Headline, Feb27, 2013

'''THE GREATEST EVER KING OF POP : 

MICHAEL JACKSON'''

History records -and fairly- that it was the ''THRILLER'' video that pushed Jackson over the top, consolidating his position as the King of Pop, a royal title he encouraged and Elizabeth Taylor helped popularize. Thriller was the seventh and last and single video to be released from the album of the same name, which had already been on the charts for almost a year since its release, in November 1982.

The video's frenzied reception, whipped up by around the clock showings on MTV, would more than double album sales, driving Thriller into the record books as the No:1 LP of all time, a distinction it seem to maintain forever and ever. But, for anyone paying close attention during the making of the Thriller video  -and Jackson's collaborators were  -the outlines of subsequent tragedies were already painfully visible.

Jackson would dominate pop culture for the remainder of the decade, owning the 80s as Elvis had owned the 50s and the Beatles the 60s. To rule the Entertainment Universe had been his dream since he belted out ''I Want You Back'' on the Ed Sullivan show in 1969 as a precocious lead singer of the Jackson 5. Under the strict, physically and psychologically abusive tutelage of his father, Joseph, he had sacrificed his childhood to make money for the family and Motown Records.

Although extremely sensitive by nature. Michael was also quietly stubborn, and frequently clashed with his father. The brief moments Michael spent onstage were when he felt the happiest.

''I remember singing at the top of my voice and dancing with real joy and working too hard for a child,'' he recalled in his autobiography: Moonwalk.

Most serendipitously, Jackson was the ideal video star. Not only did he radiate an epicene glamour that was at once innocent and intensely erotic, but he was also conceptually inventive, a great dancer, and a sartorial trendsetter. He judged the quality of what the fledgling rock network MTV was airing to be poor, and felt he could do better.

He hired the best directors and choreographers and applied everything he had soaked up. In a black jacket and pink shirt he slid and spun his way down a surreal city street in the ''Billie Jean'' video  -an electrifying, transformative performance.

The World had never known a genius of this class! And don't miss the next headline post wherein you view his fragile world.

The world will always miss him. Like never before.

Respectful and loving dedication to the Students of the World.

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless