Michael Jackson was an oldfashioned entertainer who became one of the biggest music stars the world has ever seen. Stuart Arnold examines his legacy.
IT could have been one of the greatest – and most fascinating – comebacks of all time. Michael Jackson’s planned 50 shows at London’s O2 – called This Is It and due to start next month – would have been his first tour for 12 years.
It would also have been his first live performance since he was booed in 2006 when singing just a few lines from We Are The World, at the World Music Awards.
Reports variously suggested the star was in great shape, perfecting his famous Moonwalk dance in rehearsals, or struggling with ill health and a recent diagnosis of skin cancer.
His death means we will never know just how good – or bad – his comeback would have been.
Mike Kirkup, senior lecturer in Media Studies at Teesside University, says that as Jackson would now never perform the sell-out shows – announced to hysteria from fans – it would only add to the myth and legend surrounding the singer.
Mr Kirkup says: “He had made something of a media comeback recently, but would he have been so strong musically?
“The shows could have been fantastic, but equally, he could have failed with these concerts.
We will never know. If he had kept on going maybe he might have tarnished his legacy.
It just adds to the myth.”
Jackson, the 50-year-old so-called King of Pop, was the first black star of the MTV video generation and, in Thriller, had the biggest selling album of all time.
In all, he shifted more than 750 million records worldwide, although the public’s fascination for the great showman was often fuelled by his “Wacko Jacko” image.
His legacy will be the songs he recorded and in the influence his music and dance moves still have today, as shows like the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent have proved.
Mr Kirkup says: “He was one of the greatest tabloid celebrities, but he knew how to knock out a good tune.
‘HE was also an old-fashioned entertainer, he was a song and dance man. His Moonwalk, perhaps, was the modern version of the soft shoe shuffle and could be compared with the moves performed by the likes of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.”
Jackson became one of the most famous people on the planet before he was even an adult.
He was only 11 when, with the Jackson Five, he had his first hit, the Motown classic I Want You Back.
Further huge hits followed with the Jacksons, such as ABC, before he went solo with big-selling tracks including Rockin’ Robin and Ain’t No Sunshine.
Off The Wall, in 1979, helmed by legendary producer Quincy Jones, elevated his superstar status even further and provided hits such as Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough and Rock With You.
The Eighties were Jackson’s heyday, though, and his massive success coincided with the surge in video, the singer being most remembered for the groundbreaking visuals he made for Thriller, Billie Jean and Bad.
MTV said in a statement that Jackson ‘‘crossed cultural and geographical boundaries and elevated music videos to an art form”.
Mr Kirkup says the video for Thriller, by film director John Landis, was “event” television.
He says: “There was a preview of it on BBC2 and I remember staying up late to watch it.
“The length of it – it was long – the style and the content, it just changed the face of pop videos.”
Mr Kirkup says Jackson fused so many different musical styles, such as pop, ballads, rock and R&B, that this made him stand out.
“Throughout the Eighties and early Nineties nobody could touch him as a popular artist. He produced a series of classic pop songs, very clean, of their time and wonderfully infectious.”
In 1991, Jackson, who also had successful duets with Paul McCartney on songs such as The Girl Is Mine and Say Say Say, released his Dangerous album.
Singles Heal The World and Black White were big hits, but they were now drying up.
Four years later, his HIStory album, a compilation of old hits and older material, failed to ignite the public imagination, and it was the last time he toured to promote a record.
Invincible, his last album in 2001, also had limited success, compared to what had gone before.
The singer kept a low profile following his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges, after which he spent time living outside the US.
Mr Kirkup says that Jackson was up with the musical greats such as Elvis and The Beatles, but stopped short of placing him as the greatest ever.
He says: “In terms of sales, he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, but I still think when the dust settles he will be just below the likes of the Beatles, Presley, even Bob Dylan.”
He also thinks his death could mean people looked more favourably upon him, with the more controversial aspects of his life eventually being forgotten about.
“When someone dies, their image tends to crystalise and people, particularly the fans, tend to only remember the best bits,” he says.
“In Elvis’s example, for instance, no one thinks of him in his last days, dying on the toilet.
They think of the young Elvis in the Fifties.”
Earlier this year, the Thriller Live tribute show toured the region, visiting theatres in Darlington, Newcastle and York, and played to packed crowds.
Karen Telling, 33, from Middlesbrough, who along with husband Matt is a fan and who attended one of the shows, says: “I doubt anyone will ever come close to having Michael Jackson’s talent. It’s just a shame he didn’t seem to have a lot of happiness in his life.”
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