YouTube Gold: The Jackson Five On The Ed Sullivan Show
What a dynamic performance.
The Ed Sullivan show ran from 1948 to 1971. To put that in perspective, that’s three years after the end of World War II to the release of the first commercial microprocessor, the 4004 by Intel.
That time frame also features the Kennedy and King assassinations, the moon landing, Beatlemania, Woodstock and the breakup of the Beatles.
A lot happened in those 23 years, in other words.
During his legendary run, Sullivan showed different sides of his personality. He could be vindictive, but he also was well ahead of his time, welcoming acts that would have not been allowed elsewhere because the performers were Black. This let him put on acts like Bo Diddly, Sam Cooke and Fats Domino in a time when they couldn’t court a mass television audience.
Later he put on more popular groups like The Supremes, Sly and the Family Stone and the Jackson Five.
Michael Jackson morphed into something completely different later, but with his brothers, he was very young and dynamically talented.
The group was immensely popular, but Michael drove things. Take a look at this performance from the Sullivan show where he is just a powerhouse. Keep in mind that he is just 11 years old here.
Later in life, he became strange and possibly vile, but here, he’s just a kid putting on an incredible show.