Released February 19, 1974 Genre Funk | Format 7" single Label Motown
M 1286 | |
Recorded April - May 1973
Hitsville West, Los Angeles Length 3:30 (album version)
2:43 (single version)
4:25 (alternate version) | ||
"Dancing Machine" is a song recorded by American R&B outfit The Jackson 5, released as a single in 1974. The group's first US Top Ten hit since 1971's "Sugar Daddy", "Dancing Machine" hit #1 in Cash Box and reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, it hit #1 on the R&B charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1974. It brought The Jackson 5 their second Grammy Award nomination in 1975 for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, losing to Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good".
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Background
The song, which reportedly sold over three million copies, popularized the physically complicated Robot dance technique, devised by Charles Washington in the late 1960s. Michael Jackson first performed the dance on television while singing "Dancing Machine" with the Jackson 5 on an episode of Soul Train.
"Dancing Machine", originally recorded for the group's 1973 album G.I.T.: Get It Together, was also the title track of their 1974 album Dancing Machine released in 1974 as a remix for a response to the success of the single.