JACKSON 5 - I WANT YOU BACK / ABC

I WANT YOU BACK

Released : October 6, 1969 

Charted:  UK: #2  US: #1 (1 wk)

“I Want You Back” is the first national single by the Jackson Five. It was released by Motown and became the first number-one hit for the band on January 31, 1970. It was performed on the band's first television appearances, on October 18, 1969, on Diana Ross's The Hollywood Palace and on their milestone performance on December 14, 1969, on The Ed Sullivan Show.

What a way to announce yourselves to the world. When The Jackson 5 released their debut Motown single “I Want You Back”, they became an immediate sensation. This was a product of a new Motown system. Gordy had just moved the label’s operations from Detroit to Hollywood, where the Jacksons recorded the song. It’s the first big hit from the new songwriting/production unit known as the Corporation — Gordy himself alongside Freddie Perren, Alphonso Mizell, and Deke Richards. The song was originally meant for Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Diana Ross was also going to record it at one point. But in the end, Gordy knew where it should go. Ultimately, the Corporation existed only to crank out Jackson 5 hits, and they only lasted a couple of years, but they came up with some songs that will resonate until long after we’re all dead.

"I Want You Back" explores the theme of a lover who decides that he was too hasty in dropping his partner. An unusual aspect about "I Want You Back" was that its main lead vocal was performed by a tween, a then-11-year-old Michael Jackson.

The Jackson 5 went on to do great things; they were the first group, for instance, to see their first four singles all hit #1. And Michael would, of course, do great things on his own.

ABC 

Released : February 24, 1970

Charted:  UK: #8  US: #1 (2 wks)

“ABC” is a song released as a single for group’s second album of the same name. The song knocked the Beatles’ “Let it be” off the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970, and was No. 1 on the soul singles chart for four weeks. In this Motown classic, 'ABC' sees Michael Jackson attempting to woo a girl on the playground saying it's "as simple as ABC, do re mi and 1-2-3".

“ABC,” the Jackson 5’s second Motown single, is a totally, shamelessly formulaic work. Its melody isn’t too far removed from what they’d done with “I Want You Back.” The arrangement wasn’t much different, either. Both songs are fast and jittery and joyous, and both of them are driven by the overwhelming, exhilarated yawp of the 11 year old Jackson and by the way that Michael and his brothers would euphorically bounce their voices off of each other. Gordy was one of the four members of the Corporation, the songwriting and producing team who’d given “I Want You Back” to the Jacksons. And the Corporation also wrote and produced “ABC.” Pretty much everything about “ABC” is an attempt to replicate the success of “I Want You Back”.

Cash Box said "Having whetted the world’s appetite with "I Want You Back” the Jackson 5 makes it back with another dynamite side cast in the image of its million seller. Searing vocals and the familiar drive of the Motown supporting cast assure another giant here”. Billboard said "This pulsating swinger has all the sales and chart potential of the initial entry ‘I Want You Back’”. Record World said the song proved that "the Jackson 5 are Motown's newest supergroup.