He slayed the previous king of pop
There is no way to convey to you how unbelievably cool Michael was in the 80’s and how amazing his fresh new sound was. The sidewalk lighting up as he walked on it in the Billy Jean music video was the coolest thing we’d seen on TV back then. He perfectly blended music, dancing, fashion, style, attitude, and theatrics to create an entire persona that all the listeners and viewers could share in. He set trends, broke records, and topped charts. I cannot convey what it felt like to back then to young people because there hasn’t been anything that original since the 90’s when Nirvana and Grunge exploded across the music scene. I wish there was something recent to point to and say “it was like that!”, but there’s nothing.
It’s very similar to the previous “King”. Elvis Presley was not just a good musician, he was a cultural statement. When people first heard him sing on the radio they were sure they were listening to a black singer, but when he started talking in interviews it became very obvious that that he was not.
Michael Jackson did something similar. He came from the musical background of black Soul bands, but as a solo artist he covered a variety of styles that were unexpected from a black musician. It’s not a coincidence that a lot of his songs deal with social issues as well (“It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white.”, “Heal the world.”, “start with the man in the mirror” where most songs of other artists are about love or having a party).
I didn’t care much about Michael Jackson when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, but I came to appreciate his talent more once I was older. Aside from some of the other things that were already mentioned, he was known for some insanely unique and distinctive dance moves, and everyone wanted to do them. You know how kids these days are ‘dabbing’ or doing these dances that they saw on fortnight or wherever? Where did any of those popular moves originate from? I have no idea. But when you saw someone doing a Michael Jackson move, you knew EXACTLY who it came from.
A lot of marketing, but also he had to be incredibly talented and successful for the marketing to work, and he was.
Thriller is the best selling album of all time by a wide margin: