8/14/2019 TheSun 2009-06-29 Page19 the End of HIStory

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inin memory MICHAEL JACKSON: Aug 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009MICHAEL JACKSON: Aug 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

19theSun | MONDAY JUNE 29 2009

soul. Jones and Tempertonknew what they were doing:Beat It , cannily, crossed overwith the rock market thanks

to its Eddie Van Halen riff, andThriller itself redefined music

 video. I’m just the right age toremember sneaking into clubsand seeing the place stop deadwhen the 15-minute zombieflick was played on the bigscreen.

What Jackson wasn’t, inthe context of 1980s megapop,is a “genius”. Unlike Prince orSpringsteen, he wasn’t a self-sufficient auteur, and unlikeMadonna, he didn’t create hispersona through sheer forceof will. What he was – andthere’s no shame in this – wasan incredible entertainer, anuntouchable song and danceman.

Speaking of which, even hisdance routines weren’t self-generated. He may have tried to

copyright the moonwalk as hisown, but anyone with a sharpmemory knows it was actuallypremiered by Jeffrey Daniel of Shalamar on Soul Train .

Post-Thriller , the Jacksonstemporarily reunited, most memorably with the video forCan You Feel It, on which thebrothers, 100ft tall, stood atopthe Golden Gate bridge, scatter-ing fairy dust on the mere mor-tals below. Less celebrated, but equally great, is the rock-funkscorcher they recorded withMick Jagger, State of Shock .Michael relished these celebrityduets, and his oft-overlookedPaul McCartney collaboration,Say Say Say , features one of hismost electrifying vocals.

The unimaginable wealthwhich Thriller  brought himled to Jackson’s mad emperorphase: the Neverland ranch,the chimpanzee companion, thediamond glove, the Moonwalker  movie, the oxygen tent, the

insistence on the sobriquet “King of Pop”, the facialsurgery.

Five years passed beforeJackson released anotheralbum. By the time of  Bad ,whose title track had a leather-clad Michael playing an uncon-

 vincing street thug in the video,the singer’s skin was very, verywhite (due, it was claimed towidespread scepticism, to thecondition vitiligo). Despite somesuperb tracks – notably thebreathless urgency of Smooth Criminal – the writing was, likethe album’s pseudo-graffiti logo,on the wall.

As Michael’s life continuedto spiral out of control, fromgruesome photos in which he

appeared to have no nose to thescandal involving his strangerelationship with 13-year-oldJordan Chandler, so the qualityof his music deteriorated.

He was still capable of puttingout the occasional great record,

such as Black or White  from1991’s Dangerous , which alsofeatured the minimal, roboticNew Jack Swing of the TeddyRiley-penned In the Closet , but Jackson’s 1990s were definedby the likes of the schmaltzyHeal the World  and thepompous Earth Song .

His antics became increas-ingly bizarre, from arriving onstage via jetpack to presentinghimself as a Christ figure at theBrits (prompting Jarvis Cocker’slegendary stage invasion) to thegiant effigy of himself he floateddown the Thames to promote1995’s half-hits, half-new albumHIStory . A second child-abusescandal broke out in the newmillennium, exacerbated by

Martin Bashir’s documentaryand by Jackson, unfathomably,dangling his baby out of a Berlinhotel window.

Although he was neverfound guilty, Jackson’s reputa-tion never recovered amongthe “no smoke without fire”brigade. Much of which comesdown to a simple failure of imagination. What if Michaelreally did pay off the Chan-dlers because he just wantedthe whole thing to go away?What if Michael really was soinnocent he merely wanted torecapture his childhood withthose sleepovers? What if, whenhe told Bashir “when I look at children’s faces, I see God”, hewas being sincere? What if, inshort, Michael really was – toquote his own Thriller video n“not like other guys”?

The lynch mob had made upits mind, and Jackson’s audi-ence had shrunk. And, harsh as

it may sound, this was probablyno great loss: 2001’s Invincibl edoesn’t suggest the world haslost a productive talent, and it’sperhaps for the best that wenever found out what the ThisIs It tour would be like.

