Am I the only one who thinks that Michael should have launched his first solo tour in 1984? It probably would have been the biggest,most successful tour of all time.He would have been selling out stadiums all around the world.The 'Thriller' album established him as a major solo superstar.There was no need for him to join his brothers for the 'Victory' album and tour.The album is mediocre at best and even though the tour did well,I think most of the concert-goers were just there to see Michael,lol.

In spring '84,the 'Thriller' world tour should have kicked off,featuring a new artist named Madonna as his opening act (she and him shared the same manager at this time):



What do you think?

Michael didn't want to do the Victory tour. He was pressured into it by his family. Remember at this time he was still living at Encino with his parents and some of his siblings, and they were desperate to cash-in on Michael's success.

Apparently MJ hated every second of that tour.

MattyJam said:

And this is why he should have said "No" to his family and launched his own tour instead.Can you imagine what a "Thriller" tour would have been like? The setlist?!

if there was the thriller tour, would the bad tour have been as successful?

Even though Victory sucks as a whole album, I think doing Victory with the brothers one last time before launching his own solo tour helped sustain his popularity

actually no, he dumped the demann people in the summer of 1983. most people dont know that during the height of his popularity he didnt have a manager lol

i dont even think he wanted to tour at all. he just made those three videos, no real appearances, and sat on his ass on his mama's sofa. talk about promotion

i think the fact that he toured with his brothers one more time helped his career in alot more ways than totally going on his own.

people needed to see that
[Edited 10/23/08 5:34am]

alphastreet said:

Sure it would have



perhaps,I guess.I just feel that 'Thriller' deserved it's own tour.'Off The Wall' successfully established Michael as a solo artist.'Thriller' took his popularity to another whole level.At that point,it was silly to go back with his brothers.

Nvncible1 said:

Wasn't his father managing him for awhile in 1983/84? There were some problems with this arrangement.I recall an incident where Michael got angry at his father for making a racist remark about someone that Mike hired."I don't hire race,I hire competence",Michael was quoted as saying.



To this day,I wonder why he didn't make videos for the other singles on the album.Can you imagine a kickass video for "Wanna Be Startin Something" or "P.Y.T."?!



See,I disagree with this.Believe me,in 1984,nobody was going crazy over Randy,Marlon,Tito,Jackie and Jermaine It was all about Michael.They only went to see the 'Victory' tour because of Michael.

he didn't make videos for them all cause he didn't want to be overexposed and sometimes less is more

And I know people didn't give a shit about the brothers by then, I remember the victory tour billie jean video as a young kid and thought the guys were a bunch of gay dancers trying to keep up with mj's appearance onstage, though I ended up knowing of jermaine shortly after. But they knew the older fans would support the tour as well as the new michael fans, so it was clever.

SoulAlive said:

I wudda included some Ben and I Wanna Be WHere You Are in there for the old fans

He did right to do a tour and album with his brothers right after the success of "Thriller". Where they fucked up though, is the shitty material they used for the "Victory" album. Michael's huge pop success with "Thriller" ruined him and a pop sound carried over into the "Victory" album.

They should have made a bad ass album like "Triumph" with lots of danceable funky type tracks. If the pop fans liked it....fine.....if they didn't.....fuck 'em. Anyway, after "Thriller", I'd rather have seen Michael go back to being in the group with his brothers and give up being a solo artist altogether because his sound was much weaker and never the same again after "Thriller".

vainandy said:

I agree, the jacksons messed up. They could have put out the best Jacksons album ever in 84, but messed up with their egos. Most of the albums was done individually instead of a collective unit (a la Triumph and Destiny.) With Jermaine in the mix, the should have been great, a double LP but Marlon and Tito just had too have solo spots.

jermaine got stupid after do what you do, orange jumpsuits anyone?

vainandy said:

I'll be the first MJ fan to say this: Pop music killed the Jacksons.

It really did. I find it so weird how mj fans think Victory is so original! To me most of the tracks with the exception of State of Shock and Torture sounded like watered down versions of music that was popular at the time. Even Torture reminded me of songs like Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, Small Town Boy. And Janet did One More Chance justice.

I think pop music killed a lot of r&b/pop divas of the late 70's and early 80's. Good examples are Patrice, Donna Summer, Atlantic Star, Teena Marie, even Latoya Jackson would have been alright if she stuck to disco.
[Edited 10/23/08 9:59am]

alphastreet said:

"Torture" definitely sounds like a "Sweet Dreams" retread. I could also tell they were trying a "Thriller"-esque video too. Back in '84, it would've worked but now it just looks corny and cheap.

I think torture was a cute video but got lost among the millions of videos that were doing the same thing with those effects then.

alphastreet said:

I thought it was cute too when I first saw it. But over the years, to me, it's lost its value. The Jacksons in the video looked like they had no identity. It was like they were destined to be "Michael's brothers" and nothing more than that.

like all their raw talent got shoved out the window or something. Give me Goin Place, Destiny and Triumph over that crap

don't get me started on the 2300 Jackson Street album, I only bought it for the title track cause mj and janet were on it, though it is interesting to hear teddy riley work on there prior to Dangerous.

alphastreet said:

Yeah it was interesting but that's just about it. The Jacksons family group was a joke to the industry by 1989. People were only buying MJ and Janet after 1986.

Timmy84 said:

who was the bigger joke latoya or the jacksons group?

paisleypark4 said:

Yep and some "Got to Be There."

alphastreet said:

Latoya for damn sure.

Pop killed all R&B, not just The Jacksons.

I didn't even bother to buy that one.

alphastreet said:

Kool and the Gang is another R&B act that started going really pop in the 80's, even though I still liked them during that era. It was the in thing for the soul acts to do at that period for some reason.

Janet's version of "One More Chance" sounds exactly the same as Randy's version. I only put Janet's over the original because I heard it first.
[Edited 10/23/08 11:04am]

Actually, her first attempt, the song "If You Feel The Funk" was pretty decent. She performed it on "Soul Train" and it actually got a little bit of radio airplay in my area. It just didn't get enough airplay to become a hit.

I don't remember her doing anything else until years later with "Heart Don't Lie" which was absolutely awful. As for her becoming a joke, I don't remember people actually laughing at her (other than that horrible video) until the 1990s when she was married and saying her family was trying to kidnap her.

Cherish was a sweet song, it was the only Kool & the Gang song I knew for years, until I realized later on that Celebration is also theirs.

And yeah, Whitney killed r&b and opened up doors for r&b albums to be full of disposable ballads with only a few standing out.

Timmy84 said:

I hate to say it but the Jacksons group was doing fine without Jermaine.

vainandy said:

It's better than Victory.

But it's very much of it's time. Riley and Babyface etc.

I love 'Maria' by Jermaine. Great pop/RnB.