Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Music / MichaelJackson

Go To

1%%
2%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1645465253035718800&page=1
3%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
4%%
5[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9a09c153_a509_4390_be52_38beb303b59d.jpeg]]
6[[caption-width-right:350:[[RedBaron The King of Pop.]]]]
7[floatboxright: Influences:
8+Music/JamesBrown, Music/LittleRichard, Music/DianaRoss, Music/TheTemptations, Music/MavisStaples, Music/JackieWilson, Creator/CharlieChaplin, Creator/MarcelMarceau, Creator/GeneKelly, Creator/FredAstaire, Creator/SammyDavisJr]
9[floatboxright: Influenced:
10+Music/MariahCarey, Music/{{Usher}}, Music/ChrisBrown, Music/JustinTimberlake, Music/{{NSYNC}}, Music/DestinysChild, Music/{{Beyonce}}, Music/KellyRowland, Music/MichelleWilliams, Music/TheWeeknd, Music/KanyeWest, Music/JayZ, Music/JustinBieber, Music/SeanCombs, Music/{{Ciara}}, Music/NeYo, Music/BrunoMars, and the list goes on]
11
12->''"What Michael Jackson has achieved is a tribute to twenty years of hard work, energy, tireless dedication, and a wealth of talent that keeps on growing. Your success is an American dream come true."''
13-->-- '''[[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan President Ronald Reagan]]''', The White House, May 15, 1984
14
15Originally a member of the Creator/{{Motown}} act Music/TheJacksonFive, [[http://michaeljackson.com Michael Joseph Jackson]] (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) debuted as a solo artist in 1971 -- the year he turned thirteen. His full-fledged solo career took off in the late [[TheSeventies 1970s]]. Though songs from his first serious solo effort, ''Music/OffTheWall'' (1979), were extremely popular, he reached unprecedented superstardom in 1982 with his album ''Music/{{Thriller}}''. ''Thriller'' is still the best-selling album of all time today, and won a total of 8 UsefulNotes/{{Grammy Award}}s.
16
17Jackson was, perhaps, '''the''' definitive celebrity of TheEighties -- his level of popularity in that decade is comparable only to that of Music/TheBeatles in TheSixties. His singing voice and dance moves (especially his SignatureMove, the MoonwalkDance) gained iconic status. His unusually elaborate music videos were something of a KillerApp for the emerging Creator/{{MTV}}. In particular, [[Music/MichaelJacksonsThriller the one for "Thriller"]] is probably the most famous music video ever made, inspired [[MichaelJacksonsThrillerParody a slew of homages and parodies]]. He had also been the first African-American artist to receive heavy rotation on the channel.[[note]]Actually when MTV started, it was ''all white.'' The directors of music programming explained, "MTV is supposed to be a rock channel, and it's hard to find Black artists whose work fits that format. Well, we don't want to cater to fringe groups." (Yep, '''being Black''' makes you a "fringe group".) Meanwhile, Jackson had created two videos, for "Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough" and "Billie Jean", which MTV wouldn't play until Creator/{{CBS}} threatened to yank all their other videos.[[/note]] By the end of the decade, he had another successful album in ''Music/{{Bad}}'' (the first album to yield five number one singles on the Billboard charts), a [[Film/{{Moonwalker}} direct-to-video movie]] and even [[VideoGame/MichaelJacksonsMoonwalker video games]].
18
19As TheNineties rolled around, Jackson had another success with the album ''Music/{{Dangerous|Album}}''. However, within a few years, media attention had turned on his health and appearance, his personal life, and allegations of sexual abuse against children made against him. Although Jackson was either acquitted of most of these accusations or otherwise not formally charged, he was OvershadowedByControversy (or perhaps just eccentricity) for the remainder of his life, even after releasing two more albums. In 2009, he looked set for a comeback after booking a 50-show farewell concert engagement in UsefulNotes/{{London}}, UsefulNotes/{{England}}.
20
21It was not to be. He died on June 25, 2009 due to an overdose of propofol (a hospital-grade anaesthetic) a few weeks before the first concert, at the age of 50. The doctor who administered the medication was later found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's family sued tour organizer AEG for negligence but lost that case in 2013. Jackson's memorial service that July 7 was broadcast live around the world; he is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Later that year, the first of many posthumous Jackson-related projects, ''[[Film/MichaelJacksonsThisIsIt This Is It]]'', compiled from rehearsal footage of the aborted London shows, was released. Shortly after his death, Jackson would see [[PosthumousPopularityPotential renewed critical and public popularity]], though the child molestation accusations would still float around here and there in the public consciousness.
22
23This would eventually culminate in the release of the 2019 documentary ''Leaving Neverland'', which went into detail about two new allegations against him. It was released with renewed interest; however, it was still incredibly controversial. Some public figures and many fans heavily criticized and denounced the documentary, saying it was significantly one-sided and full of lies and factual errors. Regardless of its accuracy, ''Leaving Neverland'' prompted a second public reevaluation of Jackson's life and legacy.
24
25A {{biopic}} film about his life and approved by his family, titled ''Film/{{Michael|2025}}'', is set for release in 2025. He is set to be portrayed by his nephew Jaafar Jackson (one of Jermaine's children).
