A Little Audio Stimulation...

I'm not a big Michael Jackson fan. I don't get the people who cried at his very appearance. But, I know that there are people out there (Elizabeth Jane Robbins, for one) who are upset at his untimely death. So, with them in mind, I'm getting annoyed with how the media are now referring to Jackson as the "Self Proclaimed" King of Pop - no, it was you people who called him that back in the day and you know what, he was. This wasn't like when Terence Trent D'Arby was declared the next big thing - this was real.

People forget how big a deal Michael Jackson was in the late 80's and into the early 90's. When they wanted to do "We are the World" they essentially just corralled everyone from the American Music Awards before they had a chance to go home and brought them all into one studio. In that room full of the biggest stars of the time (Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Richie, Cyndi Lauper, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Hall and Oates... Dan Aykroyd), it was Jackson that was the unquestioned biggest star there. Jackson was the icon among icons in his day. The fact that he went off the rails later in his life skews this fact, but for a time he was the biggest star on the planet. The moonwalk was a transcendent moment in pop culture. Hell, my sisters even had Michael Jackson action figures (convenient, cause they fit into the Barbie Porsche).

Now, later in life he clearly went a little nuts. If we were to find out in 5 years that Jackson faked his death to escape huge debt and have unprecedented sales for a "Resurrection" tour (with Tupac as an opener), that wouldn't surprise me in the least. But, for now we'll just assume he's really dead. So, with all that in mind, here are my favorite Michael Jackson songs, not in any specific order... and not all done by Michael Jackson. Think of it as a way to show his influence.