I Want You Back


"I Want You Back" is the first national single by the Jackson 5. It was released by Motown on October 7, 1969, and became the first number-one hit for the band on January 31, 1970. It was performed on the band's first television appearances, on October 18, 1969 on Diana Ross's The Hollywood Palace and on their milestone performance on December 14, 1969 on The Ed Sullivan Show.
The song, along with a B-side remake of "Who's Lovin' You" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, was the only single to be released from the Jackson 5's first album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5. It went to number one on the Soul singles chart for four weeks and held the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the week ending January 31, 1970.
"I Want You Back" was ranked 121st on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Production

Originally considered for Gladys Knight & the Pips and later for Diana Ross, as "I Wanna Be Free", "I Want You Back" explores the theme of a lover who decides that he was too hasty in dropping his partner. An unusual aspect about "I Want You Back" was that its main lead vocal was performed by a tween, Michael Jackson.
"I Want You Back" was released on October 7, 1969 and was the first Jackson 5 single to be released by Motown and the first song written and produced by The Corporation, a team comprising Motown chief Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonso Mizell, and Deke Richards. It also is the first of four Jackson 5 number-ones released in a row and the first Jackson 5 song recorded in Los Angeles, California; the quintet had previously been recording Bobby Taylor-produced remakes of other artists' hits, including "Who's Lovin' You", the B-side to "I Want You Back", at Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit, Michigan. From late 1969 and on, nearly all of the Jackson 5's recordings were done in Los Angeles when the majority of recordings for other artists on the label were done in Detroit.
Although Gladys Knight had been the first to mention the Jacksons to Berry Gordy, and Bobby Taylor brought the Jackson brothers to Motown, Motown credited Diana Ross with discovering them. This was done not only to help promote the Jackson 5, but also to help ease Ross' transition into a solo career, which she began in 1970 soon after the Jackson 5 became a success.

Live performances

The Jackson 5 performed "I Want You Back" during all of their world tours, either as a full song or as a part of the Jackson 5 Medley in concerts. During their second-ever television appearance, the Jackson 5 performed "I Want You Back" along with Sly & the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song", The Delfonics' "Can You Remember", and James Brown's "There Was a Time". They also performed the song on American Bandstand and the Andy Williams Show.
Michael Jackson performed the song as part of the "Jackson 5 Medley" during all of his world tours - the Bad World Tour, the Dangerous World Tour and the HIStory World Tour. The song was to be performed at Jackson's This Is It comeback concerts in London, which were cancelled due to his death. The song was performed live at the in 2001, in which Jackson reunited with his brothers on stage for the first time since 1984.

Reception and legacy

The song has sold six million copies worldwide. In 1999, "I Want You Back" was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"I Want You Back" ranks number 121 on Rolling Stone's list of the '500 Greatest Songs of All Time'. It also ranks ninth on Rolling Stone's list of the '100 Greatest Pop Songs since 1963'. In 2020, it was ranked number 2 on Rolling Stone's list of 'The 100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time'.
In 2006, Pitchfork named it the second best song of the 1960s, adding that the chorus contains "possibly the best chord progression in pop music history". A June 2009 article by The Daily Telegraph called it "arguably the greatest pop record of all time". Digital Spy called the song "one of the most enduring pop singles of the sixties".
According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 47th most celebrated song in popular music history, and the 2nd best song of 1969.
The single has been awarded Silver certification on August 22, 2014 by the British Phonographic Industry Association.
"I Want You Back" has long been considered one of the most sampled songs in all of hip hop music. The song has been sampled over 60 times since its release in 1969. Prominent artists such as Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G. and Justin Bieber have all used parts of the song producing some of their biggest hits. The song is also considered to have one of the greatest chord progressions in pop music.

Personnel

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position
Australia53
France26
Ireland34
Sweden47
UK Singles Chart43

Year-end charts

Certifications

Graham Parker version

British new wave musician Graham Parker covered the song with his backing band the Rumour as "I Want You Back ". Intended to be a B-side of "Mercury Poisoning", the song became the single's A-side in some regions due to the controversial nature of the lyrics to "Mercury Poisoning". Parker recalled of the song's recording, "We recorded it on a mobile in a rehearsal room while rehearsing for Squeezing Out Sparks| Sparks, in a real grungy place in London. I thought it was very musical - now it sounds like World War III is going on in there."
Parker explained of the idea to cover the song, "I think with 'I Want You Back,' I probably just heard it on Radio 1 one day and thought it would be a cool idea to try it. Uninteresting, I know, but that's usually the way these things work."
Parker's version of the song features a more aggressive vocal that was described by a critic as sounding "as if he was repossessing a car". Parker later met Jackson and told him that he had covered his song. Parker recalled the experience:
The live version appeared on the Live Sparks live album, alongside "Mercury Poisoning" and the songs from Squeezing Out Sparks. The song was also the B-side to some versions of the "Local Girls" and "Protection" singles. Parker said of his decision not to include it on a proper album, "It was done on a whim, as these things often are... and certainly would not have fitted on anything I was doing then."

Charts