26
27{{Trope Namer|s}} for MichaelJacksonsThrillerParody and MichaelHackson, TropeCodifier for MoonwalkDance.
28----
29!!Studio Discography:
30
31* 1972 - ''Music/GotToBeThere''
32* 1972 - ''Ben''
33* 1973 - ''Music and Me''
34* 1975 - ''Forever, Michael''
35* 1979 - ''Music/OffTheWall''
36* 1982 - ''Music/{{Thriller}}''
37** ''Music/MichaelJacksonsThriller''
38** "Music/BeatIt"
39** "Music/BillieJean"
40* 1987 - ''Music/{{Bad}}''
41** "Music/TheWayYouMakeMeFeel"
42* 1991 - ''Music/{{Dangerous|Album}}''
43** "Music/RememberTheTime"
44* 1995 - ''Music/HistoryPastPresentAndFutureBookI'' [[note]]The first half of this double album is a greatest hits compilation with songs from previous albums[[/note]]
45* 2001 - ''Music/{{Invincible}}''
46
47!!{{Remix album}}s:
48
49* 1986 - ''The Original Soul of Michael Jackson''
50* 1997 - ''[[Film/MichaelJacksonsGhosts Blood On the Dance Floor: [=HIStory=] in the Mix]]''
51* 2009 - ''The Stripped Mixes''
52* 2009 - ''The Remix Suite''
53
54!!Posthumous Discography:
55* 2010 - ''Music/{{Michael}}''
56* 2014 - ''[[Music/XscapeMichaelJacksonAlbum Xscape]]''
57
58!!Notable Compilation albums:
59
60* There were a lot of these released during his lifetime and even more after his death:
61** 1972 - ''A Collection of Michael Jackson's Oldies'' [[note]]Issued only in the US.[[/note]]
62** 1975 - ''The Best of Michael Jackson''
63** 1981 - ''One Day In Your Life'' [[note]]Motown was trying to capture some of the success Michael was having with ''Music/{{OfftheWall}}'' at the time.[[/note]]
64** 1986 - ''Anthology'' [[note]]Later reissued in 1995 and in 2008 as part of the '''''Gold''''' series by Motown. [[/note]]
65** 2000 - ''20th Century Masters - The Millenium Collection: The Best of Michael Jackson'' [[note]]Later reissued as '''''Icon''''' in 2012.[[/note]]
66** 2001 - ''Greatest Hits: [=HIStory=], Vol. 1'' [[note]]It was a reissue of the first disc from ''[[Music/HistoryPastPresentAndFutureBookI [=HIStory=]: Past, Present And Future, Book I]]''[[/note]]
67** 2003 - ''Number Ones'' [[note]]Released to [[invoked]][[ContractualObligationProject fulfill Jackson's contract]] with Sony[[/note]]
68** 2004 - ''The Ultimate Collection'' [[note]]This is a comprehensive 4-disc box set. Later re-released digitally in 2013 as the '''''Ultimate Fan Extras Collection'''''.[[/note]]
69** 2005 - ''The Essential Michael Jackson'' [[note]]It also had a deluxe edition issued in the United States.[[/note]]
70** 2008 - ''King of Pop'' [[note]]Fans got the chance to vote their favourite songs in many different countries.[[/note]]
71** 2009 - ''Hello World - The Motown Solo Collection'', ''The Definitive Collection'', ''The Collection'', ''Michael Jackson's This Is It''
72** 2013 - ''The Indispensable Collection''
73** 2017 - ''Scream''
74
75!!Films:
76* 1978: ''Film/TheWiz''
77* 1986: ''Film/CaptainEO''
78* 1988: ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}''
79* 1997: ''Film/MichaelJacksonsGhosts''
80* 2009: ''Film/MichaelJacksonsThisIsIt''
81
82!!Notable Advertisements
83* Advertising/TheChasePepsi
84
85!![[DarthWiki/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Tropers, are you OK?]]:
86
87[[foldercontrol]]
88
89[[folder:A-L]]
90* SeventiesHair: The afro he sported from when he was with The Jackson 5 up until somewhere around the time Off The Wall was released.
91* EightiesHair: His trademark Jheri Curl, as seen in the image above.
92* AlbumFiller: Or more specifically, a noted lack thereof early on. In later interviews towards the end of his life, he specifically noted this trope as the impetus to his work on his three biggest albums ''Off the Wall'', ''Thriller'', and ''Bad''. He stated he asked himself, "Why can't there be an album where '''every song''' could be released as a single?" He seems to have done well with his goal there: ''Music/OffTheWall'' was the first album ever with four Top Ten singles, ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' had '''seven''' Top Ten singles (of nine total songs on the album), and ''Music/{{Bad}}'' was the first album to have five #1 hits in America (only Music/KatyPerry matched it, nearly 25 years later), seven Top 10 hits in the UK (a record that also stood for nearly 25 years until Music/CalvinHarris beat it) and nine singles released from it in total (a record that still stands).
93* AlternateMusicVideo: He had a few of his videos be recut or refilmed entirely:
94** "Smooth Criminal" had three different cuts, all of which aired on TV in some form:
95*** The full ten-minute video from ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}'', which featured a spoken interlude. This version is considered the "official" version, and is featured on Jackson's [=YouTube=] channel.
