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ridiculously flavored Snapple near you. Welcome

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back to Hit Parade, a podcast

0:29

of pop chart history from Slate

0:31

magazine about the hits from coast

0:33

to coast. I'm Chris Malanfy,

0:35

chart analyst, pop critic, and writer

0:37

of Slate's Why Is This Song

0:39

Number One series. On

0:41

our last episode, we talked

0:44

about the rich, varied, and

0:46

exceptionally busy career of Quincy

0:49

Jones, arranger, conductor, composer, producer,

0:51

and the secret sauce behind

0:54

hits from Ray Charles to

0:56

Leslie Gore, Frank Sinatra to

0:59

Aretha Franklin, the Brothers Johnson

1:01

to Chaka Khan, and

1:03

all that was before he

1:05

even met Michael Jackson. We're

1:08

now at the end of the

1:10

70s, when the man whom the

1:12

music industry fondly calls Q is

1:16

about to produce Jackson's first

1:18

adult solo album and

1:20

change the parameters of pop.

1:24

By the time he met

1:26

Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson had

1:29

already been famous for the

1:31

better part of a decade,

1:33

dating back to pre-adolescence, and

1:36

he had released solo records

1:38

as a brand extension of

1:40

the Jackson Five. In

1:42

fact, Michael had even scored a Hot 100 No. 1

1:44

way back in 1972, at age 14, with his tender

1:52

ode to a pet rodent named

1:55

Ben. But

2:08

after his occasional solo

2:10

successes, Michael always dutifully

2:12

returned to the fold,

2:14

rejoining his Jackson Five

2:17

brothers under the command

2:19

of their imperious patriarch,

2:21

Joe Jackson. By

2:23

the late 70s, the Jacksons

2:26

were undergoing an awkward transition,

2:28

both into adulthood and

2:30

on the charts. They'd broken

2:33

with Motown, and signed

2:35

to CBS Records, eventually

2:37

landing at the CBS

2:39

imprint Epic Records. Transitioning

2:42

from the Jackson Five to

2:45

just the Jacksons, the brothers

2:47

were casting about for a

2:49

grown-up sound, and the result

2:51

was a mixed bag of

2:53

hits and semi-hits. From

2:55

their debut single as the

2:58

Jacksons, the laid-back Enjoy Yourself,

3:00

a solid hit at number

3:02

six, to the sweaty Goin'

3:05

Places, a flop at number

3:27

By 1978 and

3:29

79, the Jacksons were just

3:31

starting to right the ship

3:34

sonically. Their early 79 top

3:36

ten hit, Shake Your Body Down

3:39

to the Ground, co-written by Michael

3:42

Jackson, offered a new template,

3:45

propulsive dance music informed by

3:47

both disco and funk, with

3:50

a fully adult lead vocal from

3:52

Michael. It

4:03

was finally time for Michael

4:05

to record a solo LP

4:07

for Epic, and he wanted

4:09

to put distance between his

4:11

solo work and the Jacksons

4:13

once and for all. Quincy

4:16

Jones, impressed with Jackson's

4:18

drive, signed onto the

4:20

project. Shake Your Body

4:22

already had elements of the

4:24

smooth, polished funk sound Q

4:27

had been exploring with the

4:29

Brothers Johnson and Chaka Khan,

4:31

so he and Michael simply

4:34

pushed further in this direction.

4:36

That's why you got me

4:39

workin' day and night, and

4:41

I'll be workin' I

4:43

thought I'd be mine, got me workin'

4:45

workin' day and night Michael's

4:48

album was being recorded at

4:50

the height of disco, just

4:52

as a backlash to the

4:54

music was taking hold. In

4:56

essence, Quincy and Michael were

4:59

recording the first post-disco

5:01

album, and they called

5:03

in backup from a disco

5:05

songwriter who could create more

5:07

than disco. Always break

5:10

the down Don't

5:12

you keep on dancin', people

5:14

dancin' Don't you keep on

5:16

dancin', people dancin' Rod

5:20

Temperton was the keyboardist

5:22

and songwriter of Heatwave,

5:24

a multiracial British R&B

5:26

group that had scored

5:28

dance floor hits with

5:30

Boogie Nights, The Groove

5:32

Line, and Always and

5:34

Forever. An improbable

5:36

soul man, Temperton was white,

5:39

weedy, and nerdy, no one's

5:41

idea of a front man.

5:44

He nonetheless had an

5:46

uncanny knack for writing

5:49

sleek American-style R&B. Temperton's

5:52

refined grooves were

5:54

ideal for the Quincy Jones

5:57

sound, and he became Q's

5:59

secret. weapon, penning

6:01

three songs for the Michael

6:03

Jackson solo album, one

6:05

of which gave the LP its title,

6:08

Off the Wall. Released

6:22

in the late summer of 1979, just

6:26

weeks after the infamous disco

6:28

demolition night in Chicago, Off

6:31

the Wall won acclaim from the

6:33

critics who were otherwise

6:35

burned out on disco music,

6:38

and it served as a coming out

6:40

for Michael Jackson as a

6:43

solo superstar. The album

6:45

led off with a dance

6:47

floor single, Jackson Wrote Himself,

6:50

which Quincy Jones polished into

6:52

a diamond. Don't

7:00

stop till you get enough.

