So why was Michael Jackson so popular?

[one eyed jack]

This question was asked on Hard Talk and various other places, lets face it, if no one knows he is dead and gone then you must have just fallen out of the sky...

So the answer to the question: What made the man so ultra famous to the point of religious proportions?

The answer just came to me recently and it was really simple. Just would like to know if anyone else here shares the same answer is all.

Something he does that is seldom done tothe same effect by other popular bands a ssome have compared him to The Rolling Stones and David Bowie.

So why is he so poplar then? Even now in death people are flocking outside of the O2 for a sit in inmemory of the man.

What turns a grown man into a shrieking school girl at the site of the man?

[jj]

Dunno; he had a great voice and was a truly innovative musician.

The obscene excesses of fandom were not of his making and are
not confined to him alone, though....

[steve56]

The Martin Bashir documentary is going to be repeated .

[jj]

Oh, not again..... : -(((

[steve56]

and again i spect

[Jonone]

He had the funk ! Simple as.

There was an item on 6music news about the rush to be first to market with a new biography. A publisher had turned it round in about a week. People want their heads looking at if they're going to pay money for a rush job, but they'll get it into the supermarkets and doubtless it will do well.

[The Last Word]

He was part of that very, very rare clique: those who at their best are the best. He also had in spades that commodity that's even more rare these days - genuine mystique. It all went pear-shaped of course, but he was never really usurped, and thus we were left with someone who many really wished would return to being as good as he used to be - a factor that tinges his passing quite sharply.

Still, it's quite likely nothing will ever match Thriller for both sales and impact, so he'll always have that.

And who are we left with? Eminem? Timberlake? Robbie?

They're not even footsoldiers.

[IdolLiesDroog2]

OEJ - are you getting at his ability to reinvent from one album to the next? I think theres dozens of reasons for his popularity to be honest...

The most relevant is just how much he cared about other people...imagine anyone else with that level of success/money/fame being so genuinely gentle and selfless - the amount of charity work he did still doesn't overly get discussed beyond the soppy charity singles released in the 90s.

His death has brought about a saturation of his work which normally would be painful, but for most it's proven a sobering reminder his talent was somewhat beyond human. The religious comment is in my eyes not undeserved :S!

[jj]

Do you EVER get the last word, BTW?

I always wondered.... and as a [happy] divorcee I know that males
never get the LW : -)

[jj]

His main trouble was that he never grew up [or was allowed to].