96*** A shortened version set to the album mix, featuring alternate camera angles from the movie with a motion blur effect. This was shown in the credits of ''Moonwalker'', and was the main version that aired on TV for a time.
97*** And a shorter edit of the ''Moonwalker'' cut that was condensed to 4 minutes for TV airplay. This one is the rarest of the three, and has only been seen sparingly.
98** The original David Fincher-directed video for "Who Is It" wasn't aired in the US during its initial release, and was instead replaced by a compilation of footage from Jackson's previous music videos.
99** "They Don't Care About Us" has three different versions, all filmed by Creator/SpikeLee: The well-known version that was filmed in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, and a version set inside a prison that was rarely shown on television, but was later included on the compilation ''Michael Jackson's Vision''. The prison version was the first time in Jackson's career that he had filmed two music videos for the same song. In the summer of 2020, in light of the Black Lives Matter protests happening around the world, Lee released a supercut combining both versions of the video, with new footage of the BLM protests that were happening.
100%%* AnimalMotifs: Tigers and panthers.
101* AncientEgypt: The "Remember the Time" music video took place in an ancient Egyptian court, full of pharaohs and the like. No mummies, though.
102* TheBabyTrap: "Billie Jean," where the title character claims her child is his. Michael claimed that it was based on all the groupies trying to pull this on him or his brothers, though the song implies that he ''did'' spend the night with her.
103* BeingWatched: Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me" as well as his own "Who Is It" video has a face in the wall of the main character's apartment. The face seems to imply he knows what his lover has been doing to him. The lover in the short film is a high-profile prostitute.
104* BlackAndNerdy: He filled his homes with various forms of video games, not to mention that the whole spoken-word bit at the beginning of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", when Michael is talking about a "force", is about "the Force" from ''Franchise/StarWars'', of which Michael was a fan.
105* {{Bowdlerise}}:
106** The original version of the "black panther" scene from the "Black or White" music video became controversial due to Jackson being shown to destroy glass from cars and walls. An altered version with racist text added on the glass (as in vandalism) exists, as if Jackson was an anti-Racism protester and wanted to remove all evidence of racism jokes.
107** Later releases of ''[=HIStory=]'' censor antisemitic slurs that were included in "They Don't Care About Us," replacing them with synthesized percussion sounds after Jackson attracted criticism for their use. Jackson claimed that the use of such language was meant to connect to his own dilemma at the time, but accusations of Jackson being an antisemite persisted nonetheless. Versions of the album with the uncensored version of the song are now considered collector's items.
108* BrotherSisterIncest: Latoya Jackson plays Michael's love interest in the video for "Say Say Say". [[DownplayedTrope In the video, however, they are not (apparently) related, and thankfully they only flirt]].
109* TheCameo: Did a disproportionately small amount of these considering his level of fame. Some memorable examples:
110** Appeared in both ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' video games as "Space Michael." Arguably, only the first one qualifies as a cameo appearance; his role in Part 2 is much more substantial.
111** He also appeared as himself in ''Film/MenInBlack2'', and as a hidden boxer in ''VideoGame/Ready2RumbleBoxing: Round 2''.
112** He also had a role in ''Miss Cast Away'', made in 2004. He was prominently featured on the cover as a selling point (but then, according to reviews, it had nothing else to offer).
113** Lampshaded in the "Liberian Girl" video, which is packed with so many celebrity cameos that Jackson himself had an equally small part in his own video.
114* CanonDiscontinuity: Michael didn't consider his first four albums to really be "his" as they consisted mostly of covers and featured no songwriting contributions from him at all. It wasn't until ''Off the Wall'' where he began to play a role in the songwriting process, though the album was still mostly written by other artists. By the time ''Bad'' came around, Michael had become the principal songwriter of his albums.
115* CelebrityStar: ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E1StarkRavingDad Stark Raving Dad]]" has Homer meeting a man named "Leon Kompowsky" who thinks he's Michael Jackson. The voice actor credited with the role was "John Jay Smith," but aside (ironically) from his singing it is Jackson's actual voice -- he was a huge fan of the show and produced [[Music/TheSimpsonsSingTheBlues "Do the Bartman"]].
116** And even though he didn't sing it, the episode also gave us one of the show's Crowning Moments of Everything in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alTfC-L2W1c "Lisa, It's Your Birthday".]] He apparently didn't do the singing parts because Sony would not allow him to, though another story floating around is that Michael wanted to prank his family with the sound-alike singer (Kipp Lennon).
117* ChildrenAreInnocent: Jackson took ''every'' opportunity to express this sentiment, whether in his songs, interviews, concerts, etc.
118* {{Claymation}}: In the video for ''Speed Demon'', Michael encounters several claymation characters and ends up on the run from them. When he enters the wardrobe, he becomes one himself -- a motorcycle-riding rabbit named Spike.
119* ClothesMakeTheLegend: White socks, short trousers, black trilby, and single sparkly white glove; also a red leather jacket, military jackets, etc. And let's not forget his "Smooth Criminal" attire.
120** His vests and floppy hats during the Jackson 5 period, too.
121* ConceptAlbum: ''Music/OffTheWall'' is about the ups and downs of partying while ''Blood on the Dance Floor'' as an EP (without the remixes) could very well be a concept album on inner demons such as lust, addiction, jealousy, and masochism.
