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Michael Jackson discography
Michael began his musical career at the age of 5 as the lead singer of
the Jackson 5 who 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 afield 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. In
1968 the Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers discovered the Jackson five
and from there they got an audition for Berry Gordy of Motown Records.
The Jackson 5 signed for Motown and moved to California. Their first 4
singles, "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be
There" all made US No1 hits. The Jackson 5 recorded 14 albums and
Michael recorded 4 solo albums with Motown.
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Michael Jackson - Dangerous
Michael Jackson - HIStory
Michael Jackson - Blood On The Dance
Floor
Michael Jackson - Invincible
Michael Jackson - Bad (1987) Michael
Jackson -
Bad (1987)
The downside to a success like Thriller is that it's nearly impossible
to follow, but Michael Jackson approached Bad much the same way he
approached Thriller — take the basic formula of the predecessor, expand
it slightly, and move it outward. This meant that he moved deeper into
hard rock, deeper into schmaltzy adult contemporary, deeper into hard
dance — essentially taking each portion of Thriller to an extreme, while
increasing the quotient of immaculate studiocraft. He wound up with a
sleeker, slicker Thriller, which isn't a bad thing, but it's not a
rousing success, either. For one thing, the material just isn't as good.
Look at the singles: only three can stand alongside album tracks from
its predecessor ("Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "I Just Can't Stop
Loving You"), another is simply OK ("Smooth Criminal"), with the other
two showcasing Jackson at his worst (the saccharine "Man in the Mirror",
the misogynistic "Dirty Diana"). Then, there are the album tracks
themselves, something that virtually didn't exist on Thriller but bog
down Bad not just because they're bad, but because they reveal that
Jackson's state of the art is not hip. And they constitute a near-fatal
dead spot on the record — songs three through six, from "Speed Demon" to
"Another Part of Me," a sequence that's utterly faceless, lacking
memorable hooks and melodies, even when Stevie Wonder steps in for "Just
Good Friends", relying on nothing but studiocraft. Part of the joy of
Off the Wall and Thriller was that craft was enhanced with tremendous
songs, performances, and fresh, vivacious beats. For this dreadful
stretch, everything is mechanical, and while the album rebounds with
songs that prove mechanical can be tolerable if delivered with hooks and
panache, it still makes Bad feel like an artifact of its time instead a
piece of music that transcends it. And if that wasn't evident proof
that Jackson was losing touch, consider this — the best song on the
album is "Leave Me Alone" (why are all of his best songs paranoid
anthems?), a tune tacked on to the end of the CD and never released as a
single, apart from a weirdly claustrophobic video that, not
coincidentally, was the best video from the album.
~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, all
media guide
Michael Jackson Film
Michael Jackson - This Is It 2009
The film is composed of hundreds of hours of recorded training sessions
and images behind the scenes of the world famous pop star Michael
Jackson. We also see interviews with friends and creative partners
Michael. The film includes footage of the final rehearsals of his new
series of concerts for Jackson, shortly before the death of the pop star
on June 25.
Directed by Kenny Ortega with Michael Jackson, Darryl Phinnessee and
Kenny Ortega.
The film opens with a short text introduction stating the
purpose of the
footage and its intent "For the fans...". After short dialogues from
various dancers, Kenny Ortega is heard talking through the original
concert opening sequence involving a body suit made from screens which
display fast clips and images with bright intensity from which Jackson
emerges on stage. Immediately after this, Jackson begins "Wanna Be
Startin' Somethin'" first solo, which pauses half-way through and a
small snippet of Jackson singing his song "Speechless" acapella is
shown. Jackson is then joined by dancers and completes the first number.
A short clip showing rehearsals of the "toaster" mechanism is shown
before rehearsal footage of "Jam" is played. This plays directly into
the green screen adaption of soldiers dancers for "Bad" which are also
used for "They Don't Really Care About Us" which is shown next. From
here, the film shows Michael directing Ortega and his band for his solo
rehearsal performance of "Human Nature" which he performs acapella, then
acoustic and finally with full band. Green screen rehearsals for the
video vignette for "Smooth Criminal" come next, with dress rehearsals of
the song following, including parts of the vignette intertwined with
the dancing. Jackson is seen next directing his musical team for the
cues in his song "The Way You Make Me Feel." Jackson then performs a
rehearsal with dancers which he alters and changes as he goes. A small
animatic introducing the Jackson 5 is shown afterwards, and Michael then
rehearses "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save", "I'll Be There" and
"Shake Your Body." Jackson stops only to report problems with his
earpiece. After this, Jackson sings with one of his back up singers on
his duet song "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" in which he sings at full
strength, directing his partner as he goes. The filming for the
"Thriller" vignette is then shown with Jackson and Ortega watching with
3D glasses. Jackson is then seen rehearsing "Thriller" with the vignette
intertwined like that in "Smooth Criminal." During the dance sequence,
puppets are suspended in the audience aisles while Jackson emerges from a
robotic spider originally seen in the vignette. Jackson and Ortega
rehearsing the cherry-picker is seen next, along with Jackson rehearsing
"Beat It." Jackson creates the ending he wants for the song, a long
drum build up in which he tears off his jacket and burns it. Footage of
the show's aerialists rehearsing to the instrumental of "Who Is It" is
shown next, followed by the Jackson and his band rehearsing "Black or
White," in which he allows guitarist Orianthi Panagaris to take center
stage to finish with a high guitar rift. The video-sequence for "Earth
Song" is shown next, featuring a small girl who wanders through an
abundant forest, falls asleep, and wakes up to find the forest destroyed
by man. Jackson then performs the song both onstage and using the
cherry-picker, with his voice being heard at the end telling of the
dangers of Global Warming and the lack of reversible time left.
Afterwards, Michael is seen conversing with Ortega, his dancers and band
about the shows, trivial dance moves and his hopes for the concert
series. He then performs a quick version of his song "Billie Jean"
featuring an extra dance sequence. Michael is then seen talking to all
crew members and wishing everyone the best for the London performances.
At a sound check, Jackson performs "Man In The Mirror" with strong
backing vocals. The film ends with Jackson with his arms extended on
stage with the message: "Michael Jackson King of Pop Love Lives
Forever".
Biography
Throughout his long career, internationally acclaimed music superstar
Michael Jacksonsporadically made film appearances as an actor, notably
in his first starring role in The Wiz (1978),
but he was best known for producing cutting-edge feature-film quality
music videos such as "Thriller," "Billie Jean," and "Black or White." He
also produced films for Disney virtual rides, the first of which was
the extremely popular Francis
Ford Coppola-directed Captain Eo
(1985), which ran at Disney World in Orlando until 1997. Jackson also
occasionally composed music and songs for movie soundtracks. He died of
cardiac arrest in 2009, a couple of months before his 51st birthday. ~
Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Michael Jackson
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