Fifty years ago this month, Michael Jackson and his brothers put out a brand-new song called “Enjoy Yourself.” It was a hit right away. It climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and all the way to No. 2 on the R&B chart.
It came out on October 22, 1976, and it was the first single the brothers released after leaving Motown, the label that had made them stars. Written and produced by the hit team of Gamble and Huff, it had everyone up and dancing.
But there was something strange going on with the group at that exact moment. They had a Top 10 record on their hands, and yet they were no longer allowed to call themselves the Jackson 5.
Can you guess why?
Here’s the song that started this new chapter for them.
The Jacksons’ first single after leaving Motown
Give this one a listen and you’ll hear a group stepping into a fresh sound. It was a new label, a new name and a new start, all at once.
So why couldn’t they use their own name?
It came down to who actually owned it. When the brothers left Motown to record for a new label called Epic, Motown went to court. The company would only let them go on one condition. They had to drop the name “Jackson 5,” because Motown owned it.
So the brothers became The Jacksons. Same family, same talent, brand-new name on the marquee.
There was another big change at the same time. Jermaine stayed behind at Motown after marrying Hazel Gordy, so the youngest brother, Randy, stepped into his spot. “Enjoy Yourself” was the first single to officially feature Randy with the group.
The album that followed that fall, simply titled “The Jacksons,” had one more little piece of history on it. It included a song called “Blues Away,” the very first song Michael ever wrote that got published.
It’s strange to think the biggest name in music once had to fight just to keep a version of his own family name. But the brothers made it work, and the new name carried them to even greater heights.
Give the song a play and hear where the next chapter began.