Michael Jackson is one of the most famous celebrities to ever walk the earth. His career, which spans five decades, is one of the most prolific journeys ever taken. Many call him the greatest of all time, while others call him a troubled soul.

While Michael experienced extraordinary highs and depressing lows throughout his career, no one can argue the influence he has had on music, fashion, and culture.

Today, we are going to dive into the career of Michael Jackson, going as deep as one possibly can in a single journey. Just as a warning, later on, we will be discussing some of the darker topics in relation to Michael’s life, such as abuse, sexual assault allegations, and his untimely death. But with all that out of the way, this is the ultimate Michael Jackson iceberg.

Family.

On August 29th, 1958, Michael Jackson was born as the eighth child of the Jackson family. He grew up with three sisters—Rebbie, LaToya, and Janet—and five brothers—Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy, with the exception of Brandon Jackson, who passed away shortly after birth.

All of the Jacksons born around this time would eventually become musicians like their parents, Joe and Katherine, with some of their first performances occurring early in their childhoods.

Jackson 5.

Formed in 1964 and managed by their father, Joe Jackson, the Jackson 5 band, consisting of each of the Jackson brothers, would get their start performing in smaller venues.

They signed their first record deal with Steeltown Records, but it was when they moved to Motown Records that the brothers would become famous with hits such as “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” and “I’ll Be There.”

By the early 1970s, the Jackson 5 had become Motown’s flagship group, garnered a massive audience, and became highly marketable with a multitude of merchandise and even their own cartoon.

The Jacksons.

After learning how little royalties they were actually earning from their Motown record deal, many of the Jacksons desired a new label, settling on Epic Records, with the exception of Jermaine, whose slot was replaced by Randy. Motown allowed the label to switch only under the condition that they perform under a new name, causing them to settle on “The Jacksons.”

Starting with their album Destiny, the Jacksons were allowed full creative control of their music. Michael’s solo success around this period meant that he wouldn’t stick around with the band, and the group released their final album without Michael, 2300 Jackson Street, in 1989.

Moonwalk.

Before leaving the Jacksons, Michael would appear in Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, a 1983 television special commemorating the 25th anniversary of his old label. During a performance of “Billie Jean,” the only song in the show to not come from the Motown label, Jackson spun around, posed, and began to glide backward whilst his feet moved forward.

This was his public debut of the moonwalk, a dance that would become quickly synonymous with Michael Jackson’s on-stage identity and become the name of his autobiography, as well as an anthology film that would inspire a series of video games.

Studio Albums.

Jackson released ten studio albums during his lifetime. Under Motown Records, he released Got to Be There, Ben, Music & Me, and Forever, Michael. His remaining albums, many of which are regarded today as some of the greatest albums of all time, would each be released under Epic Records. These would include Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, HIStory, and Invincible.

The latter two were jointly released under Jackson’s own label, MJJ Records. Two albums were released posthumously by the Michael Jackson estate, Michael and Escape.

Michael Movie.

Produced by the director of Bohemian Rhapsody, Graham King, and distributed by Lionsgate, Michael is a biographical movie about Jackson’s early solo career, from his time with the Jackson 5 to his success as a solo musician. In the film, Michael is portrayed by his nephew, Jaafar Jackson, in his film debut.

Critics panned the movie almost across the board, with most emphasizing that although Jaafar put on an excellent performance as the King of Pop, the Michael movie left a lot to be desired.

Common criticisms included the lack of characters such as Janet Jackson, who declined to be in the film, leaving out many of Jackson’s controversial issues or troubles, and feeling more like a glorified playlist rather than a film.

However, audiences so far have loved the film, and it is on track to be one of the most successful biographical films of all time, likely to gross over a billion dollars.

Members of the Jackson family have confirmed that there will be a part two to the biopic, with a working title of Jackson. Part two will likely cover the 1990s to 2009, along with the assault allegations and a deeper look at his personal life.

Impersonators.

Both during and after his lifetime, Jackson has consistently been one of the world’s most impersonated artists. Similar to impersonators of artists such as Elvis, Jackson impersonators will often put themselves up for hire, imitate iconic dance moves, and sometimes even sing.

Modern-day examples include TikTok star Fabio Jackson, the hip-hop artist Michael Trapson, and the prolific Edward Moss, whose impersonation skills have cast him in various shows and movies.

The Wiz.

Produced by Motown Productions, the film and television arm of Jackson’s then-current record label, The Wiz is a 1978 movie adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. The film, featuring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Jackson himself as the Scarecrow, showed every sign of being successful but was unsuccessful at the box office.

For Jackson, however, starring in The Wiz was integral to the success of his solo career, as it marked the beginning of his partnership with Quincy Jones.

Quincy Jones.

A man whose career spanned seven decades, Quincy Jones is known today for his extensive work in film, television, and most importantly, music. When working on The Wiz, he offered to produce a solo album for Michael Jackson, which became Off the Wall, an album that would propel Michael beyond just a band member. Their next collaboration, Thriller, became the best-selling album of all time, and they would conclude their generational partnership with Bad.

Jones has talked on several occasions about how he met Michael through The Wiz and how the relationship evolved. “I don’t know at that moment,” Jones recalled. “I said, ‘You got to produce a man. I’d like to take a shot at it.’ You know, because I saw things in him. So, we finished the movie, and Michael came back all teary-eyed one day and said, ‘The people at Epic don’t want to use you.

They said you’re too jazzy. You don’t understand this kind of music.’ I said, ‘Michael, we will be fine. Just fine.’ Thank God he went back, and he and Freddy DeMann and Ron Weisner fought, and they said, ‘He’s doing it.’ Good. Everybody at Epic, black and white, said, ‘No way. It’s not going to work.’ And I love that. All you got to do to get me going is underestimate me. I love it. Just underestimate me one time.”

Traumatizing Childhood.

By the time he was seven years old, Michael had become the lead singer of the Jackson 5. Being world-famous from such a young age meant that Jackson and his siblings were under heavy pressure to succeed, especially from their own father. Michael himself has spoken openly of his traumatizing childhood in several interviews.

He described that during rehearsals, his father held a belt in his hand, and if results were not the way he wanted, he would put it to use. Many of the other Jacksons, however, have denied that their father was abusive, with Jermaine even stating that his father was highly misunderstood.

