Age of Jackson

The age of Michael Jackson found its high noon in 1982-83. Tracks from Thriller competed with each other for the Billboard No 1 slot,the album would sell in excess of 100 million copies,and essentially the infusion of Ramp;B into rock seemed the most natural sound for a global generation. That was also the moment when Jackson changed the drama of music singles,and with it anticipated the transformation of his career into a spectacle. Ever after,he would struggle to be seen primarily as the musician with the bestselling album in history the drama of his life story would underwhelm his music.

So,there are two Michael Jacksons. The man who by the early 80s was anything but the infantilised victim of his circumstances,and the man who later seemed so inadequate in fitting into the contours of his own celebrity. His 1979 solo album Off the Wall caught in full measure the disco revolution set off by Saturday Night Fever,and deepened it. With Thrillers singles,like Billie Jean,Beat It and the title track,he altered the singers agenda. Stories would abound of the hours he spent practising the moonwalk,tying big acts ever after to signature moves. Music studios would wonder about the financial implications of his Thriller gambit,spending thousands of dollars on the rock video. Just like the first-heard strains of that album,the spectacle was so new and fresh. In the course of that album,he changed his persona many times over.

Yet,by the time the long run was over and the softer success of the follow-up album Bad was past,he seemed to not know anymore how he should appear. The surgical masks,the cosmetic surgery,the rumoured oxygen chamber,the seemingly choreographed marriages hinted at a man isolated from the normal paces of a fish-bowl life. In his last days,he was planning a comeback tour that seemed too ambitious. Oddly,his death returned the focus to how wholesomely his music once consumed us.