7:02

Topped the Hot 100 in

7:04

October of 1979, becoming not

7:06

only Jackson's first

7:16

number one since Ben seven

7:18

years earlier, but Quincy Jones's

7:21

first Hot 100 number one as a

7:24

producer since Leslie Gore's It's

7:27

My Party more than 16 years

7:30

earlier. And the

7:32

album was just getting started.

7:34

The next single was one

7:36

of Rod Temperton's compositions. You

7:39

might say it was

7:42

apropos that

7:44

Rock With You

7:46

became Michael Jackson's

7:49

first number one

8:00

of the 80s, topping the Hot 100 in January

8:02

1980. Though it features disco strings

8:08

and Jackson singing about how

8:10

he will ride the boogie,

8:13

the song's propulsive guitars and

8:15

synthesizers sounded more like the

8:17

new decade than the old,

8:20

a template for multiracial 80s

8:22

pop and B. For

8:25

the third single, Team Jackson

8:27

went straight to another Temperton

8:29

song, the title track, Off

8:31

the Wall. It

8:42

peaked at number 10 in April 1980.

8:45

By this point, the Off

8:48

the Wall LP was breathing

8:50

rarefied air. Not only

8:52

had it been locked in the album

8:54

charts top 10 for most of the

8:57

prior six months, it had

8:59

also generated three top 10 hits,

9:01

a fairly rare

9:03

achievement. Only one

9:05

prior single artist album had

9:08

ever generated four top 10

9:10

hits, and it was by

9:12

a rock group, Fleetwood Max

9:15

Rumors. But

9:25

then, with his fourth single,

9:28

Michael Jackson pulled it off,

9:30

becoming the first solo act

9:32

to pull four top 10s

9:34

from an LP. The melodramatic

9:36

ballad, She's Out of My

9:38

Life, also peaked at number

9:40

10 in June 1980. Of

9:57

course, Michael was not actually one

9:59

of the first solo artists to

10:01

play the working solo. Quincy Jones

10:04

had surrounded him with a stellar

10:06

lineup of songwriters and instrumentalists, and

10:09

some of these players

10:11

began appearing on other

10:13

Quincy-related recordings, giving those

10:15

tracks cues polished Sonic's

10:17

stamp. For example, Stomp

10:19

by the Brothers Johnson,

10:22

a 1980 Top 10 hit we mentioned

10:24

at the top of our show. It

10:41

was not only produced by Jones,

10:44

it was written by the

10:46

Johnson siblings with Rod Temperton,

10:48

Q's secret weapon. And

10:50

it was played by many

10:53

of the same session musicians

10:55

Jones had assembled for Off

10:58

the Wall, from keyboardist Greg

11:00

Fillinganes, to percussionist Paulino da

11:02

Costa, to horn arranger Jerry

11:05

Hay, to Toto synth programmer

11:07

Steve Porcaro. Stomp and

11:09

Off the Wall were, in

11:12

essence, the same brand of

11:14

Yacht Soul. Later

11:16

in 1980, Quincy assembled the

11:18

same dream team to work

11:20

on another album for a

11:23

client who was new to

11:25

Quincy Jones, but certainly not

11:27

new to the business. George

11:43

Benson, a guitar prodigy,

11:45

had evolved from an

11:47

acclaimed jazz fusion player

11:49

in the 60s to

11:51

an R&B frontman in the

11:53

70s. We talked about

11:56

Benson in our Yacht Rock episode

11:58

of Hit Parade, as

12:00

one of the progenitors of

12:03

that genre, thanks to his

12:05

jazzy instrumentals and smooth vocals.

12:08

He'd already scored top ten

12:11

hits with the Grammy-winning This

12:13

Masquerade, and his

12:15

live cover of the R&B

12:18

classic, On Broadway. They say

12:20

they're neon lights on Broadway.

12:25

They say they're on

12:27

Broadway. Jazz

12:30

chops, smooth vocals, pop

12:33

ambitions, George Benson was

12:35

basically an ideal artist for

12:37

Quincy Jones to work with,

12:40

even before they actually did.