Because he was brought into a life of stardom so early on, it also meant that Jackson didn’t get to experience the kind of childhoods everyone else had. Upon receiving his Living Legend Award at the 1993 Grammy Awards, Jackson stated, “My childhood was completely taken away from me. There was no Christmas. There were no birthdays. It was not a normal childhood.

No normal pleasures of childhood. Those were exchanged for hard work, struggle, and pain, and eventual material and professional success. But as an awful price, I cannot recreate that part of my life.”

It was because of his lack of a real childhood that Michael would gravitate towards children as an adult. He would often meet with as many underprivileged kids as possible during this time at his Neverland Ranch to give them an opportunity to meet their idol. Some would say his relationship with children was weird, with some even saying it attracts due to the allegations we’ll get into later, but others simply attribute it to the difficulty of his youth.

We Are the World.

When the singer, actor, and activist Harry Belafonte felt inspired to make an American single for African famine relief, he contacted his agent, Ken Kragen, to enlist the help of many prominent figures, including Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie, and of course, Michael Jackson. The song they would conceptualize together was “We Are the World.”

It brought together many of the biggest artists at the time. Aside from the aforementioned artists, “We Are the World” features over fifty musicians known collectively as USA for Africa, and its recording was highly documented. Upon release, it gained enough traction in the coming weeks to top the charts, soon becoming one of the best-selling singles ever made.

Anniversary Editions.

Two of Michael’s albums, Thriller and Bad, have received special reissues to commemorate their 25th, and in Thriller’s case, 40th anniversaries. The first, Thriller 25, was released in 2008 and featured many remixes of the album’s tracks, such as will.i.am’s remixes of “The Girl Is Mine” and “P.Y.T.,” as well as a remix of “Beat It” with Fergie.

The album also features a “Billie Jean” remix with production and a feature from Kanye West. Bad 25, released in 2012, contains many previously unreleased songs meant for Bad, such as “Don’t Be Messin’ Around” and “I’m So Blue,” in addition to several remixes.

Finally, Thriller 40, released in 2022, also contains unreleased music such as “The Toy,” “Sunset Driver,” and an early version of “Thriller” that will be discussed later.

It has been rumored that a 50th anniversary edition of Off the Wall could release in 2029, but nothing has been confirmed as of this recording.

Victory Tour and Breakup from the Jacksons.

The Victory Tour is the fifth and final tour that the Jacksons embarked on with Michael. The tour is known for its disastrous promotional background, as the son of the New England Patriots owner, Chuck Sullivan, convinced the Jacksons to choose Foxboro, home of the Patriots, for the band’s Boston shows.

Sullivan was convinced that the Victory Tour would be a success and that the Patriots could gain some extra revenue. However, despite the tour being a massive success, it was a financial disaster for the Sullivans, and they were forced to sell the team as Foxboro Stadium collapsed into bankruptcy.

While much of the tour was centered around Michael and his latest album Thriller, the Victory Tour was named after the Jacksons’ latest album, Victory. During the final concert of the tour, on December 9th, 1984, Michael announced on stage with the rest of his brothers that he would be leaving the Jacksons to pursue his solo career on his own.

“I’d like to say this is our last and final tour,” he told the crowd. “I think this is our farewell tour. You all have been wonderful. It’s been a long twenty years, and we love you all.”

Super Bowl Halftime Show.

The halftime show of the Super Bowl is best known today as a performance by a prominent headliner. Before 1993, however, the halftime show was not as known for its celebrity presence, nor was it big on ratings. To avoid counter-programming against it, as In Living Color did in previous years, Michael Jackson was brought on to deliver a performance for the halftime show of Super Bowl XXVII.

Upon entering, before any of the songs began, Jackson stood famously still for nearly two minutes. He would then go through a setlist consisting of “Jam,” “Billie Jean,” “Black or White,” “We Are the World,” and finally, “Heal the World.” The show was a massive success, warding off its counter-programming, and established the norm for what we know today as the modern Super Bowl halftime show.

Michael Jackson’s performance that day was the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show for thirty-two years, until Kendrick Lamar’s performance in 2025.

Partnership with Pepsi.

For ten years, Jackson had a long-running partnership with Pepsi that involved various tour sponsorships and advertisement appearances. Jackson himself appeared in four commercials for Pepsi. The first two ads contained a remix of “Billie Jean,” titled “Pepsi Generation.” In one sequence during the second commercial, Jackson descends a staircase while pyrotechnics go off behind him.

The scene goes as planned in the final cut, but during the sixth take of filming the scene for the commercial, fireworks went off prematurely and caught Jackson’s hair on fire, leading to severe and significant burns to his scalp.

It is widely believed that this incident led to Jackson’s dependency on painkillers and medication in the years to come, a dependency that would ultimately result in his death in 2009. Despite the incident, however, it did not mean the end of the partnership, and two more commercials would air in the years to come.

The first, in promotion of the Bad album, features a young James Safechuck, who would later become one of Jackson’s accusers decades later. The second and final commercial features an adult Jackson singing the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” alongside his younger self. A year after this, in 1993, Pepsi would end their contract in light of allegations against Jackson that transpired at that time.

Real Voice.

While Michael has what many would describe as one of the best voices in music and portrayed a soft voice in interviews, his actual voice is much deeper. On multiple occasions, and sometimes on purpose, Michael revealed to the world his true voice.

Neverland Ranch.

Neverland Ranch is the ranch that would house Michael Jackson from the 1980s until 2005. Jackson bought the property in 1988, and Michael would purpose it as not only a home but an amusement park for himself and visitors. The ranch included a Ferris wheel, carousel, Zipper, Octopus, a pirate ship, Wave Swinger, Super Slide, roller coaster, bumper cars, and an amusement arcade.

Due to events we’ll get into later, Michael left the ranch permanently in 2005 and lost control of the property in 2008, with the land being renamed to Sycamore Valley Ranch in 2015.

Bubbles.

Born in a research facility in 1983, Bubbles is Michael’s famous pet chimpanzee. He was purchased by Michael at just eight months old. Bubbles would stay with Michael at Neverland Ranch, and he slept in a crib next to Michael. He ate at the dinner table, and Michael even claimed that he would help out with chores.

