
2010: The song was performed by children at the Albert Hall in a Michael Jackson medley.
2011: The song was performed by Jermaine Jackson, brother of The Jacksons. 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 group called "The Footnotes" in the film Pitch Perfect.
Documentary
In 2010, filmmaker Patrick Nation made a Channel 4 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 and led to Mick Jackson's 1978 album Weekend being re-released for the first time in 30 years by Demon Music. To promote the documentary, Mick gave a rare television interview to BBC Breakfast.
