I always thought they both have idol appeal and they both are soooo talented! What happened?




Especially Randy! his talent was slept on! for real
Even MJ said Randy is the man lol!
I love Janet but how the fuck did she blow up and he didn't?

Other than Michael I always thought that Jermaine was by far the most talented Jackson. In my opinion Janet has a very poor voice.

I think Motown mishandled Jermaine and I don't know why Randy didn't continue
He's so talented! Possibly the most talented Jackson!

trueiopian said:

So did Arista...
[Edited 7/4/09 17:58pm]

trueiopian said:

no jackson is more talented than my michael!
[Edited 7/4/09 18:34pm]

midiscover said:

trueiopian said:

I dig his input on keyboards which you can hear/see on studio/live-footage of The Jacksons. He co-wrote on some solid songs of The Jacksons' catalogue during their CBS years.
His voice sounds okay on studio-recordings but imo it showed that his voicepower was lesser on stage, especially with a force as MJ besides him.
A live-version such as "Can You Feel It" is a good example of that.

His debut-single is cool though

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

Randy is.
Multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, writer, singer and dancer
He's very underrated.

trueiopian said:

Randy could have given Bobby Brown a run for his money

trueiopian said:

Please listen to his voice here. Barely can't be heard. Yes he can sing, but it's not an oustanding & talented part of his abilities imo :

suga10 said:

He sure could've!
I wish he never chickened out he could've dominated the New Jack Swing scene if he wanted to.

Shango said:

Yes, I know
But his voice is far better then the many R&B artists we have out now that's for sure
MJ is def. a stronger vocalist. I think MJ and Jermaine can duke it out for who is the best

Randy & Jermaine could've had careers if they wanted. I think like most of them except Janet, they weren't as confident because they expected it to be a Jackson 5/like Michael thing so they stopped. All of them did. Don't know where 'Toya or Rebbie fit in it but the Jackson brothers were either not willing to do it or petrified to do it or in the case of Jermaine, couldn't do it without being compared to his brother.

Timmy84 said:

I think they all feared being compared with Michael. Afterall Michael was the biggest star in the world (still is), but around the time they were thinking of solo careers, it must have been rough.
[Edited 7/4/09 18:58pm]

Yeah, Jermaine's voice is quite solid. But check if you can some contemporay singers like Anthony Hamilton, Cee-Lo Green, Frank McComb (sounding close to the late Donny Hathaway), Joe, Kenny Lattimore, Lamone, Raphael Saadiq, Rashaan Patterson, Stokely (Mint Condition), Xantone Blaqc, who don't belong to that category of singers with weaker voices.

suga10 said:

I don't know if they feared being compared to him because Janet was consistently being asked and compared to her brother but eventually became an artist in her own right. I'm sure they could've done the same..

trueiopian said:

But why didn't they is the million dollar question, right?

Janet's first 2 albums did okay in the charts until the third made the radical change. I guess that with the help of Jam & Lewis who were one of the producers creating a popular sound at the time,
it gave that extra push for her to score high in the charts. The fact that they sticked together as a team and created a few more albums with quality material is why here career sailed better.
Heavy promotion by Janet's record companies obviously paid off as well. The fresh MTV/video-era was some good promotion too and got her a lot of new fans.
[Edited 7/4/09 19:24pm]

Shango said:

It wasn't just Jam & Lewis. Weren't they producing other artists at the time and they didn't go anywhere on the charts....
Janet had the total package like Mike. The dancing, songs and image
She did what Mike did and created an image for herself!

trueiopian said:

True & good points. I just feel it was a combination of her skills + the musical input of J&L who had their part in the succes-formula. Their work for the SOS Band got much recognition.
Without the music, where would a project be ? Her first 2 albums had probably a less stronger concept than "Control", which appealed to a majority of female fans.
[Edited 7/4/09 19:19pm]

Shango said:

Plus let's not forget that Janet did wanna try something different after the personal shit she went through so for John picking Jimmy & Terry for her and being determined to make it, she got through.

The other Jacksons, for some reason, weren't able to do it and besides Jermaine was the only other brother who had solo success.
[Edited 7/4/09 19:30pm]

Timmy84 said:

I think consistency of releasing work might help an artist grow. This was certainly the case with Janet and Jermaine. Janet's run in the 80's of albums was quite consistent ( 1982 / 1984 / 1986 / 1989 ).
Jermaine had a consistent run of album-releases in the 70's and 80's. Especially during 1982, his album including the wave-ish title-track "Let Me Tickle You Fancy" got overshadowed by his brother's album , as many albums of other artists got overshadowed. After that he had got a good year with singles like "Do What You Do" / "Dynamite", got asked to record a theme-song for the movie "Perfect" and did also a duet with Pia Zadora which video got promoted.
Randy debuted with a single in the late 70's and continued his solowork 10 years later in the newjack swing era. Succesful acts in that era were Guy, Johnny Gill and a number of others, so i have no idea how well Randy's work did at that time.
[Edited 7/4/09 19:46pm]

Shango said:

Yeah I don't see how they would've even got a foot in the door. Jermaine probably but Randy?

Timmy84 said:

Yep, and is/was John McClain actually the co-owner of A&M (Alpert & McClain) ?

Shango said:

No that was Jerry Moss. John was a record executive though. I think he was A&R for A&M.

Timmy84 said:

Yeah of course, Jerry Moss, thanks ... it slipped my memory lol . One of the first times i remember seeing McClain's name being mentioned was on the album "Kickin" by The Brothers Johnson.

Shango said:

Yeah he been doing it since the 1970s, actually his career began around the late 1960s. I forget the year A&M was founded, I believe '61 or '62, not sure. Could've been earlier but John had been at it for a long time.

Cool

Jermaine was always my fav Jackson, to tell the honest truth. It's damn tragic what happened there because he could have definitely been far bigger than he was. People may not remember, but Jermaine was quite popular in his day even when MJ was at the top. He's a true rnb singer in that great tradition that I miss so much. I assume you guys know the story of why he ended up estranged from his family in the Motown-CBS debacle, so I won't go into it.

Randy, being the youngest boy and Jermaine's "replacement", had a different problem. I think it was merely a case of "one Jackson too many". The suits and the public seems very skeptical of younger siblings of superstars, no matter how talented they may be. Since Randy wasn't apart of the original J5, perhaps he was viewed as riding their coattails, no matter how unfairly. AFAIK about Randy, he was the real sleeper in the family, but lots of things come down to preception. Methinks that's what really hindered Randy.

Timmy84 said:

Unlike any of the brothers, Janet had a name in her own right, as an actress. I think it'a fair to say that much of Janet's initial success came as a singer because she had fans as an actress. Janet had been on Good Times, Diff'rent Strokes, and Fame by the time she made her 1st album. That's quite alot of exposure in her own right.

brooksie said:

Can't say there's a point I'd disagree with you on. You pretty much nailed it.