In 2003, out of fear that Bubbles could potentially attack Michael’s newborn son, Prince, the chimp was moved to a ranch in California, something Michael later regretted doing. Michael would continue to visit Bubbles until his death in 2009. As of this recording, Bubbles is still alive, and his care is funded for by the Michael Jackson estate.

Vitiligo.

The older Michael Jackson got, the paler his skin became. Some chalked this up to a desire to be white by bleaching his skin, but in reality, MJ had a condition called vitiligo, a skin disorder that causes pigment to drain from the skin. Photos of Jackson in his early adulthood stacked up to ten years later show he is almost unrecognizable. Vitiligo played a large part in that.

Jackson was diagnosed in the mid-1980s. There are photos of him as a younger man in which he still had most of his darker pigment, in which you could tell the vitiligo was starting to form. Michael would be treated with skin creams and makeup to balance out his skin. They created the wider skin tone that Jackson had in the 1990s until his death.

After his autopsy in 2009, it was confirmed that Jackson had vitiligo and that the condition affected over seventy percent of his body. Michael was very open about vitiligo during his lifetime, talking about the condition in multiple interviews.

Cascio Tracks.

The first release of entirely new Michael Jackson music since Invincible in 2001 was the album Michael, released posthumously in 2010. The original release contained three songs from a series of studio sessions known as the Cascio tracks, given their name due to them being recorded in the basement of the Cascio family, where Jackson had been living in 2007.

These three songs, “Breaking News,” “Keep Your Head Up,” and “Monster,” became highly criticized due to speculation that the vocals were not recorded by Jackson himself but by an undisclosed impersonator.

While many people close to Jackson, including his mother, sister, and brother Randy, expressed that these vocals were not his, others, such as the Sony Music Group label producer Teddy Riley and the Cascios themselves, would reiterate that the vocals were Jackson’s own.

In 2022, Riley would contradict his previous statement and claim that the vocals on the Cascio tracks were inauthentic. When asked directly if he thought those were actually Michael’s vocals, Riley answered, “If I tell you today, right now, I can tell you right now that no.”

That same year, a spokesperson for the Michael Jackson online team would deliver the news that the three Cascio tracks would be removed from the Michael album, and the album’s ten tracks would be shortened to seven on both streaming services and modern CD pressings.

This Is It.

In 2009, Michael planned to embark on a series of concerts in London in a residency called “This Is It,” announced by him in a press conference in March of that year. “These will be my final show performances in London,” he told the gathered media. “This will be it.

This is it. And when I say this is it, it really means this is it. I’ll be performing the songs my fans want to hear. This is it. I mean, this is really it. This is the final curtain call.”

Eighteen days before the first performance, Jackson passed away, meaning the tour could not continue and tickets were refunded. However, enough rehearsal footage existed to compile into a documentary film also titled This Is It, as well as a soundtrack of many of Jackson’s biggest hits and previously unheard demos. The title track, “This Is It,” was also released posthumously in October 2009.

Captain EO.

Executive produced by George Lucas, Captain EO is a 3D short film shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 to 1998. The film, presented in a theater, is said to be one of the first 4D experiences with lasers, asteroids, and smoke surrounding the audience. Jackson played the lead role as the leader of a crew of robots, Captain EO, who is captured alongside his crew by a witch labeled as the Supreme Leader.

Before he is sent away, EO transforms the robots into instruments, breaks through with the power of music, and escapes with his crew.

Video Game Collaborations.

From the late 1980s onward, Jackson was highly interested in video games, sometimes even participating in them personally. Most of these collaborations were with Sega, beginning with the Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker beat-’em-up series inspired by his film of the same name.

Jackson was also intrigued by early 3D graphics, resulting in a request to play a role in Sega’s interactive spaceship simulator for their AS-1 motion system, Scramble Training. In Scramble Training, Jackson plays the role of a flight commander and narrates the experience. Whether the player lands the ship at the end or not results in differing feedback from Jackson to conclude the ride.

When the AS-1 system was discontinued, however, the high-quality footage of Jackson for Scramble Training went missing for several decades.

In 2022, game collector Ben Beasley acquired a tape labeled “Sega AM-1 Jackson version” and got it digitized after hearing of what it could likely be from game forums. Sure enough, the tape contained Jackson’s recordings for Scramble Training, and they are now available to view to this day.

Appearing as a secret playable character, Jackson is a wrestler in Midway’s Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2. Interestingly, Jackson lent his voice to the character but speaks in a lower tone than his usual speaking voice.

The rhythm game Space Channel 5: Part 2 features a version of Jackson from five hundred years in the future named Space Michael. Like he did for Ready 2 Rumble, Jackson lent his voice for the character.

The developers of the game series Just Dance created a spin-off to pay tribute to Michael after his death. Michael Jackson: The Experience contains a collection of Jackson’s greatest hits and encourages the player to match dance moves of the virtual Michael Jackson on screen.

Sonic the Hedgehog.

The mascot of Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog, had Michael Jackson’s influence from the very start, as his designer, Naoto Ohshima, stated in an interview that Sonic’s shoes were inspired by Jackson’s look for the Bad album, specifically the buckles he was wearing.

“His shoes were inspired by the cover to Michael Jackson’s Bad,” Ohshima explained, “which contrasted heavily between white and red, that Santa Claus-type color. I also thought that red went well for a character who could run really fast when his legs are spinning.”

This brings us to Michael’s most famous game collaboration: his involvement with Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Rumored for many years after the game’s 1993 release, Jackson’s close collaborator, Brad Buxer, confirmed in 2009 that Jackson made arrangements for the game, and the creator of Sonic himself, Yuji Naka, confirmed on Twitter that Jackson was involved.

Although the length of what he made for the game is unknown, bits and pieces of Jackson and his team’s musical DNA exist in the original version of the game. Carnival Night Zone contains a glass-breaking sound that is often said to resemble a similar sound on “Jam” from Dangerous.

Because of Michael’s involvement with the game, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was not as often re-released as the series’ previous two installments, and the tracks done by Jackson’s team were ultimately replaced by remixes of earlier tracks from before his involvement for the 2022 remaster of the game in Sonic Origins.

