History YMMV / MichaelBolton

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Subject of one of the most notorious copyright infringement lawsuits of all time, when Music/TheIsleyBrothers sued him, alleging that his 1991 hit "Love is a Wonderful Thing" was a ripoff of their 1964 song of the same title. At first, with Bolton's professed love of {{Soul}}, this seemed like an open-and-shut case, but there were a couple of issues that seemed to tip the scales in favor of Bolton--the Isley song was really obscure, having only been released as an unsuccessful single in 1966, and never reissued after that. And the similarities boil down to both songs being uptempo {{Soul}} songs with the same title, with the title phrased similarly in the chorus (with different melodies), but otherwise not really sounding alike. Still, a jury ruled against Bolton and awarded the Isleys $5 million. Bolton appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, with the Recording Industry Association of America even filing an amicus brief on his behalf (arguing that the ruling was unfair because there's no clear legal standard for what counts as musical plagiarism), but they turned the case down. Many observers of the case, while expressing solidarity for the Isleys, felt that Bolton got a raw deal in the matter. ''Entertainment Weekly'' asked eight music critics their opinion, and while they almost all took potshots at Bolton, five of the eight said they didn't think he was guilty.

** What "Jack Sparrow" may have managed to do is a very strange form of VindicatedByHistory; Michael Bolton was a major YMMV singer at the height of his career. People either loved him (often soccer moms) or he was derided constantly (often stand-up comedians). Now, 20 years later, the Internet generation, which is tilting toward a demographic that wasn't even born during his most successful years, loves him. For all the Film/TommyBoy references, ''Film/OfficeSpace'' jokes and WTHCastingAgency reaction to Lady Gaga's support for him, Michael Bolton may finally have the last laugh over his critics.

* DorkAge: In the 80s, before he switched to his more successful adult contemporary sound, Michael Bolton was part of the hair metal scene. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NukzQZM-1Qk You read that]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga_reU5lasQ correctly.]] Not exactly Music/{{WASP}} or anything; think Winger, or Vixen. There's a bit of a BrokenBase here, because some critics despise this era of his, but it's not uncommon to read comments from fans of hair metal who liked his rock music ''better'' than his later, more contemporary music. Either way, it's really strange to look back on this period.
-->'''Eddie Trunk:''' [[CassandraTruth I know how insane it sounds]], but at the time even I was like, "Hey, here's an exciting new rock artist."

* NeverLiveItDown:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZrK_kOk8Lw When singing the national anthem at a Yankees game]], he forgot the lyrics, so he read the lyrics ''he wrote down on his hand''. When this happened, the man was nearly booed out of Yankee Stadium, but he was able to redeem himself by the end, because he's Michael Bolton.
** Also the "Love is a Wonderful Thing" plagiarism case. As explained in Suspiciously Similar Song, the conventional wisdom is now that the jury messed up.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Michael Bolton songs tend to go straight for "tender ballad" and milk it for all its worth. He's probably second only to Music/AirSupply in that regard.

* GrowingTheBeard: ''The Hunger'', the album where he mostly stopped trying to be a [[Music/{{Foreigner}} Lou Gramm]] copycat.

--->'''Eddie Trunk:''' [[CassandraTruth I know how insane that sounds]], but at the time even I was like, "Hey, here's an exciting new rock artist."