Michael Jackson — “Farewell My Summer Love”

Entered Top 40:  June 23, 1984  
3 weeks   
Peaked at: 38  

Here’s a cash-grab from Berry Gordy. The Jackson 5 had left Motown for Epic Records in 1975; all except Jermaine, who had married into the Gordy family. In 1982 and 1983, of course, Michael Jackson’s Thriller had become the best-selling album of all time, placing a then-record seven singles in Billboard’s Top 10, with two of them reaching #1. So Motown went to the vaults, dug up some old Michael Jackson tracks, and refined the production and accompaniment.

The thing is, Motown was never shy about making sure a steady stream of product was out there. I mean, one of the first songs we covered in this project was an old album track reissued when a grieving Marvin Gaye wouldn’t promote more current released. What I’m getting at is: if this was worth a damn, you would have heard it from Motown sooner than 1984.

Unless he shows up guesting, which I think is unlikely, this is the only time we’ll run into Michael Jackson. He remained too big a deal for the rest of the time period I’ll cover. One posthumous song, “Hold My Hand” with Akon, hit #39 in 2010, but I’m not going into this century.