Michael Jackson the "King Of Pop"

Michael Jackson is one of pops iconic figures because he produced the best pop videos and music which many current artists use as an inspiration when making their own music and videos from the lights of Chris Brown to Lady Gaga. Chris Brown's single 'She Aint You' he said to have been released as a tribute to Michael Jackson in 2011 on behalf of his death in June 2009. Chris Brown has said "Growing up as a child listening to Michael Jackson is what made me the success I am today". The solo record reflects some of the pop legend's icon attributes which many people know him for such as his dance moves and iconic clothing.



Michael began his musical career at the age of 5 as the lead singer of the Jackson 5 which formed in 1964. In these early years the Jackson 5, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and lead singer Michael played local clubs and bars in Gary Indiana and moving further in the field as there talents grew and they could compete in bigger competitions. From these early days Michael would be at the same clubs as big talented stars of there days, such as Jackie Wilson and would be learning from them even back then. At these early stages Michael was just a regular pop singer in the public eye, but even such a young age people could see that he was going to do wonders in music industry as he grew up which was proven to not be an understatement.



As Michael grew up it became more evident that a boy band was not for him which was why he decided to go solo. One of many of his first pop record was 'Rock with you' which was released on November 3rd 1979. The music video to the record was not too extraordinary in terms of originality or any traces of experimental elements as it looked like a typical pop video with a main artists lip syncing to the song and dancing. However, the costume Michael was dressed in was very eye catching and interesting at the time which turned a lot of heads. The song reached number one on both the pop and R&B singles charts. According to 'Billboards' magazine, the song was the fourth biggest single of 1980. It is also considered one of the last hits of the disco era.



"Billie Jean" was released in January 1983. It was one of Michael's first interesting pop videos when he went solo as it was more experimental and displayed implication of originality. The music video was like a mini film because it told a story about a missing girl. This was rare at the time as pop video's were not made as short films, this video was more than him just lip syncing it displayed sections of special effects and creativity. This can be seen at the point in the music video when he steps on individual blocks on the floor and they glowed up one by one. "Billie Jean" became a worldwide commercial and critical success; "Billie Jean" was one of the best-selling singles of 1983 and is one of the best selling singles worldwide. The song topped both the US and UK charts simultaneously. In other countries, "Billie Jean" topped the charts of Spain and Switzerland, reached the top ten in Austria, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden, and peaked at number 45 in France.



In 1982 Michael Jackson released the world's largest selling album of all time 'Thriller' which was directed by John Landis. This album produced 7 hit singles, breaking yet again more records, and went on to sell over 50 million copies worldwide. Michael was keen to use music video or short films as he called them to promote his singles from the album. He worked with the best directors and producers, using the latest technology and special effects for the hit song 'Billie Jean' The short film 'Thriller' used the latest make-up artists technology combined with fantastic dancing and choreography, to produce a 14 minute video, with a start, a middle and an ending. The production of the music video had proven to be expensive but because of the high number of sale due to the release of the record and also the short film which was shown in cinema's made the profit margin's massive.



Later on in November 1991 Michael released 'White or Black' in one of his albums called 'Dangerous'. The making and idea behind this record was all Michael's as it was written, composed and produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrel. This shows us Michael's progression during the years as his previous records were influence by record labels and idea's from directors, this record was much more personal which was why Michael decided to go about producing it himself. This record was significant because it displayed a political statement. The message behind the video was that we are all human beings of equal rights and value, this made such a hit because everyone was able to relate to the song as there wasn't a specific target audience it was targeted at. This personal statement was a reflection of his current personal life as there was a lot of judgements on him bleaching his skin, this song was a basic response to this saying that the colour of your skin doesn't reflect who you are as a person. The music video consists of the head shot from people of different races which supports the concepts behind the lyrics. This idea can be seen to have been a development from the head shots used in Peter Gabriel's music video 'Sledge Hammer'.