Nevertheless, Michael Jack-son is still loved for what he oncewas, his influence impossibleto ignore. Right now, the morespeculation and scum-slingingI hear, the more I feel drawnback to the purity of that four-decades-old a capella vocal. You and I must make a pact/We must bring salvation back/Where there is love, I’ll be there... It’s hard toassimilate the knowledge that,from this moment on, he won’t.– The Independent 

On recordMICHAEL Jackson, the King of Popwho began hiscareer as partof the Jackson5, recorded ninesolo albumsbetween 1972 and2001, includingThriller , the top-selling album of alltime.

The Jacksonbrothers releasedtheir first albumwith Motown in1968, and Michaelreleased his firstsolo album, Got toBe There, withthe legendaryblack music labelin 1972.

He switchedto Epic in 1976,releasing hisfirst album underthat label the

same year, Off the Wall , whichwas produced by

Quincy Jones.In 1995,

J a c k s o nr e l e a s e dHIStory, Past,P r e s e n t ,Future, adouble album of old and newsingles. His last album, Invincible,was released in 2001.

Thriller , which came out in1982, remained at the top of thecharts for two years and was atNo.1 for 37 straight weeks. Ac-cording to industry experts, itsold between 50 and 60 millioncopies.

A number of other compila-tions and singles were alsoreleased over the course of his

career.They include The Essential Michael Jackson, Micheal   Jackson King of Pop andRemember the Time.

Jackson sold some 750million records during his ca-

reer, according to US figures. – dpa

MJ Discography» 1972 – Got To Be There, Motown» 1972 – Ben, Motown» 1973 – Music & Me, Motown» 1975 – Forever, Michael, Motown» 1979 – Off the Wall , Epic» 1982 – Thriller , Epic» 1987 – Bad, Epic» 1991 – Dangerous, Epic» 1995 – HIStory, Past, Present,

Future, Epic» 2001 – Invincible, Epic

Friendsand fellowartistesrememberMJ

pg 20

Thriller legacy that lives onMICHAEL Jackson was one ofthe biggest stars in the history ofmusic along with the Beatles andElvis Presley, thanks in a large partto his top-selling album of all time,Thriller .

With his high-pitched voice andextraordinary dance skills, Jacksonleft his mark on modern music,selling a total of 750 million recordsaccording to US statistics, a recordfor a solo artiste.

When Thriller  came out inDecember 1982, Jackson, who wasthen aged 24, was already a star,having made his debut at age fouralongside his brothers in the funkgroup, the Jackson 5. But it was

Thriller , Jackson’s sixth solo album,that was his breakthrough.The album spent 80 weeks in the

top 10 in the US, including 37 weeksat No.1. It went platinum 27 times inthe US, and is the only album to be

the top-selling album two years in arow (1983-1984).

Thriller  went platinum in 16countries, including Britain, Franceand Japan. Seven of the album’s ninesongs were released as singles.

It was in a performance of one ofthose songs, Billy Jean, in a May 1983televised performance for the 25thanniversary of Motown, that he firstperformed his signature “moonwalk”dance move.

The legendary black music labelfirst launched Jackson’s career aspart of the Jackson 5 in 1968. But itwas Thriller, Jackson’s second soloalbum produced by Quincy Jones,that pushed him and black music in

the mainstream.A mix of soul, disco-funk andpop, the album benefited fromcollaboration with a number of topartistes, including former Beatle PaulMcCartney (on The Girl is Mine) and

guitarist Eddie Van Halen (Beat It ).The success of the album was

also due to social factors. It cameout at the height of the vinyl era andthe beginning of the MTV era.

Music videos provided a perfectformat for Jackson’s dancing skills.His ingenious videos helped fuel thesuccess of the channel, which in turnhelped crown him the King of Pop.

The video for the single Thriller , a13-minute horror film spoof directedby John Landis, revolutionised musicvideos with its choreographedzombies dancing with Jackson.

But Jackson was never able tomatch the success of Thriller withhis following albums. Bad (1987),

Dangerous (1991) and Invincible (2001) generated less and less cr iticalinterest and sales.

Child sex abuse allegationsand his changing appearance alsodamaged his career. – AFP

Market demandSONY Music Malaysia is preparingto release more copies of MichaelJackson’s albums currently availablein the market, including his all-time bestseller, Thriller  (the 25thanniversary re-release), The Essential Michael Jackson as well as the DVD,Michael Jackson, Live in Bucharest:Dangerous Tour.

So far, the company has receivedorders for some 5,000 units ofJackson’s albums, which will be onsale soon.