The Truck Driver's Gear Change Hall Of Shame FAQ  |  Browse by artist  |  Browse by title  |  Browse by year  |  Other stuff  

 

Culprit Michael Jackson REPEAT OFFENDER!
Title Rock With You
Year 1979
Written by Rod Temperton
Submitted by Siegfried Baboon

This is from Off The Wall, Jacko's first collaboration with legendary producer Quincy Jones (who also worked on Thriller and indeed much of his output). I find that there's something vaguely lonely and depressing about the sound of this song, with its thin synthesisers and one-finger melody, though I think it's supposed to be something of a get-up-and-dance crowd-pleaser.

I first realised the enormity of this gear change in the midst of a late-doors drinking session in the curiously inappropriate venue of Charlie Wright's International Bar. (Despite its curiously inappropriate name, this is in fact just a rough pub in the Shoreditch area of London which happens to open late.) It was pumping out at a curiously inappropriate volume over the loudspeakers, and although in retrospect it's easy to hear the chords kind of working their way up to it, I fell out of my chair with surprise. Well, almost. It doesn't sound quite so incredible when you're sitting sober in front of a computer, but it's still pretty spectacular.

Listen to the MP3Listen!