100 Best Albums
- NOV 29, 1982
- 9 Songs
- Thriller · 1982
- Off the Wall · 1979
- Thriller · 1982
- Dangerous · 1991
- The Essential Michael Jackson · 1982
- The Essential Michael Jackson · 1987
- The Essential Michael Jackson · 1987
- Off the Wall · 1979
- XSCAPE (Deluxe) · 2014
- Invincible · 2001
Essential Albums
- Bad may not have all the timeless prestige of its predecessor, Thriller, but it’s just as full of heart and purpose. Over rockier rhythms, Jackson sounds gleeful and impassioned, whether he’s making a profound humanitarian plea (“Man in the Mirror”), raging with lust (“Dirty Diana”), or narrating a suave play-by-play (“Smooth Criminal”). And when he’s slaying the dance floor, his voice is spine-tingling—his nuanced falsetto goes from subtle to ferocious in the space of a single line—once again proving that Jackson is pop's one true master of ceremony.
- 100 Best Albums There are few pop albums, or even works of art, that denote a wholesale shift in time and space the way Michael Jackson’s Thriller did in 1982. Noting its impact on the career trajectory of a child star turned R&B hitmaker feels reductive; talking about its record-smashing commercial success diminishes its creative leaps. It did nothing less than define the modern pop blockbuster and redefine the scope and reach of music. Stripping the weight of history from Thriller is a big job, but hearing the record as a statement in itself remains hugely rewarding. Seven of its nine original cuts were Top 10 singles, and it became one of the best-selling albums ever made, but more important is the way Jackson and producer Quincy Jones turned the singer’s obsessions into intricate, stunningly sung pop-funk. The album’s opening throwdown, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” is Jackson at his fiercest and funkiest, picking up right where 1979’s Off the Wall left off—and shoring up his R&B bona fides. But from the Paul McCartney-blessed pop of the first hit single “The Girl Is Mine” to the Eddie Van Halen-revved pyrotechnics of “Beat It,” Jackson’s crossover moves opened up the eyes and ears of the industry—and audiences around the world—to what music could sound, look, and feel like if we blurred those old color lines. “Billie Jean” is a gripping psycho-study of the paranoia and persecution that he was already feeling—yet it still maintains the mysterious allure of an artist who became the avatar for the omnipresent global pop superstar.
- No longer a precocious child star but not yet the King of Pop, Michael Jackson hooked up with producer Quincy Jones for this 1979 solo breakthrough—a disco-era masterpiece propelled by gleaming melodies, compulsive grooves, and some of Jackson’s most spectacular performances. While it contains a handful of his signature, heart-tugging ballads, Off the Wall is also incredibly funky: From the sinuous sway of “Rock with You” to the glittering rush of “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough,” these tracks will never cease to fill dance floors.
- 2022
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Artist Playlists
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Singles & EPs
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About Michael Jackson
When it comes to growing up in public, the man known worldwide as the King of Pop wrote the book. Born in Gary, IN, in 1958, Michael Jackson became the biggest-selling, most broadly beloved singer on the planet, but when he started his career, he was just the kid trying to catch up with his big brothers. In 1964 he started playing percussion in The Jackson Brothers, but by the time they became the Jackson 5 the following year, little Michael was already contributing lead vocals. The group became a Motown hit machine in 1970 with pop-soul smashes like “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There.” Michael’s undeniable vocal charisma made a solo career inevitable, and his began in 1971. He scored a few major hits early on, but he really exploded with 1979’s Off the Wall, a funk-pop-disco marvel that marked Jackson’s full musical maturation. Its 1982 follow-up, Thriller, became a full-blown international phenomenon with mega-singles including “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” and the title track, literally becoming the best-selling album ever. Following it wasn’t easy, but Jackson managed to keep his vision alive through four more albums and several more hits over the next two decades, until his passing in 2009.
- HOMETOWN
- United States of America
- BORN
- August 29, 1958
- GENRE
- Pop