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"HEE HEE!"
"Mike? Mike is...diff'rent."
—Steve Harvey
Originally a member of the Jackson 5, Michael Joseph Jackson debuted as a solo artist in 1971 (the year he turned 13), but began a full-fledged solo career in the late 1970s. Though songs from his first serious solo effort, Off The Wall, were popular, he eventually reached full-fledged superstardom in 1982 with his album Thriller, currently the only album in history to have sold more than 100 million copies. Known as the King of Pop, he is the most successful recording artists in history, with his music influencing much of the genre in the 1980s and early 1990s, his music videos breaking the color barrier on MTV (not to mention essentially defining them as an art form), and even having a video game based on him by Sega. All of this resulted in a total of 13 Grammy Awards. Oh, and then he released his next album, Bad, which was also a big hit.
As the definitive celebrity of The Eighties, he cultivated a Reclusive Artist persona and a reputation for high eccentricity. In particular, he created the Neverland Ranch, a grand estate where he could finally live the childhood he never had, since he and his siblings had spent most of their childhood and teen years performing under the heavy, often abusive hand of father Joe. It featured a zoo and an amusement park, and frequently hosted visits from ill and/or underprivileged children.
In 1993, in the wake of his fourth solo album Dangerous, Jackson was accused of molesting a young boy. Because this both contradicted his image as a friend to children and was not implausible in light of the various rumors of his extreme eccentricity — in particular, his alarming changes in appearance over the past 15 years, chalked up to plastic surgery and the skin disorder vitiligo — it made international headlines. Evidence was too slim to actually prosecute, considering the questionable circumstances of the allegations, and Jackson settled a civil suit out-of-court over the matter. Since then, he was less known for his artistic output ( HIStory [1995], Blood on the Dance Floor [1997], and Invincible [2001] - which still all went platinum several times) than his ever-strange personal behavior: a brief marriage to Elvis Presley's daughter, dangling one of his children (an infant at the time) over a Berlin hotel railing to show him to fans, and a second round of molestation allegations which unfolded over 2003-05 resulting in a not guilty verdict. The media's selective portrayal of him as a complete freak for the rest of his life served to further-tarnish his already downtrodden reputation.
Jackson died due to a cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50, a few weeks before the start of a long-awaited series of shows in London that were to serve as a comeback. In late August 2009, his death was ruled a homicide.
His death occurred during an almost surreal two-week period between June 21 and July 4, 2009 which was densely populated by celebrity deaths including those of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Sky Saxon, Billy Mays, Mollie Sugden, Harve Presnell, Karl Malden and Steve McNair, in what has been dubbed the "Summer of Death".
Somewhat ironically, in the wake of his death, general public opinion seems to have begun taking a full circle, and to regard him as, even if still extremely weird in his later personal life, one of the unassailably greatest performing artists of all time; as in, all human history. For now anyway, and there is of course some inevitable Hype Backlash of people starting to hate him because of all the mindless praise he's been getting of late.
And his memorial service on July 7 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles was broadcast live around the world, watched by up to one billion people, more than the likes of Princess Diana or Elvis Presley. (Then again, was Elvis' funeral broadcast at all? Standards change.)
There is a movie featuring footage of his rehearsals for his London live shows.
Studio album discography:
- Got To Be There (1972)
- Ben (1972)
- Music & Me (1973)
- Forever, Michael (1975)
- Off the Wall (1979)
- Thriller (1982)
- Bad (1987)
- Dangerous (1991)
- HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995, one disc was a greatest hits album, the other was an album of new studio material)
- Blood on the Dancefloor (1997, a dance remix album interspersed with new material)
- Invincible (2001)
Michael Jackson music videos:
Provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents - Joseph Jackson abused all of his children, physically and emotionally. Michael seems to have gotten the worst of it, as he was the fan favourite. He supposedly had a great relationship with his mother Katherine if you overlook the fact that she controlled several aspects of his life (including who he dated/married).