12:43

The album they wound up making

12:45

together might be the prime example

12:48

of the Quincy sound. It

12:50

was called Give Me The Night. All

13:02

music says of the Give

13:04

Me The Night LP, quote,

13:06

Quincy Jones is the master

13:09

catalyst, and his regular

13:11

team is in control. Benson's

13:13

voice, caught beautifully in the

13:15

rich floating sound, had never

13:18

before been put to such

13:20

versatile use, unquote. The

13:23

title track, written by

13:25

Rod Temperton, was a

13:27

percolating shuffle, showcasing both

13:29

Jones' ace session players

13:31

and Benson's guitar and

13:33

voice. Give

13:46

Me The Night, the song, reached number

13:48

four on the Hot 100, and number

13:50

one on the R&B

13:53

chart in the fall of 1980,

13:56

and the album of the same name

13:58

reached number three on album

14:00

chart, and went platinum. Quincy

14:03

Jones had successfully adapted

14:06

his signature production style

14:08

to Stars besides Michael

14:10

Jackson. Also significant

14:13

about the Give Me the Night

14:15

LP was that it

14:17

was the first release on

14:20

Quest Records, Quincy's new record

14:22

label. Jones started the

14:24

label in part to issue

14:26

material by artists in his

14:29

stable, like his frequent session

14:31

singer Patti Austin. Her 1981

14:34

album On Quest, Every Home Should

14:37

Have One, generated a number one

14:39

club hit with Do You Love

14:41

Me. And

14:52

it would spawn other hits for

14:54

Austin later. But the

14:57

best-selling LP in Quest's

14:59

first year was by

15:01

Quincy Jones himself, his

15:03

platinum blockbuster, The Dude.

15:15

A fusion of pop, jazz,

15:17

soul, and Latin music, The

15:19

Dude spawned three top 40

15:22

pop hits, the most of

15:24

any LP credited to Quincy

15:26

himself. The lead single,

15:28

a cover of the Latin funk

15:31

club track I No Corrida, with

15:33

vocals by Patti Austin and Charles

15:35

May reached number 28 on the

15:37

Hot 100. I

15:52

No Corrida was followed by

15:54

a pair of ballads, both

15:56

sung by a man Quincy

15:58

had basically discovered and cajoled

16:01

into singing. Prior

16:16

to The Dude, James Ingram

16:19

worked mostly as a keyboardist.

16:22

He was not convinced he should sing,

16:24

but Q had a way

16:27

of changing others' destiny. He

16:29

loved Ingram's gritty, plain-spoken

16:31

voice. Jones jump-started

16:34

Ingram's career with featured vocals

16:36

on Just Once, a number

16:39

17 hit from The

16:41

Dude, and the number 14 follow-up

16:43

100 Ways. We'll

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limited by state law. As

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I noted earlier, Quincy

18:59

Jones was being more

19:01

selective about outside production

19:03

projects, but he generally

19:06

couldn't resist the lore of

19:08

a superstar. That's how

19:10

he wound up producing a

19:12

single album for former Queen

19:14

of Disco Donna Summer. As

19:28

we discussed in our Donna Summer

19:31

episode of Hit Parade, by the

19:33

80s Summer was transitioning out of

19:35

her long collaboration with

19:38

disco and electronic

19:40

mastermind Giorgio Moroder.

19:42

Their last album together, 1980s

19:45

rock dance hybrid The Wanderer,

19:48

had been only a moderate success.

19:51

So in 1982, Summer's label

19:53

Geffen Records teamed her with

19:56

Quincy Jones, who manned the

19:58

boards for an album

20:01

titled, simply, Donna Summer. It

20:04

was not an entirely

20:06

happy experience, due to

20:08

circumstances beyond either artist's

20:10

control. Speaking about

20:12

the LP years later, Summer

20:15

told New Musical Express, quote,

20:17

Quincy produced that album with

20:19

almost no help from me,

20:22

which is unlike me, but

20:24

at the time I was

20:26

pregnant, so it's really more

20:28

his album, unquote. Indeed,

20:41

you could hear Q's

20:43

fingerprints all over the

20:45

album's first single, a

20:47

synth-funk track called Love

20:49

is in Control, parentheses,

20:51

finger on the trigger,

20:54

that sounded more like Quincy

20:56

than Donna. While Summer's

20:58

self-titled album was not the

21:00

smash Geffen was hoping for,

21:03

it did go gold. Love is

21:05

in Control made the Hot 100's top ten, and

21:09

many fans and critics later

21:11

came to regard the Donna

21:13

Summer LP as not only

21:15

a worthy entry in her

21:18

catalog, but also Quincy's dress

21:20

rehearsal for his other major

21:22

1982 production, Michael

21:25

Jackson's much-anticipated follow-up to

21:28

Off the Wall. While

21:31

Jackson was proud of

21:33

Off the Wall, he

21:36

had a chip on

21:38

his shoulder, about how

21:41

that first Quincy

21:52

produced LP had been received,

21:54

yes, even after four top

21:57

ten hits. To the

21:59

industry. Off the Wall

22:01

was an R&B album that

22:03

had over-performed, and they

22:06

treated it like an R&B album.

