Blame It on the Boogie
"Blame It on the Boogie" is a song released in 1978 by English singer-songwriter Mick Jackson. It has been covered by numerous other artists, including The Jacksons. The song was performed on "Musikladen" (January 1979), "Aplauso" (February 1979), "Sonja's Goed Nieuws Show" (2 February 1979) and "ABBA Special: Disco in the Snow Part 1". Background. The song was co-authored by Mick Jackson (credited as Michael George Jackson-Clarke) as well as Mick's brother David Jackson and Elmar Krohn. Although Mick Jackson recorded the song in 1977, "Blame It on the Boogie  was written in hopes of being sold to Stevie Wonder. The two versions of the song were widely released by the artists' respective labels - Warner Bros. and CBS - within one day of each other. Mick Jackson's track was showcased in 1978 at Midem where, according to Mick Jackson, The Jacksons' manager [Peter Kerstin] heard the track being played...and took a tape recording of it...back to the States [where] the Jacksons quickly recorded a version so it would be out before mine." The Mick Jackson recording was released by Atlantic Records in the US in August 1978 when  it reached #61, and #15 in the UK. According to Michael Jackson of the Jacksons, Bobby Colomby, who was producing the Jacksons' "Destiny" album, brought the group "Blame It on the Boogie". "It was an uptempo, finger-poppin'-time type song that was a good vehicle for the band approach we wanted to cultivate. I had fun slurring the chorus: [the lyric] 'Blame It on the Boogie' could be sung in one breath without putting my lips together." Chart records. Despite the Mick Jackson original reaching a No. 61 peak on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in September 1978, Epic Records that  month released the Jacksons' version of "Blame It on the Boogie" as the advance single from the "Destiny" album. Although "Blame It on the Boogie" returned the Jacksons to the Hot 100 after five flop singles, it was not the single to effect a major comeback for the Jacksons, peaking at #54; it would be the follow-up, "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", which would briefly restore the Jacksons' Top Ten fortunes. However, "Blame It on the Boogie" did reach No. 3 R&B and would be coupled with "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" on an extended  club play single which would reach No. 20 on the dance charts in 1979. In the UK, both the Mick Jackson version and the Jacksons' were released within a few days of each other in September 1978. The UK music press, struck by the rival versions being by similarly named artists, declared a "Battle of the Boogie" which Mick Jackson recalls as "great publicity...There was an equal balance of interest from the media about both releases – A good example is that my version came out first on "Top of the Pops"... The had the second week...Radio One played  The version and Capital Radio only played mine – It was fair." The Jacksons' version—incorrectly lauded by "Melody Maker" as their "self-penned song"—was the more successful version reaching Number 8 on the chart dated 4 November 1978; the Mick Jackson version—hailed by "NME" as "far superior"—had peaked at Number 15 on the chart for 21 October. Mick Jackson himself in 2003 said of the Jacksons' version of "Blame It on the Boogie": "[the original] version had 100% of our heart and soul in it but the Jacksons' version had the magic extra 2% that made it incredible." Music  video. A promotional music video by the Jacksons was created for "Blame It on the Boogie" in 1978. The video, featuring the group's members dancing on a black background, relied heavily on electronic trail effects, created at Image West, Ltd. using then-cutting edge equipment: the Scanimate analog computer system and a Quantel DFS 3000 digital framestore. The video also appears on the bonus disc of the DVD box set "Michael Jackson's Vision". Michael Jackson's 1993 biography states that the video marked his video debut. The Jacksons' very first promotional music video was "Enjoy Yourself". Other versions . Tina Charles has stated that she recorded "Blame It on the Boogie" prior to the Jacksons; her version was not released as "Sony [felt] it was not a strong enough song." Documentary. In 2010, filmmaker Patrick Nation made a Channel 4 documentary about Mick Jackson and the story of the song, entitled "The Other Michael Jackson: Battle of the Boogie". The documentary was co-written and presented by Mick's son Sam Peter Jackson and led to Mick Jackson's 1978 album "Weekend" (which features the original version of "Blame It on the Boogie") being re-released (for download on  the iTunes Store) for the first time in 30 years by Demon Music. To promote the documentary, Mick gave a rare television interview to "BBC Breakfast".