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Question about 'Off The Wall' rear cover

Gonetoosoon

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What is Michael holding in his hand???
 
I've always wanted to know what he's holding in this picture, to me it looks like some kind of remote, but I'm probably wrong.
 
I thought it was a harmonica but it could be chalk as he could have written the name of the album on the wall.
 
Looks like chalk to me. The way "Michael Jackson Off The Wall" is written, it looks like it is written in chalk.
 
It's chalk. Is this on the CD rear cover, or did they do another run of the LP with the newer photos? Because I have the first release LP and it's the earlier photoshoot with Michael's afro a little bigger.
 
It doesn't look like chalk at all to me. My guess would be it's a folding comb or knife. It's hard to tell. It deff looks metal and something folds into it.
 
It does kind of look like metal, but I think for the purposes of the cover it has to be chalk. And I don't think Michael would let himself be photographed with a knife held that way....
 
k remember in school all those teachers had the metal chalk holders so they wouldn't get their hands dirty... That is what he is holding.

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Man... I think I must have been blind so far... Not just about the metallic chalk holder, but the writings on that wall, that I didn't even notice until now that they read 'The Whole World's Gone Off The Wall'... That just changes the perspective of how 'Off The Wall' was just this disco testimony of the end of the dance era, or just an album of Michael's coming-of-age, and how he's singing about how you're starting to live crazy as young people are 'supposed' to live and have fun at that age.. This is so fascinating for me right now... ^

In the Bible, writing on the wall foretells misfortunes, and, basically, the fall of the Empire of Babilon. .. How ironic... Not just cuz Babilon today is clearly represented by Hollywood. .. So, it's like.. yeah. .. I love the double meanings you often can find in Michael's work, and how, in this case, 'off the wall' is both defined as carefree and insane, meaning dangerous. And how his album titles progressed from that, to 'Thriller' (in the entertainment sense of the word giving you thrills, and the horror one giving you nightmares and fright), to "Bad" (meaning both 'cool', and actual gangsta bad, opposing the coolness of non-violence through the effective act of dance), to 'Dangerous' (the whole album cover portrays this dangerous world seen from Michael's eyes, and this time, dangerous is really just that, no double meanings, the song also talking about a deceiving, evil woman); to 'Blood On The Dancefloor' (which is straight murder, and tackles loss of innocence as well, HIV infection and the like, through a prototype woman), then "Invincible" (double meaning again, as if he's saying that even though this and that person is this and that, and the whole world is getting crazy, dangerous and bad and invincible (cold, hard-hearted), he's invincible and unbreakable and won't be like those people..

Why did I stray from this topic like that.. lol? ..

The rear cover of 'OTW' did it, though. ^ ..
 
^ These photos were taken AFTER the success of the album, which is why Michael's hair is more like it was in Rock With You rather than the afro. So I don't think the message in them as anything to do with what the album is actually saying.
 
I know, it's just that I loved how nicely all his album's titles seem to connect with each other in some way, and I got carried away a bit. ^
 
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