22:09

At the 1980 Grammy Awards,

22:11

Off the Wall only won

22:13

a single prize in the

22:15

R&B categories, and its

22:17

hits weren't even nominated for

22:19

Record of the Year, which

22:22

was taken instead by the

22:24

Doobie Brothers. Off

22:34

the Wall had also topped

22:37

Billboard's R&B album chart for

22:39

months, but peaked on the

22:41

All Genre Pop album chart

22:43

only at number three. Jackson

22:46

felt he had played the

22:48

pop crossover game, but hit

22:50

a racial glass ceiling. He'd

22:53

even taken Quincy Jones' advice

22:56

and covered a light pop

22:58

track for Off the Wall

23:01

called Girlfriend that was written

23:03

by former Beatle and now

23:05

Wings superstar Paul McCartney. So,

23:08

for the follow-up to Off

23:10

the Wall, Quincy and Michael

23:13

were going to double down.

23:26

Not only would they record

23:28

another light pop confection in

23:30

the McCartney wheelhouse, this

23:33

time they would invite Paul

23:35

McCartney himself into the studio

23:38

for an actual duet. They

23:41

were unabashedly hoping to recreate

23:43

the chart's success of Ebony

23:45

and Ivory, Paul's smash duet

23:48

with Stevie Wonder, which spent

23:50

seven weeks at number one

23:53

in early 1982. We

24:00

live together in

24:03

perfect harmony,

24:06

side by side on my side.

24:09

Jackson's duet with McCartney would turn

24:11

out to be no one's favorite

24:13

track on the new album. But

24:16

Quincy and Michael knew what

24:18

they were doing. They made

24:20

the song the LP's first

24:22

single. The

24:24

Girl Is Mine led off the

24:27

campaign for Thriller,

24:29

Michael Jackson's now

24:31

legendary album. As

24:42

he and Quincy Jones predicted,

24:45

their McCartney duet was received

24:47

as an event. Released

24:49

in the fall of 1982, it topped the R&B chart

24:51

in January of 83, and

24:57

reached number 2 on the Hot 100. That

25:00

pushed the Thriller album to the

25:02

top of the R&B chart, and

25:05

the top 5 on the

25:07

pop album chart. But Jackson

25:09

wouldn't settle for that. His

25:12

next single would have to

25:14

be undeniable. The one

25:16

he went with had elements

25:18

Quincy claimed Michael had borrowed

25:20

from elsewhere. State

25:33

of Independence was a single from

25:35

Donna Summer's 1982 Quincy Jones produced

25:38

LP. Written

25:41

by Greek synthesizer wizard Vangelis,

25:44

and yes frontman John Anderson,

25:46

the song was only a

25:48

modest hit, peaking at number

25:51

41. Among

25:53

the vocalists on the track was

25:55

Michael Jackson, whom Q had invited

25:57

to sing back up on the

25:59

album. track. Decades later,

26:02

Jones accused Jackson of biting

26:04

the track's throbbing synthesized bassline

26:07

for a song of his

26:09

own. Michael

26:21

never copped to this. Instead,

26:24

Jackson claimed he poached the

26:26

song's rumbling bassline not from

26:28

the Donna Summer single, but

26:30

from the 1981 chart-topping smash

26:34

by Daryl Hall and Jon Oates. I

26:37

can't go for that. Wherever

26:48

he got that bassline, Michael

26:51

Jackson wrote a world-beating song

26:53

on top of it. There

27:06

are so many things I

27:08

could highlight about Billie Jean,

27:10

widely agreed to be one of

27:13

the best pop recordings of all

27:15

time. Its propulsive groove,

27:17

played by the Brothers Johnson

27:19

bassist Lewis Johnson, the

27:22

unique vocal tics Jackson used to

27:24

sing it, its haunted

27:26

lyrics, which channeled Michael's paranoia

27:29

about his own fame, its

27:32

music video, which broke barriers

27:34

for black artists on the

27:36

then-new video channel MTV, Michael's

27:39

performance of the song on a 1983

27:42

Motown TV special at which

27:45

he introduced his version of

27:47

the backwards gliding dance, The

27:50

Moonwalk. All of

27:52

these factors contributed to Billie

27:54

Jean's success. So,

28:00

let's just say

28:03

this for Billie

28:05

Jean. It

28:19

was the undeniable hit Michael Jackson

28:22

and Quincy Jones had been waiting

28:24

for. It went to number

28:26

one in March 1983 and stayed there for

28:28

seven weeks. It

28:32

pushed Thriller to number one on

28:34

the pop album chart, where it

28:36

would sit for a stunning 37

28:39

weeks through most of 1983 and early 1984. And

28:45

Billie Jean made Michael's record-setting

28:47

run of seven top ten

28:49

singles from Thriller inevitable.

28:53

And by the way, each of

28:55

those follow-up hits had been nurtured

28:58

and brought into being by Quincy

29:00

Jones. For example, the

29:02

next hit was a rock song

29:04

that Quincy ordered Michael to write.

