The Culture Corner: 45 years of Michael Jackson’s ‘Off the Wall’ : World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall

Courtesy of the artist

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Courtesy of the artist

Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall

Courtesy of the artist

Today, it’s another trip to The Culture Corner with John Morrison, and we are digging into another legendary album. It was a game-changer, in 1979, when Michael Jackson teamed up with Quincy Jones for Off the Wall.

Morrison says it was a dramatic departure from Michael’s previous solo albums and his work with The Jackson 5.

“Off the Wall was the first record where we hear Michael Jackson exercising full creative autonomy outside of the Motown system,” he says.

Join us as we celebrate this iconic album’s 45th anniversary with a deep dive.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.