Remembering Michael Jackson - Shelly Palmer - MediaBizBlogger

Over the past two weeks we've lost several celebrities and two of our dearest pop-culture icons. Farrah Fawcett, the subject of the best selling poster of all time and Michael Jackson, the musical force behind the best selling album of all time. Their untimely passing brought their extraordinary achievements into focus, making me wonder, will anyone ever sell 12 million posters or 45 million copies of an individual album ever again? (Michael Jackson sold over 700 million albums during his lifetime.) It seems unlikely.

I am very sad that Michael Jackson is gone. He was gifted with talents that enabled him to accomplish things that no one in history has ever accomplished and, based upon the fragmented nature of consumer media, will never be able to accomplish again. Everything about Michael Jackson was extraordinary: his music, his dancing, his lifestyle, his wealth, his health and his problems.

During the 80's, Michael Jackson "was" the music business. I remember when the certified numbers for Bad were announced. The 1987 album had sold about 23 million copies and, because it did not top the number for his world changing 1982 release, Thriller, it was considered a failure. Just to put this in perspective, go count up the number of albums that have ever sold 23 million copies ... by anyone. During his time, there was Michael Jackson and then there was everybody else - none of his contemporaries even came close to his level of success. But the business side of the music business was only one part of the story.

While listening to his music this past weekend, I was reminded how important Michael was to the musical side of the music business. For me, the Michael Jackson inspired transition of the pop music business started with "Shake Your Body Down to the Ground," one of the singles from the Jackson 5's 1978 album, Destiny. Although it was more of a mix of disco and funk, to me it stood out musically and foreshadowed Michael's upcoming solo effort Off The Wall. I will never forget the first time I heard it. In fact, "Blame it on the Boogie," the other single from that album had a super-solid rhythm arrangement by Greg Phillinganes that gave Michael a remarkable pocket to interact with. This early synthesis of pop, funk and R&B combined with Tom Tom 84's semi-jazz-fusion horn and string arrangements truly set the stage for the world's biggest crossover pop star to emerge. Anyone in the world who has ever heard an audio recording knows what happened next.

I hope that everyone can get past the theater of the moment and spend some time listening to Michael Jackson's work. If you listen closely, you will hear him explain everything to you -- in a profoundly personal way. May he rest in peace.

Shelly Palmer is the host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer, a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, New York House Press) and the upcoming, Get Digital: Reinventing Yourself and Your Career for the 21^st Century Economy. (2009, Lake House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy Awards). For information about Get Digital Classes, visit http://www.shellypalmer.com/seminars

Read all Shelly’s MediaBizBlogger commentaries at Shelly Palmer - MediaBizBlogger.