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Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Colin Lowther.
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And I’m Megan Nollet. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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A music album is a collection of songs. But this was more than a collection of songs. It was the collection. It changed the music industry. It broke racial barriers. It lifted the economy. It changed people’s lives. But most of all, this album captured a time and place better than any album since The Beatles’ music had in the 1960s. It defined the decade of the 1980s. Everyone knew its name. Everyone owned a copy. Its title was just one word. And that word became one of the most famous in music history: Thriller.
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Today’s Spotlight looks at Michael Jackson. Jackson was born in 1958 in a small town in the state of Indiana in the United States. He was African American. He had nine brothers and sisters. Jackson’s father strongly encouraged his children to learn about music. They sang together, learned how to play instruments, and danced.
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Jackson was only five years old when he joined his brothers’ group, The Jackson 5. Soon, Jackson became the lead singer because of his great singing ability. He was fun to watch perform. They had shows at local schools and talent competitions. They won many fans.
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Jackson’s father, Joe, managed their group. He wanted them to succeed. He demanded a lot of his children, especially Michael. Jackson later admitted that his father sometimes hit him. Jackson said:
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“He was very hard on us, very firm. Just a look would frighten you, you know.”
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In 1969, Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan signed The Jackson 5 to record for them. The group made pop music, short for popular. Their music appealed to many people. The Jackson 5 had several popular songs throughout the 1970s, including “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” and “I’ll Be There.”
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Jackson became well-known as the main singer for The Jackson 5. He also released two albums without the group during the nineteen seventies, including the popular Off the Wall album. Several songs from Off the Wall became popular, including “Rock with You,” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” and “She’s Out of My Life.”
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After his Off the Wall album, Jackson decided to concentrate on his own albums. He stopped playing with The Jackson 5 for several years. He wrote a note to himself about what he wanted to do. He wrote:
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“I should be a totally different person. People should never think of me as the kid who sang ‘ABC,’ or ‘I Want You Back.’ I should be a new, amazing actor/singer/dancer that will shock the world. I will not explain myself. I will be magic. I will be a perfectionist, a researcher, a trainer, a master. I will be better than every great actor combined into one.”
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Jackson used the same producer, Quincy Jones, who worked on his album Off the Wall to work on his next album, Thriller. A music producer guides the recording and completion of all the songs that make up an album. Jones found other musicians to play different instruments on Jackson’s songs. Jackson liked Jones because he was an expert at recording songs in a studio. Jackson also liked him because Jones enjoyed and used different musical styles.
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Jackson and Jones shared the same goal for the album, Thriller: to make every song popular around the world. To reach this goal, they brought in the best musicians. Eddie Van Halen, one of the greatest guitar players in history, played on Jackson’s song, “Beat It.” Paul McCartney, one of the members of The Beatles, sang with Jackson on a song called “The Girl is Mine.” Several members of the popular group Toto helped write and record other songs like “Human Nature.”
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Jackson used a new tool in music to help spread the popularity of his songs: music videos. Music Television had recently started. They showed videos that the artists created to go with their songs. The music videos Jackson made for his songs “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and “Thriller” became huge successes.
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Jackson’s video for “Thriller” was particularly influential. Jackson wanted to make a short film instead of just a marketing tool to sell his song. He asked successful filmmaker John Landis to direct the video for “Thriller.” Together, they created a fourteen-minute music video even though the song “Thriller” was only six minutes long. They added a fully developed storyline with actors and talking. They also included dancing. No one had ever made a music video that looked like a short film. Jackson’s “Thriller” video changed how people thought about music videos. Many artists wanted to create works of art like Jackson.
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The Grammy is the biggest award a musician can win. Jackson won eight Grammys for his album Thriller. It was the most Grammys ever won for a single album. Fans bought 70,000,000 copies of Thriller. It is the biggest selling album in history.
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Jackson was not just influential with his music videos. His songs mixed different styles so they appealed to more people. His music became so popular that radio stations began playing songs by other African American musicians. His videos were so well made and successful that MTV started playing more videos by African American artists.
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Jackson’s clothing style also influenced his generation. Many people bought the same coats, hats, and shoes that Jackson wore in his music videos and shows. Stores that created and sold these things made a lot of money.
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Jackson was not only a gifted singer, but a talented dancer. His dance moves were skilled and exciting. One dance move he performed was called a moonwalk. Jackson appeared to be moving forward while sliding backwards. The moonwalk became popular all over the world. Jackson did not invent the moonwalk, but he made it famous. Fred Astaire, a dancer and actor who was popular in the 1930s and 40s, called Jackson after he watched him perform the moonwalk during a concert. Astaire was amazed by Jackson’s dancing. Astaire had been one of Jackson’s heroes growing up. Jackson later said:
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“It was the greatest encouragement I had ever received in my life.”
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After his success with the album Thriller, Jackson rejoined The Jackson 5 for a series of shows for several months. Then he wrote and recorded another album called Bad. It was a big success. It was the first album in United States history to have five songs become the most popular song in the country. Fans bought 40,000,000 copies of the album.
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Jackson sold 181,000,000 albums in the 1980s. He was the most popular musician in the world. They even called him “The King of Pop.” Writer Edmond W. Davis said:
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“Jackson’s music was not just listened to. It was studied, felt and lived.”
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But over the last twenty years of his life, Jackson’s popularity decreased. A new style of music called alternative music became popular. Jackson got older. It was harder for young fans to connect with Jackson and his music.
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Jackson also had problems outside the music world. Over the years, five different young men accused Jackson of hurting them sexually. Jackson denied all the accusations and was never found guilty in court. But he did privately settle with one of his accusers, paying him $23,000,000.
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Jackson’s skin also lightened over the last twenty years of his life. Some people accused him of lightening his skin on purpose to look more like a white person. Jackson said he had a skin condition called vitiligo. Vitiligo causes white patches on the skin. Jackson said he used whitening makeup to lighten the rest of his skin to even out the white patches. Jackson also appeared to have had medical work on his face to further change his looks. Again, people accused Jackson of trying to look more like a white person. They said he was not proud to be African American. Jackson denied this, too. He often talked about the African American musicians he looked up to.
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Jackson died at the age of fifty. Jackson’s personal doctor gave him medication to help him sleep because Jackson struggled with insomnia, which makes it hard to fall asleep. His doctor gave him too much medication. Jackson died in his sleep. His doctor tried to save him but could not. Jackson’s doctor was sent to prison for accidentally killing him.
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Jackson was married and divorced twice. He had three children. His children all said he was a wonderful father. Both his ex-wives said he was supportive and kind. Jackson’s millions of fans never stopped loving his music. But there are some who do not believe Jackson deserves to be remembered well. They do not believe Jackson’s denials about hurting children. They think he was guilty and should have been punished.
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People remember the end of something more than any other part. It is the part that stands out most. It is the last feeling people walk away with. Jackson’s life did not end well. Perhaps he deserved this kind of ending. But there was a time before the accusations and strange behavior when a young man slid backwards while appearing to walk forward. The world sat on the edge of their seats, unable to take their eyes off him moonwalking across their television screens. From Fred Astaire to Paul McCartney to the next generation of musicians, they knew they were witnessing history. The kind of history that does not come along often. The kind of history that is, in every sense of the word, a thriller.
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Which songs by Michael Jackson do you like? Why do you think he was so influential? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X. You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
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The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No A.I., or artificial intelligence, was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people, no matter where in the world they live. This episode is called, “Moonwalker: The Life of Michael Jackson.”
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We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight episode. Goodbye.
Question:
Which songs by Michael Jackson do you like? Why do you think he was so influential?
