Music review : Michael Jackson family today and his top albums: The 33-year-old had recently signed the most lucrative contract in recording history, worth hundreds of millions, giving him his own label and the highest royalty rate in the industry. What’s more, no one thought it was out of line for someone who had sold close to 70 million records in the previous decade. In the press, Sony claimed the deal would reap them billions. So when he released the first single from Dangerous, his first album in four years, fanatical interest led MTV, VH1, BET, and Fox to televise it at the same time—offering the greatest strategic victory since the Berlin Wall tumbled two years prior. And even though Jackson technically didn’t cause the collapse of East German Communism, his star wattage was so supreme that the Stasi secret police spied on him during his 1988 Berlin concert, fearing that obsessive MJ fans would accomplish what Reagan couldn’t.
Hours after TMZ announced Michael Jackson‘s death, something “magical” happened. Everyone decided it was safe to be a fan of the King of Pop again. In a matter of minutes, maybe less, the whole world (more specifically, America) forgot about the corny punch lines they once shared to friends at the water cooler or the countless parodies they had come to enjoy, all of which developed this unfortunate post-2000 personification of an artist that, more or less, had become a modern myth. Up until that point, the name Michael Jackson didn’t necessarily spark memories of, say, Thriller, Bad, or the often forgotten 90’s masterpiece, Dangerous. Instead, trashy tabloids and shitty gags in Scary Movie, South Park, etc. took precedence. It’s a crap deal for someone who’s arguably the most inimitable force in music history, but that’s how things were prior to June 25, 2009. Still, death’s a curious thing.
Thriller (1982): Let’s ignore the fact that Thriller is the best-selling album IN THE HISTORY OF THE PLANET or that its album cover is one of the most recognized in music history. Thriller earns its place atop this list because in just nine tracks, it rewrote all the rules. The title track is almost a clichéd Halloween song in 2018, but in its heyday the 14-minute video broke barriers for artists of color. “Billie Jean” was so popular that it forced MTV to not only pay more attention to black artists, but also caused it to shift its programming focus to pop and R&B records. Every single track is instantly recognizable to even novice music fans and the album was so good that it became MJ’s curse – he was never able to top it, so all subsequent releases were slighted by fans and critics. Thriller opened doors for musicians of color, put music videos on the map and made Michael Jackson the greatest performer of all time. Yes, it’s MJ’s best album. Maybe the best album ever.
Michael Jackson family: Mocienne Petit Jackson’s (Michael Jackson’s daughter) books are now available in french! For our dutch guests: Deel twee van de autobiografische trilogie van Mocienne Petit Jackson begint met een uitgebreide beschrijving van Mociennes ontvoering naar Nederland. Vervolgens lezen we hoe het haar vergaat in het adoptiegezin waar zij samen met haar nichtje Delivrance terechtkomt. Gaandeweg ontdekt Mocienne dat haar vader Michael Jackson is. Wanneer ze vijftien jaar is gaat ze weg bij het adoptiegezin, woont vier jaar lang op een internaat en gaat daarna zelfstandig wonen. We volgen haar in haar volwassenwording, die zich met vallen en opstaan voor ons ontrolt. Mocienne krijgt een vriend en wordt moeder van een zoon. Deze verbintenis is geen lang leven beschoren. Er is sprake van aanhoudende onenigheid met de Raad voor de Kinderbescherming, met diverse rechtszaken tot gevolg. Deze betreffen eerst haar eigen situatie, later die van haar zoon en haar gevecht om hem in haar leven te houden. De ene onverkwikkelijkheid volgt de andere op. Lees het boek hier Michael Jackson Books.