29:07

Once he did, it was Jones

29:10

who had the idea and the

29:12

connections to call this man to

29:14

add a guitar solo. Eddie

29:34

Van Halen, the king of

29:37

80s axe pyrotechnics. At

29:39

Quincy's behest, Van Halen added

29:41

a face-melting solo to Michael

29:44

Jackson's tough sounding ode to

29:46

not trying to be tough.

29:49

Beat it. Beat

30:06

It also topped the Hot 100, just

30:09

over a week after Billie Jean

30:11

had exited the number one spot.

30:14

The next single took inspiration from

30:17

a 70s hit by a friend

30:19

of Quincy's, Cameroonian Afro jazz artist

30:21

Manu DiBongo, who peaked at number

30:23

35 in the summer of 73

30:26

with Soul Makusa.

30:41

Its irresistible chant, Mamako

30:44

Mamasa Mamamakusa, was borrowed

30:46

by Michael Jackson's Wannabe

30:50

Startin' Something. Jackson wound up

30:52

settling out of court with

30:54

DiBongo for the blatant interpolation.

30:57

Wannabe Startin' Something reached number five

30:59

in the summer of 83. For

31:15

the next single, Quincy had invited

31:17

the members of Toto, who were

31:19

coming off their own string of

31:22

hits, to play and contribute songs

31:24

to Thriller. When

31:39

Quincy heard an alluring demo

31:41

by Toto's Steve Porcaro that

31:43

needed some lyrics, Q commissioned

31:46

lyricist John Bettis to finish

31:48

the track. The result, on

31:51

which four members of Toto

31:53

played with Michael's singing lead,

31:56

was Human Nature, a

31:58

number seven hit and Thriller's

32:01

ultimate yacht soul song. The

32:19

LP's sixth single was penned

32:22

by Quincy's protégé James Ingram.

32:25

The debut himself came up with

32:27

the title Pretty Young Thing, and

32:30

as he had so often

32:32

with the Brothers Johnson, Jones

32:34

invited Ingram to write a

32:36

song around that title. The

32:38

result, P.Y.T., was a number 10

32:40

hit in the fall of 83.

32:55

Finally, the album's title

32:57

track came from Q's

32:59

secret weapon, Rod Temperton.

33:02

The original demo of the

33:04

song was called Starlight, but

33:07

Jones didn't like that title and

33:09

asked Temperton to come up with

33:11

a better one. When

33:27

Temperton redirected the lyric around

33:29

horror movies and called it

33:32

Thriller, Q endorsed

33:34

the change and even invited

33:36

his wife's friend Vincent Price

33:38

to do a spooky rap

33:41

on the song. The

34:01

Midnight Hour is close again. Transformed

34:07

into a cinematic music video,

34:10

a smash that played Around

34:12

the Clock on MTV, and

34:15

released as the album's seventh and final

34:17

single in 1984, Thriller reached number four

34:19

on the

34:23

Hot 100. That made

34:25

it the LP's seventh top

34:27

ten hit, a Hot 100 record

34:30

that would hold for more

34:32

than three decades until the

34:34

streaming era of Drake and

34:36

Taylor Swift. Now

34:38

the best-selling album of all time,

34:40

certified 34 times platinum

34:43

in the US, and with

34:45

global sales estimated at anywhere from

34:47

70 to 100 million

34:49

copies, Thriller not only

34:52

made Michael Jackson the biggest pop

34:54

star in the world, it

34:57

also stood as a testament

34:59

to Quincy Jones's unique set

35:01

of skills. At the 1984

35:03

Grammy Awards,

35:05

where Michael Jackson and Thriller

35:08

all but swept the prizes,

35:11

Quincy alluded to his singular skill

35:13

set when he went up to

35:15

the podium to accept the Producer

35:18

of the Year prize from his

35:20

friends in Toto. And

35:23

the producer of the year is Quincy

35:25

Jones and Michael Jackson. The

35:31

main job of a producer is to

35:33

produce and see that everything works, and

35:36

we'd like to thank the people that make this

35:38

work. Paul McCartney, Eddie Van Halen,

35:42

Vincent Price, Bruce W

36:00

and I think one of the greatest entertainers of

36:02

the 20th century. I mean that from all my

36:04

heart. How Hot

36:06

Was Quincy Jones in 1983 and 84? First off,

36:08

a song he'd produced for Patty Austin back in

36:10

1981 became a belated number one hit in 1983,

36:21

right in the middle of Michael

36:23

Jackson's Thriller Run. Austin's

36:25

sultry slow jam, Baby Come

36:28

To Me, a duet

36:30

with Q's other protege, James Ingram,

36:32

climbed to the top of the

36:34

Hot 100, fueled

36:36

by an appearance on the

36:38

TV soap opera General Hospital.

