Michael Jackson's vocal prowess, choreography, and charisma catapulted The Jackson 5 to stardom.
Off the Wall and Thriller solidified Michael's status as a solo icon, pioneering music videos and sound.
Michael's style, dance, and persona became a global phenomenon, inspiring countless artists and defining pop culture.
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Black Music Month would not be complete without honoring the influence of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. From helping Motown become an international sensation to becoming the greatest entertainer of all time, the Black boy from Gary, Indiana, changed the way the world heard and saw music forever.
Source: Kevin Mazur / Wireimage
Michael Jackson burst onto the scene in 1969 alongside his brothers Jermaine, Jackie, Tito, and Marlon when their debut single “I Want You Back” became an international sensation.
Five Black boys rocking afros and the popularized fashions of the late 60s and early 70s quickly redefined what it meant to blend exceptional talent with superstar charisma and charm. Though all of the brothers were musical protégés, it was 11-year-old Michael whose one-of-a-kind vocals, precision in choreography, and immense ability to express the themes of love, yearning, and loss at such a young age that catapulted their appeal to meteoric heights.
When asked about what he saw in young Michael before signing him, Motown Founder Berry Gordy told NPR,
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“Everything. That’s the simple answer. When he auditioned for me that morning, he was forced on me by my assistant (unintelligible) because I did not want a kids group, because I had been with Stevie Wonder with his entourage and teachers, and tutors and all that, and when she brought them to me, I didn’t want to see them. But once I saw them, I rushed out with my video camera to start taping them because I knew that they were something so special, mainly because of the lead singer, nine-year-old Michael Jackson. And it was just so obvious to me that he was a star.”
The Jackson 5 would become the first group of all-time to have their first four singles reach No.1 on the charts. Cartoons, merchandise, and sold-out tours would soon follow their musical successes, and Michael’s talent would continue to awe audiences as he drew comparisons to greats like James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others.
The magic Michael created alongside his brothers under the tutelage of the magicians of Motown seemed to be insurmountable until 1979, when the 21-year-old collaborated with sound architect Quincy Jones and released his first solo album Off The Wall. Michael fused his soul roots with the influence of disco to create a sound that felt authentic and timeless. The record produced two No.1 hits in “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” and “Rock With You,” with the former winning him the Best R&B Vocal Performance Grammy in 1980. Jackson became the first solo artist to have four singles from the same album become top 10 hits in the very same year.
Off The Wall’s visuals for its most popular tracks would also lay the framework for what would become known as Michael’s signature style. On the album’s cover, the fashion icon wore a tailored black suit with sequined white socks and black shoes, a look that would later be copied by everyone from his younger sister and pop icon Janet Jackson to Janelle Monae, Chris Brown, and The Weeknd. The rhinestone outfit Michael wore in the “Rock With You” video, designed by Bill Whitten, would also become a cultural moment with millions of recreations sold worldwide. But it was Jackson’s vocal arrangements and genre-spanning tracks on Off The Wall that would make it the blueprint for artists born generations after its release.
“I found my falsetto, because of Off the Wall [and] “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” said The Weeknd of the album’s influence on his sound. “I always use Michael [Jackson] as, first and foremost, a vocal inspiration, and Off the Wall was definitely the one that made me feel like I could sing.”
If Off The Wall ignited the flame of Jackson’s solo fire, his follow-up sophomore album Thriller blew the roof off of it. Released in 1982, Thriller, backed by the industry-shifting 14-minute long-form video motion picture created by Michael and director John Landis, became the singer’s first Billboard No. 1 album, a spot that it retained for 37 consecutive weeks. It produced seven Top 10 singles, a record still held by Jackson decades later, and would go on to win eight Grammy Awards on its way to being crowned the best-selling album of all-time, selling 70 million albums and counting to date.
“I believe we are powerful, but we don’t use our minds to our full capacity,” Michael said of redefining the music industry with the release of Thriller. “Your mind is power enough to help you attain whatever you want. I knew what we could do with that record. We had a great team there, a lot of talent, and good ideas and I knew we could do anything. The success of ‘Thriller’ transformed many of my dreams into reality.”
Though the album’s title track and accompanying visuals were a juggernaut; it was the album’s second single “Beat It,” a plea from Jackson to end escalating gang violence, that would change music video history forever. MTV’s refusal to play videos from Black artists would come to an end in Jan. 1983 when the channel debuted the “Beat It” visuals as a “short film,” under threat from then CBS President, Walter Yetnikoff, according to Billboard. Michael’s videos would help the network to become the cultural imprint that it would go on to be.
“We were growing nicely during our first couple of years, but Michael Jackson put MTV on the map,” MTV co-founder John Sykes said of Michael’s influence and power. “There were very few VCRs out there at the time, and we heard that people set their alarm clocks in the middle of the day to turn on MTV and catch the ‘Thriller’ video. We would see our ratings for the channel shoot through the roof. Every time we played it, we would see ratings double or triple.”
It was not just Michael’s talent that made his music videos their own canon events, it was also his vision to use the latest in technological advancements to help tell stories. He would employ everything from the light-up tiles in the “Billie Jean” video to the hyperrealistic face-morphing in 1991’s Black or White, Jackson led the way in innovation inspiring artists and record labels to invest in music videos to help push the success of singles.
By the 90s, Michael Jackson mania had hit a fever pitch with MJ’s style, sound, and personal image becoming the biggest brand on earth. His level of celebrity would be on full display when he’d collaborate with other huge stars of the time and eclipse them in the shadow of his popularity. Celebrities like Michael Jordan, Naomi Campbell, Iman, Magic Johnson and even Princess Diana would be seen attending his concerts, taking part in his music videos and publicly stanning the Pop idol. He’d also proved that he had what it took to seamlessly move through every era of music; bringing his own style to genres like New Jack Swing and hip hop without missing a beat.
Despite a never-ending cycle of media attention—at times more negative than positive—the mystery around Michael Jackson helped to further the demand of more of him, both musically and visually. Whenever he showed up anywhere in the world, fans came out in droves to simply catch a glimpse of him. Musically, he created an entire ecosystem of artists, including Beyoncé, Usher, Ne-Yo, Ciara and the aforementioned Chris Brown. His image and dance moves are still the blueprint for modern choreography with genres like K-pop copying and pasting it for new audiences. Nonetheless, as time moves on, Michael Jackson’s influence has stood the test of time as his fanbase now includes people who were never alive to witness his greatness first hand but can revisit anytime thanks to the internet.
“When I was just starting out, my first producer used to make me listen to Michael Jackson’s live performance of “Who’s Loving You,” Beyoncé wrote about Michael on the 5th anniversary of his passing. “What he wanted me to learn was his soul. You could hear his soul. And he was this little kid who hadn’t experienced love but he was a vessel. For whatever reason he could evoke more emotion than an adult. It was so raw and so pure. It was these little things that he did that were just swag. It’s something that’s God given.
Michael taught me that sometimes you have to forget technique, forget what you have on. If you feel silly, you have to go from the gut just let it go.
Michael Jackson changed me, and helped me to become the artist I am thank you Michael.“
Today, Jackson remains the highest-selling artist of all-time with over 500 million albums sold worldwide…and counting. The biopic on his life, Michael, has surpassed the billion-dollar mark after being in theaters for one month; proving, once again, that there are plenty of stars but there is only one Michael Jackson.