The Simpsons.

A fan of The Simpsons as far back as its early seasons, Jackson would collaborate with the showrunners multiple times. First, he worked on the single “Do the Bartman,” performed by the character Bart. Jackson was also eager to have a guest spot on The Simpsons, which the producers would grant. The season three premiere, “Stark Raving Dad,” features the character Leon Kompowsky, who claims to be Michael Jackson, going as far as his dance moves and singing voice.

Jackson provided the speaking voice of Leon and also wrote the song “Happy Birthday, Lisa,” but could not actually sing due to contractual obligations and requested that he go uncredited. The episode credits him as John Jay Smith. Instead, sound-alike Kipp Lennon sang in his place and recorded lines with Jackson.

The Simpsons team would collaborate with Jackson one more time for a sequence at the end of “Black or White”‘s extended music video. Following the Leaving Neverland documentary in 2019, Jackson’s episode on The Simpsons was pulled from circulation on Disney Plus and future DVD printings. It is the only episode of The Simpsons to be removed worldwide.

ATV Music Buyout.

In the early 1980s, Jackson would become close friends with Paul McCartney, a former member of the Beatles, and collaborated with him on several songs, including “The Girl Is Mine” off Thriller and the McCartney tracks “Say Say Say” and “The Man.”

One day, Jackson learned of the money McCartney was making from owning the rights to other songs, and by 1983, he had begun to do the same thing with various catalogs that were offered to him. The next year, Michael would buy the catalog for ATV Music Publishing.

While ATV Music owned the publishing rights to thousands of songs, they were particularly valuable for owning the rights to much of the Beatles’ music. Negotiations took place over the course of a year, including an unsuccessful attempt for McCartney and Jackson to make a joint purchase together, but it was ultimately Jackson who would secure the purchases of ATV Music Publishing for forty-seven and a half million dollars in 1985. This led to Michael recording two covers of Beatles songs, including “Come Together,” which is on HIStory, and “Strawberry Fields Forever,” which never released.

Following the acquisition, Jackson and McCartney’s friendship began to drift apart, with Jackson privately being reported as saying, “If he didn’t want to invest forty-seven and a half million in his own songs, then he shouldn’t come crying to me now.”

McCartney would share his feelings on the matter shortly after Jackson’s death in 2009, stating, “We kind of drifted apart. It was no big bust-up. We just kind of drifted apart after that. But he was a lovely man, massively talented, and we miss him.”

A decade following the original acquisition, Sony requested a fifty percent stake in ATV for one hundred ten million dollars, and Jackson agreed. The newly formed Sony/ATV Music Publishing, with Jackson continuing to own half, became the second biggest music publisher in the world. After Jackson passed away, Sony acquired his stake, including the Beatles music catalog, and they continue to operate today as Sony Music Publishing.

Eddie Van Halen on “Beat It.”

The famous Eddie Van Halen guitar solo on the song “Beat It” was not supposed to happen. Van Halen was not allowed to play on outside projects other than the band, as it was a band rule, but he figured he could do Michael a solid. Michael wasn’t nearly as famous as he would be after the release of Thriller, and Van Halen figured that no one would recognize him on the track.

This is why he is uncredited on the song and did not ask for compensation. He was simply doing Michael a favor. However, “Beat It” would explode in popularity upon release, and Van Halen’s signature sound was caught by fans.

Wanting to Play Spider-Man.

Jackson’s role as a businessman did not stop with music. In the 1990s, when Marvel Comics was facing bankruptcy, Michael was interested in buying the entire company. It wasn’t just to have the rights; it was because he wanted to play Spider-Man in a motion picture, something that had never been done before at the time.

Michael would actually hold discussions with Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee, but the purchase and a Spider-Man film starring Jackson never materialized, with the first theatrical appearance of Spider-Man being instead played by Tobey Maguire.

Marriages.

Michael married twice in his lifetime, with both instances being highly publicized. His first marriage was with Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of legendary singer Elvis Presley. It began just twenty days after she was divorced from her previous husband, Danny Keough.

Despite the marriage being short-lived due to irreconcilable differences and no children being born, Presley was an avid supporter of Jackson’s through the allegations in 1993. But in June 1996, Presley filed for divorce after just twenty months of marriage, and the dynamic duo went their separate ways.

However, the two of them would continue to fall in and out of love for many years, with Presley even claiming in a 2010 interview with Oprah Winfrey that she was the last person to stand over his casket.

When Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo in 1986, he was treated by a woman named Debbie Rowe, who would soon become his close friend and, in 1996, his wife. They would have two children together: a boy named Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., better known as Prince Jackson, and a girl named Paris Jackson.

Rowe felt very uncomfortable with her situation, feeling she only had kids because Jackson wanted to be a father. This led to her filing for divorce and giving him full custody of the kids in 2000, but she would later apply to regain custody years later. Rowe ultimately failed, and the children she had with Michael would later go under the guardianship of Michael’s mother, Katherine Jackson, after Michael’s death.

South Park.

The eighth season of South Park contains an episode titled “The Jeffersons.” The episode follows Michael attempting to disguise himself as Mr. Jefferson. It pokes fun and makes reference to many things in Michael’s life, such as Neverland Ranch, the infamous balcony dangling of his son Blanket, and his song “Childhood,” which is parodied in a song titled “Wishing Tree.”

Though it was released during his lifetime, it is unknown if Michael himself has ever seen the episode.

Disguises.

For someone with the insurmountable popularity of Michael Jackson, simple activities such as walking down a public street just simply weren’t plausible. To combat being recognized, Michael would wear an assortment of elaborate disguises throughout his career, whether a clever hat, a bizarre outfit, or something completely covering his features.

One such reason that Jackson especially loved disguises was that he was able to see what the lives of everyday people were like. “I can sit on a bench at Disneyland and see what people really do and talk about,” he once said. “But when they see it’s Michael Jackson, they change.”

Going to the Store.

Another activity that Michael dreamt of doing was going to a supermarket and shopping like an average person, something he could not do as he pleased due to the inevitability of being swarmed by fans. In 2003, Michael’s wish was granted when a friend of his closed down a supermarket with the help of people Jackson knew in disguises.