36:42

Baby come to me, let

36:45

me put my arms around you,

36:47

this was meant to be. And

36:51

I'm also glad I'm here. Baby

36:53

hit number one back to back

36:55

with Billie Jean, giving Quincy Jones

36:58

consecutive Hot 100 chart

37:00

toppers as a producer. Then

37:02

a year later, Jones gave

37:04

Ingram a hit of his

37:07

own, producing and co-writing the

37:09

Yachty synth funk track, YAMOB

37:11

There. A duet

37:13

between Ingram and occasional Quincy collaborator

37:16

Michael McDonald, the song went top

37:18

20 pop and top 5 R&B

37:20

in 1984. In

37:34

the midst of all this, Jones

37:36

even found time to produce a

37:38

whole album by his old friend

37:40

Frank Sinatra, and got him

37:43

to sing about a place that wasn't

37:45

New York, New York. L.A.

38:00

Is My Lady would be

38:03

Sinatra's final solo studio album,

38:05

and its title track, however

38:07

schlocky, actually got Frank

38:10

briefly on MTV thanks to

38:12

a music video with cameos

38:14

by Friends of Quincy, Donna

38:17

Summer, Eddie Van Halen, David

38:19

Lee Roth, and Michael McDonald.

38:22

All of these non-Michael Jackson

38:25

hits were side effects of

38:27

Q's unmatched clout, but

38:29

the biggest mark of Quincy's

38:32

status as pop's Svengali King

38:34

would come in early 1985,

38:38

when Jones was asked to

38:40

oversee a special project that

38:42

Jackson was working on with

38:45

Lionel Richie, a charity

38:47

single. We'll

38:57

be right back. Tired

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40:41

covered USA for Africa's Famine

40:43

Relief single, We Are the

40:45

World, in considerable depth in

40:48

the first year of Hit

40:50

Parade, in our charity Megasingles

40:52

episode. The Do Gooder

40:55

Anthem, an American response to

40:57

Bob Geldof's British single for

40:59

Ethiopian Famine Relief, Do They

41:01

Know It's Christmas, remains

41:04

an object of fascination.

41:06

Just this year, Netflix broadcasts

41:09

the hit documentary The Greatest

41:11

Night in Pop, chronicling the

41:14

unlikely story. Now

41:16

on the night of

41:18

the 1985 American Music

41:20

Awards, more than five

41:22

dozen U.S. pop superstars

41:24

gathered in a cavernous

41:26

L.A. studio for a

41:28

recording of unprecedented complexity

41:30

and vocal firepower. Though

41:46

the Netflix documentary does not

41:48

include any new interviews with

41:50

Quincy Jones, who is now

41:52

over 90, Jones emerges

41:55

in the story as a

41:57

quiet hero of the song's

41:59

creation. Here, songwriter

42:01

Lionel Richie explains not

42:04

only why he needed Jones,

42:06

but also why Jones was

42:08

pivotal to We Are The

42:10

World's Genesis. One thing

42:12

for sure I knew, I wanted Quincy

42:14

involved because he's

42:16

the master orchestrator. Mr. Quincy Jones.

42:22

At that particular time, you could not

42:24

be a producer and be any hotter.

42:26

He had the respect of every musician

42:29

on the planet. And

42:32

after that, I had Quincy on the phone.

42:35

He says, well, I'll see Michael tomorrow. I'll

42:38

run it by him, see what he

42:40

thinks. In addition to connecting Michael Jackson

42:42

with Lionel Richie to write the song,

42:45

Quincy was in charge of

42:47

not just producing, arranging, and

42:49

conducting the session. In the

42:51

footage, you can see him waving a

42:53

conductor's baton, but also, you

42:56

might say, herding the cats.

42:59

The most famous anecdote retold

43:01

from the world session is

43:03

of a sign posted

43:05

at the entrance to

43:07

A&M Studios in Hollywood

43:09

that read, quote, Check Your

43:11

Egos at the Door. For

43:14

the record, Quincy Jones posted

43:16

that sign. In

43:18

footage of the session, which has circulated

43:21

on video since 1985 and is now widely

43:23

available online,

43:26

Q comes across

43:28

as a charming, funny,

43:31

self-deprecating, but commanding, benevolent

43:34

dictator. We're going to

43:36

do the ensembles first and to

43:38

get all the stacking and all that carpentry out of

43:40

the way. Okay. Can we start chopping

43:42

wood? Let's put it on tape. We are the world. The

43:45

highest point was conducting that choir

43:47

because there were some moments in

43:49

that chorus where I had goosebumps.

43:52

That's my truth box. And

43:54

the goosebumps were up all night long. It's true.