- Adult Child - He identified very strongly with Peter Pan. Neverland Ranch was designed to give other kids the dream childhood Joe Jackson denied him. It was, many argue, this childlike behavior and thought patterns which led to the molestation charges due to it not being what it looked like.
- Ambiguously Brown - How he looked like after his first surgeries.
- Author Existence Failure - Just as he was about to put on This Is It, a massively hyped series of London concert tours and his first significant concert event in 10 years.
- Better Than It Sounds - If you were introduced to his music/performances after the allegations alluded to below.
- Body Horror - He had had so much plastic surgery, the media speculated his nose was in danger of falling off if he got one more nose job.
- Broken Aesop - His film Moonwalker starts with a long, long, lonnnnnng montage about the wonder that is Michael Jackson, then transitions into a song called "Leave Me Alone", about how Michael is sick of attracting so much attention from people. As the Onion AV Club's review of Invincible quipped, "[L]eave Michael Jackson alone" is a reoccuring message in his work. Yet he keeps undermining it!
- Also, for all the talk about peace and brotherhood in the opening "Man in the Mirror" segment, his "Smooth Criminal" character has no problem violently killing the bad guy and his minions in the climax.
- If you paid attention to the story, they were selling drugs to kids and the cops were controlled by him. What should he have done, bought them kittens?
- Broken Base - Bad rep aside, there are fans that prefer his pre-Thriller work and some like his work up until HIStory, the first post-allegations album.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer - He was weird. But he was one of the BEST DAMN ENTERTAINERS EVER KNOWN!
- But Not Too Black - But sometimes, not too much can get too much!
- The Cameo - There is nothing to say here besides, well... Space Channel 5. Especially Part 2. Yes, that really is his voice.
- He also appeared as himself in Men In Black 2, and as a hidden boxer in Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2.
- Celebrity Star - The Simpsons episode "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 who also co-wrote "Do the Bartman" under a pseudonym.
- And even though he didn't sing it, the episode also gave us one of the show's Crowning Moments of Everything in "Lisa, It's Your Birthday".
- Cloud Cuckoolander - And how!
- Concept Video - He is not only the King Of Pop, he is the King Of Awesome Music Videos.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome - Let's face it, all his concerts are AWESOME (as well as his 30th Anniversary Special). Even his dress rehearsal for his
upcoming presumably non-extistant final tour is AWESOME.
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming / Tear Jerker - His memorial. Especially the part where his daughter Paris Michael speaks for him. She clearly misses him, you can hear it in her voice. That's what got this troper especially. *sob*
- That part got me too, along with Rev. Al Sharpton's message said almost directly to Michael's kids in the front row: "And I want his three children to know: there wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it!". While I was just watching the TV at home by myself, I stood up and applauded this (as did the entire Staples Center).
- Crowning Music Of Awesome - Most of his songs. Even his last album, Invincible - while easily his worst album - has several superb songs on it.
- ...that we only wish others could adequately perform, let alone his larger than life 1980s songs.
- Jackson's music pretty much WAS the music of the 80s if you weren't a metalhead, and most likely helped inspire or kickstart a few new musical genres on its own.
- Cue Cullen - This Is It, the documentary. That is all.
- Dance Battler - In Moonwalker.
- Dark And Troubled Past - Take a good hard look, ladies and gentlemen. This is what being abused as a child can do to a person.
- Dead Artists Are Better - His private life was, well, controversial. But at least in the immediate aftermath of his death, the discussion of that has been tempered by remembering his past glories, at least for a time.
- The Dead Can Dance - Made famous by his Thriller video.
- Dude Not Funny - The Memetic Molester jokes, at least during the year or three Too Soon grace period.
- Ear Worm - If you're listening to a Michael Jackson song, chances are it's very, very catchy.
- The Eighties - Jackson was THE 80's pop star.