The supermarket appeared to be filled with customers as a special supermarket-friendly version of “Billie Jean” played over the speakers. Even if it was not a real thing, it allowed Jackson a glimpse of what living the average life was like.

“They Don’t Care About Us” Music Videos.

One of Michael’s most controversial songs due to its uncomfortable subject matter, “They Don’t Care About Us” had three music videos directed by filmmaker Spike Lee. The first and most recognized music video takes place in several locations across Brazil and was made in collaboration with the cultural group Olodum, whose members dance in sync and beat their drums. In one of these locations, Santa Marta, Jackson’s production team negotiated with drug dealers in order to gain permission to film.

A testament to Jackson’s worldwide influence, the second video, referred to as the prison version, portrays Jackson as a prisoner performing the song alongside many inmates. Lee would return in 2020 to create a third version incorporating both videos in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.

Eminem.

In 2004, rapper Eminem released his album Encore and its lead single “Just Lose It.” Eminem pokes fun at Michael’s appearance numerous times, specifically highlighting the accusations of molestation he was facing at the time. The song’s music video takes things further, with Eminem dressing up as Jackson as his nose peels off—a jab at Jackson’s plastic surgery—and his hair catches on fire in reference to the Pepsi commercial incident.

The real Michael Jackson would actually end up seeing this video, calling into the Steve Harvey Show to say, “I’ve admired Eminem as an artist and was shocked by this. The video was inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family, and the community at large.”

In a move that many interpret as revenge for this video, Jackson and Sony would purchase Famous Music in 2007, a move that would grant Michael the rights to some of Eminem’s music.

Decade.

Having already achieved major success with Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad, Michael began to explore the idea of a greatest hits compilation album in 1989. This album was labeled Decade in commemoration of ten years of the Quincy Jones trilogy and was worked on over a three-year period.

When an engineer of Michael’s, Brad Sundberg, had his laptop stolen in 2023, fifty gigabytes of Jackson-related material was leaked, including the tracklist for Decade. In addition to already established hits, these tracklists would contain first appearances of songs that would later go on to feature on later albums, such as “Heal the World” and Jackson’s cover of “Come Together.”

In the end, Jackson had recorded enough new material that there was no longer a need for Decade, and a new album, Dangerous, would release instead. However, Jackson was still interested in making an album with his greatest hits and would do so on disc one of the HIStory album in 1995.

MJ11.

For the next eight years after Invincible was released, Michael continued to work on music but had no concrete plan for another studio album. He instead focused on making singles with a plethora of artists such as Snoop Dogg and will.i.am.

Many songs from these years of experimentation would be found on a song list after Jackson’s passing, including the final known Jackson production made in the last weeks of his life, an intended collaboration with author Deepak Chopra titled “Breath.” While Michael continued to record new music, his financial problems and ongoing trial preoccupied him, meaning he didn’t have enough time on his hands to release new material in a full-length album.

When Jackson passed away, the Michael Jackson estate was formed. Some of these songs would be released on the posthumous Michael album, including “Hollywood Tonight” and “Best of Joy.”

Memorial Service.

Following several private services for his family, a public memorial service for Michael Jackson was held twelve days after his death at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. His casket, made of solid bronze, fourteen-karat gold, and blue velvet, sat at the front of the stage. Each of Michael’s five brothers sat in the front row and wore a glove on one hand as tribute.

Many people Michael knew during his lifetime gave speeches or performed covers of his music, with significant attendees including some of Jackson’s Motown alumni such as Lionel Richie and Smokey Robinson, younger performers such as Mariah Carey and Usher, and the appearance of Kobe Bryant, whose own public memorial would be held in the very same arena just eleven years later.

Many of the speeches included messages to Jackson and his family. In a eulogy by Reverend Al Sharpton, he gave an important disclaimer to Michael’s three children that was met with a standing ovation. “There wasn’t anything strange about your daddy,” Sharpton said. “It was strange what your daddy had to deal with.” A composed Marlon Jackson told a story about his brother, ending, “How much pain can one take? Maybe now, Michael, they will leave you alone.” He closed the speech with a request that Michael give his twin brother, Brandon, who died shortly after birth, a hug for him.

The last person to speak was none other than Michael’s own daughter, Paris, who was only eleven years old. Overcome with emotion, she told the audience, “I just want to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine, and I just want to say I love him so much.”

Akon Story.

Akon, an artist who became famous in the 2000s for songs such as “Locked Up” and “Smack That,” became good friends with Michael in 2007. He participated on songs with Michael such as “Hold My Hand” and the 2008 remix of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” A story that Akon often tells about his time with Jackson, one that he refers to as his favorite moment in his career, covers Michael’s skill at public disguises.

One day, Michael mentioned to Akon that a guest would be coming with them to a movie theater. As the screen time approached, Jackson was nowhere to be seen. Confused at his absence, Akon called Michael’s number, and the phone of the person sitting next to him began to ring. Jackson, laughing, finally confirmed his identity.

On the way to the movie theater, Jackson and Akon noticed a large group of kids looking in their direction. Akon feared that Jackson had been recognized, but the kids felt excited to recognize Akon instead. A delighted Michael, still in disguise, took many photos, even asking if anyone else wanted pictures with Akon, causing them to miss the movie.

Michael Explains the Story Behind “Billie Jean.”

When asked about the real Billie Jean, Michael explained, “There’s a girl named Billie Jean, but it’s not about that Billie Jean. Billie Jean is kind of anonymous. It represents a lot of girls who used to—they used to call them groupies in the ’60s. They would hang around backstage doors, and any band that would come to town, they would have a relationship with. I think I wrote this out of experience with my brothers when I was little. There were a lot of Billie Jeans out there. Every girl claimed that their son was related to one of my brothers.”

Working with Freddie Mercury.

A fan of Queen, Michael Jackson proposed the idea of collaborating with Freddie Mercury, to which he agreed. When actually recording in the studio, however, Jackson and Mercury gradually realized they were not a match due to a series of complications. For one, Michael enjoyed bringing his chimpanzee Bubbles to the studio, which angered Mercury to the point where author David Wigg claimed that Freddie angrily stated, “I’m not performing with a [expletive] chimp sitting next to me each night.”

