On June 25th, 2009, Michael Jackson, 50 years old died of heart failure. Only one other man who has died in recent history has caused such attention from the world around and that is Elvis Presely. Both of these men helped shape the music industry as well as pop culture throughout the 20th Century. They will be highly remembered for decades if not hundreds of years from now when people look back at entertainers who had great influence on the history of music as well as our current culture. Entertainers of the past, present and future only dream achieve the longevity and cultural status these two have.

Michael Jackson had quite of an advantage on Elvis, even though he plays second fiddle here. Jackson has been part of the entertainment industry since he was a young child unlike Elvis. By the time he was 7 years old, he became globally famous as the front singer to the JACKSON 5. He also became known for his slick dance moves as well as his soulful Motown voice. While he has admitted borrowing from great legends such as Fred Astaire and James Brown for his dance moves, he evidently had a style all his own which carried on for decades. In fact, it was in the early 80's after several solo albums, he made a simple dance move called "Moonwalking" a household catch phrase. At the time, everyone try to emulate the move, but no one could ever perfect it like Michael Jackson could. At the same time, Jackson released one of the most successful selling albums to date named "Thriller". It spawned off multiple singles and top ten hits. The title track produced a video that became a 15 minute mini-movie that still to this day is a cult hit. The video feature the dead/ghouls dancing to the hit song. Michael Jackson also was one of the leading artists which helped put MTV on the map for the 80's generation. As the 80's progressed, Michael Jackson became one of the biggest mega stars of the decade. Of course, a number of other legendary acts came to fame that decade too, but it is Michael Jackson who will be remember best as the top selling male singer of that decade. Thus, he rightfully so took on the title "King of Pop!"

Myself? I was a big fan of his music and videos during the 80's. I thought like most people that he was definitely a phenomenon. A lot of entertainers after him haven't even come close to his achievment in pop culture. By the late 80's, Jackson became more and more reclusive as well as eccentric. After being teased by his appearace for years (especially by his father), Jackson had multiple work done to his face. By the 90's, he was barely recognizeable as the man he was in the late 70's and early 80's. His skin was white as a ghost which over the years, people speculated that he bleached his skin. Jackson claimed he had a skin condition called Vitiligo. It's a relatively common dermatologic disorder that causes depigmentation in patches of skin. It occurs when the melanocytes, the cells responsible for skin pigmentation, die or are unable to function.

Michael Jackson was always a target for tabloid scandals. It certainly didn't help that he fueled the tabloids by parading around with hit pet chimp name Bubbles. He also hung out with children (mainly prebucent boys) which further fueled speculation regarding unhealthy relationships with children. Not only that, some sources claimed he fed false stories to tabloid journalist to create controversy and attention around him. Claims have been made that Michael Jackson bought the Elephant Man's bones and slept in a chamber to help him live longer. Eventually, the scandals and controversy became even too overwhelming for Michael Jackson. There were allegations of sexual abuse of young boys. One was settled out of court, while another in 2005 went to court, but he was eventually aquitted for the charges. Michael Jackson did not help his public image as well didn't help people speculate about the allegations by admitting to no see a problem with sharing his bed with children that were not his own.

Whatever you think of Michael Jackson now, one thing is clear. He is a legend in music and pop culture. I do not believe we'll ever again see a solo artist ever achieve the fame, fortune and success he has. There is no doubt his music reached just about everyone in the 80's. I'm sure many have more than one favorite from Michael Jackson. I've included a playlist with this post. It includes about every single hit he had and then some. The playlist kicks off with a fitting song that he composed back in the 90's for his DANGEROUS album. The song.... "Gone Too Soon". The follow up song on the playlist is actually a song that was rumored to be a new comeback single in late 2007 for an album he was working on which never surfaced yet. It's actually a pretty decent song. It sounds like a song that could have been a decent hit for him, if given a chance. It's called "Let Me, Let Me Go".

Enjoy the songs. I know I have.