The Essential Michael Jackson Review
The Best of the King of Pop’s Greatest Hits Collections
Jun 26, 2009
Taking the stage as a child with his family band, The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson started a career that would span 40 years.
During his incredible journey he won 13 Grammy’s, countless other awards around the world, released the second greatest selling album of all time, and gained international superstardom the likes of which only compare to Elvis and John Lennon.
Credited as the breaker of the color barrier on MTV, and the star who brought music videos to a whole new level of art, during his solo career, Jackson managed to rack up an impressive 47 tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
Michael Jackson’s Number Ones
Thirteen of those songs peaked at number one, making him the fourth artist in history with the most number one songs in the US, behind only the Beatles, Mariah Carey and Elvis.
Among his many chart feats, Michael Jackson was the first artist in history to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. "You Are Not Alone" entered at the penthouse on Sept. 2, 1995. It was his last number one single.
All thirteen of his number one hits (Billie Jean, Beat It, I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Dirty Diana, Man In The Mirror, The Way You Make Me Feel, Bad, Black Or White, Ben, Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Rock With You, and You Are Not Alone) are included on The Essential Michael Jackson along with his biggest hits from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s
From The Jackson’s to Off the Wall and Thriller
Unlike the messy HIStory from 1995, the tracks on The Essential Michael Jackson, are listed in chronological order opening with a trio of Jackson’s earlier solo material including his first number one song “Ben” a love song to a rat he recorded when he was 14.
Mid seventies gems “Enjoy Yourself”, “Blame It On The Boogie”, and “Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)”, recorded as part of The Jackson’s, display Michael’s evolution from child star to disco dancer extraordinaire.
The emergence into teen idol and then world super star comes with the first beat of “Don't Stop Til You Get Enough” from his Quincy Jones-produced album Off the Wall from 1979.
With the release of his 1982 mega-hit Thriller, Michael Jackson began world pop domination. Alongside the aforementioned number one tracks, practically the entire album was mined for singles such as “The Girl Is Mine (with Paul McCartney)”, “Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'”, “Human Nature”, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” and the title track, all included in their single versions in this package.
Bad, Dangerous and Invincible
Bad had the difficult job of coming on the heels of one of the most successful albums in history. Though it didn’t sell as many copies as Thriller, Bad outdid its predecessor with 5 number one singles and a total of seven US singles.
The eighth single, "Leave Me Alone", a weird song and video dubbed as an attempt to dispel the rumors that Michael Jackson was weird, was only included on the CD version of the album – a rarity back in 1987 - and became a hit in the UK.
Dangerous came out in 1992 when Michael Jackson’s life began to downward spiral. Tracks such as “Black or White”, “Who is It”, “In the Closet” and “Remember the Time”, continued to fare well on the charts given their leanings towards the emerging hip hop scene, but the titles could have also doubled as newspaper headlines about the star.
Michael Jackson’s final studio album of new material, 2001’s Invincible, spawned the top ten single “You Rock My World” but the album was considered a disappointment by Jackson measures and failed to have the impact of his previous three albums.
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough of the King of Pop
While The Essential Michael Jackson does a fine job of collecting Jackson’s hottest hits, the two-disc set omits several of his best known tracks such as “Say, Say, Say”, a duet with Paul McCartney from 1983, “Scream” a duet with sister Janet, as well as “Torture” and “State of Shock”, tracks he recorded with the reunited Jackson’s in 1984.
This collection also completely skips 1973’s Music and Me, 1975’s Forever, Michael, his UK number one hit “One Day in Your Life" from 1981 and many of his late 1990’s material such as "They Don't Care About Us", “Blood On The Dancefloor” as well as his last top twenty single “Butterflies” from 2001
He was reportedly working on a comeback album that could have possibly added to his impressive list of hits. Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 before the album surfaced.
No artist will ever be able to fill his dancing shoes. Luckily The Essential Michael Jackson keeps the brilliance of the man’s music alive.
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