Song Of The Day- Michael Jackson

The day after, I'm sure everyone is aware of the passing of the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson.

A bizarre individual in his later years, Jackson seemed always to be chasing the childhood he was never afforded. He debuted as a professional musician at age 11 with the Jackson 5 in 1969. Two years later he began an incredibly successful solo career, one that would garner him his famous nickname.

The biggest and most successful of his releases was of course the album Thriller in 1982. The album was in the top ten of Billboard's Hot 100 chart for 80 consecutive weeks (including 37 at number 1) and went on to sell over 109 million copies, making it the highest-selling album of all time.

While deeply troubled and suffering from strange diseases as well as from a number of weird accidents throughout his life, Jackson's music, dancing and vocal abilities all drastically changed the music industry and left an indelible mark on the world and his profession.

Embedding is disabled on his videos, but you should go check them out. Especially the great "Thriller" video, arguably the greatest music video of all time.

The first one is a couple of his moonwalks. I had trouble locating the original performance featuring the move which took place during the 1983 television special celebrating Motown's 25th anniversary. The New York Times summed up the moonwalk quite nicely:

The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing.

Thriller

Beat It

Smooth Criminal

Billie Jean