![]() Much of the most fascinating material in Lee’s film unparcels in detail the construction and impact of songs that proved key career markers: The Jacksons’ 1979 single “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground),” with its auspiciously snaky piano line and modernist (“dissonant,” as one A&R man puts it) verse structure, earns a significant chunk of screen time, not least since it pre-empted the cool sonic sheen that “Off the Wall” would bring to the party six months later. Former Epic head Ron Alexenburg, one of several record-biz honchos rounded up by Lee, admits the contract was a reluctant one on the label’s part. By the time they left Motown in 1975 to sign with Epic Records, seeking more creative autonomy over their work, the rebranded Jacksons were viewed in the industry as a spent force, their cartoon tie-in TV series having eroded their credibility as a crossover pop act. After a stunning string of No. 1 hits in 19, the Jackson 5’s popularity ebbed and flowed, their subsequent releases earning them higher chart placings in the R&B ghetto than in the mainstream. ![]() ![]() ![]() Lee sets up this glittering self-invention by examining a period of considerably less assurance: The doc’s first half is concerned with the patchy growing pains of Jackson’s time in the fraternal harmony group that made him famous.
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