This Place Hotel

"This Place Hotel" (originally named "Heartbreak Hotel") is a 1980 song by the Jacksons, written by Michael Jackson. While his brothers did not sing background vocals, they were credited with playing percussion on the album while brother Tito contributed a guitar solo. The song has a tempo of 98 beats per minute, making it notably slower than many of the other disco-based songs on the album. In the song, the protagonist speaks of a time when ten years ago, he took his girlfriend to a hotel for a romantic night—only to find out that it was designed specifically to break couples up. The staff at the hotel gave the girl the impression that he had cheated on her with someone else, something he did not do, which caused her to break up with him in the hotel.

"This Place Hotel"
Original artwork for UK vinyl release
Single by The Jacksons
from the album Triumph
ReleasedNovember 1980
Recorded1980
GenrePost-disco
Length5:44 (album version)
4:52 (single version)
LabelEpic
Songwriter(s)Michael Jackson
Producer(s)The Jacksons
The Jacksons singles chronology
"Lovely One"
(1980)		 "This Place Hotel"
(1980)		 "Can You Feel It"
(1981)

Record World praised Michael Jackson's lead vocal, the "hypnotic chorus backing" and the horn / string arrangement.[1]

Chart success

The song reached No. 22 on the Billboard pop singles chart and No. 2 on the R&B singles chart.[2] "This Place Hotel" was the group's second biggest single off their Triumph album, behind "Lovely One". The song, in turn, became a popular concert performance for the group's next two tours into Michael's own Bad tour. The song, like "Can You Feel It", was sampled fairly often in hip hop.

Name change

The song's title was changed to "This Place Hotel" to avoid confusion with the 1956 Elvis Presley hit, "Heartbreak Hotel". Michael said he was unaware of the Presley song and the fact that the title was changed. He also denied being influenced by Presley in his autobiography Moonwalk, but acknowledged Presley's importance to both black and white music.[3]

The original title of "Heartbreak Hotel" was used and released commercially on 7" vinyl in many countries, though a 2-track 12" maxi single was produced and promotional-only copies, given to radio stations and reviewers and a limited 2-track Japanese mini CD single was commercially released in November 1988 (using the newly chosen title), to coincide with the Michael Jackson Bad tour.

Performances

The song was performed on the Jacksons' Triumph Tour (thus appears on The Jacksons Live album) and was subsequently used on the Jacksons' Victory Tour. When Michael Jackson first toured as a solo act, "This Place Hotel" was the only Jacksons song to be used in both legs of the Bad World Tour, whereas the other songs by the group (with the exception of a medley of early Jackson 5 hits) were retired during the second leg. A spoken word and synth recording preceded the song on the first leg of the Bad tour, but for the second leg of the tour (and on the subsequent Dangerous World Tour) that recording was used as an intro to Jackson's hit "Smooth Criminal" instead.

Releases

The song was included on Michael Jackson's The Ultimate Collection and it has been remixed on the Immortal album in 2011 and was performed live during the Immortal World Tour (Cirque de Soleil) as well as Michael Jackson: One. It was also part of Jackson's Halloween-themed collection, Scream (2017). A live version of the song is available on the 2012 DVD Live at Wembley July 16, 1988. On March 23, 2014, a video clip of a live performance of the song from the Victory Tour was uploaded to the Jacksons' official YouTube account.

Track listing

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "This Place Hotel" (previously "Heartbreak Hotel").

7" vinyl single - US (Epic – 19-50959)[4]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Heartbreak Hotel"Michael Jackson4:49
2."Things I Do For You"T. Jackson, J. Jackson, M. Jackson, M. Jackson, R. Jackson,4:05
7" vinyl single - UK (Epic – S EPC 9391)[5]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Heartbreak Hotel"Michael Jackson4:47
2."Different Kind Of Lady"The Jacksons3:36
CD single - Japan[6]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."This Place Hotel"Michael Jackson5:45
2."Lovely One"Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson3:45
CD single 1989 - Austria (Epc 654555 3)[7]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Heartbreak Hotel"Michael Jackson5:42
2."Blame It on the Boogie"Mick Jackson, Dave Jackson, Elmar Krohn6:56

Personnel

Charts
Chart (1980–81) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[8] 22
U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles[9] 2

References
  1. "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. November 29, 1980. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 287.
  3. "Michael Jackson denied being influenced by Elvis Presley". 22 July 2021.
  4. Popoff, Martin (2010). Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1948–1991 (8th ed.). Krause. p. 603. ISBN 978-0-89689-958-2.
  5. The Sound Of The Crowd - a Discography of the '80s (Third Edition) By Steve Binnie - The Jacksons – Heartbreak Hotel], UK 7" vinyl single Epic – S EPC 9391
  6. suruga-ya.jp - The Jacksons - This Place Hotel] - Japan Mini CD single, JANコード: 4988010603953, 管理番号: 250029520, 発売日:1988/10/26, 定価: 956円メーカー:型番: 108P-3048
  7. The Sound Of The Crowd - a Discography of the '80s (Third Edition) By Steve Binnie - Heartbreak Hotel 3"CD single 1989
  8. "The Jacksons 5 Chart History: Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  9. "The Jackson 5 Chart History: Dance Singles Sales". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
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