- Estrogen Brigade Bait- Or at least he was, during the 80's. (Even if your mileage may vary, there are still people that find him so even after all those years. Point is, the audience loves him in more ways than one). Can sort of blend into Fetish Fuel(s): Hell Bent For Leather in many of his videos, opening his shirt in the Dirty Diana video. Some,er, suggestive-ness in his cover of the Beatles's "Come Together", it goes on...
- Everythings Better With Monkeys - Bubbles, his pet chimp.
- Everythings Better With Sparkles - In the beginning of the Moonwalker film and the video games based on it, Jackson's shoes do a lot of sparkling (and it is used as a weapon in the games).
- Everythings Better With Spinning - He employed this often in his music videos and dance routines.
- Everythings Cuter With Kittens - On the extended Thriller CD cover, Jackson is holding a tiger cub.
- Fallen Creator - Okay, the vitiligo skin disease itself might not have hurt his image too much. However, the rather excessive plastic surgeries Michael had over the years took a toll; he looked almost nothing like he used to by the end. Worse was being charged with repellent crimes, which, combined with bad press, wrecked his image.
- The accusations of repellant crimes were themselves symptomatic of his bizarre (yet understandable, given his childhood) behavior. He was simply too strange for many people to wrap their minds around, and thus be able to trust.
- Fan Nickname - "Wacko Jacko", due to Michael's increasingly bizarre and erratic antics and appearance. A name he hated.
- Former Child Star - It looked like he was on his way to avoiding this until the whole "Wacko Jacko" thing. He was also close friends with a number of ex-child stars such as Macaulay "Mac" Culkin and Elizabeth Taylor.
- Friend To All Children - That's the image he used to be known for but unfortunately, many began fearing (mistakenly? Broken Base says both yes and no) that he was getting a little too "friendly".
- Funny Aneurysm Moment - The Thriller video became scarier by the mid-2000's when the real appareance of Michael mimicked his zombie makeup.
- And of course, there's the fact that now he's actually dead, which has just launched roughly a billion or so of these moments, from the amount of parodies and jokes at his expense over the years.
- There are t-shirts originally printed for his upcoming tour featuring Thriller zombie Jackson with the words "This is It" (the name of the tour) emblazoned across them. They didn't go on sale until after his death.
- There's also another Unfunny Aneurysm Moment if you watch Ghosts, which is about Michael's character's house being raided by an angry mob of people who hate him because he's strange. At the end, he asks them if they still want him to go and the mob leader says yes. He says something "Fine, I'll go" and pounds himself into dust on the floor. It was just a ruse on Michael's character's part, but it's still creepy as hell now that the guy is actually dead, especially considering how much of his poor mental state and isolation was due (from his perspective) to people treating him like this.
- Then there's the fact that his never-performed 2009 comeback tour was to be called This Is It.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff - As popular as he was in the United States, he was more popular in other countries (including Germany) due to the negative press being not as bad there. In the end, while he had tours for Dangerous and HIStory mounted, they did not include stops in the continental U.S.; he was planning for the Dangerous tour to reach the U.S., but then the first round of abuse allegations arrived. His This Is It tour was planned to be exclusively held at a single stadium in London.
- Speaking of which, This Is It (the movie) grossed over $127.3 million worldwide (and counting), with 45.4% of the amount belonging to America.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today - His marriage with Lisa Mary Presley was regarded as a transparent attempt of trying to look like a "normal" heterosexual person after the child molestation cases.
- He Also Did - Played the Scarecrow in the 1970s urban Wizard Of Oz update The Wiz starring alongside Diana Ross, Nipsey Russel, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor. Also co-starred with Paul McCartney in the notable flop Give My Regards To Broad Street.
- High Octane Nightmare Fuel - What he looked like in his latter years, nevermind what the large number of oxygen tanks found in his apartment after his death might've been used for.
- It Got Worse - From 1993 onwards. This may continue beyond his death: Apparently Joe Jackson wants to put Michael's kids into show business too ("Blanket is a great dancer").
- Memetic Mutation - HEE HEE!