122* ConceptVideo: Most of his music videos, [[InsistentTerminology which he preferred to call "short films"]].
123** ''Music/MichaelJacksonsThriller'': Where a date turns into a real, live, dancing horror movie.
124** "Music/{{Bad}}": Features Mike as a young man coming home from a prep school, and confronting his old friends from the 'hood.
125** "Music/BeatIt": Michael intervenes and stops a MobWar through the power of dance.
126** "Music/BillieJean": A mysteriously powered Michael is being stalked by a paparazzo around a barren city.
127** "Speed Demon": Michael becomes a claymation rabbit named Spike in order to escape obsessive claymation fans. (Part of the ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}'' anthology film.)
128** "Music/RememberTheTime": He's a magician who tries to rekindle the flame with an old lover... who is now married to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
129** "Who Is It?": Directed by Creator/DavidFincher, as Michael realizes his lover is actually a wildly successful prostitute. The darkest and most adult video he ever made and, possibly due to his kid-heavy fanbase at the time, it was never shown on U.S. television and appears only on the ''Dangerous: The Short Films'' compilation video.
130** ''[[Film/MichaelJacksonsGhosts Ghosts]]'', a pastiche of black-and-white horror films combined with an allegory about his treatment by...well, everyone who wondered about his conduct with children, incorporates three songs ("2 Bad", "Ghosts", and "Is It Scary") and runs ''38 minutes'' total, qualifying as an actual short film.
131* ConsistentClothingStyle: He liked clothing that evoked military tunics, be it actual blinged-out tunics or shirts embroidered to look like tunics. These also usually featured sergeant's stripes on the sleeves. He also favored shirts and jackets with very structured shoulders, sometimes even with exaggerated shoulder pads that swooped up toward his head.
132* ControlFreak: Jackson was always extremely meticulous about how his songs should sound, and was always personally and deeply involved in the production process, though would often defer to his producers or other musicians for a second opinion, just to be sure. This initially led to him cranking out record-breaking hits, but his increasing perfectionism and creative control gradually slowed down his output in later years.
133* CookingDuel: Several of his appearances and works has Michael's character resolve a potentially violent conflict through dance battles:
134** Also in "Beat It," where he defuses a gang battle by stepping in and starting to dance, and in "Bad."
135** His appearances in ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' and its sequel, which is a game of dance battles.
136%%** ''Film/CaptainEO''
137%%** In ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}''
138* CoolShades: Ray Bans aviators, which he adopted during the recording of ''Thriller'', and quickly became one of his signature items. During live shows, particularly the ''Dangerous'' tour, he would toss his aviators into the crowd before launching into song.
139* CrucifiedHeroShot: Jackson often did this at the end of performances for his more inspirational, “world-saving” songs, such as “Man in the Mirror,” “Heal the World,” and “Earth Song.”
140** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqIEU6RfUo This performance]] of “Earth Song” especially helped feed accusations of having a [[MessianicArchetype Messianic complex]]. [[spoiler:Music/JarvisCocker certainly thought so, [[HostileShowTakeover invading the stage]] and giving Jackson [[FlippingTheBird the V sign]].]]
141* CuteKitten: On the 25th anniversary edition of ''Thriller'''s cover, Jackson is holding a tiger cub.
142* DarkerAndEdgier:
143** ''Bad'' was supposed to give him an "edgier" image, but it didn't really take. Later albums delve into this trope more effectively with darker themes and aesthetic (e.g. "Who Is It" from ''Dangerous'').
144** Also, while ''Thriller'' is still pretty light-hearted, it's considerably edgier than his preceding albums, with its main hits having the subjects of horror fiction ("Thriller"), babies trap ("Billie Jean"), and gangster violence ("Beat It").
145* TheDeadCanDance: His ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' video is the TropeCodifier, with many subsequent "zombie dances" [[MichaelJacksonsThrillerParody mimicking moves from the video]]. Done again in ''[[Film/MichaelJacksonsGhosts Ghosts]]''.
146* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The videos for "Scream," "Stranger in Moscow" and the TalkyBookends of "Bad."
147* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Downplayed. While MJ didn't support piracy, he was far harsher and critcal on the piracy bill law that combats it than the practice itself and believes solutions like Itunes is a far better option.
148* DistinctDoubleAlbum: ''[=HIStory=]'', one disc being old "greatest hits" material, the other being new music.
149* DoorSlamOfRage: At the beginning of the music video for "Black or White", the father orders his son to go to bed and slams the door to his room so hard, a picture frame hanging above comes down.
150* EarlyBirdCameo: A demo version of "Another Part of Me" appears at the end of the 1986 short film ''Film/CaptainEO'' in which Michael starred. It has different synth sounds to the final version, although similar vocals. The following year, the final version of it appeared on ''Bad'', and the year after that, as a single.
151* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
152** Michael's first solo album, ''Music/GotToBeThere'', was released when he was only 13 years old and best known for being the lead singer of Music/TheJacksonFive. It kicks off with a more-than-respectable cover of "Ain't No Sunshine," but from that point forward is very ballad-heavy. Even the more well-known stuff ("Rockin' Robin" and the title song) don't hint at any aspect of the post-disco dance pop that defined the style of his '80s albums. His next three albums are more of the same, and even ''Music/OffTheWall'' was far more disco/quiet storm than one might expect from his later work, without any rock crossovers or anthemic ballads about saving the world.
