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The Hollywood biopic Michael, chronicling the life of Michael Jackson (1958\u20132009) \u2014 one of the most iconic figures in popular music since the global consolidation of culture in the 20th century \u2014 opens May 13.<\/p>\n
But the film\u2019s poster borrows the cover design from Jackson\u2019s sixth album, Thriller (1982). The black background and gleaming gold lettering evoke the moment he transcended the dismissals he faced as a Black artist and rose to become pop\u2019s king and a cultural revolutionary.<\/p>\n
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Michael Jackson first drew notice as the standout singer and dancer in the family group the Jackson Five (later the Jacksons). Capitalizing on that star power, he launched a solo career as a teenager, releasing four albums before teaming up as an adult with producer Quincy Jones to make his fifth album, Off the Wall (1979). Off the Wall was a commercial success and is still regarded as one of the finest disco records. Yet despite the album\u2019s title \u2014 suggesting a breaking of barriers \u2014 Jackson and Jones had not yet fully realized their ambition to reshape pop music.<\/p>\n
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\u25c6 Breaking musical boundaries and ushering in the age of dance<\/p>\n
After three years of painstaking work, they released Thriller, and the song \u201cBeat It\u201d finally delivered the Off the Wall vision. It was Jackson\u2019s first major fusion of rock with his sound, highlighted by a blistering guitar solo from Eddie Van Halen \u2014 a moment often cited as a milestone in crossovers between Black and white musical traditions. The lyrics pushed back against racial prejudice and violence, and the music video staged a Los Angeles story in which rival gang members appear and Jackson mediates through dance and performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cBillie Jean\u201d helped usher in a new era in pop dance. With the moonwalk \u2014 the move that became his signature \u2014 Jackson elevated dance from accompaniment to a central performance element equal to the music itself. As MTV turned music into a visual medium, Jackson helped define a new format for popular music.<\/p>\n
That influence also laid groundwork for K-pop, where elaborate choreography is essential. While the Beatles were the first global pop idols, Jackson systematized many of the details of the idol business and exported that model worldwide. Jackson wrote and composed \u201cBillie Jean\u201d; in many ways the song is quintessentially him.<\/p>\n
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\u25c6 The best-selling album in history<\/p>\n
The title track \u201cThriller\u201d helped elevate the music video into a new art form. Although it was the album\u2019s title song, promotion didn\u2019t ramp up until nearly a year later, when marketers proposed a cinematic, short-film\u2013length video to capture attention. CBS balked at the production cost, so MTV and other video industry players stepped in to fund the project.<\/p>\n
Jackson played a werewolf and led a zombie dance in the 13-minute video, which MTV premiered on Dec. 3, 1983. The clip was a phenomenon, and it pushed Thriller back to the top of the charts a year after the album\u2019s release. In the decades since, music videos have become essential to pop music and are often considered as influential as the songs themselves.<\/p>\n
Even looking at just these three tracks shows how singular Jackson\u2019s influence and visionary instincts were \u2014 all concentrated on a single album. Estimated sales for Thriller range from about 70 million to more than 100 million copies, making it the best-selling album in history \u2014 a record few expect will ever be broken.<\/p>\n
After witnessing how Thriller marked a clear turning point in popular music, Time summarized Jackson\u2019s influence in 1984: \u201cA star of records, radio and music videos. The man who rescued the music business. A songwriter who set the rhythm for the next decade. The dancer with the flashiest footwork on the street. A singer who breaks down every boundary \u2014 taste, style, even race. Michael Jackson, 25.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Hollywood film ‘Michael,’ depicting the life of pop icon Michael Jackson, will be released on May 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/cdn-union.tenbizt.com\/contents\/crawler-dev\/thumbnail\/2026\/05\/CP-2023-0263\/thumb-6e028122-3e0e-4861-ab12-6d7e468e1bff.jpg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\n