In another alleged instance, Jackson brought his pet llama Louis into the studio, which Mercury reportedly told his manager, “You got to get me out of here. I’m recording with a llama.” On the other end, Michael was upset with Mercury’s usage of drugs during recording sessions, with a particular instance where Jackson caught Mercury snorting cocaine, essentially being the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Regardless, one of the songs they worked on would see an official release in 2014, being a special version of Mercury’s “There Must Be More to Life Than This” featuring Michael on the compilation album Queen Forever.

Nickelodeon Time Capsule.

On April 30th, 1992, Nickelodeon Studios opened at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. During the ceremony, a time capsule was buried and scheduled to be opened fifty years later in 2042. The capsule was filled with items deemed culturally significant in 1992. It contained several CDs, one of which included Jackson’s then-recent album Dangerous. As of today, the capsule has since been moved to Nickelodeon’s Animation Studio in Burbank and is set to be opened in sixteen years.

Prince.

Prince and Michael had a strained relationship from the beginning, as they saw themselves as rivals on the big stage. While Prince saw it as a professional competition, Michael thought that Prince was a rude person. Prince famously declined to feature on the song “Bad” due to the lyrics on the track. When asked about it, Prince explained, “The first line of that song is ‘Your butt is mine.’

I said, ‘Who going to sing that to who?’ Because you sure ain’t singing that to me, and I sure ain’t singing that to you. So right there, we got a problem.”

MTV Artist of the Millennium.

In what Michael has described as one of the most embarrassing moments of his life, in 2002, Jackson was invited to the MTV Video Music Awards to celebrate his forty-fourth birthday. Although Michael didn’t want to go, he was convinced after MTV said he would be accepting an award.

After being introduced on stage by Britney Spears, who called Michael her “artist of the millennium,” Michael then took one of the decorations, thought it was an award, and gave a speech thinking he had won the Artist of the Millennium Award. However, no such award existed, and the awkward interaction was mocked by fellow celebrities in the following years.

Tommy Mottola and Sony Music.

Throughout the 1990s, Michael and Sony Music feuded over the rights to his material. By the 2000s, Jackson had expected Sony to hand over his masters, but this wouldn’t be the case. Michael was furious by this outcome and wanted to be dropped from his deal with Sony. However, it was poor timing, as Michael was in the middle of the rollout for his final studio album Invincible.

Once Sony CEO Tommy Mottola got the news that Michael wanted out, he cut all promotion for Invincible. This only upset Michael even more, and he went on a campaign to smear Sony’s name in an effort to get back what he thought was rightfully his. He also had some choice words for Mottola. “Sony, Tommy Mottola,” Michael said. “Tommy Mottola is the president of the record division. He is a mean, he’s a racist, and he’s very, very, very devilish.”

Martin Scorsese Directed the “Bad” Music Video.

As the title of this section applies, renowned film director Martin Scorsese directed the music video for the track “Bad.” Michael specifically wanted Scorsese for the job, as he felt like the director could fully encapsulate the vision for his eighteen-minute-long music video. After the shoot, Scorsese said of the experience, “When we worked together on ‘Bad,’ I was in awe of his mastery of movement on one hand and of the music on the other.”

Michael Inspired 808s & Heartbreak.

In the later years of Jackson’s career, he would collaborate with an assortment of hip-hop artists, such as Heavy D on “Jam” and The Notorious B.I.G. on “This Time Around” from HIStory and “Unbreakable” on Invincible. When the rapper Ye, then known as Kanye West, met Michael Jackson, he played him one of his songs called “Good Life,” which famously samples “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” off Thriller.

Jackson was impressed by Kanye’s singing, giving him the motivation to focus further on melodic performances on his subsequent album 808s & Heartbreak.

Kanye later recalled, “I think Mike would have wanted to put that battery in my back to do 808s. I played ‘Good Life,’ and he was like, ‘Who’s that singing right there? I like that voice.’ It was my voice. He gassed me up. Next thing y’all know, y’all had me in the night here. So I was like, ‘Michael Jackson told me I could sing. [Expletive] all y’all.’”

“It Ain’t Hard to Tell.”

The final track on Nas’s debut studio album Illmatic, “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” samples the track “Human Nature” off Thriller. A viral rumor about the song claims that Michael told Nas he could use the sample for free as long as he did not curse on the song, but this is not true, as there is no evidence to back up this rumor and Nas curses on the song.

Posthumous Drake Feature.

In 2018, Drake released his fifth studio album, Scorpion. The tenth song on the album, “Don’t Matter to Me,” contains vocals from both Drake and previously unheard vocals from Michael Jackson that date back to a 1980 studio session with Paul Anka, a session that would also create the song that would eventually become “Love Never Felt So Good” on the posthumous Escape album.

What makes this feature even more interesting is that the two artists are often tied at the hip in the modern day, with Drake being somewhat compared to Michael, and the fact that Drake and Michael are now tied for the most number-one Billboard hits for a male solo artist, with thirteen each.

We Be Ballin’.

“We Be Ballin’” is a remix of Ice Cube’s song “We Be Clubbin’,” featuring Michael Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal. The song, which unlike the original is clean, was meant to be included on an NBA compilation album, but the 1998-99 NBA lockout would result in its cancellation. However, the finished “We Be Ballin’” would eventually leak online and is currently available to listen to.

Starlight.

One of Michael’s most famous songs, “Thriller,” was written by Rod Temperton, a songwriter Quincy Jones enlisted to help make Off the Wall. Like he was for the aforementioned project, Temperton was also involved in the album’s writing process, creating a song with the original name of “Starlight.” The team at Quincy Jones Productions knew from the song’s melody alone that “Starlight” was deserving of being the album’s title track, but they were not convinced of the word “Starlight” being compelling enough to be the official name, looking instead for a song that evoked a more mysterious feeling.

After a bit of deliberation, Temperton thought of “Thriller,” a decision that would change most of the song’s lyrics in addition to its tone. Despite the change, the original demo for “Starlight” was made available in 2022 on the fortieth-anniversary reissue of Thriller.

Palestine, Don’t Cry.

