On the day of his memorial service, I’ve decided to write a special article on Michael Jackson, the King Of Pop. There are simply few words that adequately describe the impact this one singer has had on music. The fact that there are few musicians touched or influenced by his music says a lot about him. He was simply a musical genius. A once in a generation artist. Elvis Presley and The Beatles are the only other 2 musical entities that could possibly compare with him.
However, as with other geniuses, he wasn’t without his flaws. The fact is that geniuses are named such, because they are so good at one thing, that they are weak in others. Michael Jackson was one of these people. While personal controversies and financial problems dominated the last decade of his life, we can never forget how his music made us feel. His music will live on.
Beginnings
Michael began his extraordinary musical career with the Jackson 5, a group formed by his older brother, Jermaine. His vocal and musical talent was so evident from a young age that he took over Jermaine’s role as lead singer and became the most popular music group in the late 60s and early 70s with hits such as “ABC”, “I’ll Be There” and “I Want You Back.” It was during this time that Michael had a his first number one hit in the United States with “Ben”.
In the late 70s, he decided to embark on a solo career and teamed with record producer Quincy Jones to start producing his fifth solo album, Off The Wall. Little did they know that their partnership would produce 3 of the biggest and most influential albums in music history. Off The Wall became a huge commercial success with 4 top 10 hits in the US including 2 number one hits, “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” and “Rock With You.”
Peak
His peak came with the release of Thriller in 1982, which became the biggest selling album of all time with reportedly more than 100 million units sold. It was because of this unprecedented feat that he became known as the King Of Pop. While the album as a whole is recognized as a musical and technical masterpiece, 2 songs stand out. The title song is accompanied by what is known as the greatest and most innovative music video ever made. Before Thriller, music videos were never seriously used as a domain for artistic movies. This one video changed that forever.
The other song that stands out is “Billie Jean”. It is arguably his magnum opus and I consider it to be the first song that launched modern RnB to the prominence it has today. His most defining moment came at the Motown 25 special where he reunited with his brothers and sang their hits. However, it was his performance of “Billie Jean” that took the world by storm and where he performed his trademark moonwalk for the first time ever. Enjoy this breath taking performance from the King Of Pop.
Following Thriller, he released Bad in 1987, which wasn’t as commercially successful as Thriller but sold more than 30 million copies and became the first album to provide 5 number one hits in the US, a record that stands until today. The subsequent Bad world tour took almost 2 years and visiting every continent on the planet.
4 years later, Michael Jackson released Dangerous, an equally successful album, which spawned hits such as “Black or White” and “Remember The Time.” He then embarked on a more extensive world tour, one that would take him to more places than his previous Tour.
Decline
Unfortunately, the tour was cut short for 2 reasons. Firstly, his health was deteriorating and secondly, allegations that he had molested a 13 year old had surfaced. 1993 could be considered the year that the career of the King Of Pop started to go downhill, both personally and professionally. The child molestation case was settled out of court but it seemed to permanently damage his image.
The term “Wacko Jacko” was first coined by the media during this period of the 90s due to his seemingly weird and strange things that he would do. The changing of the color of his skin didn’t help matters either.
His 1994 marriage to Lisa Marie Presley shocked the world but was never taken seriously by the general media despite their professions of love. So it didn’t come as a surprise that they would divorce just 2 years later. He re-married in 1996 to his nurse Debbie Rowe which yielded 2 children. However, this only lasted until 1999.
On the professional front, his HIStory album didn’t live up to expectations and he went into hiatus for 6 years until the release of Invincible in 2001. Despite reportedly costing more than $30 million to produce, it didn’t live up to the hype and the writing seemed to be on the wall for his career.
Just 3 years later, Michael Jackson would be fighting charges of molesting another boy in a Californian court which, over a number of weeks, became a media circus. At the end, he was acquitted of all charges, however, the damage had been done.
He went into recluse in Bahrain and relinquished control of his Neverland Ranch. Furthermore, details emerged about the terrible state of his financial affairs. According to many reports, he was at least $500 million in the red and all this despite owning some of the biggest music catalogue such as that of the Beatles.
Just when it seemed that the King of Pop would not sing professionally again, he announced his comeback in March 2009 in London, where he would do 10 shows in London. These would be his curtain call. A high level of demand for tickets meant that these were increased to 50 shows, and set records for ticket sales. It was to be one of the most anticipated series of concerts in music history.
However, a little less than 3 weeks before his first show, he suffered cardiac arrest and died suddenly in Los Angeles. He was only 50.
Legacy
There’s little doubt that Michael Jackson has left a legacy that will last for all time. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t have one of his records or like his music. His music touched millions of people worldwide and he enjoyed massive popularity the world over. His music united different cultures, different peoples and different languages.
Perhaps, in the last couple of years, his personal and financial dilemmas overshadowed the brilliant musical career he had. Now that he is gone, we can remember him more for his great innovative music.
We can choose to be sad that such his life was cut short and perhaps unfairly.
Or we can choose to be happy that he left us with music and moments that continues to make us feel good.
I’d rather choose the former, hands down.
RIP the King of Pop (1958-2009)
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