- Mommas Boy - Michael adored his mother Katherine, and if the memorial is any indication everyone else did too ("Mrs. Jackson... and Joe"). If I recall correctly, one of the first things Michael did after becoming a successful solo artist was to throw a huge birthday party for her to show how much he loved her, but it almost backfired due to them being Jehovah's Witnesses (they managed a compromise by having the gifts "wrapped" in plain brown bags).
- Memetic Molester - Though the jury couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of such crimes, the popular public opinion is that he was- in part due to the extreme coverage, in part due to his increasingly Uncanny Valley appearance and erratic behavior.
- MTV - Billie Jean, contrary to popular belief, was not the first video by an African-American artist shown on MTV, but its success helped bring down the channel's color barrier, and from there Jackson became one of the biggest video stars in the early '80's. The "Thriller" clip, in particular, was the most elaborate music video made up to that point (1983) and was regarded as a genuine event.
- Never Speak Ill Of The Dead - Played straight, but also subverted. His death triggered many respectful, even worshipful tributes. But with so many people of all ages who strongly disliked Jackson in life and were sickened by his all-but-canonization by rabid fans, it didn't stop the Memetic Molester jokes and other snarky comments. The fact that he did so little of artistic note in his final decade didn't help.
- He had a trial of child molestation charges! It was enough to give him a Creator Breakdown, which wore him down mentally as well physically. His friends noticed how horrifyingly thin he had become.
- Nightmare Fuel - The famous Thriller video, a send-up of 1950's horror films, which features him transforming into both a were-cat and a zombie (the former on-screen and quite detailed, what with the video being directed by John Landis), and ends with Jackson turning to face the camera with yellow cat eyes and a Slasher Smile. And if those examples don't creep you out, then Vincent Price's cackling at the very end certainly will!
- Overshadowed By Awesome - With the exception of Janet, who launched her career in 1982 but didn't hit it big until '86, no one seemed to care about Michael's siblings once he became a megastar.
- Pale Skinned Brunette - Well, not at first, but....
- Really, he hit most of the appearance tropes on the dark-light spectrum at some point.
- Pet The Dog - Or rat, anyway. ("Ben")
- Race Lift - He has been accused of attemting a real life version of this. Spoofed by The Onion's Our Dumb Century, which refers to his "blackendectomy".
- Redemption Equals Death - Subverted, as he was never convicted of molesting anyone.
- Played straight in that nobody had anything positive to say about him until he died, at which point public opinion did a 180.
- Real Life Writes The Plot - Jackson's famous glove was reportedly to cover up his patchy skin.
- Reclusive Artist
- Retirony - He died only 18 days before the first of the This is It series of concerts; which he had implied would be the last of his career.
- Ripped From The Headlines - The molestation charges and the baby-dangling incident were prime fodder for Police Procedural shows.
- Serious Business - Hooo, boy...
- Shout Out - Django from One Piece, a Captain Ersatz of Jackson with mind control powers, usually used against the largely teenage Straw Hat crew.
- In the German dub he was even named Jacko!
- Does Kaio's monkey Bubbles from Dragon Ball count?
- Small Name Big Ego: Jackson appeared to believe his own hype about being the "King Of Pop" even in his later years, when he was doing little of actual note as an artist. Not to mention that a recurring theme in a lot of the music and related media he did put out in his later years seemed to be how great Michael Jackson is.
- Sure Why Not - Jackson would often confirm the more ludicrous (and false) rumors about him. He would later stop this when he realized just how damaging it was to his image. There are even some reports that he started some of the rumors (particularly the ones about him buying the Elephant Man's bones and sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber) as gleeful pranks on the media, and created the "Wacko Jacko" nickname.
- He also approved Weird Al's parodies and Alien Ant Farm's cover of Smooth Criminal, among other things, because he did have a healthy sense of humor about his work. Yankovic and Jackson got along rather well — not only did he allow Yankovic to parody his songs, but also to use the set for the "Bad" video for "Fat". To return the favor, Yankovic made a cameo in Jackson's "Liberian Girl" music video. This troper read an interview with Weird Al in the early nineties where Al said that Jackson liked his work and tried to get him to tour with him once (which Al didn't do because he was filming a movie).
