My Secret Shame

So, I decided to christen this “Free for All Friday,” mainly because I was sick of thinking up theme days (Fresh Fridays? Funky Fridays? It just wasn’t working).

Today, I wish to come clean about something that has troubled my elitist music soul for some time; a secret which I have long feared would ruin my credibility as a connoisseur of hip music.

Put quite simply, I enjoy the Jackson 5.

Let me try to put this into context. Since my earliest days of listening to music, I have been a huge fan of Motown, as any self respecting metro Detroiter should be. I have distinct memories of being four years old and dancing around the living room to “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” (granted, to me at the time it was the song from the California Raisins commercials). However, being a self-respecting metro Detroiter, I also pretty much ignored any Motown output past their unfortunate move to LA.

Then, a got a boxed set of early era Motown for Christmas a few years back, the final disc of which featured some material from that odd transitional period where the studio was operating in both places at once. It was on this CD that I first discovered “I Want You Back,” and I was transfixed. It exploded out of my headphones as a piece of 70s era pop genius. The same thing went for “The Love you Save” and “ABC”… funky, soulful, and at the same time the origins of bubblegum pop as we knew it, a sound often imitated but never duplicated.

Right away, I knew this discovery was something I would have to keep to myself. There was no way in hell any self respecting adolescent male could admit to admiration to anything from Michael Jackson’s catalogue in this day and age. However, this summer, fortune smiled upon me and give me an opening to express my admiration for this song: the release of Motown Remixed, an album that compiled new interpretations of some of the hottest Motown hits, including the standout track on the album…. That’s right, the Z-Trip Remix of “I Want You Back”. At long last, the song received the recognition and treatment it deserved, and I could openly declare my admiration for it.

The Jackson Five- I Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix)

Well, I think for the purposes of my sanity, I’ll be taking the weekend off. It’s been an enjoyable first week of blogging… thanks to all who’ve dropped by to have a look at what I’m up to here, assuming people actually are reading this, that is. Feel free to leave me a line in the comments section to let me know you’re out there ;)