43:57

We make a brighter day just you and me instead

43:59

of better. writing because that's what he's

44:01

saying anyway. Can we hear about four bars

44:03

without the track? To

44:08

this day opinions vary

44:10

even among music critics

44:13

over the artistic value of We

44:15

Are The World. It

44:17

was a massive hit. We

44:20

are the world. We

44:22

are the children. We

44:25

are the ones who

44:27

make the world. Four

44:29

weeks at number one on the Hot 100 and

44:33

four million copies sold in

44:35

the US alone, the first

44:37

single to go multi-platinum. It

44:40

topped charts around the world

44:42

and, most important, it did

44:44

raise millions for famine relief.

44:47

But what is inarguable was

44:49

that creating We Are The

44:51

World was a superhuman feat,

44:55

and the super-ist of humans

44:57

on the so-called greatest night

44:59

in pop was Quincy Jones.

45:01

When the song won record of the year at

45:04

the 1986 Grammy Awards, Jones

45:07

once again took the podium.

45:11

And the Grammy goes to We

45:13

Are The World, Quincy Jones, Patricia.

45:20

If I'm going to be presumptuous enough to speak

45:22

for this great group, I'd like

45:24

to say to thank

45:26

them and also apologize that the

45:29

slogan, Keep Your Eagles At

45:31

The Door, ever got out of hand

45:33

because it was never necessary. The cause

45:36

itself, I think, was significant enough to

45:38

command the teamwork and the love and

45:40

the giving that everybody gave that night,

45:43

and we're happy that we were able to share it. I'd

45:45

like to thank Michael Jackson.

45:48

We Are The World was

45:50

just one of the very

45:52

eclectic projects that kept Quincy

45:54

Jones busy through the mid-1980s.

45:57

He composed the score to the original

46:01

1985 film adaptation of Alice

46:03

Walker's novel The Color Purple

46:06

from director Steven Spielberg. And

46:22

Quincy's label, Quest Records, continued

46:24

to release a diverse selection

46:27

of music. One

46:29

of the label's biggest coups

46:31

of the decade was signing

46:33

U.S. distribution rights to the

46:36

British electro-rock band New Order.

46:38

Quincy Jones himself even

46:41

got involved with promoting

46:43

the band's best-selling 1987

46:45

compilation Substance, Q

46:47

teamed with fellow producer

46:49

John Podaker, to remix

46:51

New Order's classic single

46:53

Blue Monday. The

46:56

result, Blue Monday 88, brought

46:58

the pioneering song to the Hot 100

47:01

for the first time, and

47:04

it topped Billboard's club play

47:06

chart. And then, of

47:08

course, by 1987, Quincy

47:11

was deep into the

47:13

sessions for Michael Jackson's

47:24

follow-up to Thriller, the

47:26

long-awaited and heavily hyped

47:28

bad. Bad

47:40

could never live up to the

47:42

heights hit by Thriller, but it

47:44

did earn several chart benchmarks of

47:47

its own, the first album by

47:49

either Jackson or Jones to debut

47:51

at number one on the album

47:54

chart, an extraordinarily rare

47:56

feat in the pre-soundscan era.

48:00

Bad was the first album to generate

48:02

five hot 100 number one hits I

48:06

just can't stop loving you bad

48:08

the way you make me feel

48:22

Man in the mirror and dirty

48:25

Diana I'm

48:30

starting with a man

48:32

in the mirror I'm

48:35

asking him to change

48:37

his way Bad

48:39

was Jackson's final collaboration

48:42

with Quincy Jones and

48:44

given its strong sales it might

48:47

have served as a fitting capper

48:49

to Quincy's career but

48:51

Q was not done Allow

48:54

me to tell a story about Ella Fitz, Gerald,

48:57

whose sound could never be sterile I want more

48:59

flexibility of range, making factors change, better do your

49:01

thing In

49:06

the fall of 1989, Quincy

49:09

Jones issued Back on the

49:11

Block his first album under

49:13

his own name in eight

49:15

years since The Dude Q's

49:18

goal on Back on the

49:20

Block was to span all

49:22

of his interests and influences

49:24

from bebop to hip-hop One

49:26

track found him mixing jazz

49:28

greats like Miles Davis and

49:30

Sarah Vaughan with rappers Cool

49:32

Mo D and Big Daddy

49:35

Kane Quincy called in

49:37

friends from across the industry

49:39

to provide vocals and

49:41

several tracks became hits A

49:44

remake of the Brothers Johnson hit

49:46

I'll Be Good to You featuring

49:48

new vocals from Ray Charles and

49:51

Shaka Khan topped the R&B chart

49:53

and hit number 18 on

49:56

the Hot 100 A

50:07

slow jam called The Secret

50:09

Garden, teaming Quincy with multiple

50:11

generations of soul singers Barry

50:14

White, James Ingram, Al B.

