Why BERRY GORDY HID the JACKSON 5 [S1E4] 

Thanks to Blais @THE_MJVAULT with a dope J5 Pixar render. Respect.
We have definitely been cheated out of one the deepest and most unbelievable bits of pop music lore. They gave us a tale of the brother boy band chanced upon by the superstar fairy princess goddess queen. All due respect to Diana Ross, but the true story of the Jackson Five's quest for fire is a banger.
For the life of me I can't imagine why Berry went with the Diana Ross one. I know they were deep in the throws of a messy affair. Maybe its something like he was gifting her this badass boy band. She was in the middle of excising herself from the Supremes and becoming the iconic EGOT aspirant we know she became. Motown was actually moving operations to Los Angeles right around the same time. Berry Gordy's future vision for Motown had Diana Ross placed smack dab in the center of everything.
I think the idea that the Jackson 5 was rubbing shoulders with the Chi-lites, Sam & Dave, Etta James and Smokey Robinson by night then rushing home just in time for breakfast and grammar school has a kind of vigilante appeal to it. Its almost like they were consummate performers by night and mild mannered school boys by day. They pressed their case to more record labels than I had known. Stax Volt had a shot at them so did RCA Victor. Motown at least 3 acts and 2 office staff go back to Hitsville with the same story. "Some kid in the midwest is the second coming of the great one's!"
The Jackson 5 were known and they were known to be fantastic performers. The problem is that Michael was 5 or 6 when they began their midwest movements. Most of the power players pointed to his age in particular. He was good, maybe even great. But what happens to my investment when his voice changes in 2 or 3 years? What happens when his looks change? Those questions were enough to keep the Jacksons and their father Joseph riding back and forth in that Volkswagen microbus.
Motown was their proper home. Motown had an infrastructure in place for the Jackson 5 to thrive right from the start. Berry's plan was slick. It was probably the very first insider plant model in R&B. Yes, Michael and his brothers had legit talent. That is a fact that can't be questioned. However, Berry Gordy was in control. Berry Gordy was determined to turn the Jackson 5 into action figures, Saturday morning cartoons, mainstays on the variety shows of the day. That's why you can google American Bandstand, the Ed Sullivan Show, Hollywood Palace, the Flip Wilson Show, Top of the Pops, Soul Train, Solid Gold, every Diana Ross Special and you will see the classic Jackson 5 performances. You'll seen Michael Jackson's national TV debut on the Miss Black America Pageant too. Multiple Carol Burnett Shows as well. Michael Jackson debuts his version of the robot on Soul Train. As you would expect...it's all electrifying.
This was Michael Jackson's education. He learned at the earliest age that the entertainer must entertain. If you wanted to know if you were good, the numbers are always the way to measure yourself.
In this exploration of Michael and the Jackson family, this period is crucial. This period is where Michael Jackson picked up his competitiveness. Michael Jackson didn't know it, but as he joined the Motown roster he was also saving an American institution. Motown was looking at an uncertain future. Diana Ross had left the Supremes, the Temptations were dealing with substance abuse issues among their soloists, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were unfulfilled as artists and had been pressing Berry Gordy for artistic freedom. Motown was built on a cookie cutter assembly line formula where his team of writers wrote hits. Just the hits. Motown wasn't built for experimentation. So as the marquis changed from the Supremes, temptations and Four Tops to Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson Five, Berry focused the writers on hits for his commercial product teen band. The Jackson 5's first years were a period of great success. This was also when they were most exploited as corporate products. Hard to tell if one outweighed the other. Sinnik22's The Thriller effect is doing the research and UNCOVERING every drop of information that we find. Cuz this was no fairy tale.