153** For that matter, Michael's first chart-topping single, "Ben," sticks out like a sore thumb compared to what followed -- not just because of his age (he was 14 when he recorded it), but because it's a movie tie-in about a boy and his violently-protective pet rat. This is probably why the different versions of his ''Number Ones'' compilation album either omit the song or use a later live recording from when Michael was an adult.
154* EarthSong: "Earth Song" is a song made to promote environmentalism and animal welfare, originally made for ''Music/{{Dangerous|Album}}'' before it was cut and later featured on ''Music/HistoryPastPresentAndFutureBookI''.
155* EpicRocking: ''Dangerous'' has ten songs over five minutes long (though "Will You Be There" stole some Beethoven for its intro). Disc two of ''[=HIStory=]'' has three numbers over six minutes (including "Earth Song"), and ''Invincible'' opens with the 6:25 "Unbreakable".
156** Would also draw out live performances, fake-ending them several times, similar to James Brown.
157* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: He wore silver sequins on his glove and socks for this reason; with sparkly white socks, viewers could pay attention to his dance moves more easily.
158* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: ''Thriller'' features not only dancing zombies, but Jackson himself becoming a zombie.
159%%* FacelessMooks: His background dancers in "They Don't Care About Us" from ''This is It''.
160* FaceRevealingTurn: The music video for "Thriller" has possibly the most famous (and most frequently parodied) use of the trope of all time.
161* FailedFutureForecast: The song "Stranger In Moscow" has Jackson being stalked by a KGB agent with the song presumably ending with the KGB agent interrogating him about trying to subvert the pro worker regime. The song came out a few years after the USSR collapsed in 1991, making the KGB and the Soviet regime a thing of the past. Although it apparently takes place in pre-Glasnost Russia.
162* FakeShemp: Famously, when he wasn't available, the video for the Jacksons' "Torture" used a wax dummy and elaborate costumes.
163** Michael had also used an impersonator for certain shots in his "Who Is It" video because he was busy with the ''Dangerous'' tour at the time. That same impersonator (E'Casanova Evans) also stood in for MJ in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII''.
164* ForcedMeme: Wanting a title akin to [[Music/ElvisPresley "The King of Rock N' Roll"]] or [[Music/BruceSpringsteen "The Boss"]], Jackson had "King of Pop" thought up by his handlers (albeit a longer version, "The King of Pop, Rock, and Soul"). During the promotion of ''Dangerous'', Jackson's management urged MTV and Fox to refer to him as the King of Pop basically whenever they mentioned him. It caught on, even if during his downturn years the media took to calling him "the self-proclaimed King of Pop" to show it was mostly a demonstration of SmallNameBigEgo.
165* FreeHandedPerformer: Though he contributed conga, tambourine, and percussion parts as a member of Music/TheJacksonFive, as a solo artist, his stage presence consisted solely of singing and dancing (ironically while dealing with lupus-induced respiratory issues).
166* FriendToAllChildren: No other pop star in history utilized this trope as much as Jackson. Many of his works portray him as this.
167* GemEncrusted: Most of his costumes as time went on. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI7uqnyfv18 The ones he would have worn in the This Is It tour]] would bring it up to eleven.
168* TheGeneralissimo: Jackson’s motif for the ''[=HIStory=]'' album, but even for years prior to this album, he was known to wear fancy military attire.
169* GiantSpider: ''This is It'' features a giant black widow spider in the ''Thriller'' segment. Not only is one on screen (this would have been in 3D, no less), but one scurries on stage that opens up to reveal Jackson.
170* GrandFinale: ''This is It'' ''was'' going to be a GrandFinale for his career; [[{{Retirony}} he died before it could start]].
171* GreatestHitsAlbum:
172** The double album ''[=HIStory=]'' has this as a first disc and an album of new material as a second disc. The first disc became available separately in 2001.
173** For straighter examples, popular examples are ''Number Ones,'' ''The Ultimate Collection'' (actually a career-spanning box set), ''The Essential Michael Jackson'' (which is part of Sony's acclaimed Essential series), and ''King of Pop'' (which had different versions in many differeny countries due to fans voting their own selection of songs). There's also all manner of compilations covering his material as a child star.
174%%* GreenAesop: "Earth Song" and Jackson's final message in the ''This Is It'' film.
175* {{Guyliner}}: Wore it from the mid-80s onward, allegedly having tattoos on his eyelids to resemble this in his later years.
176* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: Jackson openly admitted he hated touring; both because of the stress it caused, and because it was a record label requirement. However, he did love getting to interact with and entertain fans because of it, as well as getting to see different countries around the world.
177* HeelRealization: Downplayed, but "Man In The Mirror" is about someone who realizes he's been a self-centered jerkass, and vowing to [[HeelFaceTurn change for the better.]]
178%%* HydePlaysJekyll: In ''Music/{{Thriller}}''.
179* ImportantHaircut He usually changed his hair when he did the same to his wardrobe.
180** From childhood up until ''Off the Wall'', Michael had a sizable afro, like his brothers.
181** During the 80's, Michael famously sported a jheri curl, which was medium-length during the ''Thriller''-era, but longer and looser by the time he released ''Bad''.