Michael valued peace deeply in his music, taking many opportunities to use his platform to speak on the world’s biggest problems in songs such as “Earth Song” and “They Don’t Care About Us.” Although only appearing in a written lyric sheet, “Palestine, Don’t Cry” was yet another song intended for the HIStory album. There is a conspiracy that Michael’s career was sabotaged by Sony Records because he wanted to release the song.

However, the song was never recorded, and only a lyric sheet, as previously mentioned, exists. In the lyrics, Jackson discusses a time when the plains of Palestine were peaceful and calm, then ravaged by bombshells and consumed by war. He then expresses that despite the conflicts, he will pray for, believe in, and carry Palestine in his heart.

1993 Allegations.

One day in February of 1993, Michael’s car broke down and was towed to a rental wreck garage. The owner of the garage, David Schwartz, called his wife to tell her that Michael Jackson was there. When June Chandler arrived, she brought her son from a previous marriage, Jordan Chandler, with her. In the coming days, Jackson would take a liking to the family and invite them over to his home, Neverland Ranch.

The time Jackson was spending with Jordan began to interfere with his time to visit his father, Evan. Upon witnessing Jackson sleep in the same room as Jordan, it would not be long before Evan began to be suspicious that something terrible was happening behind closed doors.

By July, Jackson’s contact with the Chandler family had ended, and Evan’s view of Jackson had only worsened. In a taped phone call with David Schwartz, he even threatened to destroy Jackson’s career, having hired lawyer Barry Rothman to humiliate him. In August, during a dental procedure where Jordan was sedated, his father, Evan, asked him if Jackson had ever touched his penis.

Jordan answered yes, and that was enough to make Evan give Jackson the ultimatum of either paying him millions of dollars or taking him to court. No deal would be made, and by the end of the month, a criminal investigation into Michael Jackson began, and the allegations were made public.

Over the next few months, various testimonies from other children, as well as Michael’s staff, were made. The children, Brett Barnes and Wade Robson—the latter of which would later appear in the Leaving Neverland documentary to claim Jackson had abused him—explained that they also shared a bedroom with Michael but clarified nothing sexual had ever happened.

Some of the staff, however, claimed that they left their jobs because they either knew too much or were disgusted with Michael’s behavior around children.

Jordan would give a description of Jackson’s private anatomy, and in December, Michael was issued a warrant for a strip search, with his entire body being photographed over the course of twenty-five minutes. To make matters even worse, his own sister, La Toya, implied that Michael was guilty of the alleged actions to the media. Though she would eventually take it back, and Jackson would forgive her in 2003.

By the end of the month, Michael would address the situation to the public for the first time, asserting his innocence, and tabloids everywhere would begin covering the news. “There have been many disgusting statements made recently concerning allegations of improper conduct on my part,” he said. “These statements about me are totally false.

As I have maintained from the very beginning, I am hoping for a speedy end to this horrifying experience to which I have been subjected. I shall not in this statement respond to all of the false allegations being made against me, since my lawyers have advised me that this is not the proper forum in which to do that.”

Although Jackson paid a civil settlement to Jordan, allowing him to avoid trial, and the eighteen-month investigation had ultimately produced no evidence against him, the events had hurt his mental state. Many songs on the HIStory album touched upon Jackson’s feelings, with one song in particular, “D.S.,” being a diss track against the leader of the investigation, Thomas Sneddon, referred to under the alias Dom S. Sheldon. Sneddon himself stated, “I have not, shall we say, done him the honor of listening to it, but I’ve been told that it ends with the sound of a gunshot.”

People v. Michael Jackson.

In 2000, Michael met with a child patient undergoing chemotherapy named Gavin Arvizo. Like he did with the Chandler family in the past, he would invite Gavin and his family to Neverland Ranch. But according to Gavin, Jackson would stop calling him after several visits. Things remained stagnant until 2002, when Jackson would invite Gavin to be a part of a documentary titled Living with Michael Jackson.

In the documentary, containing interviews with Jackson over an eight-month span, he was asked about the appropriateness of having sleepovers and sharing a bed with children. In response, Jackson clarified that it was not sexual, going on to explain he had shared a bed with many children, including actors Macaulay and Kieran Culkin.

Because of this, the documentary started a rekindled outrage towards Michael, and Thomas Sneddon returned to and reopened his investigation from a decade prior, interviewing the Arvizo family. In November, Gavin told police that Jackson had molested him several times, convincing police to search Neverland Ranch with a warrant. On the 20th, Jackson was arrested, being released an hour later after posting a bond of three million dollars. Again, Jackson affirmed his innocence, but this time he did not want to settle out of court as he did before, pleading not guilty on April 30th.

Jackson was charged with ten criminal counts, including child molestation, abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion. The trial would see many testify both against and in favor of Jackson. Jason Francia, who would often stay at Neverland Ranch due to his mother working there, stated that Jackson would touch his genitals for several minutes in exchange for money and in secrecy.

In addition, multiple Neverland security guards stated they saw Michael treat Jordan Chandler similarly in the past. Testifying at only fifteen years old, Gavin’s account was especially disturbing.

The defense for Michael, which also consisted of many who shared beds with him when they were kids, told opposing stories, denying that Michael had acted inappropriately. These included Macaulay Culkin, Wade Robson, and Brett Barnes. In addition, other defendants, such as George Lopez, Jay Leno, and Chris Tucker, all described stories of the Arvizo family taking advantage of them, with Tucker in particular testifying that he had even warned Jackson about the family.

The trial ended with Jackson being found not guilty on all ten counts. But like before, it had taken a huge toll on his mental well-being and especially his public standing. He struggled to find sponsorships or merchandising partners, even when selling out concerts for the This Is It tour in 2009. And he would never again return to Neverland Ranch.

Plastic Surgery.

Over the decades, Michael Jackson underwent numerous plastic surgeries to change his face. While he only admitted to a few procedures, primarily to change the shape of his nose, experts speculate that he had dozens of surgeries, including rhinoplasties, skin alterations, skin lightening treatments, and a cleft chin creation.