- This Troper actually remembers hearing that after he heard the first of Weird Al's parodies of his songs, he gave Yankovic full permission, in perpetuity, to parody any of his songs any time he wished.
- MJ only denied an Al parody once, one of Black Or White, and that wasn't even a full refusal, he just asked Al not to put it on an album(he was fine with Al singing it at live shows instead.) as Jackson thought the message of the original song was too important to be parodied.
- Take That - 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.)
- Talky Bookends - Popularized this trope with the Thriller clip.
- The Trope Song - Earth Song.
- Too Cool To Live - Arguably. Your Milage May Vary, as some think he disqualified himself for this a decade more ago.
- Too Good For This Sinful Earth - According to the more enthusiastic of his fans.
- The Woobie - Although largely brought on by his own actions, you've got to feel bad for the guy.
- Own actions or the fact that he never had a normal life, had an abusive dad, and had his public image ruined forever as a side bonus due to things he probably never did, depending on your perspective.
- The worst part is the reason why he had bad press. Why was Michael Jackson in Berlin dangling his kid? He was there for charity, and he was showing off his kid to Berlin fans who begged for it. Why did Michael Jackson have those kids in his house? They were sickly/lucky kids that he shared his AMUSEMENT PARK and MANSION with. The bed the kids were in? Considering how rich he is, the bed was most likely as big as a large couch. The parents decided they wanted money so they tried to pull off the charges, and luckily, failed. The skin change and the taking of prescription drugs? He had a skin disease AND Lupus; the Lupus gives need to medicine obviously.
- Theme Naming - Jackson's children are named Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (AKA Prince), Paris Katherine (after his beloved mother) Michael Jackson, and Prince Michael Jackson II (AKA Blanket).
- That last one's going to have issues. Not as many as his father, but issues.
- Tragic Hero- according to some. Your Milage May Vary.
- Trope Codifier - 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.
- Uncanny Valley - Michael's plastic surgeries steadily pushed him
towards into this.
- Undermined By Reality
- Unfunny Aneurysm Moment - The song "Morphine". Made in 1997, it was about his addiction to prescription drugs. Even when he was alive it was pretty chilling. But now that it is suspected his death may have been linked to use of prescription drugs, and that's when it became downright scary.
- Verbal Tic - "HEE HEE!"
- "I don't know!", "CHAMONE!", "WOOH!" and his fairly unique vocal "hiccup" style also qualify.
- Vindicated By History - Somewhat. Although many of his detractors still think some of the things he allegedly did were wrong, they admit his past work was still cool.
- Vocal Minority - His U.S. fanbase from 1994 onward, best summed up by the throngs that hung out around the courthouse during his 2005 trial and the small, stunned crowd which gathered outside the hospital where he died shortly after it was reported that he was there (and before it was announced he had a heart attack, was in a coma or dead).
- What Could Have Been - This is It in spades, some of the more elaborate things that would have been in the final show are only talked about. In particular, a scene is shown of Michael's outfit for Billie Jean being designed is shown, and the designers promise that it will be the most epic rendition of the outfit the world has ever seen. The final outfit isn't shown or worn by Michael at all. As well as the entire show.
- White Gloves - Famously worn by Michael (especially the glittery version, or just one), earning him another nickname: "The Gloved One".
- Worst News Judgment Ever - His death overshadowed everything from voter protests in Iran to the beginning of U.S. troop withdrawals in Iraq, as well as the above mentioned other celebrity deaths (with the exception of Billy Mays, whose death caused a second crash of several news sites within a week). He was a big star, but given what became of him in his final years...
- Also, there is no way in hell Michael would have wanted all this media coverage.
- Which is obvious, because he avoided media and the spotlight his entire life.
- Like all the times he had his handlers tip off the media about where he'd be to make sure it would turn into a media circus with him at the center. Oh Wait...
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