182** During the 1990's, leading up to his eventual death, Michael experimented with straight hairstyles of varying length, most famously a straightened, shoulder-length do.
183* InvoluntaryCharityDonation: Happens in the "Say Say Say" video with Music/PaulMcCartney. [=McCartney=] and Jackson play Mac and Jack, a pair of old-time con men who travel around selling snake oil, hustling pool, and performing reckless vaudeville shows. They donate the money they take in from their victims [[SavingTheOrphanage to an orphanage]].
184* InsistentTerminology: From the ''Music/{{Dangerous|Album}}'' era onwards, he stopped calling his music videos "music videos," exclusively referring to them as "short films" (technically he wasn't wrong, but by and large they still wholly fit into the "music video" category), even the ones that were just bare-bones footage of him performing; even his official Vevo channel gets in on the act! Similarly, his songs with the Jackson 5 were always called "the Old Songs," with his solo works being "the New Songs."
185* IntercourseWithYou:
186** A few songs seem romantic, but are clearly this trope. At the very least, ''Invincible'''s "Break of Dawn" doesn't hide it, [[LyricalDissonance despite the sombre mood]].
187** Subverted with "The Lady in my Life,". It was one of two tracks not released as a single from Thriller, and has uncharacteristically sexual lyrics.
188* {{Japandering}}: Not often, but his massive popularity in Japan landed him a few commercials there; the most famous one being [[https://youtu.be/z1s5baydzOk?t=8 a commercial for Suzuki scooters]]. Jackson was also a crucial part of the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis' pre-''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' marketing in Japan, though that also made its way to the west as part of the "Genesis Does" campaign.
189* ListSong: "Why You Wanna Trip On Me" is a list of things Michael thinks people should worry about more than his personal life. "Earth Song" has a similar list near the end of the song of things Michael thinks we should worry about involving the Earth's ecology.
190* LoonyFan: Billie Jean was reportedly inspired by a fan who claimed Michael was the father of one of her twins, when Michael ignored her she sent him a photograph of herself and a gun, that she told him to use on himself on a certain date. Michael was so scared of her he carried this woman’s photo everywhere, memorizing it in case he ever saw her.
191** After the song came out another mentally unstable fan would change her name to Billie Jean and spend her entire life stalking him, staging regular break ins to both Encino and Neverland, suing him for spousal support and even after his death, suing and demanding custody of his children.
192* LoopholeAbuse: After the 1994 civil settlement, Jackson was forbidden to ever explicitly reference the trial, or the accusers by name. So on his album ''[=HIStory=]'', he [[StealthInsult threw subliminal disses]] at ''everyone involved'', sans the actual kid who made the claims. Jackson also called out Santa Barbra district attorney Thomas Sneddon by name, and got away with it by changing the name to "Dom S. Sheldon" in the liner notes. This was soon taken to the extreme when Jackson actually managed to get a lawsuit thrown out over breaching the confidentiality agreement on the album a year later.
193* LoudOfWar: The video for "Black or White" opens with a father insisting his son turns his music off, only for the son to set up a ridiculously large guitar amp and crank it all the way to "Are You Nuts!?!", with rather destructive effects.
194* LyricalDissonance:
195** "The Girl is Mine" is a light '80s pop song about two guys fighting over a girl, who's probably playing them both for someone less obsessive than either of them.
196** "Billie Jean" is an upbeat dance number about an obsessive fan.
197** "Smooth Criminal" is a dance-pop song narrating a woman being attacked in her apartment by a criminal and presumably murdered.
198[[/folder]]
199
200[[folder:M-Z]]
201* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Jackson's songs involving women are typically either [[SillyLoveSongs saccharine love songs]]—"Lady in My Life," "The Girl is Mine," "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "You Are Not Alone"—or portrays them as overly sexualized, untrustworthy manipulators—"Billie Jean," "Dirty Diana," "Dangerous," "In the Closet." Given that he never really had a chance at a normal dating experience and his only relationships were with [[LoonyFan obsessive female fans]] or other pop superstars[[note]]This included the ''actual'' Music/{{Madonna}} for a brief time, though it was presumably nothing more than a publicity stunt to get the two biggest pop singers of TheEighties together. By all accounts, Madonna ''terrified'' him.[[/note]].
202* MediumBlending: The claymation, blended with real backgrounds and people, in the video for "Speed Demon."
203* MetalScream: "Dirty Diana" has some surprisingly epic ones toward the end.
204* MichaelJacksonsThrillerParody: Trope originator, obviously. There are countless parodies of dancing zombies that can be directly traced to "Thriller."
205* MoonwalkDance: Never claimed to invent it, [[TropeCodifier but popularized it]]; performed it at every live concert, and it became one of his immortal trademarks.
206* TheMovie: ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}'' and/or ''This is It'' can apply.
207* NewJackSwing: The undisputed best selling artist of the genre during the 90s, with a combined total of 58 million albums sold worldwide between 1991-97[[note]]32 million for ''Dangerous'', 20 million for ''[=HIStory=]'' and 6 million for ''Blood on the Dance Floor''.[[/note]] Jackson also wrote and produced tracks for several new jack swing artists such as Ralph Tresvant and Blackstreet.
