By 1974 the Jackson 5 had not only added their younger brother Randy to the group, but were also on a downturn in the music industry. Before Dancing Machine their last top 10 hit was in 1972 with Sugar Daddy.

Part of this was that Motown wasn’t sure in what direction they wanted the act to go and most of the brothers were not happy with the direction they were heading.

Dancing Machine brought them back to the spotlight reaching number 2 on the Pop charts and Number 1 on the R&B Charts. It would be thier last Top 10 release on Motown.

The song appeared on two of their albums. It was the closing song on 1973′s Git It Together, an album that had them recording a number of songs first recorded by others, and as the title song for the 1974 albums Dancing Machine.

Although they had been popular since the beginning of 1970 they had only been nominated for one Grammy award with their Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals nomination for Dancing Machine they received just their second. They lost to Rufus featuring Chaka Khan.

The group would release one more album for Motown before moving to CBS Records in 1976 and changing their name to The Jacksons. Through legal moves Motown was able to retain the rights to the name Jackson 5 as well as Jermaine, who stayed with Motown. Jermaine had married Berry Gordy’s daughter, Hazel, around the same time that this song was recorded.

Michael Joseph Jackson * August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

The Jackson 5ive series debuted on September 11, 1971 with the last episode showing on September 1, 1973 on ABC. Season 1 had 17 episodes with Season 2 adding another 6. Other than the music of the brothers none of them voiced the parts of their cartoon images.

Beginning on September 9, 1972 the Jackson Five was joined in cartoon land by the Osmonds. In this case the brothers voiced their cartoon images and were join by their younger brother Jimmy. 17 episodes were produced in their single series.