Blame It on the Boogie

In this song, The Jacksons are dancing machines that can't help grooving all night long. There is a hint of storyline about leaving a girl behind ("that night I kissed our love goodbye"), which might be why the boogie is to blame.

This was written by Yorkshireman Mick Jackson. He wrote it for Stevie Wonder originally and he was asked by Global records, Munich to record the track himself. At the 1978 Midem Music Festival in Cannes, France it was played for the first time and a member of The Jacksons entourage was there searching for tracks. He was amazed by the name coincident and was impressed by the track itself. He secretly taped it and went back to the States so the band could record it as quickly as possible before Mick's version was released. There was a race to release the tracks - it was called "The Battle of the Boogie" in the newspapers and it was perfect press material: two Michael Jacksons, two versions of "Blame It On The Boogie." The songs were out within days of each other and it was one of the rare occasions in the modern day that artists charted the same time with the same song. Some fans preferred Mick Jackson's more soulful version and others the more uptempo Jackson's version. Mick Jackson's version reached #15 in the UK and #61 in the US.

The first "blame it" hit came in 1963 with "Blame It On The Bossa Nova." The Bee Gees adapted the lyrical concept in the disco era in 1975 when they blamed it on the nights on Broadway. After The Jacksons blamed it on the boogie, more blame followed in the '80s: "Blame It On Love" by Smokey Robinson & Barbara Mitchell (1983) "Blame It On The Radio" by John Parr (1986) "Blame It On The Rain" by Milli Vanilli (1989)