His first surgery occurred in 1979 when he had a rhinoplasty after breaking his nose during a dance routine. Then in 1984, he had scalp surgery after suffering severe burns from the Pepsi incident. From the 1990s to the 2000s, Jackson’s appearance changed drastically, likely due to multiple surgeries. The motivations behind these surgeries were likely because Michael was insecure about the way he looked, likely due to criticisms that his father gave him when he was younger.

Leaving Neverland.

“Hard to watch, tougher to ignore, impossible to forget” is the tagline of Leaving Neverland, a 2019 documentary about dancer Wade Robson and actor James Safechuck, who both allege that they were sexually abused by Michael Jackson as children. They discuss many things that Jackson had allegedly done in this period, including going ring shopping with them, holding a mock wedding, pushing them away from their families, and an assortment of graphic sexual acts.

The release of the film led to various media backlash against Michael Jackson. His music was pulled from certain radio stations, a new documentary about the Jackson 5’s 50th anniversary was canceled, and Louis Vuitton canceled Jackson-inspired products.

However, the film would also rekindle interest in Jackson’s music, increasing his sales by ten percent, and the various honors he had already earned were not taken away. A month after Leaving Neverland aired on HBO, the Jackson estate sued the channel for violating an earlier contract stating that Jackson’s name would not be disparaged by them. Five years later, in October of 2024, the case would be dismissed, and Leaving Neverland would be removed from the HBO Max streaming service.

Wacko Jacko.

With the back half of Jackson’s music career often being plagued by rumors and tabloids, it inspired the lyrics to many of his songs, such as “Why You Wanna Trip on Me” and “Tabloid Junkie.” Many newspapers would use the nickname “Wacko Jacko” to ridicule Jackson and paint him as someone not in their right mind. To further add to the immorality of the term, the name “Jacko” is said to have been inspired by a fighting ape named Jacko Macaco, creating a nickname that was simultaneously dehumanizing and racially offensive.

People v. Murray.

When Jackson’s personal physician, Conrad Murray, was charged with involuntary manslaughter for his death in 2009, a trial was held to determine whether or not he could be sentenced. Many who were close to Jackson, such as his personal assistant Michael Williams, two bodyguards, Alberto Alvarez and Faheem Muhammad, and chef Kai Chase, gave their accounts. The court saw and heard many things, such as images of Jackson after his death and a two-hour interview police held with Murray just days after his death.

At 10:30 a.m. on the day of Michael’s death, Murray administered Jackson a dosage of 25 milligrams of propofol diluted with lidocaine to lessen the severity of the drugs already in Michael’s system. Jackson finally went to sleep, and Murray felt comfortable enough to briefly exit the room. When he returned just minutes later, Michael was no longer breathing, and his heart rate had increased dramatically.

Murray made many attempts to save him, doing CPR and chest compressions, but ultimately not even the medical staff could save him when they arrived. Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. at the age of fifty.

Murray told police, “I didn’t want to give up. I love Michael. He was my friend. I wanted to help. He was a single parent. Thinking about the children, thinking about my own children.” The trial continued for several weeks, but it was ultimately ruled that Murray was guilty of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison. His license to practice medicine was also suspended. Murray would then be released halfway into his prison sentence due to good behavior, releasing a memoir in 2016 fittingly titled This Is It. As of today, Murray has regained his license and has opened his own institute.

Dangling Blanket.

In November 2002, when Michael was in Berlin to accept a lifetime achievement award, a crowd of people began to surface below his hotel room. While on the balcony, Michael briefly held his child, nicknamed Blanket at the time, above the railing with one arm. The action was severely condemned across the globe, and intense media criticism began. However, Jackson publicly apologized and stated that he just wanted to show the crowd his baby, saying, “I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children.”

He explained further: “I’ve seen people that flipped their kids up in the air, do somersaults and catch them. What they didn’t show was the thousands of German fans down there chanting to see the new baby. And I just decided to give them a little treat, just let them see, feel the baby’s presence. I get caught up in the moment. I’m holding on tight. He’s not going to fall. This is instantaneous—like two seconds. But when it gets on the news, they slow it down. They don’t show the crowd. They make you look like I’m this eccentric idiot dangling his baby over a balcony like a nut.”

Epstein Files.

In the newest release of the Epstein files in December of 2025, Michael Jackson was seen pictured with Jeffrey Epstein. However, shortly after these pictures were released, it was revealed that Epstein was actually in the Florida area to look at some property investments and just so happened to bump into Michael Jackson, who asked for a picture.

A photo began to circulate online that was featured in the Epstein files of Michael with Bill Clinton and children, and people assumed that those children were victims of Epstein. However, Evan Ross, son of Diana Ross, went on Instagram to clarify that it was him in the picture, calling the photo manipulation.

September 11th, 2001.

Michael Jackson was scheduled to have a meeting in the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2001—the same exact day as the 9/11 attacks. However, Jackson spent the night talking with his mother and fell asleep around 3:00 a.m. He overslept for his meeting and did not go to the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11th, saving his life.

Last Recorded Words.

During Conrad Murray’s trial, some of Michael Jackson’s final ever recordings were played in court, which featured a clearly sedated and slurring Jackson rambling about his career. The audio is disturbing and difficult to listen to, a raw glimpse into the final hours of a man who had given everything to the world and had nothing left for himself. He spoke of children, of hospitals, of his legacy, of wanting to escape the depression that had consumed him. It was, by all accounts, the sound of a man who knew he was dying.

Michael Is Alive.

Ever since his death in 2009, people have theorized that Michael faked his own death to escape his financial debts and to live a more peaceful life. However, this is nothing more than a theory, as Michael was autopsied, images of his body after death exist online, and by now, if the most famous man to ever walk the earth were still alive, we probably would have figured it out by now.

And that brings us to the conclusion of the Michael Jackson iceberg. He was a genius and a tragedy, a man who soared higher than anyone had ever soared and fell further than anyone should ever have to fall. He gave the world music that will outlive us all, and he paid for that gift with his peace, his privacy, and ultimately his life.

The final curtain call came too soon. But the music never really ends.

If you enjoyed this journey, please feel free to explore more about Michael’s life and legacy. As always, thank you for taking the time out of your day to watch this. It is always greatly appreciated, whether you leave a like, a comment, or simply listen. And with that, we will see you on the flip side.