208* NewSoundAlbum: ''Off the Wall'', a pop-R&B album, was this to his previous solo work as a "bubblegum" child act. From that point on, his work followed the trends of pop music in general, with each subsequent album taking on a new sound.
209* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: A disclaimer at the end of the music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7z_w83fSjM Earth Song]]" says that no animals were harmed during the making of the video, though an unnamed poacher had killed an elephant within a mile of the shot.
210* ObsessionSong: "Baby Be Mine", "Billie Jean", "The Girl Is Mine", "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Dirty Diana", "Streetwalker", "Can't Let Her Get Away", "Remember the Time", "Who Is It", "Give In to Me", and "Dangerous".
211* OneManSong: "Ben," although the "man" in this case is actually [[ItMakesSenseInContext a pet rat]].
212* OneWomanSong: "Billie Jean," "The Lady in My Life," "Liberian Girl," "Dirty Diana."
213* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: His youngest son, Prince Michael Jackson II, is known as "Blanket."
214* OrdinaryPeoplesMusicVideo: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2AitTPI5U0 "Black or White"]] has dancers from all around the world, wearing traditional garb and performing traditional dances. The final segment features several people of different races and gender morphing into another person.
215* OurFounder: The trailer for his ''[=HIStory=]'' album shows him heading an army and erecting a giant statue of himself. That statue trick (it served as the cover of the album, and actual replicas of it were circulated on his tour) was criticized even by his fans as being too SmallNameBigEgo.
216* ParodyAssistance: Jackson was a strong supporter of Music/WeirdAlYankovic, allowed Yankovic to use the “Badder” set from ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}'' to film his "Bad" parody, "Fat", had Al as one of the many celebrity cameos in the video for "Liberian Girl", and preemptively gave Al permission to parody nearly every song in Jackson's library. The only exception was for "Black or White", because Jackson felt the song's subject matter was too serious to be parodied.
217* PassThePopcorn: Sorta does this in the "Thriller" video, noshing away at popcorn while his girlfriend recoils in terror during the movie. An animated gif featuring this scene has become a ''massive'' meme.
218%%* PepTalkSong: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "Keep the Faith," and "On the Line."
219* ThePerfectionist: Notoriously so, to the point where it got him in trouble with his label. According to many of his producers and session musicians, the general rule of thumb was that if Mike wasn't dancing in the booth as he was recording, he wasn't feeling the record, and would tweak it and re-record it constantly until he was fully satisfied. Unfortunately, this led to his album cycles taking longer than they'd typically need to, eventually forcing Epic/Sony to impose deadlines on him twice in order to get records from him out on time.
220* PhotographicMemory: Those close to him claim that he could remember names, stories, info relating to encounters with people many years before.
221* PopStarComposer: In the mid 2000s, it was discovered that Jackson had a hand in composing some of the soundtrack of ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'', with most evidence pointing to the fact that most of the songs are either uptempo or {{Suspiciously Similar Song}}s of tracks from his ''Dangerous'' album. He is not credited in the game itself, with the official reasons being that he disliked the low-grade sound equipment used to make [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Sega Mega Drive]] music, but given that he had somewhat bigger things to worry about in early 1993, it's easier to see the true reasons behind his abandoning the project. He later lent his voice and likeness to another Creator/{{Sega}} project, ''Space Channel 5'', and provided beatboxing to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-123v1bXpo his mission theme]], but otherwise didn't compose it himself.
222** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbVM-l2Oku4 Shortly after his death, it was revealed that he did work on ''Sonic 3'']], and his estate gradually became aware of the fact; which reportedly led to legal issues preventing ''Sonic 3'' from being re-released for years afterward. ''Sonic'' co-creator Naoto Ohshima also revealed that Jackson had sent Sega a demo tape of tracks for the game, but it went unused, and was locked away in a vault.
223* PrecisionFStrike:
224** During the 2nd chorus of "Scream":
225-->"Stop pressuring me, stop pressuring me, stop ''fucking'' with me."
226** The very last line of "Earth Song": “Do they give a ''damn''?!”
227** In a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKE1Sc0wPLE interview around 2004]], Michael was asked about his depiction in {{Music/Eminem}}'s "Just Lose It" music video. Though he kept it fairly civil throughout, he quoted Music/StevieWonder's stance on Eminem:
228----> '''Michael:''' Stevie said "He's bullshit", that's what he said...
229%%* ProperlyParanoid: Some of his most popular [[SignatureSong signature hit songs]] had this atmosphere.
230* PunBasedTitle: ''[=HIStory=]'', which can be interpreted as "history" or "his story".
231* RearrangeTheSong: From the ground up! The demo for "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" was a smooth [=R&B=] jam, virtually an entirely different song to the fast-paced dance number on ''Thriller''. In actuality, frequent collaborator Quincy Jones wasn't keen on the demo itself but loved the title so much that he created a much more upbeat song with the same title. Thanks to ''The Ultimate Collection,'' fans got to hear the original in 2004.
232* RemixAlbum: Four of them. ''The Original Soul of Michael Jackson'' (1986), ''Blood On the Dance Floor: [=HIStory=] in the Mix'' (1997), and ''The Stripped Mixes'' and ''The Remix Suite'' (both 2009).
233* RealLifeWritesThePlot: "Leave Me Alone," of course, directed at the media and tabloids, who in 1987 had already begun playing up the whole Wacko Jacko schtick.
