Song of the Day: Michael Jackson “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (Demo Version)”
Sometimes its incredibly fascinating to go back to well known songs that you’ve heard a million times and listen to an alternative take or demo. The differences in performances between how a musician initially conceived of a song vs the final, polished released product can sometimes be absolutely jarring. Michael Jackson‘s early demo for his seminal disco opus, “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” is a great example of this. This 4-track demo, which appears to feature someone drumming on glass bottles and cowebells with chopsticks (played by Michael, Randy and Janet Jackson), some great chicken-scratch guitar and Michael riffing on an a cheap organ while singing his guts out. Michael is an absolute triple threat here: great singer, greater songwriter and great musician.
This stripped down version of the song, despite the primitive instrumentation, still sounds amazingly fleshed out. Most of the verses are there (though some of the deeper, more existential observations from the final product have yet to be inserted), as is the melody and overall groove of the final version. Indeed, as polished a pop property as Off The Wall proved to be (and Quincy Jones was a genius at getting that little bit of extra sparkle out of production elements), this demo could almost work as a gritty, nightclub soul cut. Its also fun to hear little details like Michael and his siblings clowning around a bit before they role tape.
Amid all the personal controversy that blighted the last 10-15 years of his life, people often forget what a complete musical phenomena Michael Jackson was. This demo (along with a demo take on “Working Day and Night” also found on the 2001 CD re-release of the album) reveal the gestation of some of these disco anthems that we all know so well. Despite his complex and often difficult backstory, this demo helps you to remember Michael Jackson before all the controversy and scandal and perhaps re-discover just what a talented musician and songwriter he was.
