ABC The Jackson 5

ABC

1970

The Jackson Five

Motown's 'The Corporation' didn't waste any time what-so-ever after 'I Want You Back' took off before they knocked out another hit for The J-5. In fact, 'I Want You Back' was still comfortably in the Top 10 and still a good month away from dropping off of the charts when the Jackson 5 released what would not only be their second #1 in a row, but would also become what many, if not most, fans consider their signature song.

Like 'I Want You Back', ABC's concept was pretty basic...a young man explaining to a young lady just how easy loving him would be....but the way The Corporation went about writing it was a bit unique, as they equated the lesson of love, so to speak, to the basic Three R's of education...with a little music class thrown in. Supposedly, Deke Richards was playing around with some piano chords, and as he doodled on the ol' ivories, those legendary lyrics (ABC...Easy as 1,2,3, Do Ray Me, Baby You and Me) just popped into his head.

 The tune he was creating those lyrics to? According to Freddy Perrin, Deke already knew those chords by heart because The Corporation, wanting to get The J-5's second single out while 'I Want You Back' was still on the charts, grabbed the music from I Want You Back's chorus, tweaked it a little, made a couple of other changes and used it as the melody for the song that would become 'ABC'.  Like 'I Want You Back', it was a fun-to-listen-to, high-energy tune that showcased Michael Jackson's then pre-pubescent vocals, and like their previous #1, it wasted no time in climbing the charts to the top spot. Needless to say, The Corporation done good, and The J-5 took it into orbit.

ABC was also the title song from The Jackson 5's second album, and the now-familiar, 'Bu-buh-bu-bu-bu-buh!!!' that kicked it off was first heard on American Bandstand three days before it's February 24^th release. It debuted on The Billboard Hot 100 at #41 on March 14^th and wasted no time what so ever climbing the charts...the next week it broke into the Top 20 at # 14, and cracked the Top 10 a week after that, on March 28^th, at #6. It snagged the #1 spot on April 25^th 1970...Knocking a little tune named 'Let It Be' by some group from England out of the top spot in the process...and hung on to #1 for two weeks before dropping back to #2 , staying there for a pair of weeks before spending one more week in the Top 10 (#9), a single week in the Top 20 (#15) and finishing out it's chart run at #30, dropping off altogether on June 6^th.

'ABC' enjoyed a 13 week chart run...Nine of them in the Top 10, eleven of them in the Top 20, and all but one of them in the Top 40...and that one week it missed the Top 40...it's debut 'week...it barely missed. While it was at it, Billboard also listed 'ABC' as the fifteenth biggest song of 1970 (Spoiler Alert...it beat out another of their first four #1s by one spot)

ABC was all over Top 40 radio as my 7th grade year wound down and the summer before 8th grade kicked off (Yes,,,I in fact am making myself feel old here.) and when I say all over Top 40 radio, I mean of course, all over AM Top 40 radio. I hadn't moved to the Richmond area yet, so I and my cohorts heard it on Tidewater Virginia's legendary AM Top 40  powerhouse, WGH (Famous 1310).

 If anything, ABC was even more frenetic and energetic that their first hit, and had a feel-good-move-yer-body-to-it vibe that just couldn't be ignored or resisted. It was not only one of The J-5's signature hits, it was a text-book example of what was called 'Bubblegum Rock'...light-hearted, simple, fun, high energy tunes aimed directly at the pre-pubescent and barely pubescent crowd that are today known as 'Tweens'. It worked in a big way. For a lot of us younger Seventies kids...most especially the young ladies among us...the J-5's songs, along with songs by another well known dude from the era named Donny Osmond, were among the first hits songs we really got into

ABC...Like pretty much any hit associated with Michael Jackson...has had some serious staying power. You'll hear it pretty regularly on Oldies stations even now, as well as in the Movie 'Daddy Daycare, and when The Jackson 5 played a reunion show back in 2001 it was one of the songs that led the show off, much to the crowd's delight.

Us Seventies Kids remember it as a fun little tune from our pre-high-school youth that harks back to a far simpler time, when passing Ms Fishbreath's Evil Algebra Test and wondering whether your crush would notice the fact of your existence were the biggest worries life had to offer. When you hear that familiar ''Bu-buh-bu-bu-bu-buh!!!', you're back to a simpler time for just a click under three minutes. Probably with a smile on your face. While head-bopping and lip-syncing. And that's a good thing!

So Enjoy!  'ABC, by The Jackson 5


The Jackson Five performed their brand new, soon-to-be-chart-topper on Dick Clark's American Band Stand on February 21st, 1970 , just three days before it debuted on the Hot 100. It's easy to see the star MJ was becoming here, as well as easy to see why many J-5 fans say that their songs were a bit removed from being true Bubblegum Pop, even though that's the demographic that the music was aimed at. The Jackson Five truly performed their music, and there were a lot of R&B and Soul elements incorporated into their music that other 'Bubblegum Pop' songs just didn't have. Their music was truly unique, as well as classic.

 

As a second bonus...take a look at this meeting of classics. The Jackson Five appeared on the Carol Burnett Show to not only perform their then-new hit, ABC, they smoothly incorporated it with one of that classic and long-running variety show's comedy sketch's...a sketch starring, of course, the incomparable Carol Burnett. OH....yeah...an earthquake occurred as this was being filmed...watch for it, it's noted pretty prominently in the video. Carol Burnett being as professional, cool, and collected as they come, improvised and incorporated it into the sketch without missing a beat. 

The J-5 performed the full version of ABC in the sketch...looks like they had a blast filming it!