Editor’s note: Here is another post by Matt Thurston, a regular Top One-Hit Wonders contributor.

Listening to Jermaine Jackson perform Michael Jackson’s supposed “favorite song” – Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” – at Michael’s public funeral/concert/political-event at the Staples Center on Tuesday, I was struck once again by the cruel twist of genetic fate that branded one Jackson brother with a voice worthy of multiple record contracts, hit songs, music videos, and eventual enshrinement in the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Jackson 5), but the other Jackson brother with a set of vocal pipes so superior he’d be branded “King” by people on every continent in the world.

To say Michael’s career eclipsed Jermaine’s would be a gross misuse of the word “eclipse.” Michael’s Sun and Jermaine’s Moon aren’t even in the same solar system.

Though Jermaine has probably long since made peace with the talent gap that separates him from Michael, I’ve often wondered how Jermaine felt back in the 1960s when he was asked (or not asked?) to step aside as the original lead singer of the Jackson Brothers to make way for little brother Michael as lead singer of the newly renamed Jackson 5? Was he bitter, angry, or sad? Or was he relieved?

He’s Good, But He’s No Michael

Or maybe he hasn’t made peace? Fortysomething years later, now singing at Michael’s funeral, I had the same thought Berry Gordy and the other Motown luminaries probably thought back in the 1960s: “He’s good, but he’s no Michael.” It is the same thought millions of people have no doubt thought every time Jermaine opens his mouth to sing.

What must it be like to be judged not on your own ability, but on the gulf that separates you from another greater than you? To hear Jermaine sing is not to hear Jermaine’s voice, but to hear white noise, to hear the negative space that separates Jermaine from Michael. It’s a curse based solely on blood, a curse tens of thousands of other vocal artists, also inferior to Michael Jackson, do not bear.

Jermaine Jackson Releases Dynamite Two Years After Thriller

Watching Jermaine sing I was brought back to 1984 when Jermaine released the album Dynamite, mere months after the release of Michael’s seminal and record-breaking Thriller. It spawned two singles, “Dynamite” and “Do What You Do” charting #15 and #13 respectively on the Billboard U.S. Pop Chart. And like Michael’s Thriller videos, the videos for “Dynamite” and “Do What You Do” were big-concept extravaganzas. The “Dynamite” video something of a cheesy “Beat It” wannabe (or a “Bad” precursor). “Do What You Do” something of a mini movie, with a script, spoken word lines, multiple set locations, costumes, etc.
Buy the songs

Watching the “Do What You Do” video in 1984 I had the same thought I had on Tuesday: “He’s good, but he’s no Michael.” (Watching the “Dynamite” video I thought, “Yikes, that’s really quite bad!”) (By the way, how does Michael’s red jacket in “Beat It” become iconic, but Jermaine’s orange dayglow outfit in “Dynamite” become ridiculous? Holding everything else equal, if Michael and Jermaine switched outfits, would the world see the orange dayglow outfit as iconic today, and the red jacket as ridiculous???)

I never hear “Dynamite” anymore. But when “Do What You Do” happens to come on some soft rock radio station, I turn the volume up. It’s got a nice, soothing, melodic vibe. It’s good. Really good even. But it’s no Michael.

Watch Jermaine Jackson’s “Dynamite” video

Buy “Dynamite”

Watch “Do What You Do” video

Buy “Do What You Do”

Buy Michael Jackson’s The Ultimate Collection