234* {{Scatting}}: Jackson was known for his impressive beatboxing skills, and not only was it prevalent in his material as an adult, he also used beatboxing to create rough demos of his songs, before giving them to his producers to flesh out; "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZeYw1bm53Y Beat It]]" being a well known example. This particular skill actually helped him win a plagiarism lawsuit because he was able to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkjYcgpaS4w demonstrate how he composed his songs in such a way]].
235* SelfBackingVocalist: You can pick up his own distinctive voice in the backing vocals to a majority of his songs, starting as early as "Got to be There" and "Rockin Robin". He also commonly provided his own backing "vocal instrumentation" with beatboxing and the like (as in ''Tabloid Junkie'').
236* ShoutOut:
237** Music/{{Bad}} is a shout-out to Cool from ''Theatre/WestSideStory''.
238** "Smooth Criminal" is a shout out to Fred Astaire.
239** "Beat It" is reminiscent of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'': What if Tony had stopped the fight?
240** The "Thriller" section of ''This Is It'' starts out in Ride/TheHauntedMansion -- ghosts having a party in a ballroom, and the "narrator" implied to have hanged himself -- and ends like [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria]] -- the ghosts return to their graves at sunrise; there's also "dead bride and dead groom" "kites" that resemble the ghosts in "Night on Bald Mountain."
241* SignatureHeadgear:
242** His black Trilby. During some concerts, he threw it into the audience.
243** The [[FedoraOfAsskicking white fedora]] from "Smooth Criminal" and "You Rock My World" can also qualify.
244* SignatureMove: The moonwalk. Also, to a lesser degree, his pelvic thrust, right-leg kick, and tiptoe stance.
245* SingingVoiceDissonance: Zig-zagged. As mentioned above, the powerful, masculine-sounding voice he talked with in private was also his real speaking voice. That famously feminine-sounding falsetto he was known to sing with? That was a put-on.
246%%* SnakeOilSalesman: He plays the accomplice of one of these (played by Music/PaulMcCartney) in the "Say Say Say" music video.
247%%* StalkingIsLove: The music video for "The Way You Make Me Feel" gives off this vibe.
248* TheSomethingSong: "Earth Song."
249%%* SpecialGuest: Many of his music videos have celebrity cameos.
250%%* StalkerWithACrush: "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Billie Jean," "Dirty Diana."
251* TakeThat: The song "D.S.", from the ''[=HIStory=]'' album. The lyrics say that someone named "Dom Sheldon" is a cold man, but if you listen to the song, he's clearly saying "Tom Sneddon", the Santa Barbara DA who went after him for child molestation back in the '90s and again in 2005 -- in fact, some people believed that Sneddon had a vendetta against Jackson because of this song, and it was at least part of the reason he took him to trial.
252* TalkyBookends: Popularized this trope with the "Thriller" clip. The film opens with a short skit, ends with a short skit, and in between is music video magic.
253* TechnicianVersusPerformer: MJ was both, but is generally considered the more performative artist compared to Music/{{Prince}}. While both were very meticulous about their music, and had amazing stage presences, Prince was a multi-instrumentalist, and produced all of his tracks by himself. Jackson, while able to play some instruments, sometimes relied on other producers to make some of his tracks.
254* ThinkOfTheChildren: Claimed that some of his creative output was based on this trope.
255* TitleTheAdaptation: ''Michael Jackson: The Experience'' (a video game).
256* TropeCodifier: For the modern, plot-driven type of music video (ones previous to him were mostly just shots of the band playing), for the modern style of pop performances (one of the first to have synchronized choreographed dance while singing), and for the modern pop artist image and persona.
257* TruckDriversGearChange: "Man in the Mirror" contains a key change on the word “[[{{Pun}} change]]”. Also happens towards the end of "Rock With You".
258* UniqueEnemy: The full, 18-minute cut of the "Music/{{Bad}}" video is this, compared to the rest of Jackson's videography. His music videos occasionally touched on social issues, but usually kept things pretty light, and always stayed firmly within the realm of polished escapism. "Bad," on the other hand, is a gritty and surprisingly intense social drama directed by Creator/MartinScorsese. Jackson plays a teenager in pre-gentrification Brooklyn, on break from his exclusive private school. His character is pressured into a life of petty crime by his ghetto friends, refuses to join in, [[spoiler:and finally snaps under the stress.]]
259* VerbalTic: "HEE HEE!", "I don't know!", "CHAMONE!", "WOOH!" and his fairly unique vocal "hiccup" style also qualify.
260* VocalEvolution: Since he spent virtually his entire life being recorded, one can follow this quite precisely as he went through puberty, etc. ''This is It'' is sometimes held up as a late-in-life example, but Jackson made it clear that he would not stress his voice too much during rehearsal sessions, so there's really no way of knowing what he was still capable of by that point.
261* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Averted with his song "Ben", which, despite being about a rat from a horror movie of the same name, is quite heartwarming.
262%%* YouAreNotAlone: Had a hit song by this title, penned by none other than Music/RKelly.
263* {{Zipperiffic}}: The red jacket he wore in the "Beat It" video was covered in zippers, and was iconic enough that it's a likely trope codifier.
264[[/folder]]
265----
266->''Who's bad?''

Top