Back on March 16, 1975, the Jackson 5 were guests on Cher’s CBS variety show. Michael was 16 years old. Cher was already one of the biggest stars on television.
They did a medley together, running through “I Want You Back,” “I’ll Be There” and “Never Can Say Goodbye.” The crowd loved every second.
Then came “Dancing Machine,” and that’s where things got interesting.
The brothers broke into a dance move their hit song had made famous all over the country. It was smooth and oddly mechanical, like the whole body had turned into a machine. And Cher, standing right there in the middle of them, tried her best to keep up step for step.
Watch how she does.
Cher and the Jackson 5 dancing together on her 1975 show
Keep your eye on Cher’s feet right next to the brothers. She’s game for it and she holds her own, but you can see just how much work those moves really are.
The dance they’re doing is the robot, the move that turned “Dancing Machine” into a sensation. The brothers made it look like nothing at all, as if they were born doing it.
Cher didn’t forget how tough it was. She later said: “Think of how hard it was for me to learn to do that, and the guys just knew how to do it.”
Coming from a performer as polished as she was, that’s quite an admission.
If you’ve got a few more minutes, the whole episode is worth a look.
The full Cher show episode featuring the Jackson 5
You get the other guests, the comedy bits and the full feel of a 1970s Saturday night in front of the TV. The Jacksons turn up partway through.
There’s a little piece of history tucked inside this clip too. Within a year of this taping, the group left Motown and changed their name to The Jacksons. So this is one of the last times you’ll see them on TV billed as the Jackson 5, the name the whole world first fell in love with.
And there’s young Michael, right in the middle of it, already pulling your eye toward him without even seeming to try.
That’s the fun of going back to a clip like this one. He’s just a teenager having a blast on live TV, with the whole story still ahead of him.