was anyone around or did anyone see the original broadcast of Motown 25 (when Michael Jackson performed "Billie Jean")? if so, what was it like the night you watched it? what was going on?

I didn't know how exciting it would actually be as I read about the show and the performances a few weeks before it was aired in Rolling Stone and the big deal in the articile was Dians's antics towards her past bandmates. Watching it that night was exciting. It was like our generation's watching Elvis or The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Or I imagine that is what it must have felt like to them back then.

I thought it was cool that Michael Jackson did a breakdance move that me and most other B-Boys were doing at the time.
[Edited 3/7/10 16:28pm]

yes, sadly i was there (just reminds me that i'm gettin' old!)

there had been promos all week, and i was excited to see it. number one, in the 80s, it was rare to see a special featuring black music. secondly, almost everyone you can name at motown had had a hit record that had made its mark on america. almost every act at motown has a classic hit. phenomenol.

most of the acts did only snippets of their music, and the j5 were no exception. because that was the group that i really wanted to see, i was so excited when they came on, and the audience too was super hyped.

seeing mj do that moonwalk for the first time was....jaw dropping. in this day and age when you can view the clip over and over again, it loses some of its impact. but at the time, it was so unexpected, it was just...wow. everyone and their mother was talking about mj the next day...and for most of the rest of the days of his life *sigh*.

it killed in the ratings, so nbc (i think it was that network) aired it again few days later. it was huge... HUGE.

I had been trying to find articles about the original airing, especially in Jet, but they only gave it a blurb in the issue the week later

yes, and it was just as exciting in my home as it was live, i'm sure! haha

kibbles said:

You were there? What was the story behind the Diana Ross/Supremes incident?

I remember watching it the night of the broadcast. My younger brother was doing the moowalk in the background...lol. That was such a long time ago.

I saw only bits and pieces of it. I had the TV on in the living room but I was mainly in the bedroom making a cassette tape from records and came into the living room to peak at the show from time to time. I wasn't really just dying to see it because I knew if it was a Motown show, they would have mostly "old" acts and I was heavily into current music at the time so the show didn't really appeal to me.

I knew Michael Jackson was going to be on the show but I never saw him as all that anyway. I liked his music and I liked the "Thriller" album at the time but it was pop so I could take it or leave it. When I saw clips of his performance later doing "The Moonwalk" and heard people on TV raving about it for damn near a week, I just laughed and sayed to myself...."Hell, that ain't nothing but The Glide or The Backslide. They've were doing that on "Soul Train" and "Black Gold" a few years ago and it's out of style now".

vainandy said:

that was my reaction also..
[Edited 3/7/10 21:36pm]

JasonWill1980 said:

Yes, I was there (well, to watch it on TV)... I can remember watching it along with having conversations with family members... And then Michael came out sliding across the stage, twirling his hat, dancing his ass off, and singing "Billie Jean!" I can still remember it clearly. It was like time stood still and everything and everyone just stopped, and the only thing moving was MJ. Conversation stopped. Everyone was riveted to the screen...including my grandparents!?! Then afterward the audience cheered and my siblings and I were saying damn we've never seen a performance as electrifying! And as great as Michael had been on other shows...that one was his moment in time...where he was inspired and inspiring to a point that no one could equal. Very rarely do you see live performances like that when someone moves from good to greatness!

I didn't but...

My parents watched it together and taped it on VHS. I have that tape in my room somewhere now.

My mom always told me what a great performance it ("Billie Jean") was to watch on TV and how it showed how fantastic of a performer of Michael was. Can't argue with that.
[Edited 3/7/10 22:53pm]

I was too young to remember seeing the original broadcast, but I did see it, my mother said I was glued to the TV set when the Jacksons came on, a 2 year old kid, don't know nothing about Motown, nothing about nothing, but I was paying close attention to them.

I can recall Stevie Wonder hosting SNL and he talked about the show before it aired

Later on when I was 4-5, I remember they used to reair the program on local stations during the holidays.

I have a tape of the NBC broadcast of Motown 25 with commercials and I have the "unedited" tape of Motown 25 they released.

Now that I'm older, I have a better appreciation for the program overall J5/Michael (I always loved the introduction with the audtion tape), Marvin's performance, Lionel's segment with the girl who had sickle cell, songwriters' conversation, Lester Wilson dancers, etc.

I saw the original broadcast.The next day in school,everyone was talking about MJ's electrifying performance.

poetcorner61 said:

That performance was a career-defining moment for Michael.He took control of the stage that night.With that one performance,he made sure that 'Thriller' would be the biggest album of 1983.The album was doing well before Motown 25,but after it aired,the album began selling like hotcakes.

SoulAlive said:

Yes, I remember watching when it originally aired. I was raised on Motown's music so the whole evnt was like at my house. It was so cool to see the original J5 on stage. It was cool to see the glove and the hat...and of course MJ doing the moonwalk. Now, in retrospect, it wasn't really all that great of a performance. Hat and glove, pelvic thrust, mash potato, camel walk, spin, moonwalk, stand on toes... It was just the right time in Michael's career, the right song, the right setting among all the greats that he had studied and learned from. It was MJ showing the world how far he'd come, and giving a glimpse into how far he could go.

Oh and I remember being let down at The Temptations performance. I'm STILL pissed that David Ruffin and Edward Kendricks weren't a part of that event, especially since the group was doing the reunion tour the year before. THEY.SHOULD.HAVE.BEEN.THERE.PERIOD.

I was never a DeBarge fan but there appearance was...alright.

Oh yeah. Michael Jackson's entire performance - including the J5 part - was unforgettable.

But when he dod "Billie Jean"...well, that was the most magnificent and unforgettable performance I've ever seen on TV. I could not measure its coolness quotient with numbers!

Anyone remember that horrible song High Energy did? Awful.

I didn't see it-I was still in diapers, but family legend is that my crazy uncle saw it. As soon as he saw Debarge, he yelled, "Since when did Motown start hiring Puerto Ricans?" and passed out again (Wild Turkey has always been my uncle's best friend). Everyone should have a crazy uncle like mine.

scriptgirl said:

scriptgirl said:

I have a FEW of them, baby!! Believe me when I tell ya!!

ViintageJunkiie said:

no, i watched on tv, like everyone else.

i'm glad to see that most posters remember it as i do...that the mj moment was the most talked about part of the show. funkpill and vainandy are in the minority on this one.

I remember seeing Motown 25 the night it aired. When MJ did the moonwalk it was like the world stopped. Everyone at school was talking about his performance the next day.

vainandy said:

Come on now, you know that most of the prime time audience that was watching Motown 25 that night didn't know anything about the classic Soul Train shows.
[Edited 3/8/10 9:27am]

I watched it and remember very lil of it; things that make an impression on me I recall things that don't....

sextonseven said:

even Fred Astaire phoned Michael after this performance,to compliment him.

kibbles said:

How so?

Of course it was a electrified performance, no doubt.

But the moonwalk was only a big deal to those who never seen the dance before.

So it was no big deal.

That move was going on in the mid 70's.

funkpill said:

Which to be fair, was most of the rest of the World.

Clever Michael.

Marrk said:

True, I will say this. Seeing him do it on TV, is nothing compared to seeing him do it live. I remember, when I saw him at the 30 anniversary special, he seemed to be in top form that night and seeing him do it live, was just NUTS! I have seen people do it before and after him, but his just has something extra to it.