Got to Be There: 1972
1972: Michael Jackson releases his debut album ‘Got To Be There’. The album peaked at number fourteen on the US pop albums chart and number three on the US R&B album chart when it was released.
With first single and breakout hit Got to be There, Motown chief Berry Gordy pushed Jackson’s first solo album firmly into the mould of his label’s sound: lush, harmonious, optimistic, innocent pop. Songs like cutesy, bubblegum fifties cover Rockin Robbin were no departure from the style of the Jackson 5 there but the now 14-year-old Jackson – despite his still babyish image and voice – imbues cover versions of Bill Withers Aint No Sunshine and the Carole King’s You’ve got a Friend with impressive depth.
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Ben: 1972
Aug 1972: Releases second album ‘Ben’. The title track ‘Ben’ was a million-seller hit single and Jackson’s first US 1.
Teaming up with soundtrack writer and Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborator Don Black, Jackson proved he wanted to move on from the constraints of the R&B charts into the wider limelight of mainstream pop. Monster hit, Ben, on paper is pure schmaltz but Jackson’s wrenching yet delicate delivery transforms it into a genuinely moving moment of Broadway pop. He also tackles, if somewhat timidly, the Marvin Gaye conscious-soul school with People Make the World Go Round, while keeping his bosses placated with some increasingly tired sounding Motown-by-numbers.
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Music and Me: 1973
1973: Releases third album ‘Music & Me’. Clutching an acoustic guitar in his tank top and looking glumly introspective, Jackson was clearly seeking a deeper sound than Motown could provide but on this, his most unsuccessful record, not finding it. Going even further down the epic soundtrack route, this album includes his version of Morning Glow from Pippin and Happy from Lady Sings the Blues. While fitting his still exceptionally high voice, Jackson sounds so feminine on some of these show tunes he could almost be Diana Ross.
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Forever Michael: 1975
1975: Michael Jackson releases fourth album ‘Forever Michael’. Brian Holland and Eddie Holland, who along with Dozier and Lamont were former hit makers for Motown, create a sparser, more adult soul feel for a deeper voiced Jackson. One Day in Your Life benefits from this lower key than Jackson’s previous ballads and when it was re-released in 1981, became his first UK number one, holding the position for two weeks that summer until Ghost Town by the Specials knocked it off the top spot.
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Off the wall, 1979
1979: Releases ‘Off the Wall’, produced by Quincy Jones, launches him to superstardom. Sells over nineteen million copies worldwide.
Finally released from Motown, Jackson spent four year cooking up a new sound and after first working with Quincy Jones on the soundtrack to the film The Wiz, found his perfect musical foil. The two created the tougher, more explosive, euphoric disco-tinged sound of Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough with Jackson’s daring falsetto bouncing off the top of the beat and his vocal peppered with new ‘adult’ grunts and shrieks. Jackson took disco out of the clubs though by making the vocal harmony more prominent than the beat but the album broke through to the mainstream because of the clever mix of styles, including a cover of the Wing’s song Girlfriend and the histrionic ballad She’s Out of My Life.
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Thriller, 1982
1982: Jackson Releases ‘Thriller’ album which sells over fifty million copies worldwide and confirms him as the 80’s king of pop.
Emboldened by their initial success, Jones and Jackson pushed their original mix even further. With Jackson taking sole writing credits on nearly half the record, they threw in Edie van Halen guitar rock, paranoid electro-disco, fluffy Paul McCartney duets and in the single Thriller, a faux Horror funk epic with a Vincent Price cackling monologue. The 22-year-old was also expressing his maturity by showing restraint on the ballads, to beautifully sensual effect on Human Nature. So varied was the album, it produced seven hit singles over two years.
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Bad, 1987
1987: Releases the album ‘Bad’ sells over eight million copies.
While rap and house music were starting to spread in popularity, this was still the year of the full-fat cream mega star, with George Michael, Whitney Houston and U2, and Jackson’s direct rival Prince, all enjoying prime-time success. Jackson, having taken his longest break yet from making music, came back with an album that stuck with the musical template of Thriller but with a more, hip-hop, heavy rock attitude. “I’m Bad”, he snarled, somewhere between LL Cool J and Axl Rose on a song that was originally meant to be a duet with Prince. Jackson increasingly shunned writing collaborations, creating most of the album himself.
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Dangerous, 1991
1991: Releases the album ‘Dangerous’. The record has sold over 32 million copies worldwide, making it a faster selling album than his previous record Bad.
Breaking up with Quincy Jones, Jackson turned instead to the tougher street sounds of Terry Riley, pioneer of the new jack swing sound. As a result, the beats were sharper and less bombastic than Bad and Jackson’s vocals less bombastic, interspersed with guest rappers. The length of the album – 77 minutes - stretched the limits of the new CD mode and on Heal the World Jackson’s subject matter was turning away from paranoid love to a more philanthropic concern for love and peace.
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HIStory, 1995
1995: Releases the album ‘HIStory Past, Present, Future Book 1′. HIStory has been cited as the best-selling multiple disc album ever released, with worldwide sales of 20 million.
ncreasingly isolated and embattled, Jackson buries his new album behind a greatest hits compilation and surrounds himself with an army of hip producers including Jam and Lewis, Dallas Austin and R Kelly, and duets with the Notorious BIG and his by now equally successful sister Janet on Scream, accompanied by the most expensive video ever made. Underneath all this, Jackson, at his angriest lyrically, allies himself with world’s oppressed and poor on They Don’t Really Care About Us and Earth Song.
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Blood on the Dance Floor, 1997
1997: Releases ‘Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix’. Worldwide sales stand at six million copies, making it the best selling remix album ever released.
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Invincible, 2001
2001: Releases the album ‘Invincible’. It is the tenth and final studio album. The album was to be the first release featuring all new tracks since Dangerous in 1991.
Coming full circle in his solo career, Jackson tries – and fails – to break back into the now world dominant R&B scene with a comeback album helmed by more hip hit makers including Rodney Jerkins. He also returns to the classic form of some of his prettiest ballads on Butterflies and Break of Dawn.