50:16

Shaw, and L. DeBarge, also

50:19

topped the R&B chart, and

50:21

reached number 31 on

50:23

the pop chart. Here

50:26

in the

50:28

garden, the

50:30

temptation is

50:33

so right. By the

50:35

time, Tomorrow, Quincy's single with teen

50:37

singer Tevin Campbell, became the third

50:40

straight single from Back on the

50:42

Block to hit number one on

50:44

the R&B chart in June 1990.

50:49

Tomorrow is life in a

50:51

place where there's no But

50:54

now is the time to

50:56

have faith The

50:59

album had gone platinum. The

51:01

following year, at the 1991 Grammy

51:04

Awards, Back on the Block

51:06

won the Grammy for Album

51:08

of the Year, over LPs

51:11

by Mariah Carey, Phil Collins,

51:13

M.C. Hammer, and Wilson Phillips.

51:16

Jones' win made him the only

51:18

artist in Grammy history to take

51:20

Album of the Year twice as

51:23

both the producer on a

51:25

full winning LP, Thriller, and

51:27

his own LP, Back on

51:29

the Block. The album's

51:31

eclecticism and Quincy's deep respect

51:33

across the industry won the

51:36

day for him. By

51:38

the way, if Beyonce finally takes

51:40

this same prize next year for

51:43

her similarly eclecticism, guest-packed

51:46

album, Cowboy Carter, you'll

51:48

know why. Since

52:01

his final major Grammy win,

52:03

Jones has kept producing and

52:05

recording on occasion. His

52:08

last platinum album was 1995's

52:11

Q's Jukejoint, a similarly

52:13

diverse album on which

52:15

he collaborated with rising

52:17

star Tamiya. I've

52:20

got a real

52:22

thing here by

52:25

my side. And

52:29

veteran hitmaker, Babyface. In

52:44

the 21st century, Quincy remains

52:46

a revered figure in the

52:49

entertainment industry. Just

52:51

this week, as we were

52:53

putting together this episode, the

52:55

Motion Picture Academy announced that

52:57

Jones will be receiving an

52:59

honorary Oscar at the Governor's

53:01

Awards later this year. He

53:03

has never won competitively. In

53:06

the world of contemporary pop

53:08

and hip-hop, everyone from Travis

53:11

Scott to The Weeknd has

53:13

collaborated with Quincy Jones,

53:15

albeit sometimes on non-musical contributions

53:18

like video cameos and album

53:20

monologues, like, say, this 2022

53:23

Weeknd interlude. Whenever

53:26

I got too close to the woman, I would cut

53:28

her off. Part of that

53:30

was vindictive and partially based on fear.

53:34

But it was also totally subconscious.

53:39

Looking back as a bitch, isn't it? But

53:44

when it comes to the music,

53:46

Q seems content these days to

53:48

let others do the performing for

53:50

him. He has

53:52

celebrated several milestone birthdays with

53:55

music. My favorite came on

53:57

his 75th birthday. Now,

53:59

many moons ago. That

54:15

was when Shaka Khan performed

54:17

Stuff Like That, Quincy's

54:19

first ever chart-topping R&B

54:22

single at the Montreux Jazz

54:24

Festival, along with a big

54:26

band and dozens of fellow

54:28

admirers. Because this is

54:31

what Quincy does. He is

54:33

the center of the party, the binding

54:35

force. Orchestrating, conducting, convening,

54:38

or just listening, he

54:40

surrounds himself with music

54:42

lovers who are only

54:44

too happy to rock

54:46

with cue. I

55:05

hope you enjoyed this episode of

55:07

Hit Parade. Our show was written,

55:09

edited, and narrated by Chris Melanphy.

55:11

That's me. My producer

55:14

is Kevin Bendis. Kevin also

55:16

produced the latest installment of our

55:18

monthly hit parade, The Bridge Shows,

55:20

which are available exclusively

55:23

to Slate Plus members. In

55:25

our latest Bridge episode, I

55:27

talk to music and pop culture journalist

55:30

Gavin Edwards about his deep

55:32

history of We Are the

55:34

World, a hit that was

55:36

a crowning achievement for its

55:38

producer, Quincy Jones. To

55:40

sign up for Slate Plus and

55:42

hear not only The Bridge, but

55:45

all our shows the day they

55:47

drop, visit slate.com/Hit Parade Plus. Derek

55:50

John is executive producer of narrative

55:52

podcasts, and we had help from

55:55

Joel Meyer. Alicia Montgomery

55:57

is VP of audio for Slate

55:59

Podcasts. Check out their

56:02

roster of shows at

56:04

slate.com/podcasts You can subscribe

56:06

to hit parade wherever you get your

56:08

podcasts in addition to finding it in

56:10

the slate culture feed if you're subscribing

56:13

On Apple podcasts, please rate and review

56:15

us while you're there. It helps other

56:18

listeners find the show Thanks

56:20

for listening and I look forward to

56:22

leading the hip parade back your way

56:24

until then keep on marching on the

56:26

one I'm Chris Malanfi