The history of how I started liking Michael Jackson is really interesting. I always knew about Michael Jackson when I was a little kid,
but it was when I was a slightly older kid, that I was playing the video game "Michael Jackson: Moonwalker" on a Sega games console,
and there were two things I immediately liked about it: the synthesised soundtrack of the song "Smooth Criminal" which accompanied that level
of the video game, and the amazing animated dance moves (based on Michael Jackson’s real dancing from the video clip)
that the onscreen "Michael" character did (called his "Dance Magic") at various points in that same level.
I liked the game so much that I bought it off the kid whose console I was playing it on!
From there, I bought some Michael Jackson albums on cassette (mainly Thriller, Bad and Dangerous),
and although I didn’t like all the songs on them, there were at least a handful on each album that I liked. The song "Who Is It" was a particular favourite of mine in late primary school!
In 1995 (again, Year 7), my Mum kindly got me Michael Jackson’s HIStory: Past, Present, and Future as a birthday present (because she knew
I’d liked Michael Jackson in primary school) – I must be about the only person on the planet who really really loves HIStory Disc 2 (the disc of new material)!!
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve always maintained an interest in, and kept an eye on, what Michael Jackson’s been doing
(up until his death of course!), and I now listen to (and sing his stuff around the house!) a heck of a lot.
Why I like them
Leaving aside his dancing, which although not always consistent, was on the whole pretty much amazing (for one of my most favourite examples of his dancing see this video clip),
I guess what I like about Michael Jackson is his amazing singing, and also, the beats that he and his producers packed his songs with
(which in general are really hard-hitting and slamming, especially with his 90s-and-later stuff).
Again, I know it’s a very general kind of statement, but as with the other artists I love who I’m writing about on this site, I just love his music because it’s a salve!
My favourite albums of theirs
I do have a slight preference for Michael’s 90s-and-later stuff (although I don’t mind his 80s stuff), so my favourite albums would probably be,
(as mentioned above!) HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1 Disc 2, the posthumous album Xscape,
and his last studio album in his lifetime, Invincible.
Not all the tracks on Invincible are good, but out of the 16 tracks, there are 11 that I really like,
or that at least are decent. And Xscape, which is his second posthumously released album, is really good,
with colourful songs with great vocals.
