Joe Jackson – the erratic traditionalist turns 70

In 1979, the British singer/songwriter Joe Jackson released his debut album “Look Sharp.” A collection of taut pop-rock songs that, both in terms of quality and energy, rivalled Elvis Costello’s debut “My Aim Is True” from two years earlier. The acidic radio hit “Is She Really Going Out with Him” was simply everywhere at the time.

I am writing this on the day Joe Jackson turns 70. And in the intervening years, he has not only fulfilled all expectations—his career has also taken quite a few completely unexpected turns along the way.

He followed his debut with a series of excellent rock albums and several radio hits. But already his fourth album revealed Jackson’s taste for eccentric concepts: Assembling a traditional big band and recorded an album full of swing numbers from the songbooks of artists like Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway (“Joe Jackson’s Jumpin’ Jive”).

After a couple of fine lounge-inspired pop albums, Jackson had a new idea: To capture the intensity of a live performance, he recorded the album “Big World” (1986) in front of an audience—who were strictly instructed not to applaud so as not to ruin the recordings. The album was released on vinyl as a 3-sided double album. Since Jackson had just enough songs for three sides, the fourth side of the record was left blank.

Since then, Jackson has ventured into classical orchestral music—he released his first symphony in 1999—and has also been in demand as a film composer.

Joe Jackson has always been a songwriter’s darling due to his ability to combine catchy melodies with surprising twists—”It’s Different for Girls” must be one of the most rhythmically twisted hit singles ever. On the other hand, he has never been that popular with mainstream audiences, and has never really cared for the role of “pop star”. When audiences start singing along to “Is She Really Going Out with Him,” he would dryly comment that “that’s probably the worst singing I’ve ever heard in my life!”

Jackson is still musically active—dividing his releases fairly evenly between the pop-rock genre and various quirky projects. As an example, his latest release, “What a Racket!” (2023) is a collection of songs by the fictional music hall performer Max Champion—all, of course, written by Jackson himself.

Joe Jackson is still a musical chameleon. But all his different identities share the unmistakable Jacksonian songwriting traits: The juxtaposition of the seemingly familiar with the pleasantly surprising.

Happy birthday!